The Art of Reading

In 2018 a huge temporary public artwork was created by more than 400 children from Milton Road Primary School in North Cambridge, working with artists Patsy Rathbone and Jo Tunmer. The Art of Reading  transformed a 50 metre stretch of builders’ hoardings around the site of the new Milton Road Library whilst it was under construction. The panels were taken down in April 2019 and gifted to the school to enhance their corridors. Elements of the design are also now incorporated into the new library, opened in June 2019.

The display was the end result of a community art project called The Art of Reading  and was produced by a group of volunteers led by Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination director and local resident Ruth Sapsed, a member of the Friends of Milton Road Library, working in collaboration with community activist Ysanne Austin, artist Jo Tunmer and producer Nicky Webb. 

Every child in the school took part in a day’s activities exploring the joy of reading, talking about and drawing their favourite reading places and reading companions. The finished artwork featured reading in all sorts of fantastical places and in all sorts of situations: on the moon, on top of a volcano, in a dinosaur’s mouth, on a reading train. Hundreds of enchanting details were included and explored by passers-by. 

With special thanks to Patsy Rathbone and Jo Tunmer.

The project was made possible with support from Cambridge City Council, Coulson (the developers), a group of local trusts and businesses and more than 70 individuals who contributed via a Crowdfunding campaign.