Mersey Wave

AiR devised a schools education programme for the Mersey Wave public arts sculpture that is permenantly sited on Speke Boulevard, a major southern route into Liverpool. Working with many different schools from Speke and Garston, AiR facilitated workshops in St. John Almond RC High School Garston, Holy Trinity Primary School Garston and Banks Rd. Junior School, Garston.

Additional to the Visual Arts workshops in the schools, a series of talks were held in Speke schools, encouraging pupils to have a critical awareness of sculpture and public art in their local community and how this links to regeneration.

Pupils from St. John Almond created individual pieces of sculpture covered with images of Liverpool, and displayed them at the Jaguar Visitor Centre. The Primary Schools produced sculptures based on natural & organic forms, similar to the starting points of the Mersey Wave itself, helping the pupils realise that natural forms - flora and fauna - are interesting starting points for all aspects of design, including architecture. A wide range of media and artistic ideas were tried, including drawn elements, pepples and textiles.

The programme culminated in a grand opening Switch On of the Mersey Wave, incorporating exhibitions of the young peoples work. On the evening itself, AiR students partcipated in a visual performance with hundreds of light sticks and designed images for the ground installation - one lucky student won an award for his design, 'DockBridgeMersey'!