Wildlife sculptures manufactured from fly-tipping debris.
Wildlife sculptures constructed from rubbish and fly-tipping will be on show.
The Recycled Sculpture show at The Harley Gallery and Portland Collection Museum in Welbeck, Nottinghamshire, features a wild goat, a vulture, and a bumblebee.
Michelle Reader, a sculptor from Nottinghamshire, used materials such as washing machine components, skis, and a gas mask.
The exhibition will run from Saturday to July 24.
Following an increase in fly-tipping and littering during lockdown in 2020, Ms. Reader said she wanted to inspire people to think more about recycling.
“As people spent time removing and cleaning their homes in the early days of the pandemic, there was a spike in fly-tipping and trash,” she said.
“Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust showed me some of the objects found on their reserves, including a washing machine, a rusted bike frame, and vehicle tyres, and told me about the increase in litter from picnics,” said the organization.
The gallery’s resident sculptor has been working with discarded materials for 25 years.
Her sculptures frequently depict nature, people, automobiles, or locations, and they also include mechanical aspects, such as functional bits from antique toys or clocks.
The “beauty of the natural world” inspires Ms. Reader, she said.
Her bearded vulture sculpture was inspired after a female bird from the French Alps was observed in the Peak District in July 2020, she added.
Later, it was spotted in other sections of the country.
Ms. Reader has collaborated on initiatives with a variety of organizations to raise awareness about issues such as litter and plastics in rivers, recycling, and food waste reduction.
For the National Space Centre in Leicester, she built a large wave sculpture out of plastic bottles and other trash like as tennis balls, footwear, and toys that had been thrown and ended up in rivers.
“In an attractive, amusing, and non-confrontational approach, my sculptures raise attention to environmental challenges,” she noted.
