COVID CREATIVES… The Waste to Art competition received 47 entries this year. Sonia Tilley’s Miss Poly Ethylene debutante ball gown won the open Functional category and Yearly Theme, while Erik Lensson won the Special Category- Scrap Metal for his entry Grace, and the Community 3D category and the new Packers Prize for Shovelback Yellowbill.
COVID touched many aspects of our lives over the past two years and even resulted in the creation of two of the winning entries in this year’s Waste to Art competition and exhibition.
Sonia Tilley’s plastic debutante ball gown creation called Miss Poly Ethylene not only won the open functional category, but was also the winner of the Yearly Theme – Soft Plastics. “I am over the moon,” said Sonia about her win. “I am a weaver and have never worked with plastic before, only natural materials. It was a big challenge.”
Sonia was part of the COVID response team and had to wear lots of plastic every day. “I wanted to make something beautiful from plastic.” For her first ever entry in the competition, Sonia used her weaving technique for the bodice made from black embossed plastic sheets she found at Parkes Bricks and Pavers, while the bottom part of the dress was made from clear, soft plastic made from polyethylene from Big W that is used to wrap around packaging boxes on pallets. She even used the plastic bar codes attached to the clear plastic to make bows for the gown.
Boredom during COVID saw Erik Lensson create two entries from garden shed junk. Shovelback Yellowbill (spadeus roostericus), his rare and endangered bird sculpture took out two prizes, and was inspired by a pair of magpies who would visit his house every day for breakfast. The magpies unfortunately succumbed during the mouse plague after eating poisoned mice, but Erik has rediscovered his artistic side hoping to make many more creations.