Make sculptures from household rubbish in Leeds artist's free online workshops

A Leeds artist is hosting free online workshops to encourage people to get creative during lockdown and create sculptures using household rubbish.
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Meanwood-based artist Dawn Woolley has been using communications site Zoom to bring people across the city together for the 'Relics Recycling and Sculpture' workshops which also aim to explore the issues of consumer culture and environmental pollution.

Her first workshop was held on Saturday, with two more organised for this Sunday, May 31, and Thursday June 4.

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She said: "We had about 16 people of all ages - families with children, artists and everyone in between. We just sat down in our own spaces, surrounded by rubbish, for an hour-and-a-half and just chatted while were made things.

Leeds artist Dawn Woolley with one of her previous 'relics' made from household rubbish. Picture: Tony JohnsonLeeds artist Dawn Woolley with one of her previous 'relics' made from household rubbish. Picture: Tony Johnson
Leeds artist Dawn Woolley with one of her previous 'relics' made from household rubbish. Picture: Tony Johnson

"We had some fabulous sculptures - we had quite a few figures and animals, someone made a turtle, and we had some more abstract sculptures, using shapes and other structures and forms from things they had gathered."

Photographs of the sculptures will be posted on Dawn's Instagram page @consumer_relics and, thanks to funding from Leeds Inspired - part of Leeds City Council, they will also feature as Facebook adverts to highlight the waste that people produce.

The project follows similar workshops which Dawn hosted in person in 2019, where the resulting sculptures were used in advertising posters across Leeds.

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Dawn, an artist and researcher at Leeds Arts University, said: "This was the virtual version of that. It was really good - I was a bit nervous about any technical issues but it went really smoothly. It was very relaxed with everyone in their own spaces. I'm looking forward to the next ones."

She said it was "really important" that projects such as this help to highlight the scale of consumer waste.

"It allows people to think about the problem but in a different way. We often get very statistic-heavy information about the dire state we are in and that information is important as well but I think by doing sculpture workshops and really spend time with the stuff, we become really aware of what we throw away and also it's a way of talking about these things. It does raise awareness in different ways and it's fun too," she said.

The next 'Relics Recycling and Sculpture' workshops will be on May 31, from 10.30am to noon and on Thursday June 4 from 6pm to 7.30pm.

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Spaces are limited so booking via Eventbrite.com site is essential.

For more information on Dawn visit www.dawnwoolley.com.

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