DURHAM — Kyle Downs grew up on the outskirts of Brunswick, branching out after high school to the School of Visual Arts in New York.

All of the steps in between were inspiration for his latest sculpture titled “Currents,” installed on a wall at the Durham Community School.

From a collage of sculpted exotic hardwood at the center, paths branch out to other installations, connected by jagged paths that span an entire wall inside the school.

Downs, 28, said the piece is a reflection on the movement of Durham students to neighboring communities, “how they spread their native population outward,” Downs said.

“I wanted to have a piece that would exemplify the idea that the school isn’t just in the middle of nowhere and it’s something that can grow,” Downs said.

The project is a part of the state’s Percent for Art program, which requires that at least 1 percent of the budget for new public buildings goes toward the creation or acquisition of artwork. Downs’ project — “definitely the biggest project I’ve done,” he said — is the last of three installations by different artists at the school that opened in the fall of 2010.

“It’s a touch of abstract art and it’s a good talking point,” Durham Community School Principal Will Pidden said Monday.

The way the sculpture reaches out from its central elements emulates the “way children move forward with their schooling and beyond,” Pidden said, “ and I think there are a number of positive aspects to it.”

For his first Percent for Art project, Downs said he faced some challenges working in a form in which the vision for a piece is often generated alongside the piece itself.

“I tend to stray away from the original idea, and it was nice to have these boundaries that I couldn’t really breach,” Downs said.

With the eight-month project completed, Downs said he now has time to take those other paths with his work, playing with scraps of the purpleheart, yellowheart, jatoba, zebrawoo and birdseye maple that he used in the project.

“I have some ideas that were fueled by working on this installation,” Downs said.

Downs works in a Fort Andross studio, in space adjacent to that of Bowdoin College professor and sculptor John Bisbee. Downs is also the visual arts technician at the college, where he has worked for five years.

On Thursday, Downs said the formal opening of his installation at Durham Community School will be a chance for community members and anyone interested in the project to stop in for what he said will be a “celebration” of the work.

That event will run from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at the school, at 654 Hallowell Road.

dfishell@timesrecord.com