“The Faculty of Education Sciences’ move to our Sant Cugat Campus, a year ago now, led to a plan to renew our academic project to respond to current needs in education,” explained Esther Jiménez, dean of the Faculty. “And in order to give the new facilities an identity of their own, the idea came up to create a work of art that reflects our distinguishing traits.” The result of this is Iris, a wooden painted MDF sculpture that enhances art, creation and innovation, in dialogue with the surrounding space through light and colour and contributing reflective elements.

The artist chosen to carry out the initiative is Tom Carr, who has achieved national and international prestige in the field of sculpture and the visual arts. In the words of the artist himself, “Iris welcomes us at the entrance of the Faculty of Education Sciences. It is a large circular ring made up of 24 pieces that are anchored to the wall. They were all cut by hand, in clear and dynamic curved shapes, and painted with vivid colours that talk about the future, about growth, flexibility and adaptation, attitudes that are very necessary in order to learn. Also the small variations in distance between some pieces remind us of the balance that is required between preserving individuality and combining everything in a harmonic whole by bringing together all the different elements,” said Carr.

Tom Carr

Tarragona, 1956. A contemporary artist particularly involved in the creation of public works of art, Tom Carr is a plastic arts lecturer on the English track for third year students at the UIC Barcelona Faculty of Education Sciences. He also teaches at Massana Art School in Barcelona, and the School of Visual Arts in New York.