Telephone Directory plaited Clutch Bag
Numbers is the title of an exhibition of work by the members of Veer North, Britains most northerly group of visual artists based in the Shetland Islands. Our current exhibition on the theme of numbers opened last weekend at Bonhoga Gallery.
My contribution is a small clutch bag plaited out of the pages of a Shetland telephone directory. In order for it to perform as a bag in this damp climate, I wrapped the paper strips with polythene before plaiting, a labour of love but essential. Laminating the strips would have worked too, but I don’t have a laminator and it would have meant buying materials, which is something I try to avoid doing. The strap is from an old camera and the button is a key from a defunct laptop.
Lois Walpole, Britain
PROFILE
Lois Walpole is of Anglo Scottish heritage and trained in Sculpture, Basket Making and Design.
She works full time as an artist/basket maker taking part in and curating national and international exhibitions, working to commission, designing for production, teaching and writing.
She divides her time between the Shetland Islands and the Charente, in south west France, where her studio is based.
Her blog gives the latest about her teaching and exhibitions and is where she talks about the baskets and basket related things that she finds interesting, inspiring, infuriating and intriguing…
Her self imposed rules are “no materials purchased and basket making techniques employed wherever possible”.