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 Life-size sculpture of a postman made from junk mail I was asked recently to create a sculpture from junk mail for a BBC1 programme entitled ‘That’s Britain’. The production company, Wall to Wall, delivered the junkmail (nearly 800 pieces, collected over 3 weeks by 20 households in Stoke Newington, London) to my studio and I created this sculpture of a postman. I sorted the mail into different colour types to get the blue of the shirt, red for the bag, brown for the hair, black for the shorts/shoes, and mainly white for the skin. The idea of the project is to highlight the quantity of paper wasted through unsolicited advertisements being pushed through people’s letterboxes. To find out more about how to stop junkmail, visit Stop Junk Mail, a not-for-profit junk mail advice service. Their website provides free, independent, and objective information about stopping unsolicited mail.
I’ve been creating a sculpture out of junkmail for a feature on a new BBC1 programme called ‘That’s Britain’ which starts next Wednesday (23rd November). It’s on from 8pm to 9pm, and is a show about the things in modern Britain that drive us all mad. More info here: That’s Britain
E17 Art Trail is now up and running and I’m taking advantage of our show not being until next weekend to explore the trail now. Press night was Thursday – an impressive start to the trail for me was in the garden of Hayward House, where the grounds were the perfect setting for Owen Bullett’s sculptures (www.owenbullett.com) and Adrian Anderson’s photograph’s (www.whitewall.com/adriananderson). Next stop was the Makers Yard (www.themakersyard.weebly.com) on Shernhall Street, a yard space which has been transformed over the past 6 months by three artists, into a tranquil and beautiful space, with studios and a wood workshop. A particular favourite of mine was an installation by Danielle Michalitsianos, which featured silhouettes of pigeons dancing in the wind in a stack of cages. I was also really intrigued by Russell Lowry’s workshop (particularly the tools!) – I liked his use of found materials such as corks and twigs, and his handiwork was evident in birdboxes, tables and all manner of things around the yard.
Then on into Walthamstow village, where we popped into Penny Fielding’s Beautiful Interiors shop which was bustling with people drinking wine, and the Queen’s Arms to have a look at Kitty Brown’s photographs (www.kittybrownphotography.co.uk). Then finished off at the Rose and Crown on Hoe Street, where there is lots to see.
A busy first night – nice to meet more local artists and discover some new spaces. Today I think I’ll start off by heading down to the Hornbeam Centre and Forest Recycling Project…
Blackhorse Lane Studios are having our annual open studios and silent auction. For one weekend we are opening our studios to the public – September 10th and 11th from 12 til 6pm. On the night before, Friday Sep 9th 6pm til 9pm, the private view will have live music.
The Silent Auction, running throughout the weekend and online at http://www.artworksproject.com/ from 7th September, is a sealed bid sale of works hung throughout the studio’s corridors.
In addition to the Open Studios and Silent Auction we have more going on: the ArtWorks Open exhibition will be in the project space, and members of ‘Forest Poets’ will be performing poetry readings on Saturday Sep 10th between 1:00pm and 3:30pm. For children there will be an Art Quiz (with prizes donated by Jackson’s Art Supplies) to encourage younger visitors to explore the studios and look more closely at the artists’ work.
We are part of the popular week-long arts festival the E17 Art Trail. Nearby venues also exhibiting over the weekend include Inky Cuttlefish Studios, Tokarska Gallery and The Mill. For more information about the trail visit http://www.e17arttrail.co.uk
Blackhorse Lane Studios are only 15 minutes from the West End by London Underground or Overground.
The address is 114 Blackhorse Lane, Walthamstow, London, E17 6AA. The nearest tube station is Blackhorse Road on the Victoria Line and Overground.
 Invite to open studios at Blackhorse Lane, Walthamstow
I’m just back from Birmingham, where I had a stand at the Recycling and Waste Management exhibition. I took along some of my sculptures and worked on a new sculpture over the three days I was there. This was one of two portrait sculptures I’m making of Oriana and Ozby, aged 10 and 4 respectively. I used waste materials donated by the children, along with some coffee cups and other materials collected at the exhibition. Oriana’s hair is made from a Beano magazine, and the paper I used for her skin has a lot of her own handwriting on it. Other materials included scrap wood/furniture for the armature, plus tin/aluminium cans, plastic bottles and cardboard food packaging.
The response at RWM was fantastic, people were inspired to see something creative and innovative being done with waste materials, in the midst of an exhibition which featured a lot of machinery for sorting and compacting materials. I met some really interesting and friendly people, from organisations such as Freegle, Childrens’ Scrapstore and Green World Recycling.
 Work in progress on portrait sculptures at RWM  Recycled portrait sculpture, made at RWM 2010
On Tuesday I’m heading for Birmingham NEC to take part in RWM 2010 (Recycling and Waste Management exhibition). I’ll be taking some of my recycled sculptures with me and creating two new pieces live on site during the three-day event. The new sculptures will be portraits of two children who live near my studio in Walthamstow – 10-year-old Oriana and 4-year-old Ozby. I’ve photographed and measured them and will build the armatures in advance of the show. They are contributing lots of waste materials for me to use, and I’ll collect more at the event – coffee cups and sweet wrappers will be plentiful!
The show runs from 14th to 16th September.
Blackhorse Lane Open Studios in London is staging ‘Art in the Corridor’ this September – a three day event when over 30 international artists open their private studios to the public. Featuring painting, sculpture, installation, ceramics, animation, photography and book arts, the annual exhibition at the studios in Blackhorse Lane is free and open to everyone from Friday 3 September, 12 til 6pm.
The Open Studios event is timed to run alongside Walthamstow’s E17 Art Trail, run by artists every September. I’m exhibiting at two venues this year. I’ll have two sculptures at the Hornbeam Centre and will be opening my studio for the open studios, where I’ll be working on current projects and have sculptures in various stages of completion. You can pick up an Art Trail guide at any participating venue, or download one from the website here: http://www.e17arttrail.co.uk/
Barbican Arts Group Trust Director Mark Wainwright says: “This is your chance to meet artists in their work environments, get insights into how and what they create, and even take home a work of art. Engage in one of the most exciting aspects of contemporary art by discussing art with the artists themselves. Stop by and enjoy, be inspired and perhaps challenged at this friendly, relaxed event.”
Mark added: “It is also a good opportunity to purchase original works at pre-gallery prices! Visitors will have the chance to buy an artwork by a Blackhorse Lane artist at a low price in Art In The Corridor, with 15% going to the Barbican Arts Group Trust for the ArtWorks Public Programme. A week before the event photos and details of the £40+ sale will be available on the Blackhorse Lane website.”
To find out more visit www.artworksproject.com.
 Dandelion clock sculpture in progress  Making dandelion clock sculpture in the park At Art & Seek on Sunday I took along some small sculptures and work in progress, and spent the day working on this dandelion clock sculpture. The head is a sputnik-style lamp fitting that I found, and the seed heads are made from aluminium drinks cans.
There was a steady flow of interested visitors and lots going on all around the park – food, sculpture, performance, drawing, banner-making, craft stalls…. People picked up maps and followed the trail, some answering the quiz questions to win a prize. General response from the public was really good. It got people exploring different areas of the park and cemetery and being delighted and surprised by what they discovered – installations, projects, performances, stalls, people working happily and intently on interesting, beautiful and sustainable things. There was even banana and chocolate pizza being cooked in a pizza oven!
On August 1st I’m taking part in Art & Seek – an event in Stoke Newington’s parks curated by Pangolin’s Ark. Hackney artists are setting up installations, music, interactive sculptures, solar powered film, recycled craft stalls and hands on workshops, and will be there from 12 until 7pm to talk to passers by about their work and developing creative practice along more sustainable lines. The day will be packed with art, music, stalls, talks and workshops – all hidden throughout Clissold and Abney Park. Use the map (which you can collect from the start point in Clissold Park on Sunday, and at local venues such as Stoke Newington Library, Fresh & Wild Whole Foods Shop and Abney Park Trust office), to help you find all the artists. Why not come along and join us for a day of creative and sustainable fun…
Hope to see you there!
 Two recycled penguins I’ve been making penguins from random bits and pieces. Mostly empty paint tubs courtesy of Forest Recycling Project (via East London Community RePaint), but also tennis racquets, a kettle, light fittings, plastic bottles and coathangers and lots of other objects from reclamation yards and charity shops.
I made six in my studio with the help of Alice Power, a fellow artist, and am running penguin-making workshops in a yurt at London Zoo. Some children made four new penguins to add to the expanding colony this weekend, and we’ll be making more from the 18th to the 22nd of December. I’m aiming for at least 20.
I’m also busy making a lifesize recycled camel out of old bits of furniture. It will be taken to the zoo in the next few days, where alongside the penguin-making I’ll be cladding it with hessian coffee sacks, also supplied by Forest Recycling Project.
From the 18th to the 22nd children can also make animal headdresses and masks to join in an animal parade which is part of London Zoo’s Christmas Carnival.
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