Seashore Specimens (iv). ‘Today was a blustery day indeed, yet I have still managed to find many fascinating examples of natural history.’
 
This is an original one-off assemblage created inside a vintage cigar box. 
Clara has placed a photograph of herself over a length of red tartan ribbon which was left over after she had replaced the worn ribbons on her favourite bonnet. On her sea walk, her bonnet was snatched from her head by the gusty sea breeze and, with ribbons flapping wildly, cartwheeled for a quarter of a mile along the shoreline before it was triumphantly caught by a little girl and her mama. Displayed in the base of the box is one of Clara’s more enigmatic finds, which she has yet to identify and catalogue, as well as a collection of tiny shell fragments.
I created the painted handmade paper ‘shell’ using cotton linter pulp.
This work was included in A Curious Collection; my 2024 solo show at Sock Gallery Loughborough, as part of:
 
MISS CLARA KNIGHT’S CURIOUS COLLECTIONS: SEASHORE SPECIMENS
'Miss Clara Knight, (1823-1910), was a young lady possessed of a particularly independent nature and an avid collector of all things antiquarian. Accompanying her father, an eminent Professor of Archaeology she travelled the length and breadth of the country - as they searched for wonders of antiquity, Clara compiled treasured collections of her own.
These groups of objects were found in various places along the South Devonshire coastline when Clara and her father were staying as guests of relatives; Mr Idris Knight, and his wife, Cordelia, and their small son, William. Clara found her stay to be ‘utterly delightful’ and spent a great deal of her time happily searching along the seashore and the clifftops for fascinating finds.'
 
Please note this is a delicate one off piece of artwork and cannot be re-created. 
 
Dimensions: 
Box closed: W22cm, D13cm, H3.5cm
Box upright and fully open: H22cm, W26cm, D3cm
Not suitable for children.
Price £195
Free Post and Packaging (UK 0nly)