Susan Collis's work might at first glance appear to be out of place in an exhibition, and you have to look closely to discover it. Mundane things, seemingly left behind from a previous exhibition, are actually meticulously worked by hand.
Collis trained as a sculptor in London. She works with traditional craft techniques such as marquetry and embroidery, stitching paint splatters on dust sheets and inlaying marks on the surface of a table. Using materials such as diamonds and gold, she transforms Rawlplugs and screws into precious objects to be looked at yet not used. Labouring for many months on a single piece, Collis consciously celebrates both the humility and discipline of making something really well.
'I have always wanted my work to bring together two different opposing terms, like tidy and untidy, clean and dirty - to bring them together and see what happens. I think this ties into my feelings about craft. Craft in my mind, has that 'good' label and that's what draws me to it. To make something look bad, dirty or stained using these processes that are usually deemed to be good and worthy, to jumble up the two.'
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