Castletown Primary School

I was pleased to be selected as one of seven artists to design 12 small panels for the interior corridors of the new school. I was keen to provide images which would remain intriguing over a period of time, and extend a visual challenge to the children, whose visual sophistication should not be underestimated.

I have incorporated into the windows two poems by Northumberland-based poet, Katrina Porteous.I have chosen her work, not solely for its enjoyment, but also because we are contemporaries and we both live and work beside the sea.The poems deal with subjects that are relevant to the area, and one with which the children will be familiar.

The addition of the written word in the design is important because I want to tie the work to the region and demonstrate the relationship between literature and the visual image. I also hope to introduce a lasting link between local writers and the school. Additionally, there is a link between the Year of Literature in Swansea in 1995 and the Year of the Visual Image in NorthEast England in 1996.

My intention was not to illustrate the poems directly, but to provide images which complement each set of lines. I used photographic images which, when translated into glass, can be interpreted either abstractly or literally.

The first set of six windows includes a poem called Wrecked Creaves and uses images of lobster pots and fishing equipment. The second set includes the poem The Sea Inside Us and uses images of the sea and coast.

Commissioner: Libraries & Arts, City of Sunderland

Address: Grange Road, Castletown, Sunderland

Commissioning Agent: Arts Resource, Sunderland