Danny Manning's Blog

Nature Encounter : Curiouser…..Curiouser……..

A series of site specific structures/ sculptures made from woven foraged material placed in Friston Forest, East Sussex April 2018. This is an ongoing series exploring the strange and curious world of burrows/holes/nests and dens created by animals, birds and insects. As a ken walker I am often struck how nature can shock as I catch sight of something I cannot explain – a temporary nest made by swarming bees, a dead pheasant and a shivering rabbit in the cold – aspects of nature – life and death unfolding in front of my eyes.

Up with the Lark February  2018: A series of miniature baskets and objects created from foraged / gathered material from Hedgerows around Berwick East Sussex 20/02/2018. The series explores various basket construction processes and draws comparison with the spring activities of animals and birds and the creation of nesting sites. Wooden objects created from green coppiced wood -mainly ash and sweet chestnut using various whittling processes.

Hi

Here are some examples of recent work and work from a workshop where we created willow animals. With Winter still  with us – I have been helping the birds in my garden with a range of bird feeders – based on the corn dolly designs. One allows sunflowers to be dispersed to the birds – the other is ideal for lard and bird seed to be attached. I have attracted a range of small birds including blue tits.

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Welcome to my new Blog – I am a craftsperson and tutor based in East Sussex. I work with a range of natural materials – including willow and natural found woodland material. I Hope to share with you my recent work and exploration in this area.

With the recent RSPB -Garden Bird Count -Weekend -I have been making a range of willow bird feeder- as these ideas develop I will share them with you.

The two sculptures are now completed. They represent two species that are under threat in the UK -the whirlpool ramshorn snail and the caterpillar of the Large Blue Butterfly -constructed from a material that is not environmentally – friendly – plastic carrier bags.

Since my last update the sculpture has started to take shape. The entire body is now constructed of individual carrier bags – hand knitted over a wire framework. The horns of the snail were knitted with smaller needles and the shell was attached with wire. I am now considering the underbelly of the snail and to use tied carrier bags to create further texture. It  would be interesting to photograph the sculpture outside together with the caterpillar sculpture I  made last year. All of these sculptures have been made from our household waste and I am beginning to collect clear plastic milk cartons to use in further art works. Your comments would be welcome.

This is the photo of the recent development of the recycled snail sculpture. I have started to use a wire frame work to construct the head of the snail and have used smaller knitting needles to construct the horns of the snail from a variety of recycled carrier bags. By cutting the bags into a thread the plastic is transformed into a colourful organic material.