Bath exhibition shows art made from old cleaning bottles and toys

An artist has created an exhibition of pieces made out of plastic waste, including cleaning bottles and unwanted toys.

Bath artist Anya Beaumont said she was inspired by the “horror” of realising how much plastic was in her house and wanting to do something creative with it “rather than just chucking it in the recycling bin”.

When telling people about her Hopeful Monsters exhibition, which includes intricate sculptural and wearable artworks, she said the most common reaction was relief because people finally had somewhere to take their unwanted plastic.

“I think a lot of people identify with what I’m doing,” Ms Beaumont added.

The artist, whose work is on display at 44AD artspace in Bath until Sunday, said she would rather use material that already exists.

“It’s quite depressing [the amount of waste plastic],” she added.

“My studio’s getting fuller and fuller.”

Ms Beaumont first started working with waste plastic after noticing her children returning from nursery and primary school with lots of bits of plastic.

“The infamous party bag would have a toy which they’d love for five minutes then before you knew it it was broken or forgotten about and I’d be left with all this stuff not really knowing what to do with it,” said Ms Beaumont.

“In a broader sense I recognised just how much plastic was in the house,” she added.

But she said using the colourful unwanted plastic “means that I’ve got a really vibrant source material to work with”.

“I don’t need to paint it, I can just collect it, sort it into different colours and there it is ready for me to use,” she said.

She is also making brightly coloured brooches people can take away from the exhibition.