Jennifer Collier

I first saw the work of Jennifer Collier at The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, and I did a blog post in October. She creates beautiful sculptures made from recycled and reused papers and creates something new such as a typewriter, camera, dresses, shoes, phones and even vacuum cleaners, each one realistic to both size and shape. She uses a range of different techniques such as wax entrapment, weaving and sewing. 
Last week Jennifer Collier came into college and gave a talk about her work, inspirations and her workshops. 
She studied Textiles at MMU in 1996-1999 and she has always described her work as fine art/textiles, but never fashion. She collects old papers and maps, and all of the paper she works with somehow links to what she is actually making, such as the phone was made from an old phone directory. 
Her work has been exhibited in a lot of different places including the Museum Of Science and Industry, The Hat Works in Stockport, and Manchester Art Gallery. 
I really found her talk inspirational and what she said was really helpful for people doing an art degree, she said that you have to really try and not give up, you have to make connections, call and email people about showing and exhibiting your work. She also said you have to experiment with different techniques and applications and find your own style. I really like the saying "make happy accidents" and don't be worried about making mistakes because you learn from them.