Lock Down — Community Public Art Sculpture

Corten & Stainless Steel Community Sculpture

Corten steel and stainless steel
Commissioned for Pembroke Secondary School
Participatory public art and student engagement project

Lock Down is a permanent sculpture created for Pembroke Secondary School as a reflection on the experiences of young people during the COVID-19 pandemic and periods of lockdown.

At the centre of the work is the figure of a seated boy, formed from hundreds of individual Corten steel butterflies. Around him, stainless steel butterflies appear to break away from the figure, carrying words, drawings and imagery contributed by students as they reflected on their own experiences of an extraordinary period in their lives.

The sculpture brings those individual voices together within a single artwork, creating both a record of a particular moment in history and a wider reflection on isolation, change, resilience and emerging from confinement.

From individual experiences to a collective artwork

The butterfly became an important visual element within the sculpture because of its associations with change, transformation and freedom.

Rather than constructing the figure as a solid form, hundreds of separate butterflies combine to suggest the human body. Viewed from a distance they become one figure; closer inspection reveals the individual elements from which it is made.

That relationship between the individual and the collective is central to the work. Each student's experience of lockdown was personal, yet together those experiences formed part of something shared by an entire generation.

The stainless steel butterflies surrounding the figure extend this idea further. Their contrasting reflective surfaces create the impression of movement away from the darker Corten form, suggesting release, possibility and transition.

Student voices embedded within the sculpture

Community participation was an integral part of the commission rather than an addition to the finished artwork.

Students were invited to respond to their experiences through words and imagery, which were subsequently incorporated into the stainless steel butterflies surrounding the figure.

This allowed the finished sculpture to retain authentic contributions from the people whose story it represents.

For me, participatory public art works most effectively when engagement genuinely informs the artwork. Workshops, drawings, writing and conversations can provide the material from which a final sculpture develops, giving participants a meaningful connection with the finished piece without compromising its visual identity as a permanent artwork.

Materials, contrast and changing surfaces

The sculpture combines Corten steel and stainless steel, using the different characteristics of the two materials as part of the composition.

The warm, weathered Corten gives the central figure a strong and grounded presence, while the brighter stainless steel butterflies respond to changing light and movement around the sculpture.

The contrast allows the surrounding butterflies to appear visually lighter and more animated, reinforcing the sense that they are moving beyond the central figure.

Both materials are particularly well suited to permanent exterior sculpture and allow the artwork to develop a strong relationship with its architectural surroundings.

Bespoke public art through community engagement

Lock Down demonstrates how a permanent sculpture can be developed around the experiences, history or identity of a particular community.

I work with schools, universities, healthcare organisations, charities, local authorities, developers and businesses to create site-specific sculpture informed by consultation and creative engagement.

Projects can include practical workshops, drawing and design activities, written responses or community consultation, with selected ideas subsequently translated into metal and incorporated into the finished artwork.

This approach can be particularly effective for:

school and university commissions · healthcare environments · regeneration and placemaking projects · memorial and remembrance sculpture · corporate community projects · public-realm commissions · anniversary and heritage projects

Each project is developed specifically for its location and participants rather than adapting an existing sculpture to fit.

Commissioning a community sculpture

A project can begin with a broad theme, an important event, the history of a site or simply a desire to involve the people who use a particular place.

From there, I can develop the artistic concept alongside an appropriate programme of engagement before designing and fabricating the permanent sculpture at my studio.

To discuss a public art, education or community-engagement sculpture commission, please contact James Sutton Sculpture.