L e n  S h e l l e y

• home
• boxes
• sculpture
• drawings
• video
• biography
• contact

As a compulsive collector I'm always looking for new objects and materials to work with. Materials which already have a patina created by nature, metal which is rusting, and wood which is worn. I find these out walking on the street, in fields and on the beach. The coast provides me with the sun-dried fish and sea bird heads I use in the construction of my figures. An animal head once cleaned and treated reveals its own character, which then dictates my use of it.

My working methods have developed out of making puppet animation films. My first step in making a new work is to develop a story, which I then set about illustrating. Sometimes these become drawings sometimes three dimensional pieces. My figures often play upon existing archetypes from children's literature and popular culture, although more and more I create characters from my own world to tell personal stories.