OREANDA-NEWS. SSE has been helping take art from the classroom to the community thanks to a new six foot high art wall.

The idea came from Sam Butter, art  teacher at Melksham Oak Community College in Wilts, who started the construction project of a free standing art wall. 

The six foot high, 12 foot wide wall curved painting canvas is illuminated through the evening. 

Supported by the head teacher; Steve Clark, a location was decided and Sam set to work finding members of the local community with the skills to help her.

SSE employees assisted in the whole build, from digging the initial foundations to installing the lighting and helped ensure the wall could take shape.

Sam Butter said: “A lot of people helped make this project possible. So a special thanks to Pete Lythall of SSE, who helped with the logistics,  James Mulhall, for rendering to a smooth finish and Malcom of 1st Choice Skip Hire for taking all the rubbish away at the end. 

“I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the community, giving up time, materials and skills to help our students flourish. Not only do we have this fantastic canvas to work on, our students can benefit from working alongside local artist to produce fabulous artwork.”

For the first art installation, Richard Salter, finalist in the BBC’s Big Painting Challenge 2015, worked alongside Sophie Haynes, a Melksham Oak Student. They created a response to ‘Making mighty things happen.’ The wall can be just painted over when restarted.