Recycling is all the rage in our modern society so The Textile Directory (www.thetextiledirectory.com) has done some research into a few artists who create artwork from plastic bags, to show you what can be done with our rubbish!
One such artist is Anna Roebuck, from Bags2Riches, who makes jewellery from recycled plastic bags. Anna told me, “I have always worked with recycled and found objects ever since college. They encouraged us to use less traditional materials and this has had a big influence in my work.” Anna’s original intention was to make bags from recycled carrier bags, but she then developed this to jewellery and lighting, which is now the focus of her work. She enjoys holding workshops for schools, guilds and groups so if you would like to book her for your event please visit www.bags2riches.co.uk for more information.
Another artist who has incorporated plastic bags in their work is Carla Mines, a member of Wessex Textile Artists. Carla’s work aims to demonstrate the damaging nature of plastic bags and the dioxins that incinerating them produces. She says, “These dioxins are invisible to the eye and I believe that it is the artists job to make the invisible visible.”
Carla makes cards using images from her artwork, rather than selling the actual pieces. She says, “I think plastic as a material is quite ugly so I can’t imagine people wanting the pieces on their wall!” One piece that Carla has produced was made from plastic bags melted together, which she titled ‘More’, representing the notion of ‘how much more can we take?’ Carla is also exhibiting some of her recycled artworks at an exhibition at Nature in Art Museum, Walsworth Hall, Twigworth in August this year for those of you who would like to see her work.
There are lots more examples of fabulous work that has been produced entirely from plastic bags, which you can have a browse through at http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/08/plastic_bag_crafts.html. Everybody in The Textile Directory offices was particularly impressed by the raincoat!
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