Kitty Calvert sculptures are unique works of art birthed from recycled, upcycled and found materials. Anything from biscuit tins, dolls heads, cigarette tins, fishing floats and lamp bases are used to create these striking pieces. Sitting in their studio, the two masterminds behind Kitty Calvert, Julia and Phill, spoke about their passion for creating visual art and how they got to where they are today.
Surrounded by countless tall shelves piled high with vintage, found, upcycled, and donated goods, Julia shares how Kitty Calvert was the result of the couple moving on from their gift and homewares business and wanting to combine their passion for recycling and giving a new life to previously loved objects.
“We were very concerned with what our carbon footprint was,” Julia said. “In our travels we had seen other assemblage art works and I thought, I wonder if we could do something like that where we take old materials and make something new out of them.”
With Julia’s skills in design and visualisation, and Phill’s talent with mechanics and building, the pair did just that and turned their focus to making striking assemblage sculptures, with the first being made in August 2019.
Describing their artwork as kooky, amusing, and whimsical, they reflected that their art is influenced by contemporary culture, street art, and music. Whilst the sculptures don’t appeal to everyone, it’s their unique nature and ability to transform already existing objects into something new that entices not only the creators, but their increasing fan base.
“To some people it’s cracked up and creepy but not to me. I think they’re beautiful,” Julia said. Phill added, “they’re often quite clever and amusing. They usually make you smile.”
All objects used to create a Kitty Calvert piece are kept in the condition they were in when they entered the studio. This is because Julia and Phill say each individual component “was made well in the first place out of expensive materials,” and that retaining the original state helps their work tell a story and provides each piece with an identity of its own.
Whilst their pieces are made with everyday objects, the sculptures are not as easy to create as you might think. Due to the various objects being made from different materials and with each having a different weight, it takes a lot of patience to create one finished piece.
“It’s really hard to make the pieces work together and then its really hard to engineer them together. You really need a lot of materials to make just one piece,” Julia said.
Despite this, all Kitty Calvert sculptures are built to last due their strong engineering and clever assembly. “We say you can pick them up and swing them around by their heads,” Julia says as she does just this with a finished sculpture, the golden curls on the dolls head bouncing in all directions.
For Phill and Julia one feature of their art that they find most pleasing is when individual objects within a sculpture evoke memories for the audience. Julia smiles as she points at the body of a finished sculpture, “It might be that their grandma had that biscuit tin. So it reminds them of that. People recognise the objects,” she says.
Whilst there are no clear-cut goals for Kitty Calvert due to current Covid uncertainty, both creatives agree they want to continue producing art and giving once loved objects a new audience. Although many of their exhibitions were cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic, Julia and Phill remain optimistic and hope to expand their practise, eventually selling their assemblage sculptures worldwide.
“We’re trying to save the planet one piece of junk at a time,” Julia said.
www.kittycalvert.com
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