Kate Aimson, the Community Liaison for Galliford Try, has worked with the children and staff at St Mary’s School to design a mural for the new healthcare centre.

School Art with Kate Aimson

Report and photo from Victoria Stapleton

We are now coming to the end of the new hospital project and as part of this, St Mary's School is contributing by designing a collaborative mural for one of the walls.

Kate Aimson, the Community Liaison for Galliford Try, is also an established artist who shows work at the Green Man Gallery in Buxton, Derbyshire, UK. Her textile work is made up of hundreds of tiny hexagons, and each piece tells a story or represents a memory or concept.

She has worked with the children and staff at St Mary's over the last month to design the hospital mural. The concept is that all the pupils will create their own piece that will all tessellate together into one, cohesive piece.

Potato printing with Calvin, Katy, Deanna and Amber. Kate showing Class 2 printing patterns.
Potato printing with Calvin, Katy, Deanna and Amber. Kate showing Class 2 printing patterns.

Kate started by introducing the children to her hexagonal textile work and hexagonal stitch diary. The children really enjoyed seeing her work and asking questions about how and why she had created it. She also talked about her inspiration and where the ideas for each piece came from.

Next, Kate worked on developing the children's understanding of pattern by using potato prints. She showed them how patterns can be formed in rows, columns, half drops and others. The children started by copying patterns and then experimented with their own ideas. Some patterns made pictures like flowers and others were geometric.

The following week the children started planning their own patterns. Some used Kate's textile hexagons to create a pattern and then transferred their design onto special isometric paper. Some children worked directly on the isometric paper using designs from their imaginations.

Kate showing her Tristan stitch journal. Kate, Aiden, Lucas and Connor with their patterns.
Kate showing her Tristan stitch journal. Kate, Aiden, Lucas and Connor with their patterns.

Now that the children have all completed a final pattern, Kate is transferring this to fibre glass wallpaper that will then be pasted to the wall as a permanent display. When the hospital is opened, there will now be a mural which every school child on Tristan will have contributed to for the whole community to enjoy.