2) Transform

Artist craftspeople and designers sometimes transform the appearance and meaning of the familiar. Richard Dunbrak recycles found objects, creating distinctive furniture. Textile Artist Cas Holmes reassembles discarded items and waste material and transforms them in her work. Illustrator Sara Fanelli uses mixed media to transform the appearance of characters in children’s stories, and Juan Gris applied cubist principles to his subjects.

Investigate appropriate sources and produce your own work in any media based on:

EITHER (a) everyday objects

OR (b) recycle/reinvent

‘Richard Dunbrak recycles found objects, creating distinctive furniture’

‘Textile Artist Cas Holmes reassembles discarded items and waste material and transforms them in her work’

 www.textilearts.net. I'm an artist, teacher and author living in the U.K working in textiles and mixed media. I like to use discarded items, waste material no longer considered useful and develop pieces using stitch and collage. Looking at translucent layers, connecting paint, mark and print with the found surfaces of fabrics and papers, my work is informed by the 'hidden' or often overlooked parts of our landscape, and personal spaces. I am interested in the relationship with domestic interiors and outside places, the views from our windows, the verges of our roadsides, field edges and the places where our gardens meet the 'greater landscape'. Working with 'stitch sketching', I seek to capture a moment or thing before it is gone. 

Cas Holmes‘I work with found materials and paper. Old letters, clothing teabags to create pieces which take the form of hangings, three dimensional objects and installations.’

‘Illustrator Sara Fanelli uses mixed media to transform the appearance of characters in children’s stories’

Sara Fanelli is one of the

world's most admired

children's illustrators. Born in Florence, Sara is now London

based since graduating there in 1995 from the Royal College of

Art. As a freelance

designer and illustrator, she has attracted

both world-wide recognition and several awards

for her innovative work.

"I do a lot of drawing from reality. I like to travel and I always keep a sketchbook. I put aside all these ideas until I need them." The ephemera, old books and stationery she picks up are used in the collages which often feature in her books. Still a young artist, Sara has already developed a hugely successful career"I like to experiment. When I make a collage illustration I start with a drawing of the composition, the layout. Then I play around with it, interweaving it with all the different items I might be using. I like to play around with the typography too and create my own lettering. I don't use a computer to create artwork. Too many designers rely on them“ "Every object has a story behind it to be relayed or reinvented. Handwriting in an unexpected context is very evocative. I create the different textures in my work by sprinkling the surface with things like sugar, lentils, spaghetti and rice"

‘Juan Gris applied cubist principles to his subjects’

 The Guitar, 1918. Oil on canvas, by Juan Gris Still life with fruit bowl and mandolin 1919

Harlequin with Guitar (1919)

Harlequin with Stool

Portrait of Picasso 1912; Oil on canvas, 93.4 x 74.3 cm

Juan GrisOriginally named Jose Victoriano Gonzalez, he adopted the pseudonym by which he is known after moving (1906) to Paris, where he lived as Picasso's friend and neighbor. Between 1907 and 1912 he watched closely the development of the cubist style and in 1912 exhibited his Homage to Picasso (collection of Mrs. and Mrs. Leigh Block, Chicago), which established his reputation as a painter of the first rank. He worked closely with Picasso and Braque until the outbreak of World War I, adapting what had been their intuitively generated innovations to his own methodical temperament.

Juan Gris: Life StoryJuan Gris was born in Madrid in 1887, the thirteenth of fourteen siblings. He received his artistic training between the ages of 16 and 18 when he studied

Mechanical Drawing. During his youth he turned out a lot of humorous sketches which were published in various different Madrid publications.

However, aged 19, young Juan Gris fled his motherland to avoid being called up for Military Service. He headed to Europe's most happening artistic hub of the

time, Paris. It is here that Gris really began to develop his artistic flair as he hob-nobbed with the greats of the twentieth century art world and learnt from his

contemporaries.Eventually the city atmosphere of Paris became a burden, continuously irritating his severe asthma. In 1922 Gris relocated with his wife, Josette and young son

to Boulogne-sur-Seine on the outskirts of the city. During these later years of his life, Juan Gris' artwork became more respected and renowned throughout

Europe and his talents truly began to blossom as he contributed his own unique style to the Cubist movement. Sadly, the artist died in 1927, aged just 40,

meaning that we will never know in which direction his art would have gone had he been given a few more years.

http://www.juangris.org/