The story behind Project Reclaim: Organic Sculpture
"As a sculptor and sustainability advocate, my work has been influenced by my interest in biological forms, coupled with the natural world and science, resulting in an eclectic and unique style. Project Reclaim is about making organically inspired designs and solar powered sustainable pieces. "
Maria Simonelli
The Project Reclaim: Organic Sculpture series is made from antique fabrics and organic materials to simultaneously create a new sculptural aesthetic form while honoring a traditional women’s craft.
The pieces utilise the natural shape of fallen tree branches, with their sensuous curves, contrasted with the human crafted form through reworked antique crocheted pieces.
The openwork crochet technique allows what’s underlying to show through in an honest transparent form. The geometric patterns and symmetry of the crochets reinforce patterns found in the natural environment. In combination with the shape of the tree branches this also accentuates their form and line.
The addition of solar powered LED lighting transforms through illumination, giving yet another way of viewing the pieces.
The art pieces each aim to provide a more subtle environmental message about reuse, combining rarely used materials like crochets or remnant fabric with natural fallen tree branches and empty seed pods that would otherwise be discarded. They also attempt to create a connection so that a viewer would want to keep and nurture the pieces.
I hope that the Project assists to give a different perspective on something we are already aware of, such as being made more conscious of the resources we use and questioning where all our stuff ends up.
The pieces utilise the natural shape of fallen tree branches, with their sensuous curves, contrasted with the human crafted form through reworked antique crocheted pieces.
The openwork crochet technique allows what’s underlying to show through in an honest transparent form. The geometric patterns and symmetry of the crochets reinforce patterns found in the natural environment. In combination with the shape of the tree branches this also accentuates their form and line.
The addition of solar powered LED lighting transforms through illumination, giving yet another way of viewing the pieces.
The art pieces each aim to provide a more subtle environmental message about reuse, combining rarely used materials like crochets or remnant fabric with natural fallen tree branches and empty seed pods that would otherwise be discarded. They also attempt to create a connection so that a viewer would want to keep and nurture the pieces.
I hope that the Project assists to give a different perspective on something we are already aware of, such as being made more conscious of the resources we use and questioning where all our stuff ends up.
More about the fabrics
There’s a story behind all the Project Reclaim sculptures and in particular the fabrics chosen…or should I say the fabrics that chose me.
My mother was an amazing dressmaker and taught me to appreciate both the style and pattern as importantly as the fabric, as these form the foundation of any piece she made.
She never threw out remnants and boxes of gorgeous laces, velvets, wool blends and cottons accumulated over the years.
The fabrics shown above are from a wedding dress she made in the 1970s, a rich fabric that was made into fitted style for a slim bride to be. The white lace was still in good condition and was put through a wax treatment and then used as a major feature in the Secret Forest.
My mother was an amazing dressmaker and taught me to appreciate both the style and pattern as importantly as the fabric, as these form the foundation of any piece she made.
She never threw out remnants and boxes of gorgeous laces, velvets, wool blends and cottons accumulated over the years.
The fabrics shown above are from a wedding dress she made in the 1970s, a rich fabric that was made into fitted style for a slim bride to be. The white lace was still in good condition and was put through a wax treatment and then used as a major feature in the Secret Forest.
Want to more about textile recycling? Click here
Textile Facts
It is estimated that more than 1 million tonnes of textiles are thrown away every year in the UK alone. At least 50% of the textiles we throw away are recyclable, however, the proportion of textile wastes reused or recycled annually in the UK is only around 25%. I would imagine that in Australia we would have a similar percentage.
Recovery and recycling provide important environmental benefits. Textile recovery:
Recovery and recycling provide important environmental benefits. Textile recovery:
- Reduces the need for landfill space. Textiles present particular problems in landfill as synthetic (man-made fibres) products will not decompose, while woollen garments do decompose and produce methane, which contributes to global warming.
- Reduces pressure on virgin resources.
- Results in less pollution and energy savings, as fibres do not have to be manufactured or transported from abroad.
Fashion uses more water than any industry other than agriculture. At least 8,000 chemicals are used to turn raw materials into textiles.It makes sense to incorporate our everyday plastics into fashion, cutting down on the use of virgin materials.
If everyone bought one reclaimed woollen garment each year, it would save an average of 1687 megalitres of water and 480 tonnes of chemical dyestuffs (UK figures).
source:
http://blogs.abc.net.au/victoria/2012/11/greenspot-can-we-have-green-fashion.html?site=westernvic&program=western_victoria_breakfast
