Colin Slater

The Fulbridge Academy Sistine Chapel Project – The Sequel Movie……..the very end

Aug ’22

Then, 7 years later, I returned to the Fulbridge ‘Sistine Chapel’ project. It was good to see it again after such a long break, it was like meeting up with an old friend. Despite being located in a busy ‘corridor’, the walls showed no damage of any significance. However there were tell-tale signs of where furniture had been placed and a few drawn marks which were likely to have been more accidental than intentional. Some parts had become ‘grubby’ though, identifying where furniture had been placed and children had leaned, and there were occasional black kick marks above the skirting, but considering how much time had passed since completion I thought the painting had been looked after very well.

I’d been asked to repair any chips and scratches as there was a plan for the walls to be protected with plastic sheets before the new term started, so the full length of the painting was given a good scrub, the areas with damage were repaired and where blemishes couldn’t be removed I painted anew. The possibility of finding an exact match for colours after 7 years was impossible but I think I overcame this problem successfully with an improvised conservation technique. I painted over the lower portion introducing the new colours into the existing painted areas and extended the four compositions on each wall so that they gradually merged into each other.

So, as the overall appearance remains the same, why bother with a new movie? Well, the soundtrack of my previous version is now mute as, after being online for about a year, I received notice of a copyright claim for having used ‘Come Together’ by The Beatles. It seemed a very appropriate choice at the time. As I mentioned in my ‘Come Together……….2‘ blog, after having visited the site under construction and witnessed several stages of its development into a finished building, conceived 8 designs with which I eventually felt satisfied and then spent 3 months painting to bring that vision from my mind’s eye for the separate ‘Studios’ to a conclusion, I felt the whole project from bowling green to building to site-specific mural had all ‘Come Together’ very nicely.

Anyway, there are several inventive names for the different rooms at Fulbridge High inspired by song titles. The reception is referred to as ‘Hello’ (Lionel Ritchie) and there are others such as ‘Imagine’ (John Lennon), ‘Talk’ (Coldplay) and ‘Wonderwall’ (Oasis). This large and long ‘corridor’ is known as Aerosmith’s ‘Walk This Way’………..

Fulbridge Academy, Keeton Rd, Peterborough PE1 3JQ