Baskets, Badgers and Bandicoots at The Harley Gallery

PRESS RELEASE

Baskets, Badgers and Bandicoots at The Harley Gallery

20 June - 12 August 2012

[right] Basket by Lois Walpole


Visit the Harley Gallery, Worksop, this summer to enjoy a double whammy of craft exhibitions.

From 20 June to 12 August, the Gallery will be filled with Susan O'Byrne's Menagerie of quirky animals, and Lois Walpole's beautiful baskets made from unusual materials.

Susan O'Byrne's ceramic creatures are migrating to the Harley Gallery this summer, after being on show in France and Germany. The animals are made from delicate paper clay, built up layer by layer to create whimsical, loveable sculptures.

Inspired by Victorian menageries, medieval bestiaries and childhood collections of toy animals, Susan presents her animals boxed, labelled and mounted, ready to examine. With amazing attention to detail, this is a great exhibition for any animal lover - visit and see a huge variety of birds and animals, from a Pygmy Platypus to a Rabbit Eared Bandicoot.

Lois Walpole's baskets are sure to surprise you. Basketry is a craft that is over 10,000 years old - you may be familiar with handmade baskets woven from grasses, reeds or rushes. Lois crafts her brightly coloured, curiously textured structures from natural and recycled materials. The exhibition shows over 30 pieces from Lois' international career. Bottle tops, tin cans, plastics, all are reimagined in her playful work.

Visit the Harley Gallery from 20 June - 12 August and enjoy a summer full of baskets, badgers and unabashed relaxation.

The Harley Gallery is on the A60 between Mansfield and Worksop, is free to enter and also has free parking.

Lois Walpole - Urban Baskets: Tradition Recycled is touring from Walford Mill Crafts.