DOORS AND OPENINGS

As part of the development of the Deepcut / Mindenhurst public art commission, Tom worked with Year 6 pupils at Lakeside Primary School and Nursery. The workshop explored the idea of an open door as a symbol of welcome, curiosity and transition, with pupils designing and constructing their own door models.

The models explored a wide range of familiar, traditional and contemporary doors, using different colours, materials, architectural details and forms.

The public art proposal subsequently developed through several design phases, but the idea of the door remained within the project. In the final Diamonds and Circles proposal, the sculpture abstracts a pair of narrowboat cabin doors. A central vertical aperture suggests the meeting and opening of the doors, while a small circular detail references a door handle.

SIGNALS

Year 6 pupils also explored ideas around communication and signalling, creating imagined devices that combined elements of radios, cameras, computers and practical tools. Their models used buttons, dials, screens, colour, symbols and projecting signal elements to suggest different ways of sending and receiving information.

The final sculpture developed away from the literal appearance of these devices, but retains this underlying interest in signalling and communication through its beacon-like form, use of Morse code and slender beacon stem. The final design will be added to the website shortly.

“All the children were totally engaged and they all enjoyed the session very much as did I.”

Jade Merriman, Year 6 Teacher