Pennie Jagiello: Musings on a Sustainable practice

Making with materials of Mass Destruction 

When I was studying Fine Art, majoring in Sculpture,  I started making things with recycled electrical wire. My Dad was in demolition at the time and had given me a few bags of wire thinking i could do something with it. Those bags became 4 large wheelie bins full of  wire that have been my signature material for 16 years. I have always worked with recycled marterials, and even as a small child I loved to make things out of whatever I could find. I grew up in an environment that encouraged you to make use of what you had and you didn't waste anything.

Black & Gold Series Neckpiece # 2 Recycled electrical wire gold coloured paper clips & de-constructed costume jewellery

My sculptures became smaller and smaller; I started wearing them, then I started making and selling pieces that were ( mostly ) wearable. My constant influence has been the ocean and all things marine related. The history of Pacific jewellery and adornment has also been a major inspiration regarding the resourceful and adaptive ways in which these cultures make, and the techniques and materials they use. The techniques I use are also quite simple  such as weaving, binding, engraving, hand cutting and drilling. Cold joining  and methods of working are chosen even if it means it takes longer to complete a piece of work the end result is not about time efficiency but any way in which I can lighten my footprint. Although I respect the use of natural materials, I have no interest to physically incorporate them in my work; I prefer to transform the unnatural.

When I am at the beach, I collect rubbish and marine debris and I have a large collection of abandoned and discarded fishing gear  that I use in my work. Aluminum cans, plastic bags, drink bottles and de-constructed costume jewellery are some of the other materials I salvage from family, friends and op shops.

My studio is wherever I am at the time, and I have always worked in a way that is portable. It is my aim to continue making  without buying materials that are new wherever possible. I hope others not only enjoy wearing my work, but  are inspired  to be respectful of our environment. Recycling for me is not a marketing tool or brand, but the ethos of my making.

Every little bit counts; its pretty simple really.

Pieces of Fate Neckpiece  Recycled electrical wire  plastic bags & aluminum de-consrtucted costume jewelley and  fishing nets 


Links 
Pennie Jagiello website
Metalab blog
Pieces of Eight website
Studio Ingot  website 
Sustainability stories link 
Be In The Know for Sustainability Forum Updates Subscribe

Craft Australia is interested to know how you are tackling sustainability in your practice. If you would like to contribute ideas or have an experience you would like to share on the Craft Australia blog. Contact the blog editor

India Flint: Musing on a sustainable practice

I make pieces for walls and bodies constructed from patches and scraps of fabric and coloured with plant dyes made from leaves and water. No adjunct chemicals are used in the process, merely found scrap metals, food wastes and water sourced from the wild. It’s a method of working that means the residues from dyeing can be safely, even beneficially, returned to the earth. The cloth is acquired from the most sustainable sources I can find, Beautiful Silks [Victoria], the Hemp Gallery [NSW] and MilkyMerinoTM [NSW] as well as from thrift stores and from vintage dealers. I prefer to heat my cauldron with fuel gathered from our paddocks, as the carbon given off in burning is much the same as the carbon given off when the wood is left to rot, but I make sure to leave plenty as homes for local fauna.

Salvaged garments bear hidden records of the bodies that wore them. Dresses made from repurposed cloth become a compendium of stories written in marks that are added with stitch and dyes extracted from windfall leaves gathered in the course of wandering. They bear witness to past wearers and to the sources of the fibres, multi-layered maps of journeys both physical and metaphorical; making them helps me to make sense of the whirled.
India's  blog 
India Flint website 
Second Skin book  
Eco Colour book

  


Images courtesy of India Flint

Be In The Know for Sustainability Forum Updates Subscribe 

Craft Australia is interested to know how you are tackling sustainability in your practice. If you would like to contribute ideas or have an experience you would like to share on the Craft Australia blog. Contact the blog editor