Arts & Culture

If one of your New Year's Resolutions to recycle more, you can follow the example of a local artist. The former schoolteacher has a taste for the usual and has turned to rubbish to create her art.

Not your usual jumper!

Southend based Sandra Ehlers, 59, uses reclaimed and recycled materials she finds in local charity shops and at the tip to create collages and 3D pieces. Some of her pieces involve cutting up carrier bags and knitting them to make works of art.

The artist finds beauty in discarded and abandoned materials, and gives them a new leave of life. Car parts become flowers and old clothes become collages.

Imagine what you could do with an eggbox

A particular interest to Sandra is the female form. She had created lifesize sculptures out of papier-mache and is currently working on making kits for pregnant women to make casts out of their bumps.

Next time you throw away a carrier bag or egg box, take a second to think about what you can turn it into instead.