Tom Pearman undertook an artist residency at Marshgate Primary School, commissioned through Orleans House Gallery and the London Borough of Richmond.
Working with several classes, Tom developed a programme of creative activities exploring microcosm and macrocosm — from microscopic organisms and structures to the Earth, stars and the wider universe.
The residency provided the research and creative foundation for a series of permanent architectural window artworks installed within the school stairwells.
Powers of Ten
The project began with Charles and Ray Eames’ influential film Powers of Ten, which explores the universe through dramatic changes in scale.
Beginning with an everyday scene, the film travels progressively outward towards the edges of the observable universe before returning to Earth and moving inward through the human body to the microscopic and atomic scale.
Tom used this simple but powerful idea as a framework for the residency: how does the world change when we look at it from very far away, very close up, or through a different optical device?
Three scales
The workshops explored three broad areas:
1. The outer cosmos
Pupils investigated stars, constellations, planetary movement, trajectories and orbits, using line, geometry and repeated circular forms to consider systems operating on an enormous scale.
2. The natural world
Activities focused on the Earth and the immediate environment. Pupils explored the school grounds, ponds and natural habitats, observing and collecting visual information from the world around them.
3. The microscopic world
Using magnifying glasses and microscopes, pupils investigated insects, small organisms, cells and other structures normally difficult to see with the naked eye.
Observation and optical devices
A central part of the residency involved experimenting with different ways of looking.
Pupils used binoculars, magnifying glasses, microscopes, photography and projection to examine how an object or landscape can appear completely different depending on the scale and method of observation.
The activities encouraged pupils to move between scientific observation and imaginative interpretation rather than treating art and science as separate subjects.
Creative responses
The workshops generated a wide range of work including drawings, geometric constructions, models and sculptural responses.
Pupils created representations of insects and microscopic organisms, investigated patterns and trajectories, and used string and simple structures to explore geometric relationships associated with orbits, perspective and three-dimensional space.
These activities allowed complex ideas about scale and spatial relationships to be investigated through direct making and experimentation.
From residency to architecture
Ideas developed through the workshops informed Tom’s final architectural window designs.
The completed glazing uses paired circular forms reminiscent of binocular or microscope lenses, presenting imagery at different scales alongside numerical magnifications.
The permanent artwork therefore extends the residency into the architecture of the school, allowing pupils to continue encountering the ideas of scale, observation and discovery as part of their everyday movement through the building.
Topics explored
The residency brought together a broad range of interconnected subjects, including:
- the cosmos and planetary systems
- trajectories, orbits and star constellations
- the natural environment
- insects, organisms and microscopic structures
- optical devices and magnification
- photography
- light and colour
- geometry and spatial relationships
- how an artist develops ideas through research and experimentation
