Tessa Lynch, Abbeyhill & Leith Walk Primary Schools
May 2016 – March 2017
Artist Tessa Lynch and children from Abbeyhill and Leith Walk Primary Schools worked together to explore and develop new work in response to Collective’s site, the City Observatory complex throughout 2017from May 2016 until early 2017.
Tessa and the children will buildbuilt their own understanding of the City Observatory, framing and drawing the views looking on to the site during its redevelopment as Collective’s new home. Visits to Calton Hill and follow-up classroom workshops formed part of an ongoinga tactile interaction with the landscape, considering the material qualities of the hill and its built environment.
The classes worked with Tessa to produce large-scale panoramas in charcoal, using shapes, patterns and textures gathered through charcoal mark making from visits to Calton Hill. The abstract panoramas were informed by Robert Barker’s 1792, Panorama of Edinburgh from Calton Hill, and are on display in each of the schools, lining classroom walls and corridors. The panoramas made by the primary 5 classes are on display as hoarding on the fencing that surrounds the City Observatory on Calton Hill.
Tessa Lynch is an artist who works in sculpture and performance. Tessa has been commissioned by Collective to produce new sculptural works for the grounds of the City Observatory, as part of the ongoing redevelopment of the site. Working with landscape architects Harrison Stevens on the commission, Tessa’s new physical sculptures act as lenses, framing views of the city from certain vantage points within the site. These moments of pause sit alongside the landscape architect’s focus on orientation or orbiting of the site.
Related
Learning, Ongoing: Catherine Payton, Abbeyhill and Leith Walk Primary Schools
Collective is working closely with two local primary schools, Abbeyhill and Leith Walk, and the wider Drummond Community High School Cluster, to develop strong long-term relationships and bring staff and pupils together with artists.
Collective’s work with Abbeyhill Primary School is in partnership with the Artists-in-Residence Programme at Abbeyhill Primary School. Documentation and work by artists and children is presented at the annual Colony of Artists in Abbeyhill.
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