St. Peter’s N.S.

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St. Peter’s National School, Phibsborough, Dublin 7.

Background

With a history that stretches back to the 1800’s St. Peter’s National School, Phibsborough – is indeed a very special place.  In 2008, the doors were finally opened to the new school, which cleverly incorporates the original school building dating from 1891.

In 2008 to commemorate this new phase in the schools history we embarked on a Per Cent for Art Project.  We created through a collaborative process with the artist, pupils (all classes from Jnr Infants to Sixth class) and staff a series of permanent ceramic wall murals and hand prints.  Here is our story.

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Hand Print Phase

Following a period of research in January and February 2009, we took an impression of the hand prints in clay of everyone in St. Peter’s.  This proved itself to be a fantastic and worthwhile experience for both artist and pupils alike.

In addition we had a lot of fun… check out our short Handprint video!

After firing and glazing, the hand prints were grouped together and installed on five different walls in the school.

Hand Print Project. Large-scale Collaborative Public Art Commission 2009 with St. Peter’s National School, Phibsborough, Dublin. This project celebrated the opening of their new school building and had a strong collaborative element between Ceramic Artist Michelle Maher and the whole school community. We took the handprints in clay and slip of all pupils, teachers and staff and created a series of three large-scale ceramic wall murals. www.ceramicforms.com
Hand Print Project. Large-scale Collaborative Public Art Commission 2009 with St. Peter’s National School, Phibsborough, Dublin. This project celebrated the opening of their new school building and had a strong collaborative element between Ceramic Artist Michelle Maher and the whole school community. We took the handprints in clay and slip of all pupils, teachers and staff and created a series of three large-scale ceramic wall murals. www.ceramicforms.com Photo by Trevor O'Rourke - Picturehouse Photography.
Hand Print Project. Large-scale Collaborative Public Art Commission 2009 with St. Peter’s National School, Phibsborough, Dublin. This project celebrated the opening of their new school building and had a strong collaborative element between Ceramic Artist Michelle Maher and the whole school community. We took the handprints in clay and slip of all pupils, teachers and staff and created a series of three large-scale ceramic wall murals. www.ceramicforms.com Photo by Trevor O'Rourke - Picturehouse Photography.

Hand Print Collaborative Process

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Handprint Collaborative Process Video

Hand Print Studio Process

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Wall Mural Phase

In May 2009 we completed the second phase of our collaboration, in this phase we were working on large-scale ceramic wall murals.  They are based around the themes of The Woodland and The Solar System.  We also made a large-scale version of the school crest for the front of the building.  These murals, which were created entirely from clay are highly dramatic in both scale and effect.

St. Peter’s Woodland Mural

This ceramic wall mural was created in collaboration between Ceramic Artist Michelle Maher, children and teachers from all classes in the school.  In early 2009 during the initial research phase, Michelle photographed artwork and drawings from all eighteen classes and then used these images to create a large-scale composite drawing of their work based around a woodland theme.  And so a smiling sun, frogs, flowers, butterflies and trees all came together to form Michelle’s vision for St. Peter’s Woodland.  Gabriella from High School Musical even manages to make an appearance!

In a very real way, the mural captures the innate integrity of these children and allows us to see the wealth of energy they possess and how with expert guidance from their teachers they can express themselves so freely in their artwork.

With drawings from children as young as four right up to sixth class, St. Peter’s Woodland preserves in a permanent mural the vitality and enthusiasm of this school and forever remind us of the year 2009 when artist, teachers and children came together to create something very special.

Dimensions: Woodland mural 2m x 2.5m.

Close-up Woodland Mural. Large-scale Collaborative Public Art Commission 2009 with St. Peter’s National School, Phibsborough, Dublin. This project celebrated the opening of their new school building and had a strong collaborative element between Ceramic Artist Michelle Maher and the whole school community. We took the handprints in clay and slip of all pupils, teachers and staff and created a series of three large-scale ceramic wall murals. www.ceramicforms.com
Woodland Mural. Large-scale Collaborative Public Art Commission 2009 with St. Peter’s National School, Phibsborough, Dublin. This project celebrated the opening of their new school building and had a strong collaborative element between Ceramic Artist Michelle Maher and the whole school community. We took the handprints in clay and slip of all pupils, teachers and staff and created a series of three large-scale ceramic wall murals. www.ceramicforms.com
Close-up Woodland Mural. Large-scale Collaborative Public Art Commission 2009 with St. Peter’s National School, Phibsborough, Dublin. This project celebrated the opening of their new school building and had a strong collaborative element between Ceramic Artist Michelle Maher and the whole school community. We took the handprints in clay and slip of all pupils, teachers and staff and created a series of three large-scale ceramic wall murals. www.ceramicforms.com

Woodland Collaborative Process

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St. Peter’s Solar System Mural

This ceramic wall mural was created in collaboration between Ceramic Artist Michelle Maher, and the children and teachers from all classes in the school.   Children as young as four right up to sixth class collaborated together to create the Solar System.  Together we hand-built the hemispheres before decorating them with coloured slips and splashing contrast colours – there was lots of splashing!!

St Peter’s Solar System consists of a series of 9 hemi-spheres some with a diameter of 0.5m. It is our own abstracted version of the solar system!

St. Peter's Solar Sytem. Large-scale Collaborative Public Art Commission 2009 with St. Peter’s National School, Phibsborough, Dublin. This project celebrated the opening of their new school building and had a strong collaborative element between Ceramic Artist Michelle Maher and the whole school community. We took the handprints in clay and slip of all pupils, teachers and staff and created a series of three large-scale ceramic wall murals. www.ceramicforms.com. Photo by Trevor O'Rourke - Picturehouse Photography.
Installation in process, Solar System project. Large-scale Collaborative Public Art Commission 2009 with St. Peter’s National School, Phibsborough, Dublin. This project celebrated the opening of their new school building and had a strong collaborative element between Ceramic Artist Michelle Maher and the whole school community. We took the handprints in clay and slip of all pupils, teachers and staff and created a series of three large-scale ceramic wall murals.www.ceramicforms.com
St. Peter's Solar Sytem. Large-scale Collaborative Public Art Commission 2009 with St. Peter’s National School, Phibsborough, Dublin. This project celebrated the opening of their new school building and had a strong collaborative element between Ceramic Artist Michelle Maher and the whole school community. We took the handprints in clay and slip of all pupils, teachers and staff and created a series of three large-scale ceramic wall murals. www.ceramicforms.com. Photo by Trevor O'Rourke - Picturehouse Photography.

Solar System Collaborative Process

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Here’s a Video of Our Story

Thanks

The project preserves in a permanent way the vitality and enthusiasm of this school and forever remind us of the year 2009 when artist, teachers and children came together to create something very special.

I would especially like to thank all the children in St. Peter’s for their enthusiasm and hard work.  From Junior Infants to Sixth Class, I spent many hours in each of the eighteen classes and I cannot say enough about the amazing spirit that this school has.  Their dedication to the project has been remarkable.  I enjoyed every minute of our collaboration and I think together we have done something very special.  For all the smiling faces, the kind words, the laughter and the ideas – thanks so much.

A big big thank you to all the staff and teachers – thanks for your co-operation, energy and patience.  Thanks, also to Ann and Martin for putting up with my many comings and goings – you’re the best!  Finally, there would be no Art Project if it were not for Mrs. Joan Quinn, School Principal. Mrs. Quinn is an extraordinary educator and under her leadership and guidance, St. Peter’s embodies everything the primary school curriculum hopes to achieve.  Sincere thanks for giving me this opportunity to collaborate with your school and for your unfaltering commitment to the project.

Funding

This project is funded by The Department of Education and Science through the Per Cent for Art Scheme.

If you are interested in a similar project for your school please get in touch.

In the shop

Barnardos Commission Collaborative Public Art Project by ceramic artist Michelle Maher for the children's charity Barnardos. Working in collaboration with the children and staff we created an 8 meter long ceramic wall sculpture inspired by the Aurora Borealis, the local river Tolka and the science of bubbles. See www.ceramicforms.com The Titan Arum: Behind every great man...outdoor ceramic sculpture by Michelle Maher. Shown here on exhibition at Sculpture in Context at Airfield House in 2005. Inspired by the largest flowering plant the Titan Arum. Hand built and modelled and fired in an electric kiln to 1260°C (Cone 8). www.ceramicforms.com The Titan Arum

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