Refuge

Commissioned by the Ellesmere Sculpture Initiative to mark the centenary and commemorate the achievements of Eglantyne Jebb and her role in founding the charity Save the Children.

The sculpture marks the centenary and commemorates the achievements of Eglantyne Jebb and her role in founding the charity Save the Children.

One of the requirements within the brief was to create a piece that would last 100 years, initially after reading this I dismissed the brief because I felt this was an almost impossible task to achieve within the given budget. After deciding I was not going to respond to the brief I found myself unable to stop thinking about how I could meet a 100 year requirement whilst not compromising the artistic content and the achievements of Eglanytne Jebb.

What evolved in my head was this idea of a child under an almost chanty like shelter confined to a small space, I was also thinking of children’s toys of the period dolls, doll houses and the child as a wooden puppet. I also wanted the figure to be part of the structure and so be slightly invisible very much like the homeless people living in our towns and cities today.