Particle Article
Claire Benson and Amy Nightingale are sisters working together under the name of 'Particle Article'.
Amy graduated in 2007 from Nottingham Trent University with a BA (Hons) in Textile Design, specialising in embroidery. In 2006 she was awarded 3rd prize in Bradford Textiles Society's competiton in the category 'Crossing the Boundaries'. In 2007 she was awarded 3rd prize in Hand and Lock's hand embroidery prize, and as a result had her work on display in The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Australia.
Claire has been an Occupational Therapist in Mental Health since 1997. She uses creative activities to enable recovery from mental illness. She has also taught a variety of creative techniques in Adult Education, to a wide range of client groups in diverse settings.
They create intricate, quirky sculptures of winged creatures from abandoned and reclaimed materials, both organic and manmade. Their fragile figurines often resemble insects, fairies, angels, or hybrids of these. They draw inspiration from the insects they observe in their own surroundings, and the displays in natural history collections.
They imagine their creatures to be members of an unclassified species; the protectors and preservers of common everyday objects, the value of which has diminished in our modern age. They come to life when humans are absent, scurrying through the mundane and unused items people keep but never use. Their work is linked to nostalgia and memory, as the materials we use have had past lives; the man-made items are now without purpose due to changes in social practices and fashion. The wings symbolise transformation, where new life force is breathed into the items people discard. They believe that our work helps to focus the observer on the beauty of everyday objects and forces them to reconsider the notion that 'new equals beautiful', and to make a statement about the throwaway society in which we live.
They combine unusual materials such as skeletal leaves and scraps of plastic. They use their imagination to manipulate the function of everyday objects; a pen nib becomes a beak; watch cogs, ornate keys and lightbulbs become fragile bodies; fragments of silk scarves become delicate wings. They fuse traditional and contemporary techniques. Conventional stitching and beading is then burned and distressed; welded wire is partly covered in tiny scraps of newspaper. They work together allowing their creatures to evolve in response to the shape and texture of their materials.
EXHIBITIONS
10th November2007-05th January 2008 Leicester City Gallery’s Open Exhibition.
4th -7th October 2007 The Islington Contemporary Art and Design Fair, London