Gill Greatorex
I am driven with a desire to expunge the world of waste in every form and turn it into something beautiful. Plastic clinging to trees and hedges, graphically traumatised squashed cans beside the road, sweetie wrappers glistening beguilingly after the chocolate has long gone. All my life I have hoarded just about everything. I believe you can tell the age of the hoarder by counting the species of detritus in their cupboards and shelves. Oddments in our lives come and go like the rising and falling of the tide. Some find uses, but most wait for their moment …………. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Resplendent display, Responsible disposal – each piece has its day!
There is something ludicrously luscious about the juxtaposition of sustainable materials, such as cob and willow with disco balls, sweetie wrappers, broken CDs and found seaphenalia from the local beaches. But there is a dark side of art centred around waste debris………. On country walks I can’t help noticing the accumulation of plastic stuck in trees and hedges. 8 years ago the situation was very black and white; shreds of black plastic from hay bale covers in the country and white plastic shopping bags in urban situations. But over time this has eroded, with more white plastic bags seeping into the countryside. Could this mean that we are urbanising our rural assets?
I am currently working on ‘Extinctures’, a triptych of tinctures of extinct incidentals of life exhibited in a museum AD.2060 and a screen made of over 5,000 foil milk bottle tops to pay homage to the passing of milk deliveries and milkmen.
Gill Greatorex 01626 779628
greatrocks@btinternet.com
See also Bishopsteignton Outdoor Art Group
I have exhibited work made out of waste, found and sustainable materials at:
Devon Open Studios 2007, 2008 and 2009
Art Farm Project 2005 (selected artist, awarded Arts Council Grant for joint project with photographer Vicki Gardner)
TRAIL (Teignmouth Recycled Art In Landscape) 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Won the TRAIL wearable art performance prize in 2009
Bishopsteignton Outdoor Art Group won the TRAIL Community Award 2007 and Public Choice Award 2008