Creative Expressions in Libraries: Loughborough Library Eye-Spy Wall Art
In our third year of NPO activity we are excited to be working in Loughborough Library.
For our first project, the Loughborough Library Working Group considered various factors, including the full reopening of the children’s library following extensive refurbishment, and decided to start the year with an exciting wall art project. This innovative project embedded ‘eye-spy’ elements into the art to create an interactive element and incorporated a live installation so that the community could see the art come to life.
During June 2025, we visited four Loughborough primary schools to find out what local children thought we should include, including suggesting themes, hidden objects and eye-spy top tips. We then recruited artist Jessi Illustrates to make the children’s ideas come to life!
For six days in September 2025, Jessi created the eye-spy wall, based on the suggestions made by local children. We spoke to nearly 300 children and adults during the installation and held four class workshops with Rendell Primary School.
At our launch, over 80 children and their family members tested out the new eye-spy wall using the worksheets designed by Jessi, and made magnifying glasses to help them find all of the different elements hidden within the mural. In the afternoon we were then treated to a talk by Jessi including behind the scenes on this project, routes into careers as an artist, her own career progression so far and a chance to ask questions.
Coming up we will be holding more workshops to celebrate the eye-spy wall including half term events for children, another talk for students, and an early years workshop.
BACKGROUND
Consultation with children
1,020 primary aged children across 4 primary school within Loughborough were consulted on what they thought the artwork should be like. The children offered their suggestions on:
- What they liked and disliked about eye-spy books
- Potential themes for the artwork
- Elements that the artist could hide
- What objects from Charnwood Museum could be incorporated
- How the artist can hide elements within the art
Finally, the children created their own piece of eye-spy art. Some pieces will be used to create an exhibition to celebrate the launch of the completed artwork.
44 themes in total were identified by the children. The top four suggestions, in order of number of times proposed, were:
- Nature
- Stories coming out of books
- Animals
- Magic
Results: Eye-spy elements
59 suggestions were made, with additional elements found within the later drawings. The elements that were suggested were within the same subjects as the themes that were most put forward: Nature and Animals.
Results: Museum Artefacts
Children voted on which museum artefacts they felt should be included in the artwork. The vote was very close, however animals followed by fossils had the most votes. These objects again tie in well with the chosen theme.
The full report of our consultation with the children can be found here: Schools evaluation report
Creative Practitioner and Next Steps
Having established a clear direction for the eye-spy wall art, our next step was to find a creative practitioner to bring the children’s ideas to life. After an extensive recruitment process*, the library working group appointed Jessi Illustrates to design and create our wall art. A location for the artwork was decided within the children’s library and after a few sketches that were revised together, the final design was signed off ready for the September installation.
*Having had many fabulous applications, we decided that arts co-op Paper Rhino had so many skills and so much experience that would be fabulous for an art project aimed at teens and young people so… Coming soon: Wall art project number two, this time with embedded Augmented Reality aspects!
Community Participation Workers within the Culture Leicestershire team manage the work of Creative Practitioners, providing support, direction, and advice. Stephanie Strange is the Community Participation Worker managing this project. Please email or call with any informal enquiries: stephanie.strange@leics.gov.uk 0116 3058760.