Joanne Tinker

“Since before I could pack my own school bag, I’ve been cramming ideas into shoe-boxes and pasting trinkets into notebooks held together with elastic bands. I suppose its creative hoarding really! But once at Art College, my extraordinary textiles teacher (Sue Lawty) told us that we could make anything out of the materials we found in our homes, backpacks and litter bins. And so, she gave flight to my stash of dusty butterflies and desiccated paperclips!

Consequently, my work is heavily influenced by the concept of recycling; transforming metal bottle tops, acupuncture tubes, confectionary wrapping, and aluminium cans into something precious, something special.

The use of chocolate foil wrappings remains a constant in my work – not because of my love of chocolate – but rather my wholehearted appreciation of the material’s colour, texture, delicacy and strength. Simply, I unwrap one form and recreate another. And then repeat. And repeat.

As many collections are categorised by forms of repetition, so my collections are characterised by the replication of multiples and miniatures, blending my childhood fascinations with deliberated uniformity.