Artel

• Email: sarahwarwick@live.co.uk

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 There are three main influences on my work. The materials I select, the processes I employ, and the underpinning concepts.

Of these, the underlying ideas are most important to me. In my art I have explored my place in the world and society, the conflict between uniformity and uniqueness, contrast of thrift and recycling against waste and materialism, and the beauty of deformity and age. I aim to focus on a single idea in each piece of work and express it simply.

I like to work with discarded things like flotsam and jetsam from the beach, cans from the rubbish bin or old clothes from charity shops. These often carry marks which refer to their previous lives and which change what might have once been one article among many similar into something distinctive. I like to revive and revalue.

 I often use craft skills whose histories constantly remind me of the communities that developed them over time. The processes are often slow, encouraging thought, as I adapt techniques not originally designed for the fragility or toughness of the fabrics with which I work- for example sewing seaweed or weaving baskets from old rope.