Client: Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta
Year: 2014 – 2015
“Expanding beyond what we know we can be” are the words of American pop artist Sister Corita Kent. Virginia Reid collaborated with curator and former art teacher Sister Rosemary Crumlin, and both were inspired by this significant female artist, with the text coming from an original Corita artwork gifted to Rosemary by a US theologian and playwright who knew Corita.
PublicArt Works prepared the Public Art Plan and subsequently to commission and project manage an external artwork for the new multipurpose hall at Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta. The Ailsa Mackinnon Centre, designed by Stanton Dahl Architects, features the artwork of NSW artist Virginia Reid.
The Ailsa Mackinnon Centre is prominently located on Victoria Road, opposite of St Patrick’s Cathedral and Parramatta Eels football stadium. A public art committee drove the process, with public art opportunities identified in the plan for the short, medium and long term.
The school’s Mercy Tree is depicted as a Parramatta mangrove – symbolizing the growth of young minds, the nurturing of ideas, and the symbiotic interconnectedness of mother nature’s nursery – further embodying the Mercy Values of the school.
