Aceing the found object!

Another artist who really appeals to me due to her use of salvaged and repurposed materials within her work. Handkerchiefs, stamps, teabags, old maps and letters…Holmes successfully incorporates them in to her beautiful, delicate pieces. They evoke a bygone age and a time when making things was what folk did, as opposed to staring at a 2″x 4″ piece of plastic and metal….

The piece above is my favourite by Holmes. Mostly because I love wrens – they are such feisty characters. They are tiny, but make a lot of noise – kind of the opposite to me really! I love the hand-rolled hem on the handkerchief and the inclusion of the different materials. Whenever I see things that are lost on the street, like handkerchiefs, pencils, pens or buttons, I always consider that as little as only 150 years ago, that would not have happened – people were much more careful with their possessions and the fact that Cas Holmes utilises what might be looked on as rubbish and things to be discarded really touches a chord with me – it is what I do myself – as I am often thinking – there is enough stuff in the world, let’s make use of what we have! (I am a prolific picker-up of lost pencils and buttons!!)

Delicate, crafted, repurposed, beautiful…what’s not to like?

I am very familiar with these images particularly – Holmes was a feature artist in the recent GCSE Textiles exam and every student I teach who used her seemed to have the same images! Doesn’t mean I don’t like them though! These images remind me of what I have done for a long time with mementoes from holidays – tickets, postcards, pebbles, photos, all combined to remind us of times wandering around the wild North of the UK…

Whether it’s bugs and butterflies, flowers or birds, Cas Holmes always manages to produce pieces with a  really strong sense of place and of the past. I particularly like the folded book format that she often uses. She metaphorically can spin straw into gold….