To Meet Up two Metres Apart
Quilled paper, card and yarn
This piece represents my excitement at finally being allowed to meet up with friends again. However it also represents how awkward it can feel to stay two metres away from someone you are close to, with the two hands reaching out to one another, but separated by a yellow and black warning barrier. The hands are quilled from shredded documents. Enforced time at home during lockdown meant more time for organising, including shredding, and this was a fun way to upcycle these documents.
A Parliament of 15 Owls
Mixed media
The collective noun for a group of owls is a parliament. In 2020, more so than ever before, what I could do was dependent on what was being said in parliament. Owls are also reputed to be wise, and in 2020, the wisdom and advice of experts, was especially important. I created 15 owls for my parliament, each one is made using a different technique, and I had fun experimenting.
(The make-up of the owls in the parliament: Wall: L-R: paper waving; paper mosaic; quilling; stitching on card; “stained glass” tissue paper
Top Row L-R: decopatch on jar; pom pom; pop-up puppet; jar with chocolate and biscuit packaging for feathers
Bottom Row L-R: fabric with stitched beads; loo roll owl; crumpled tissue paper collage; air-drying clay; glass tile mosaic, yarn woven and stitched onto cardboard).
Sweet Dreams
Packaging from chocolate, biscuits and peppermint tea, cardboard, yarn
Chocolate was essential to help get me through lockdown! Crafting and creativity also helped me. This piece combines both those elements. A lot of packaging is really pretty, but normally I would just recycle it. This piece uses the cardboard packaging from three flavours of dark chocolate (mint, orange, dark) as a backgrounds, onto which I have added geometric shapes cut from other card and packaging (peppermint tea and chocolate ginger biscuits). I included coloured stitching to add texture and made butterflies from foil chocolate wrappers, to create a colourful abstract tribute to chocolate.
