Ceramic sculpture and stained glass windows
Our community Stained Glass Window Project brings together two core values in our school; creativity and community. We wanted to develop a project which would allow us to work with our community partners on a permanent installation. Our association with the Cathedral made a stained glass window an obvious choice.
Rural Arts listened carefully to our requirements, especially as we were keen to ensure that the window was not an artist's interpretation but accurately reflected the designs of the children or our community partners.
With the support of our extended schools coordinator we gained a £10,000 grant from the Lottery. Parents and friends of the school raised funds for the remaining £4,000.
After a preliminary visit by stained glass window artist Jane Littlefield we set up a series of workshops; with Jane's support children worked together with friends at Sunnyfield Lodge, an extra care home for the elderly, and members of Ripon Community Link, a local charity for adults with a range of learning difficulties. Some of the workshops took place in the school building and others out in the community. Having discussed the final design with participants Jane then arranged extra workshops to paint directly onto the glass.
Thanks to the expertise and support of Rural Arts we held a project which involved more than two hundred people from the age of 6 to 90+. The end result is the most fabulous window over 8m long which when the sun shines casts a coloured path for our children, parents, friends and visitors to follow as they walk through school. It is the talking point for all visitors and acts as a permanent reminder to us all of the importance of the arts and our local community.
Darren Dudman, Headteacher, Ripon Cathedral Primary School |
