Downham Lifestyles Centre: Public Art Commission scheduled installation, early spring 2007

100 sculptural interventions

Community participation is central to the project and participants contribution will be evident in the final works. It is envisaged that a minimum of 100 residents will be involved in the creation of the pieces. Mark's shares the aims of the Downham Cultural Consortium. Community participation is central to the success of the project and the key to creating the personality of Downham Lifestyles Centre. The workshops will be designed to give ownership to the community and to create a legacy for all users. The project can be developed to accommodate all participants and evolve once the centre is up and running and has established user groups such as book clubs or sports teams.

Concept

Mark will place around the building and grounds the thoughts and feeling that reflect the positive aspirations of healthy living and life-long learning of all the participants. The workshops will look at the specific aims of Downham Lifestyles centre, discussing relevant issues and exploring the resources and facilities.

The writings on the walls, floors, ceilings, windows...

In the workshops Brainstorming exercises will explore the idea of healthily living and life long learning. Using pencils, paper, paint, stencils and colourful cutout acrylic letters in different fonts and sizes (like ones used as a teaching aid) the participants will make up their messages and signs. They will decide where they would like to see them positioned. The idea is to createf positive messages written in all the languages of the participants, everyone will quiet literally have their say. The workshops will be tailored to each target group and could even work with very young children where the letters are used as simple building blocks to create colourful shapes.

In the studio, the messages will be matched to materiasl and proposed location. For example if some were to be place outside they could be cutout of sheet metal or cast in reconstituted stone and marble. Others could be in colourful acrylic or made into ceramic tiles for the pool area, or even cast in translucent urethane to create lighting effects. Mark intends to use the participant's own handwriting and drawings as templates to laser cut words out. These writings would be a permanent reminder of the achievements and aspirations of the community. Rather than creating a single artwork, the entire site is treated as a canvas, attaching beautiful compositions of words and letters. By being visually stunning, these sculptural interventions will transcend their literal meaning, engraving onto Downham Lifestyles Centre a symbolic, unifying and collective identity.