Susan Meyerhoff Sharples returns to de-junk

"I have been working on a few pieces this year - a christening gown created from a wedding gown, an old tradition almost lost."

Newcomer to de-junk, re-junk Gill Alleyne

From Gill Alleyne:-

" I'm expecting to be further inspired by the fab artists and makers who are entering work in de-junk, re-junk, as last year was just so amazing. I'm hoping to get more confidence in creating my own artwork. I became involved because I attended one of the de-junk workshops last year ran with a grant from the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority held in the Green Community Centre and Shop in Oxton. It introduced me to a whole new way of doing things that as a science teacher I had never considered. When I was at my lowest, the world of art and textiles gave me a huge lift! And now I am half way through a foundation diploma following a Sunday afternoon workshop with de-junk and now a contributing artist to this year's exhibition"

 

Roy Lewis: Latest commission

Roy Lewis was recently commissioned to create a Bull's head by a local restaurant in Heswall, Beef Grill and Bar. He created it from exhausts, re-enforcing bars, flat sheet of metal salvaged from a friend's old cooker, a suzuki bandit brake disc, a landrover con-rod big end, some subaru gears, Ford Thunderbird bumper bolts, Yamaha RD350Lc exhausts....and the parts list goes on...

Hoping we will get something along these lines for de-junk, re-junk 2013 in the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead

LAST CHANCE

Dear Friends, colleagues and art lovers of Wirral
Last chance to view de-junk, re-junk exhibition in Birkenhead Park tomorrow (Friday) 9 til 4.30pm.

Many thanks to Wirral Council for their support and thanks to the Birkenhead Park Rangers and volunteers and our own volunteers and to you our audience who have boosted our view that this is a fabulous enterprise and worth building.






Alison

PS We are already planning "de-junk, re-junk 2013"

http://de-junkre-junk.blogspot.co.uk/

Birkenhead Park Visitors Centre, Birkenhead Park, Park Drive, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 4HY

On Twitter use #dejunk

On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/328498400566273/

On Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/abscraft/sets/72157630069013686/

Nice review from Nerve

Nerve Magazine's review

Cygnus by Lorraine Hughes

Judith RAILTON exhibits with de-junk with her ephemeral assemblages

Judith Railton  - statement for de-junk re-junk 2012

Stimulated by a recycling junk into art workshop, I use cardboard boxes with bits picked up from streets and found in charity shops. 

   

‘Tower’ –a fantasy environment that I’d like to live in.

– recycled cardboard whisky box, found objects, abandoned papers and paint                     

£50

‘Flower’ – mechanics allied to  nature.

- recycled cardboard box and papers, found objects, paint and sand 

£50 

‘Taxman’ – my fascination with travelling fairs and musicians.                                                                                        

 – recycled cardboard box and found objects, paint              

£40

Jo Smith from Hoylake

Before red and the top shows the start of the transformation

Jo is a mixed media artist and jewellery designer using both traditional and non-traditional materials.

Jo’s inspiration mainly comes from her daily walks on West Kirby beach with her beloved dogs. Her approach has evolved over time, through constant experimentation and play with mixed media. The results are a colourful and textural rendering of her emotional response to her surroundings reflecting the joy, love and awe that Jo feels through her connection to the landscape.

For the last 10 years Jo has exhibited widely across Merseyside, and her many commissions of paintings hang in homes across Europe and as far as Australia. Jo has a B.Ed Hons in Art and Design and is a practicing counsellor with a Diploma in Art Therapy skills. You can find her at Seagrass Studio Gallery by Hoylake Train Station where she is artist in residence.

Looking like Raku

 

The day of the opening

Nicola

Rachael

Today, we open our de-junk, re-junk! show to the public at 10am, with a grand opening at 11am for supporters from the council. Mr Mayor, Gerry Ellis opening us officially at 11.30am, and Sean Styles from BBC Radio Merseyside will be coming to interview me at 12.30.

I have arranged for 2 friends to model my television wire corsets. Rachel modelled for a photoshoot with photographer Mathew Kelly and make-up artist Persis Peters. The images were later used in an article in Cheshire Life about my work. Nicola modelled during a fashion show at the Williamson Art Gallery in 2011.

The show would not have been made possible without the late Jim Smith. He was put in contact with me after I met Steve Maddox, chief executive of Wirral Council at the Oxton Art Fair in 2009. Jim and Daniel Molyneux arranged to meet me in some coffee shop or other and a few meetings later they had pulled together a community art show featuring recycling with my involvement being to rope in some artists working with "rubbish". So along with my work, Wendy Williams' carrier bag rug art pieces, Vanessa Ryall's mosaics, Julie Dodd's paper pieces made from old books and a few other people, we had an exhibition in the park. The following year, we had two outings of what had by this point become "de-junk, re-junk!". The first showing was to tie in with an environmental conference run by the council at Pacific Road Arts Centre and then into Birkenhead Park Visitors Centre. This time almost 30 artists were involved and were given parts of my old kitchen and other rubbish from my house, supplemented with their own "garbage". The show was a huge success and here we are today with many of those artists back involved and a few added to it, including one jeweller from Lancashire , so we are 34 in number!

I am indebted to Jim Smith for many cups of tea and laughs as well as being occasionally infuriating. I miss him and I hope we make him proud today.

Stella Jones

Stella graduated from Liverpool Hope University with a Bachelor of design in textiles and wood, she has worked in lots of different media, including papier mache.

Her papier mache figures previously had the clothes hand stitched from remnants of material .

The figures Stella is currently making have been made using newspaper, wire and a little tissue paper. Stella wanted to show what can be achieved with the variation of colour and pattern in newspapers and a little creativity.

Brenda Sharp - My brain is a sieve

Brenda is our artist of the day for today's blog entry for one very good reason. She came to a meeting many moons ago in St James Centre in the North End that I arranged for Wirral Council staff (including the late and much missed Jim Smith) to give us information about the Empty Shop Fund, I merely hosted the opportnuity, not wanting to go for the money myself. Brenda seized the chance, finding one venue then another and finally plumping for her final location in Liscard. Today is the grand opening for PAPER SCISSORS STONE and we are all so proud of her. Representing local artists and craftspeople, Brenda Sharp's enterprise has been helped by a grant from Wirral Council through the Empty Shop Fund. She will be running workshops and exhibitions as well as selling wonderful art, craft and design from artists of Wirral, Merseyside and surroundiing area. Offering something for everyone's budget and taste.

Anyway, back to the de-junk, re-junk show and my usual format for blog posts!

 

Brenda Sharp is a photographer and multi media artist. In  "My Brain is a Sieve", she has explored  how her mind might look if translated using the discipline of multimedia art.

Brenda graduated from The University of Chester as a mature student in 2009, gaining a first in Fine Art and Photography BA (Hons). She then resumed self employment as a workshop leader and designer -maker before making the leap into opening a shop and gallery in Wallasey "Paper Scissors Stone".

Lorraine Hughes makes a dramatic entrance!

Lorraine Hughes is a Fine Art based self trained Artist with more than thirty years experience, Specialising in Art Direction, Set and Exhibition Design for TV, Film and Theatre.

Lorraine's clients include The BBC (working alongside Directors including Stephen Polliakoff and actors including Charles Dance, Miranda Richardson and Clive Owen), Pinewood studios (music videos including artworks made with recycled materials for Ruby Turner and Fashion Designer Vivienne Westwood's muse Sara Stockbridge), The Walker Art Gallery, St Georges Hall, Liverpool Town Hall, the Everyman theatre (working alongside actors Cathy Tyson and Michael Starke and 'Cranford' screenwriter Heidi Thomas), Walk The Plank, The Bluecoat Chambers Liverpool and the National Wildflower Centre in Merseyside. Creating works with an eco conscience using images sources from gritty urban decay to decadent Civic splendour.

During the past ten years Lorraine has worked mainly with young children, exploring the natural world using re-cycled materials in Grove Street primary, School New Ferry, the Eden Project Cornwall and the National Wildflower Centre in Court Hey Park Liverpool (alongside Artist Ticky Lowe).

 This work 'Cygnus'- (A floral tribute to Sir Joseph Paxton) ( A combined homage to the painting - Swans on the lake in Birkenhead Park - British school of painting/ Williamson Art Gallery ) and the garden designer and architect of Birkenhead Park Sir 'Joseph Paxton' who to his credit had decided to create "something handsome and good out of bad materials" he meant to create a beautiful landscape man made out of a derelict and marshy wasteland, a direct historical guidance from Joseph Paxton in 1843 to the aims of the de-junk - re-junk artists exhibiting in Birkenhead Park in 2012.

 Lorraine hopes that 'Cygnus' evokes an elegant, gentle contemplation of the history and beauty of the park and the need to tale 'time out' to relax and protect our natural, rich and diverse Merseyside heritage.

Diary extracts - the making of a re-cycled Art work for the De-junk Re-junk 2012 Exhibition:

    ingredients for creating 'Cygnus' :

    * 3 small plastic bottles

    * 3 large plastic bottles

    * scraps of plastic material

    * artificial polystyrene / Rafia onions

    * broken artificial foliage

    * brown paper

    * gift wrap

    * faux leather

    * discarded resin planter

    * gold leaf

    * photocopies

    * brown cardboard

    * 1 sack of shredded office waste

    * broken decorations

    * faux jewellery

    * left over masonry paint and assorted drops of fabric paint

•     In June during an intense two week period I began thinking about my contribution to the
•     De-junk, Re-junk 2012 exhibition.
•  
•     during the first week I had acquired a large amount of diverse but beautiful objects
•     (please see ingredients list ) that at first appear to easily link together by colour and texture and form.
•  
•     During the second week I spent a day walking through the beautiful Port Sunlight village and spent time looking at classical and mythological works.
•  
•     Later that week I visited the Williamson Art Gallery and walked to the boat house in Birkenhead Park and simply pondered on the tranquility and beauty of the scene and wondered about the history of
•     it's design and creation.
•  
•     I returned home and researched all that I had enjoyed and seen and realised that the garden designer and architect Joseph Paxton had provided me with the answer to 'create something handsome out of bad materials' a statement that he had made in 1843 directly created a connection to myself using re-cycled materials in 2012.
•  
•     I remembered a painting entitled Swans on the lake in Birkenhead Park - British school of painting (The Williamson Art Gallery - Birkenhead ), the sensuous 'Leda and the Swan' 1898 by Maurice Ferrary at (The Lady Lever Art Gallery - Port Sunlight),
•  
•     A painting of Anna Pavlova by Irish painter John Lavery 1911 'The Dying Swan' exhibited in 2011 at the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool.
•  
•     I had also been reminded of the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Anderson 'The Ugly Duckling' 1843 whose so called ugly duckling saw his true beauty as a swan in the lake, it seemed to me an amazing to find a link between this iconic symbol of transition to the year the park and its own Swan lake began it's transformation also 1843, a journey from derelict poor land to outstanding, inspiring
•     World class beauty.
•  
•     I looked at the raw found materials that I had collected at all the places that I had visited during this two weeks and saw that the gift wrapping paper I had kept for its foliage images also contained images
•     of swans.
•  
•     I looked up the Latin for swan and it was 'Cygnus', I thought about the grandeur of the scale and work of Joseph Paxton and immediately knew how the piece would finally look.
•  
•     The process of decay happens very quickly in life if we allow it. I have been working with found materials since the late 1970's (often guided by Artist/ Poet and friend Adrian Henri, studying the work of
•     Kurt Schwitters ), it has always seemed to me to be the ideal medium to directly consider the beauty, function and protection of our environment.
•  
•     It felt appropriate that I was making something new that was once broken as part of an exhibition in the new Birkenhead visitors centre, It felt like an appropriate tribute and acknowledgment of an amazing park and a visionary man.

Barbara Harrison

Barbara Harrison

I am a visual artist. My digital practice is strongly underpinned by the aesthetics of painting, and is informed by art history, cultural studies and sociology.

Title: Apocalypse Teatime

This no-budget, lo-fi, Pop Art style digital collage is made from low-res stock photos found on the internet. All the images are manipulated using second-hand Photoshop Elements 7.

Theme: the vintage mirror remembers the domestic dysfunction and thwarted aspirations it has witnessed throughout its rural and suburban lifetime from pre-1940s to the present day. The mirror first belonged to my father's mother and came to the Wirral when the family moved here in the fifties. The mirror has experienced at least 4 addresses and must be over 80 years old.

Marie Louise Williams has created an installation for the space

Marie Louise Williams is a full-time artist based at Wellington Road Studios in Oxton. She is passionate about the environment and sustainability and campaigns for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. 

“I create installations from recycled and reclaimed materials, paint, drawing, shadows, photography and text. Inspired by quantum physics, music and environmental concerns, my work makes tangible the invisible underlying patterns of the universe.”

Marie holds a BA in Fine Art from the Wirral School of Art and a BA in Chinese Culture, Philosophy and Russian from Durham University. She has taught art workshops to adults and children at various galleries and venues across Wirral and Merseyside since 2004.

 

'Spring Theory No. 2: inter-colour territory'

re-energised and re-composed cot-mattress and couch springs, hanging basket, reclaimed telephone and electrical wire, coffee plunger, can tops,  odds and ends wool and donated end of tin enamel paint.

 

Jo Smith from Hoylake's Seagrass Studio

JO SMITH BIO

Jo is a mixed media artist and jewellery designer using both traditional and non-traditional materials.

Jo’s inspiration mainly comes from her daily walks on West Kirby beach with her beloved dogs. Her approach has evolved over time, through constant experimentation and play with mixed media. The results are a colourful and textural rendering of her emotional response to her surroundings reflecting the joy, love and awe that Jo feels through her connection to the landscape.

For the last 10 years Jo has exhibited widely across Merseyside, and her many commissions of paintings hang in homes across Europe and as far as Australia. Jo has a B.Ed Hons in Art and Design and is a practicing counsellor with a Diploma in Art Therapy skills. You can find her at Seagrass Studio Gallery by Hoylake Train Station where she is artist in residence.

The beginings of converting a donated vase

To the end results

Inspiration, Imagination, Intuition

Seagrass

Studio Gallery

9A, The Quadrant,

Hoylake

CH47 2EE

07732 533999

www.seagrassstudio.co.uk

www.josmithart.com

Today's new images

Linda Mary Evans

Michael Walker

Beverly Glover

Beverly Glover

Barry Canning Eaton show at de-junk for the first time

Barry Canning-Eaton

A sculptor, potter, jewellery designer and maker.

Barry was born in Liverpool, brought up and live in Wirral. He started sculpting in his school days using clay.  He then became a potter for several years  making original pieces for mass production, and carrying out high quality restoration work on ceramic pieces for antique dealers.

Mostly self taught, over the years Barry has expanded his knowledge and skills in making 3D pieces using various media including steel, copper, gold, silver, other metals, concrete, and found objects.
Many of Barry’s works are created using recycled materials.

Barry was introduced to metal work when he could not find the right wedding ring for his wife. He wanted a gold ring of interlinked seahorses. So he sculpted one and cast it in gold himself.

Inspired by the experience, Barry then studied Jewellery Design for 3 years at Wirral Metropolitan College where he gained a Distinction in 2009 and won a First Prize in the "Inspired By..." in 2009, an arts and crafts competition sponsored by Liverpool Museum and V&A, with a bracelet and necklace set in the form of a spine made of ceramics and silver, inspired by Dinosaurs bones.

Barry has shown his work at ‘Transformations’ at Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead in 2009 and The Six Rooms Gallery as part of Independents Liverpool Biennial in 2010.

His future exhibitions include:
Canvas for Youth Exhibition at Mid Cheshire College, Chester Road, Hartford CW8 1LJ from 18th - 21st July 2012 where Barry will show his Spiral Staircase waterfall.

Barry accepts commissions in sculpture, ceramics and jewellery.

Julie Dodd returns for the recycling show for the 3rd year

 

Julie Dodd

Artist’s Statement

I am an installation artist and I mainly work with paper, but I also recycle other discarded materials to form installations, bringing a new life and meaning to them.

I focus a lot of my attention on environmental issues and use my art practice as a platform to reflect my concerns of our consumption and environmental responsibility.

My artwork is based on repetition and is inspired by pattern and shape found in nature.

I work in multiples, which I use to mimic life, growth and regeneration. The processes involved in making my work are as important if not more important sometimes than the finished product. I work methodically and laboriously with mundane processes in order to produce a satisfying result.

 

Invasive Ivy

English Ivy (Hedera helix) is a species of native ivy which is a versatile plant, being able to cover significant ground and able to climb as well. It grows well in the shade and is ideal for covering barren areas under trees, it crowds out weeds, helps with ground erosion, climbs and cascades walls.  And with its evergreen foliage it’s a great ornamental plant which provides rich nectar for insects and fruit for birds.
But it is considered an invasive weed in parts of Australia and the United States. Due to human introduction as an ornamental plant it has widely spread, invading forests, salt marshes, woodlands and fields. Growing at ground level as well as reaching up into the forest canopy, it suppresses native vegetation engulfing everything and preventing light reaching the other plant life.

Works coming in for de-junk - featuring Jacqui Chapman

Jacqui Chapman

B.A. (Hons) Fine Art

My work explores the relationship in us between identity and territory and demonstrates that they are integral to what we are. As an immigrant from South Africa I am interested in the idea of homeland, living in exile and national identity as influenced by landscapes and as told in close up histories, in literature, philosophy and art, while investigating my own foundations where contradictions of transience and permanence exist.

In this work, Requiem, I remember my friend. She was only 42 when she died. Our daughters were best friends age 7. It is about our last walk up Moel Famau for a windy picnic before she became ill.

Reclaimed floorboards from a demolished girl’s school in Wallasey, having had their own history, form the implacable box, in contrast with the fragile book I made from a drawing /painting  I worked on during the year she was in hospital.  

Printed: Ink -jet on Lokta paper 1/1

Having had a successful career in advertising for 13 years as a senior Art director, I retrained in England and qualified in 2006 with a first class B.A. (Hons) Fine Art Degree from Wirral Metropolitan College, (validated by Liverpool JMU) followed by a Fellowship in 2007. My work is exhibited widely in the North West of England, nationally and internationally, most recently in the Florence Biennial 2011.

For more information please visit my website or contact me should you be interested in a commission or to view other collections of my work.

website: www.jacquichapman.com

email:  jacqui@jacquichapman.com

de-junk, re-junk! prepares for 2012 outing in July