I made a collection of dolls for friends and family using my new and very loved sewing machine and some felt. These have now all been sent out in the post and received so I can feel happy to post this and not ruin the surprise.

The ladies names (clockwise from top left): Grace, Agatha, Winifred, Nellie, Meryl, Penelope and Betty

My digital camera is broken so these ladies had to be squashed in my scanner to capture their images.

Inspiration: Russian dolls, for the love of people and post, playing with my new sewing machine, having no internet and so a bit more time at home.

New handpainted pixel heart T

My degree show work (Re-Toyed Trash) is in the Leeds College of Art & Design 08/09 prospectus.  Alongside work that had been made at previous workshops, I exhibited an interactive projection of the Re-Toyed Trash blog and had a workshop bench and materials for visitors to make their own toys with.  My coursemate Bav Shah is making a toy at the workshop bench during his invigilation of our Art & Design degree show.

19-20th  July 2008

I was invited to do some workshops in the Folksy tent at the Lovebox Weekender in Victoria Park, London.  In the workshops I helped children to make plush toys.

“There’s a whale, there’s a whale, there’s a whalefish he cried, and the whale was in full view”. (Mr Scruff)

This whale made of felt has now found a new home with James of Folksy.

June 2008

I ran a series of workshops with the Crafty Folk in Knottingley teaching them how to make soft toys.

My first stamp making experience. I made a stamp to use on my strawberry-mad friend’s vest as a present to her. The stamp was hand cut from foam and stuck onto the back of an old jewelery box. I used an A5 cutting mat in between the vest to push down onto and to stop the paint from going through to the other side.

I was so pleased with the results that once the first vest was finished, I couldn’t stop stamping and did more vests using different coloured fabric paints. I keep giving them away at friends requests, but I have made a stash that are available to purchase.

Black felt hand with pink and blue thread to mark out creases and wrinkles in the skin.

Re-Toyed Trash is a project encouraging people to re-use existing materials and found objects to create something really unique. Sometimes the workshops feature a visiting artist showing in their own style the possibilities of re-using materials. The workshops allow anyone to creatively participate and make things from junk; Artists work alongside Non-Artists, giving all democratic access. As each maker develops their own individual interpretation of an art object when given the use of scrap materials to create something, no two works created at the workshops are the same. Individuals are then offered the opportunity of having their creations exhibited physically in an exhibition and on the Re-Toyed Trash blog.

This is an ongoing project, developing with each new audience providing a new source of creativity. It exists across a range of platforms; on the Internet, in printed documentation, in exhibitions and in the workshops. The project can be taken to almost any venue or event.

It has already utilised the following spaces:

• a bar: the Fab Café, Leeds
• a gallery/studio/shop: theartmarket, Leeds
• an art college: Leeds College of Art & Design
• festivals: Ladyfest Leeds 2007; Situation Leeds: Contemporary Artists and the Public Realm 07; Moor Music Festival, Ilkley 2007; Innocent Village Fete, London 2007 and Lovebox Weekender, London 2008
• a church: the Holy Trinity Church, Boar Lane, Leeds
• a school: Cathedral School, Wakefield College, Wakefield
• and a community centre: Crafty Folk, Knottingley

Leeds Degree Shows Adventure documents my journey around Leeds Fine Art degree shows at University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan University in 2006 and 2007. The photographs explore my own interaction with other graduate’s work. Playfully negotiating ideas around Authorship, an Artists’ Ego, Art Education and Artwork-as-backdrop it relates to my own position as a recent Artist Graduate.

The project uses audience and artist interactions with the work as the central focus. The photographs are documents of interactions already taken place.

Credits: Emma Cooper (photography, 2006), Joe Mawson (photography, 2007) & Leeds Metropolitan University and University of Leeds Fine Art graduates 2006-2007