It’s not often you get to chat to an artist about their work.

But yesterday morning I popped along to see an exhibition at the Lace Market Gallery and did exactly that.

Joy Pitts makes the most amazing work from quantities of discarded and surplus clothing labels…

I first saw her work at the Wirksworth Arts Festival a couple of years ago. It made a big impression.

Many of her pieces, like the pigeon above, tell stories. The role of the homing pigeon during wartime has been custom printed onto all those little background labels, whilst the pigeon itself is made up of labels bearing the names of 466 Ilkeston men who gave their lives in the First World War.

All those tiny bits of fabric, pinned painstakingly together (literally – inserting all those pins is hard on your fingers) make works that are most definitely bigger than the sum of their parts.

I ended my visit sitting, chatting – and sewing.

Turning labels and wools into these…

They are all going into Joy’s next work, a sheep…

There will be 450 “merino” embroidered labels needed to make up the background of the finished piece…

It will certainly be something of a labour of love, as sewing on them was a bit tough on the old fingers.

So it’s good news that there were plenty of other willing volunteers turning up at the gallery to give a hand.

I’ll be watching out for when Joy’s merino sheep makes it’s appearance. She is hoping that it will be finished in time for Wool Week in October.

It’ll be great to know that about half a dozen or so of it’s little contributions will be down to me.

And in the meantime, should you be so inclined, you can see more of Joy’s work on her website, or at the Lace Market Gallery in Nottingham until 13th May. ♥