Carefully 'Packaged' Sculptures

Using the work of artist, Chris Gilmour as inspiration, Mrs Tania Westran’s Year 9 class were tasked with creating zoo animals from recycled packaging – but there was a twist!

Chris Gilmour creates intricate, detailed and highly realistic sculptures out of recycled packaging and

cardboard, carefully manipulating the material to take advantage of the designs on the recycled objects. His work provided an excellent spring board for the student’s own work.

With the Level 3 lockdown keeping the students at home, their sculpture task challenged them to sift through the garbage for appropriate materials, but the catch was they were only allowed to use one kind of packaging – multiples of the same packet were permissible, but not mixing different product packaging. Other than the packaging itself, the students could also use items such as glue, tape, pins, sewing, staples or string to hold their sculpture together.

The students submitted photos of their finished work for assessment – there’s some very creative pieces! On return to school, the sculptures will be presented as a joint ‘zoo’ installation. Well done Year 9!

Click here to view the gallery.