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This is the mood board for project 2, the work of Arthur Rackham & others.

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This misfit is Henry's favourite, because he likes the head. It is actually one of the smaller figures, standing at 36cm high. Made mainly of Papier-Mache, its nod to textiles is with the addition of a pink cotton skirt.

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Practice piece in the style of Julie Arkell, by Carol.

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This final body of work is a further example of how my practice has been inspired by my own family history throughout my degree. My final projects are derived from my investigations into the development of children’s drawings, my creative source has been mainly my grandson Henry, age 5, as he produced the artwork which I have translated into 3D Papier-Mache Sculptures.

I have researched my subject extensively and been influenced by artists such as Julie Arkell, a well known folk artist who's work is always amazing and quirky, qualities that I have tried to incorporate into my own work.

I had previously planned for my degree show to be physical, which I had intended  to hold in my home.Unfortunately before invites were sent the second lockdown was quickly implemented,  and my plans had to be altered. With this in mind the only option open to me was an online exhibition.

I have looked at the platforms I could use for my online exhibition, such as developing my own website, powerpoint, padlet, and   zoom etc. I have chosen to present my work on padlet because I saw a presentation by an OCA creative arts student and I really liked the way it was used.

I would like to thank Henry's cousins, Martha, Sylvie and Harry and my friend Theresa's grandchildren, Izzy and Ellie for all the wonderful pictures they sent to me, which I used for research and inspiration. Lastly thank you to my lovely grandson Henry for all his beautiful art, for participating in workshops during lockdown and for his critique of my work.

I hope you enjoy this presentation.

My workroom where my pieces were created.

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This monster, was made by Henry’s paternal cousin. It has good detail as Martha is a prolific artist who loves to draw. I borrowed many features from this monster as it had lovely characteristics, so thank you Martha.

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By Sylvie aged 5

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Drawing a still life

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I am a mixed media textile artist who works predominantly in 3D, finding inspiration from my own family history, past and present. Throughout my degree I have found deep meaning in some of the events that have shaped my family and although I have enjoyed the making of these pieces, such as the doll made for my mother, they have at times brought pain.

From my great grandfather's sojourn in World War one, my mother's harrowing years of childhood abuse and finally the joy of working with my grandson during the pandemic lockdown, I have experienced a myriad of familial minutiae from one end of the spectrum to another. I will continue this into my professional practice.

I employ a multitude of techniques but have extensively investigated the medium of Papier-Mache with this final body of work. Both sections of my final project use the medium, the first with the juxtaposition of soft bodies contrasting with hard Papier-Mache heads and the second totally made from the medium with just a touch of fabric to enhance.

I feel that working in collaboration with my grandson has allowed me to inject a sense of fun into my work which is in direct contrast to the subjects in previous projects.

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My projects were developed from research on the artistic development of children's drawings. It married with the theme of dolls and mirrored previous topics concerning family.

At first I believed that the restrictions of the first pandemic lockdown would hinder me, but in hindsight it helped me to focus. I was able to collect firsthand source material for research and having Henry living with me I was able to utilise his and his cousins imaginative drawings by translating them into 3D sculptures. This idea was borrowed from a group of artists who participated in the monster project. https://themonsterproject.org

I feel that as the monsters were amalgamated from different children’s pictures, they tended to look like cartoons, so I had the idea that I would turn them into ‘Misfits’. The term was taken from the game my own children use to play. I cut the pictures into three and mixed them up, thus the ‘Misfit monsters were born.

A Misfit monster.

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Henry and Nanny’s workshop during the first lockdown.

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Henry and Nanny’s workshop during the first lockdown.

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We made work based on Henry's school lessons about fairy tales, art work for  my project on monsters and painting/drawing just for fun. He was really imaginative as I just gave him the subject and away he went. This was brilliant because having originally hoped to get a group of his friends together for a workshop this became impossible due to the Coronavirus.

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Starting with the Children’s  artwork
I was able to sift through the ones that appealed to me and then developed them into designs before cutting them up into thirds. The result was that I had an enormous amount of source pictures which could then be developed into finished pieces.

Monster artwork source material 2

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Named by Henry, Greeny's head was made from Papier Mache and the body fabric. Head was painted with acrylic and he stands at 37cm. He is both mine and Henry's favourite monster.

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Side view, legs & arms made from ink jet printed fabric paper

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Back view, shows the newsprint covered head and the space dyed body, the misfit has uneven limbs.

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He was originally larger and made with a Papier-Mache body but he just didn’t look right, so I re-made him with a soft body. He works better at this new size, he is 42 cm high and sports a soft body and arms, the legs are made from fabric and card. His features are made using paper clay.

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Known as the coronavirus monster due to the message on his torso, printed onto fabric from a local newspaper, thanking key workers.

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Just waiting around, in his posh red felt tie.

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His legs are made of concertina card, a design feature from one of Henry’s drawings. The many colours on his limbs reflect the lockdown logo of a rainbow.

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Back view and legs. His facial features look a little bit like a Sesame Street puppet!

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The third monster was made in the same way but with a palette of citrus colours, making him stand out. His scars make him look like Frankenstein’s monster, but more jolly. His height is 31.5cm.

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Quite a lively monster! His arms are different, made with paper wrapped wire that makes him easy to pose.

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We quite like ‘Frankie’!

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Neck, arm sockets and shoe treads are made from felt, the rest of the body is made from cotton fabrics.

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Back view, is he the proverbial ‘monster in the cupboard’?

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Artists research for fairy tale project, the work of Tania Sneesby.

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In project one I worked with Henry to investigate the development of children's drawings. With this second project I wanted to look at how artists depict childlike images in their art, researching the artists Julie Arkell, Tania Sneesby, Charles M Schultz and Lori Mitchell.

Henry's schooling topic during lockdown was fairytales, so using this idea I continued my previous project and made more Misfit characters. But this time I produced figures that are entirely made from Papier-Mache.

I wanted to make magical misfits so looked at images of gnomes, fairies, ogres etc. During my research I found the work of artist Arthur Rackham which I loved. Borrowing bits from his images, bits from the children's drawings and bits of my own I made a further collection of misfits.

Papier- Mache practice piece for fairytales, by Carol, in the style of Julie Arkell.

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Named by Henry, I think colours are obviously important to him. She is made in the same way as the other monsters and her height is 31cm. Her eyes are made of paper clay.

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Her full body can be seen here.

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Back view, unadorned.

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Full view of monster. colours clash a little but that’s because she is made up of 3 different misfit tiles.

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Taken from Henry & other children's artwork.

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Another of Henry's names, I think it suits him. Obviously named for the shape of his hat. Made in the same way as toadstool, with a wire armature. He is the largest misfit, standing at 44cm high.

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Might have been quite pretty if not for the cavemen feet. Henry felt it looked more like a lamp. Seen here from the front view, it is one of the smaller pieces, standing at 32cm.

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This is the smallest Papier-Mache sculpture and is my favourite, not henry's, although he likes it 'a little bit'. Henry did ask me why It was a green apple and not a red one. It was one of the misfits that I had drawn and I didn't really have an answer, as the apple used by the wicked queen was actually red! He is 21cm high.

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Henry liked the name 'One Eye', like most children he is quite literal, he quotes what he sees! This misfit started life as a caveman like creature but is now quite fetching in a long gown. He/she is 39cm from red shoes to the top of his/her head.

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Looks a bit grumpy!

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Here is a mixture of artwork, misfits before and after mixing.

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The claw like hands are made of paper covered wire, which is posable and painted with acrylic.

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Henry came up with the name, he seems to like Italian sounding names, I think because he plays the switch game of Mario! Here is Punkinio's back view.

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His eyes and nose are made of painted paperclay.

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Here with a side view, his clothes can be clearly seen. A fur fabric top is matched to a snazzy pair of spotty shorts tied with a red belt.

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Eyes made with paper clay, a happy misfit.

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The back view, those knobbly knees are visible.

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Her textile skirt is made of fur fabric and she has guipure flowers round her neck, otherwise she is made of Papier-Mache on a wire armature.

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Several takes later, here is the results of chatting to Henry about what he thinks about the dolls. We were restricted time wise as the padlet will only accept small files but in hindsight that is probably better!

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Back view, showing the mouse tail.

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Full front view, looks like he/she had a spray tan but missed his/her body.

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Side view shows the shape of his/her head and that he/she is lacking hair.

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Back view, dress is made from cotton fabric.

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Close up

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Side view

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A view of her dress.

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This is the end of my presentation. I have enjoyed making this body of work, even with the limitations of lockdown and will continue to experiment and make my creatures. It has taken me a long time to find out the kind of art I like to make and will carry on developing and perhaps continue to work with my lovely grandson Henry.

Thank you for taking the time to view this exhibition, please feel free to add any comments.

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I really like your creative approach!

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Love the concertina legs!

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Henry chatting about the fairytale misfits.

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Henry chatting about the fairytale misfits.

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The second little video, talking to Henry about which ones he likes. I felt it important to include him as he has been my main source of creativity, so I had to involve him in my final process.