click here to download a 'Word' version of the teacher notes for this exhibition.

26th April - 28th May 2004

Urban Strawberry Lunch helped to launch Detritus in great style. They create their own musical instruments out of a variety of detritus making wonderful music which captivated the imagination of all visitors. More........

Tony Evans

Vital metal animals,straining to spring.

My work is based on animals in motion. I sketch from life, take my own photographs and research from animal reference books. The pieces range in scale from small scale for limited edition bronze castings to large life size
animals. My aim is to emphasise the movement and convey an impression of the vitality of the animal. The metal is burned, cut, twisted and braised and this results in an overallv harmonious blend of natural colours.
Most of the work is in copper, steel or bronze. The work progresses from sketchbook to ceramic maquette or wire model. The wire is a three dimensional drawing in mid-air and I then create an actual size working drawing.
The importance of drawing from life is shown in the amount of movement and accuracy of line when drawing in the field. When seen in retrospect, even one or two lines can capture the feel of the animal and the mood of the day. Drawing is integral to the creative process. Without drawing nothing would start.
The process of creating the sculpture begins with a metal armature which is then clad in sheet materials. The armature is, in effect, a three dimensional drawing in tube or bar.

Mick Kirkby-Geddes

“Surrealism has freed the visual imagination from the limitations of logic and Mick Kirkby-Geddes makes the most of his freedom.”

I think it all started with my mum showing me an old cog she’d found lying on the moors. The fact that these sorts of things were lying
around waiting to be found left a lasting impression on me.
I like to represent animals doing unusual things, or just doing things differently. I use books as a starting reference, and then move off into the
realms of memory and imagination.
The scale of the work is at least life size. I use a lot of junk steel and found objects. The curved shapes in the sculptures are old fire extinguishers or tubing. The texture is created from the welding lines and the surface of the steel. I make quick sketches and work from these, preferring to make changes as the work proceeds and I work quite quickly, using a welder and hand and power tools. I do a lot of sketching, mainly to quickly clarify ideas and to work out the best options for solving a problem.
My work is often quite humorous, though it is not my deliberate intention. The shapes of the junk metal often suggest what the sculpture should be, for instance, two shovels started off a rabbit and hooks became an angels wings. Depicting animals doing unusual or funny things gives them another
dimension, makes you look at them in a different way. I enjoy cartoons, particularly the work of Gary Larson, and after having had two children,
children’s books have become a big influence. I also admire the work of Anthony Caro, Woodrow and David Kemp.

http://www.kirkby-geddes.co.uk/

Sally Matthews
A few hounds have lost the pack and are running separately.

This work was first made to run along the side of track in a country setting. I drew the hounds, The Golden Valley pack when they were at the Royal Welsh Show. I was concerned with what would happen to them if fox hunting was banned.
The sculptures are life size. I use natural materials that are the right colour for the animal as I don’t like adding colour. The texture comes from the natural materials of bracken, thistledown and peat, layered upon welded steel armatures with chicken wire and wood. The work is made rapidly, but then I leave it, and return to it later to make sure it is
right. I usually make a sculpture for a certain place, and like to make it in that place.
Sketchbook drawings are important as much as for the Looking you have to do when you draw as for the drawings themselves. I make notes on the drawings and take photographs to remind me. Drawing is seeing and looking. Without an intimate knowledge of what I’m doing, how can I convey that so that other people can see it too? I always make sculpture and do big drawings from life sketches. I use photographs for reference, but if I do a drawing from a photograph it doesn’t ‘talk back’ to me when I look at it. My sketches are not all brilliant drawings, but each time I sketch, I learn a little bit more about the subject.
I really love animals and they inspire me to make things. I try to leave human issues, politics and emotions out of it when I’m making an animal.
Obviously it’s me making it and the way I make it comes from me, but I try to let the animal I am making be its own self by showing how truly amazing animals are, in their own right.

http://www.sallymatthews.co.uk/

Matthew Roby
A menagerie of strange and humorous character creature sculptures.

My art is derived from a mix of real life observations and a deeply vivid imagination. The sculptures vary in scale, from life size gorillas down to small insects.
It draws on many influences, including film and animation, and is very personal, with references to observations and memory, remembered objects, people and places. The works are composed from metal and pieces of junk which relate to the specific shapes, colours, textures and functions of certain creatures.
Most of my sculptures begin as rough doodles. They are developed further when I sketch and photograph the subject matter in more detail.
Drawing is an integral part of the process. Whether it is an initial doodle of an idea, a technical drawing or a three-dimensional mock up, the interplay between two and three dimensional renderings of a concept plays an important part in the creation of my work. The 360 visuals of the subjects’ anatomy, movement and behaviour are used as blueprints for the sculpture which is then crafted from unwanted junk and sheet metal, held together with rivets, wire and solder. Completed models are sometimes adapted into an illustration..
Each sculpture conveys its own sense of feeling and mood. By emphasising a creatures enigmatic qualities and traits, I try to reveal a sense of character and presence within the work.
The anthropomorphic expressions and actions bring a feeling of humanity and further bring the sculptures to life.