Comparisons

 Mixed media artist Gillian Lee Smith and sculptor Piero gilardi, both work with a similar material. With Gilardi making his fine sculptures from foam, they both use a soft material for their creations, however they both give off different effects.
    Gillian's dolls are mainly made from a soft fabric, which usually would espress comfort, however each doll has their own darker story behind them, they are painted with high quality detail show the sadness, and pain in each of them, reflecting a story that Gillian had heard about after working with dementia sufferers. Gilardi also uses a soft material, foam that he forms into naturalistic sculptures. They have a different effect from the dolls, being fruit, plants or vegetables that he creates, they don't reflect any emotions. They have a theatrical side to them as they are exaggerated in size, colour and shape. They have a unique edge to them, giving off a more positive feeling with them being naturalistic sculptures, compared to the dolls that express negativity from their odd looks, sad faces and the story behind them.

Iain Simons

Iain Simons, director of Game City and Richard Coyle, props maker both have the similarity of trying to bring a modern twist into what they're both working on. Iain holds the event in the City of Nottingham every year, getting the public involved when trying to create an original idea for video gaming or advertising Game City, moving away from the symbolic gaming images like Pacman or Space Invaders. Richard Coyle however, creates props for television shows or conventions that are held, like Game City. He first moved into this career when he updated a ray gun at a Star Trek convention in 1977, having a background in electronics, he added lights and sounds effects to the modernised ray guns which fans instantly took a shine to. Both Iain and Richard are always looking for something new to work on and try to modernise it, making it stand out above everything else and adding their own unique twist to try and keep up to date with their target audiences.

                                                                                                                    Richard coyle

I have taken an interest in Piero Gilardi's work, the material that he works with is very light and easy to manouver, a good quality when it comes to carrying props around a theatre stage. I want to create props for Alice in Wonderland, and with the foam looking theatrical I think it would suit it perfectly as I can exaggerate what I'm creating to make it visible from afar on stage to the audience. I also really Like Gillian Lee Smith's work, she uses a range of media to achieve her beautiful paintings or sculptures, allowing her to work in fine detail, which is important when trying to express the mood on a stage. Using a range of media will  allow me to achieve the same effect, making the props visible and giving them an original twist.

Sarah Turner

Sarah Turner is a Nottingham based award winning ECO artist, originally from sussex, who studied art and design at university and when she graduated in 2008, she began doing a lot of eco work - using recycled materials. she works with a variety of recycled materials such as metallic cans and plastic, but her most well known pieces are her beautifully hand created sculptures made from plastic bottles alone.


Sarah originally got her idea for her artistic sculptures when she was at university, she had to do a dissertation on recycling and after learning a lot about it, she wanted to explore it further. Her inspiration for these stem from setting herself challenges, she wanted to use something different, and she really liked the idea of using organic forms. The only tool she uses to make these delicate sculptures are a pair of scissors, a lot of work for one person to create alone, but that's the challenge that motivates her to do so. All the bottles are collected locally from cafes and households, they are cleaned and sandblasted to give the opaque look then hand cut and sculpted into decorative forms.  The waste bottles are totally transformed, looking nothing like their original state. 

Sarah designed a range of centre pieces and lighting for the Olympic Park, and after successfully taking off, Coca Cola then commissioned Sarah to create centre pieces for the tables at the Ballroom of the Langham Hotel. Coca Cola have taken over this prestigious hotel for their guests to stay in for the duration of the Olympics. The centres pieces are made in the Olympic Rings colours to suit the rest of the ballrooms Olympic decor. Each flower in the centre piece is made using two or three plastic bottles. The bottles are then sandblasted to turn them opaque and then dyed the vibrant colours.

Sarah's eco lights have been exhibited at shows in London, Milan, Paris, LA and locally in Nottingham, her original hand crafted sculptures are finally starting to take off - even world wide!