JHQ Commission – ‘POSTED!’ The sculpture is unveiled 11th July 2013
Update – April 2018!
This piece has been given a permanent home at The National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, England and can be visited any time!
many thanks to Mike Chislett and the team who fundraised and arranged this permanent home among the trees for this lovely piece of community art.
The Ark School have now named their sculpture ‘Posted!’ and there was a big celebration at the school yesterday where the new sculpture was unveiled.
I have been waiting to post (!) photos of the finished piece but didn’t want to spoil the surprise for everyone at JHQ Rheindahlen.
Up close the piece sparkles in the sunlight and the copper wings of the birds add some density to the ethereal structure I was aiming for. I love that the work is very much as drawn firstly by myself as a sketch book idea and secondly and most importantly that the children have their birds exactly as they created them.
The finished piece really encompasses the ideology behind the experience of designing and making with the Ark School and JHQ community and also really looks like a little piece of British eccentricity.
.JPG)
This fabulous piece that our children were privileged to make with Melissa is currently displayed in Service Children's Education (SCE)'s teachers' centre in Bielefeld, Germany (BFPO 39). Around it, we have a display showing the creative journey from designing birds, to forging and shaping metal. Posted! has generated much admiration and interest from teachers in our 20 remaining schools, almost all of which will close in the next 4/5 years – and each will be planning their own unique means of ensuring that closure and moving on becomes a positive and life-enhancing experience for the children and families. Thank you, Melissa & for hanging in with us when the going got tough! It was brilliant. Mike Chislett, SCE Inspector Adviser and formerly HT Ark.