Untitled Document

Crawley Art and Architecture Programme, 2007

Lead artist Julia Manheim was appointed by West Sussex County Council in 2003 to explore with
architects and developers how art might be incorporated into the fabric of new PFI school buildings in Crawley.

Project partners: West Sussex County Council, Crawley Borough Council, Ifield and Thomas Bennett Community Colleges, HBG UK.

Arts consultancy and
project management
by Frances Lord.

www.fredbaier.com www.quay2c.com

Crawley pfi

Poets Corner, Heinrich and Palmer Photo: Nigel Green

Julia Manheim and commissioned artists Anna Heinrich and Leon Palmer, Fred Baier, and their mentees, spent over a year at the schools developing ideas for permanent artworks with tutors and students.

For Objects and Illusions Julia Manheim liaised with staff and students at Thomas Bennett over the recycling of their rubbish and proposed design solutions to encourage this process. Julia created a series of funky photographic bin ‘wraps’, twinned with framed wall panels of the actual objects to serve as bin locators, for various locations in the college.

Fred Baier’s Journey through a Log at Ifield Community College weighs 10 tons and was constructed from an oak tree felled when the new college was built. The planked log was reassembled and raised on legs. A corridor to one side reveals the grain and leaves enough space to allow for a chamber - The Heart – where the viewer can contemplate the log’s growth rings.

Poets’ Corner by Heinrich and Palmer for Thomas Bennett Community College creates a virtual opening into Tilgate Forest through a corner wall in the main atrium of the college. The scene is created by a large back-lit photograph inviting the viewer to step through and into the space beyond. The image is extremely high resolution so tiny details, including a trail of yellow origami birds slowly unfolding into the background, may be discovered over time. A ribbon of Chinese Whispers begins in the image then winds its way out onto the college walls and down the atrium.

Journey through a log, Fred Baier