Bury Youth Cabinet - Bury Council
The sculpture was inspired by the knife angel sculpture made from knifes donated and sized by police to highlight knife crime in the UK.
It was commissioned by Bury youth service for Bury Youth Cabinet who wanted to highlight the issue of disposable vapes with young people. They had collected over 100 vapes from schools in the area (amnesty/ donations/ confiscated) and reached out to me as they wanted the rest of the sculpture to be made of sustainable materials (willow) and learn some skills. We had 5 workshop sessions in the Town Hall including weaving, upcycling and safe tool use (drill, secateurs etc).
​The group wanted to creating a space to talk about vaping and the issues within it. All of them had never woven with willow before and it was a craft activity where they usually have talking meetings. The sculpture is going to be touring local schools and do talks about dangers of vaping as a good focal point and metaphor.
"Burning Man" for Platt Fields Market Garden Harvest & folk festival
This was a comission for a harvest and folk music event, An ode to the burning man traditions. The sculpture was placed early in the day so people could write their worries or intentions for the year down and out them into the belly of the burning man to be burnt just as the sun was about to set. We then roped off the area (for safety) and set fire to the sculpture.
It was exciting as each part fell from the main piece, esspecially when the head fell off!. I made sure there was plenty of air flow and I added some dry straw. I also added some small packets of flame colourant so it would change colour as it burned as a suprise for the spectators.
Wild Rumpus -
Willow Bats for Chester Zoo
This comission was for 40 willow bats for event at Chester zoo. The brief was to have them fully made out of willow but after a few trial bats we decided that some waterproof (outdoor) fabric would be better for the wings for both the budget, timescale and visibility of the bats. Each bat had character depending on the characteristics of the willow
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