‘Welcome signs’
James Dixon Children and Family Centre, Anerley, London, 2007
Made with children of all ages, parents, carers and staff.
I was commissioned to make a welcome sign for the James Dixon Children and Family Centre, with local parents, children, carers and other local groups. The Centre shared their car park with James Dixon Primary School, and they had no signs or directions to the Centre, so many people got lost. We decided that one sign would not be enough, for the Centre, so we made several.
On this project I worked with artist Esther Adesigbin, and together we devised ten workshops through out the summer holidays to make the signs. Some people attended for the full duration of the project, and others dropped in for just a day or more. They created portraits of themselves and friends/family with collage, and then made them in clay.
The finished portraits were stunning, and they completed the signs with mosaic, then they were installed in and around the car park. The finished mosaic was very eye-catching and beautiful.
This art project also helped to introduce families to the new Centre and to the programme of courses that it had to offer.