A world-renowned artist who recently designed an aerial installation of 105 flags spanning the entire length of London’s Oxford Street to bring awareness to environmental issues is now working with pupils from a Leeds inner city primary school to create their very own art project.
Based in London, Morag Myerscough is an international artist and designer famous for her bold, colourful community-based installations. Her award-winning work is regularly featured on TV and one of her most recent projects is the Joy Garden at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. Next on the list is an exciting new installation for Ebor Gardens Primary School after Morag hosted a day of workshops there with Year 4 pupils. Morag will now design an exciting new installation for the Burmantofts school incorporating the ideas the children developed and shared in the workshops.
This work is the latest development in the Communicolour project, an initiative from Wellspring Academy Trust that transforms forgotten grey spaces in schools and communities into amazing, inspiring art. Under the scheme, leading artists are invited to treat Wellspring schools’ playgrounds, school buildings, walls and fences as blank canvases to explore and reimagine. Pupils, staff and members of the wider school community then benefit from both inspiring, engaging space and everyday access to exciting, world-class art.
Natalie Wathen, Executive Vice Principal at Ebor Gardens, explained: “This is an incredible opportunity for the children at Ebor Gardens to meet and be inspired by a famous, critically acclaimed artist. We’ve been learning all about Morag’s work in the run up to the workshops and the children were very excited and eager to share their thoughts and ideas with Morag.
“Our school community is a diverse one, with pupils from a range of cultures and backgrounds. Working together with Morag to create a large-scale art installation that celebrates our shared experiences and community will be a wonderful thing, not just for pupils but for everyone involved in Ebor Gardens. We can’t wait to see what Morag and the children come up with!”
Morag Myerscough, whose mantra is “make happy those that are near and those that are far will come,” added: “Community and a sense of place are universally important. We all want to feel like we belong, and my work uses design to convey a community’s unique identity and develop that feeling of belonging.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the young people at Ebor Gardens and working with them to understand what makes their corner of Leeds so special to them and discovering how we can represent and share that through the wonder that is shape and colour. There’s nothing quite like the creativity and enthusiasm of children to inspire and I’ve no doubt we’ll come up with something spectacular together.”
Ebor Gardens is part of Wellspring Academy Trust, a multi-academy trust with 28 schools across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire spanning mainstream primary and secondary, SEND and alternative provision settings. Communicolour has already transformed eight schools in the Trust, including Victoria Primary Academy in Leeds and Green Meadows in Guiseley, and has 12 more projects in planning stages.
