John Atkin

Atkin was commissioned by The Friends of the New Walk to consider ways by which a public sculpture could commemorate the legacy of the British Shoe Industry within the county of Leicestershire and its impact worldwide. The friends were keen from the outset to commission an enduring sculpture that related to the industry but was not narrative of its craft. To this end, Adkin produced a series of drawings and maquettes of studies relating to boot patterns. His research took in museum archive collections as well as study visits at Equity Shoes.

From this research, Atkin developed a range of ideas based on tile elegant formal compositional elements of each boot pattern and how these templates could be articulated in a way to suggest the human form.

At the same time, Atkin was fascinated by tile references made to people through tools and procedures for makiing1shoes and boots. Out of this interest was born the title of tile artwork, The Clicker.