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Date: 2017 - 2022

Location: Bristol, UK

Project: Public Art Commission

Partners: Arcadis, Bristol City Council, Department of Education (DfE), The Education Skills and Funding Agency (ESFA), Galliford Try, Hyland Edgar Driver (HED), Scott Brownrigg Architects

Artists: Marcus Jefferies + Colin Higginson

We are delighted to present Spike Island artists, Jefferies + Higginson, who developed ten integrated site-specific works for a large-scale capital works project – Merchants and Venturers’ Academy in Withywood. The considerable project incorporates two schools on the one site, including an Autistic Condition Spectrum (ASC) School, Venturers’ Academy. Commissioned as part of a series of permanent contemporary art commissions for primary schools in Bristol; the most significant programme of commissioning art for educational contexts in the country. PONY devised a public art masterplan for the significant site and worked closely with the artists and multiple project partners to ensure the vision, principles and objectives contributed to a sense of identity, imagination, community and civic legibility.

Shape of Play incorporates a series of ten inter-related permanent public artworks and treatments into the design of the school’s extensive hard and soft landscape within the front and rear exterior spaces to encourage play led learning. A pedagogy theme introduces a repeating pattern of rhizomes and abstract forms at the entrance and façade, throughout surfaces and finishes, in addition to sculptural works in the soft landscape. The artists developed an environment to inspire a sense of wonder and exploration that is visually stimulating with tactile elements including multi-sensory interventions which possess a strong sense of design consistency. 

Marcus Jefferies and Colin Higginson have been collaborating on a regular basis since 2011, with joint exhibitions and projects including those at Plymouth Contemporary and Arnolfini. The built environment often forms a backdrop to their work, where new narratives are made through the exploration of site, scale and memory. Marcus Jefferies and Colin Higginson are both based at Spike Island.

We successfully negotiated a 3% spend of total build budget and developed a Public Art Masterplan Strategy incorporating ten integrated artworks throughout the scheme. The £13,800,000 development was funded by The Education and Skills Funding Agency and The Department of Education.

With special thanks to Steve Allpress, The Venturers Trust and Trystan Williams.