HELEN MURRAY

I am interested in the beauty of the ordinary; the overlooked stuff of everyday life - what I call ‘treasure'. It's everywhere; at home, in the garden, on the beach, in fields, on the street, in junk shops; it's hard to avoid really... I use these treasures to make mixed media objects which, I hope, celebrate the very ordinary-ness of their constituent parts. I have slate from my brother's Devon garden, ancient stones and shells from Felixstowe Ferry, Pakefield and Southwold beaches, twisted clematis and tiny birch twigs from my workshop, metal residue from a sculptor friend's casting sessions. I tear up unsuccessful work and recycle it, I have old encyclopaedias made up of wafer thin foxed pages, perfect for collage. My only rule is: no plastic. It rarely fits into the scheme of things anyway... I often work on a grid format which has endless permutations in terms of composition, colour and texture, particularly in its potential for variations in scale.

Primary location: United Kingdom