Josie Beszant talked about her interest in collecting and illustrated her work with cabinet displays and artworks.

Her website states:
“I am a collector of stories, poems fragments of things. This spills out into my art work, whether it is in painting, collage, assemblage or sculpture the work is always about things found that I am fascinated with. This could be a scrap of a photo, a discarded letter, a story told or a song. I am interested in the beauty of the damaged discarded and broken which is a constant theme running through my work.”

She explained her early interest in natural and made objects during her childhood staying with her grandparents in a cottage with lots of interesting objects and access to the countryside. She developed an interest in drawing, making and mending things. These interests developed into making clothes, stained glass, plastering etc. as well as painting pastels and watercolours.

Her interest in old objects developed into creating collages of old photographs, old family stories, envelopes, animal bones and old objects. These represent past connections and emotions. They could be tales of unrequited love or separation.

 

Josie and artists, Hester Cox and Charlotte Morrison, create new ways of displaying objects in store at Ryedale Museum. These included, old glass, fragments of wallpaper from demolished houses and moths.

They were also involved in exploring and illustrating the archives of Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley. Josie incorporated the ideas into the construction of aprons from teabag material and found scraps.

Collage of old objects is not popular in the UK but has a market in the USA and Europe. Her other painting work is more important for sales from her gallery in Masham.

For further information see www.mashamgallery.co.uk/josie-beszant.html