Art & Recycling. Textiles & Mixed media.
“Decay Book” Jenny Davis. Antique 1800”s textiles, vintage threads, buried rust & paint.
Art and recycling goes hand-in-hand in the textile and mixed- media side of my arts practice.
My artworks are often created from old, discarded clothing, vintage and antique textiles, deconstructed furniture, papers and found objects. I enjoy making use of stuff that has had a life already; a life that is often purely functional and as far removed from ‘art’ as you can imagine.
I’ve been recycling all my life to make art. As a child, I pulled apart, old clothing and nylon stockings “I used to collect fabric waste from mum’s sewing and knitting basket, making wall hangings out of that.” Nowadays, I cut up my own clothing and others, antique quilts, vintage linens, fancywork and men’s suits.
The process of searching and collecting materials, is also, a very important part of my art’s making. It may take weeks, months, even years, to find a piece that talks to me. Most of the time though, a fragment of fabric, clothing or object, will trigger off the idea. I collect and document many of the pieces I find, by labeling or remembering, its history of when & where it was found. This gives me another layer to work with.
The search for materials has taken me to many weird and wonderful places over the years.
The sometimes, dodgy, back streets of cities, in Barcelona, Italy and Paris. Markets and charity shops in Australia, France and England. Underground spaces, abandoned buildings, coast lines and vacant beaches. Friends, family and strangers, have also, donated materials to use in my work.
By transforming old, recycled and reused materials, it enriches the stories I like to tell in my contemporary art and gives a new life, to materials destined to be wasted and thrown away.