Two sibling sculptures represent our shared biological diversity. Coloured panels mimic the coded, specific patterns of our DNA profiles as individuals within a community. A finer detail of perforations link the sculptures to local places and thoughts – providing a written reminder of our social and physical contexts.

The words reflect positive conversations with local people and are set into panels to cast overlapping colourful shadows onto and through the walls of the building. The vertical structures relate to the architecture of the courtyards and encourage us to look into the sky for contemplation and reflect our changing emotions.

civic were appointed to deliver a widespread programme of community led public art workshops in schools, community centres and youth clubs – engaging with over 400 residents on the briefi ng and development of a set of 4 artwork proposals. A steering goup of Council officers and residents chose to develop a sculptural bike park in a prominent location in the city (on Glasgow Road and adjacent to the Leisure Pool). This was installed in the summer of 2011.

The artwork comprises a series of stainless steel seat posts and wheels (bike racks) that are installed to resemble the ‘echelon’ at the head of a group of moving bicycles. Some of the wheels are angled out of the ground to mimic over-taking cycles, whilst some of them remain balanced in the vertical plane. A set of oversized seats (modelled on an oversized traditional leather bicycle saddle) provide places to sit and wait for friends – one of the many ideas contributed by local school children that were involved in the design stages of the project.

The ‘Peoples’ Panorama’ Project consists of 37 large screen printed, double glazed windows that form a significant part of the public face to Dunbar’s new community centre at Bleachingfield.
The images take inspiration from the famous conservationist John Muir who was born and lived in Dunbar. His appetite to see the landscape and environment from different perspectives has prompted a series of works that look to combine local contexts (physical landscape and social lives) into a collaged wall of glass on the main elevation of the building.

The collage has included images taken through Artists Walks – where we have collected stories and photographs of residents’ chosen places and objects to reflect the history and future ambitions of the community. We have set up an evolving source of images and stories through Facebook that is enabling the community to voice opinion and engage with the completed artworks. The Facebook Page can be found by searching for ‘Dunbar Points Of View’.

Peer Plaques is the outcome of a two year residency in which we researched the present and future effects of regeneration within the Housing Market Renewal (HMR) intervention areas of Burnley, East Lancashire.

The project reflects local residents’ experiences of HMR including perspectives on how the neighbourhoods have changed and might possibly change in the future as a direct consequence of the regeneration programme starting. A series of 50 heritage style plaques were installed onto abandoned terraced houses in three of Burnley’s HMR areas during February 2008. The work is based on the question asked of many residents: “What is your fi rst thought when you
think about your neighbourhood?”

Peer Plaques was a direct response to a growing sense that residents’ voices were not being heard as part of ongoing formal consultation processes – and as such expressed their ambitions and fears directly through the public artworks.

The design of the Stair Tower cladding panels has been developed in collaboration with a joint group of students and staff from
three schools who merged into the new building in September 2012. The design is an abstracted map of the World that wraps around the stair tower, showing the main outlines of the World’s land masses with major cities picked out as circles.

A finer layer of detail will show the main mountain ranges of the World and adds a further texture to the artwork. The material is an embossed (pressed) metal panel that will pick up and reflect the changing daylight and night time lighting conditions.

The map has been drawn using the Peters’ projection of the World, as this depicts each country accurately in relative size to one another unlike many other World projections such as the Mercator Projection.