Self Reliance 2 Sculpture

“Recreating birds in leather is akin to trying a frankenstein attempt at bringing life back to a beautiful creature.” English artist Georgina Brett Chinnery creates sculptural forms in leather, which exploit traditional techniques of surface leather decoration. Her artistry is in the seemingly effortless combining of material, process and meaning through a labour-intensive making process - which she presents as a parallel to our continuous striving for clarity and serenity in life. She studied 3D Design at St. Albans School of Art and subsequently went on to learn the craft of upholstery. Through the knowledge she acquired in these skills, Brett Chinnery started making her own bespoke interior pieces, which sold at Liberty together with private and commercial clients worldwide. The idea of trying out leather on a popular design led her on a new path, she partook in a short course on decorated leather and showed her first collection ‘Flora and Fauna” at Collect 2011, The international Art Fair for Modern Craft and Design at the Saatchi Gallery. In 2014 Brett Chinnery received the Cockpit Arts / Leathersellers’ Award for 2 years running where she created ‘Bird Brain’ a series of 10 sculptural forms 2014-2017. ‘Bird Brain’ invites the viewer to delve in to the conscious and ask how we see ourselves and others, with the bird forms chosen to represent chapters on the road to awareness. Her work continues to explore this transition and examines the juxtaposition of beauty, horror, death and rebirth. Brett Chinnery’s work has been shown in Europe as well as featuring in numerous publications, and has pieces in private collections worldwide.