Review: Fairytales, Myths and Legends

The Fairytales, Myths and Legends exhibition at the Banks Mill Studio began with an Ecocreate Twitter hour (this occurs every Monday) – networking for crafters and eco-artists.  The artists who came together all work in natural sustainable materials or they upcycle objects and resources that have already been used and discarded.

None of these artists had met in person before the exhibition launch; they had communicated only online to create this small but neat and well explained display.

There were a great variety of mediums represented including embroidery, feltwork, crochet, woodwork, engraving, papier mache, paint, collage and the outright adornment of Charlotte Rhoades, who took the comb that a mermaid would use or the bear family’s spoon “borrowed” by Goldilocks and decorated them beyond functionality to reflect human obsession with aesthetics.

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth Blades, Jacquelyn Cooke and Kirstie Adamson were the three stand out artists of the exhibition and Elizabeth Blades was rightly judged the best at the exhibition launch, not because the other two not of an equal standard but because her piece also expressed the ideals of the Eco-create movement – a collagraph print expressing the conflict between intention and action, the flowers of the conflicted thinker’s dress displaying the perfect garden as she walks through a dead and neglected reality littered with dead bees.

The exhibition was judged by Michelle from Remade in Britain and she awarded Elizabeth Blades with a gold trophy.  Elizabeth wanted inspire thought on whether it is enough to care without acting on that.

“Perhaps it makes us think that as much as sentiment is important, action is what will save our bees and our planet. How does your garden grow isn’t just a fanciful question but a direct reality we must all face head on.”

The exhibition used the emotive language and imagery of fairytales, myths and legends to inspire action on eco-issues and to set an example of applying one’s ethics to one’s work.

The organisers were incredibly pleased with general response to the exhibition, “So glad we’ve done it.  We’re definitely doing it again.”  And they are doing it again.  The Ecocreate exhibition is set to become annual with a theme of Time and Tide set for next year’s theme.

In the meantime anyone interested in getting involved in the Eco-create movement and perhaps even next year’s exhibition can find out more on the Ecocreate blog or by joining their Twitter Hour.