Turning jackets into art with a little fun
A Levin artist has scooped several awards in a recent art competition for her quirky and skilful sculptural creations.
Vicky Millman, who goes by the moniker Arty Vicky, entered a Pimp My Jacket competition as part of the Hutt Winter Festival, where entrants had to decorate old jackets that had been donated to Mix — an art and activity centre for mental health consumers in the Hutt Valley.
The competition was open to all artists, and Ms Millman, who is a volunteer tutor in Horowhenua for mental health consumers, decided to enter with a sculptural owl jacket and a fantastical dragon.
Of 94 entries across three categories in the competition, the owl won the nature category, while the dragon was highly commended in a category named Anything Goes.
Ms Millman said she had been working with three-dimensional form for a while with a goal to create outdoor sculptures, particularly of dragons.
She often works with more unconventional art materials, sourcing products from hardware stores, such as expandable gap filling products. The dragon is made from the foam, which, once dried, was cut into segments and reassembled, before being coated in the builder’s product No More Gaps.
“I do things differently all the time,” she said.
Inside the owl is a florist’s oasis, carved to shape and coated in No More Gaps, while its feathers are made from wire and fabric coated in layers of paint, painstakingly applied until the correct effect is achieved.
Ms Millman said she was rapt to have had her pieces recognised, especially as the competition brief was quite unusual.
“Mix had been given a collection of old corporate jackets and they came up with the idea of using them for art,” she said.
“In this case my artwork was a little different from the norm.”
Both the owl and dragon jacket are for sale, for $100 each. Contact Vicky Millman on 368 8583 for further information.