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

 

Linda Mary Evans _ Treescape

 

Linda Mary Evans
BA(Hons) Fine
Wirral based Contemporary Landscape artist.

Trees have always fascinated me, they are very much part of the landscape but they are incredibly complicated. So I have tried to simplify them, to allow for greater interpretation and imagination.

Tree-scape
This work was inspired by a piece of beech wood given to me by Liverpool wood turner Mike Rule.
I was intrigued by the natural images within the wood and wanted to evoke an impression of the landscape from which it came.

Tree-scape
Acrylic on re-used canvas
£150
 

Damon Revans-Turner's desk

in the construction from floorboards

floorboards found in a skip on Wellington Road

“I’m what some call a joiner, others a chippy or carpenter, I prefer Cabinet Maker, not because it sounds posh but because that’s what I do,  I make furniture.When I say “make furniture” it doesn’t quite do it justice, what I should say is “I love to make things out of wood” and if that wood has been thrown out, and is free, even better!

I didn’t set out to be a furniture maker, just kind of walked into it naturally, and I’m so glad I did.

Didn’t achieve much at school, owing to being a hopeless dyslexic with a creative imagination that wasn’t nurchard or channelled correctly, but always loved art and drawing and design.

So one morning in my late teens I was asked to help move some old furniture by a friend, from an old barn in Cheshire, and that was the beginning of my walk with wood.”

The end results!

I am a desk, made with love, for those to sit at and write above, on leather seen now colored green while you look at your silver screen.

I'm made of wood were once there stood so many feet above the street, from childhood fears and lovers tears , Ive held them all through out these years.

And songs I’ve heard from choirs too , from hyme's and prayers with windows blue and red all seen, please write on green, a lovers note that is unseen.

You see, I'm made from bits of wood, with stories to tell, and if you would, consider a while, as you watch me smile, please sit and rest, for now



"I'm a Desk" 
£1200

Marie Louise WIlliams of Wellington Road Studios

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

“I create installations from recycled & reclaimed materials, paint, drawing, shadows, photography & text. Inspired by quantum physics, music & 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 & a BA in Chinese Culture, Philosophy & Russian from Durham University. She has taught art workshops to adults & children across Merseyside since 2004.

'Spring Theory No. 2:
inter-colour territory'
re-energised & re-composed cot-mattress & couch springs, hanging basket, reclaimed telephone and electrical wire, coffee plunger, can tops,  odds & ends wool and donated end of tin enamel paint.   Price on Application

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.

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.

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

Roy Lewis returns with his Mech'art

 

ROY LEWIS MECH’ART

Roy has been making functional decorative items for over 20 years, and is in the process of making the transition from the creation of his candlesticks and sundials being a purely hobby to a business . Roy recycles old worn out car, motorcycle or any machine type parts. No one piece is the same as another, he can either make something similar or bespoke to your own personal taste.

He specialises in candle holders but has made a few sundials and flowers made of stainless steel cutlery that can be placed outside without the fear of corrosion.

Roy has also given technical assistance to other artists with his fabrication and welding experience.

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