On the money

Rachel and Anna from ColourMeIn Art School with two murals created by Enfield schoolchildren

Michelle Keady on how a cash machine has inspired a children’s art project

A partnership between 16 diverse primary schools across Enfield – the Excellence in Learning Community (ELC) – is working together to deliver excellence in learning across the community.

Our upcoming art project, in conjunction with not-for-profit organisation ColourMeIn Art School, celebrates Enfield and will involve more than 2,000 children. Each school is creating a mural with bank notes that the children have designed and coloured, when displayed all together will spell ‘Enfield Community’.

The murals will be displayed in a style similar to Andy Warhol’s Money Factory and will circle a sculpture of a cash machine, also decorated with more bank notes. This celebrates the significance of the first ATM in the UK being installed at a bank in Enfield Town in June 1967.

The bank notes centre around the mythological ‘beast’ creature that is often used as a logo for Enfield. The fictitious character is formed from the head of a fox, the chest of the greyhound, the body of a lion, the tail of the wolf, and the legs and talons of an eagle! Each school has been allocated one animal to use as the icon of their bank note. These creatures within the logo also have power words that each school has embraced, such as wisdom, prowess, courage, friendship and strength.

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Rachel Oxborough, artist and owner of ColourMeIn Art School, said: “Working with ELC has been such a fantastic privilege for us. Our passion is to support education by providing more creative opportunities for schools.

“This event embraces that art is not just about drawing or painting, but that art underpins our communities and businesses. Without creativity, the fabric of society will disintegrate. It all starts with education and the community. That is why this project is so important.”

The primary school children have been incredibly excited to be part of this project. Because of increasing funding restraints, schools have difficulty providing creative opportunities which are paramount to the wellbeing and learning potential of our children.

This is why we are looking for local businesses to sponsor the event. All money raised will go towards ELC and support our schools with future creative opportunities.

The Enfield Community exhibition will be displayed at the Dugdale Centre from 12pm on Sunday 30th June, until Saturday 6th July. For more information about ELC:

Email [email protected]
Visit excellenceinlearningcommunity.org.uk

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