Warped and Wasted – Penny Wheeler

Penny Wheeler is drawn to the sensuality and tactility of cloth, the traditional rhythms of hand-weaving and its possibilities of infinite combinations of yarn, colour, and pattern. She uses weaving to explore ideas and materials; reimagining, experimenting, and adding unexpected elements, to start conversations about the unseen in everyday life.

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Artist Statement for Warped and Wasted

‘For a long time, I was stuck, overwhelmed by the question of how to make sustainably. Working with Judith van den Boom I realised no one has all the answers, making sustainably is an active, living-learning practice. This work is about interrupting the take, make, waste process, creating work using unsustainable materials from my stash with ‘unusable’ materials destined for landfill; claiming some of that surplus energy. The Trash tweed pieces combine the luxury look of Chanel Lesage tweed with trash; fruit nets, foam net covers, and toothpaste tubes etc. Landfill weaves the worn-out or unwanted into something new.’

Details of individual work

Trash tweed: everyday plastic, 2025

Materials: Mixed materials from my stash including: a ‘Happy Bag’ (miscellaneous textured threads in beige from 75cm to 1m in length), silk paper yarn, polyester tape, seconds/end of roll polyester ribbons, silk yarn, 50% polyurethane, 38% cotton, 12% polyamide flat yarn, second hand 62% Polyester Metallised & 38% Polyamide lurex yarn, paper yarn, wool yarn, chenille yarn. Waste materials: fruit nets, foam net covers, toothpaste tube, cosmetic tube, hard packing tape, quavers bag, butter wrapper, rubber glove, delivery envelope, ribbons from chocolates, chocolate foil wrappers, air mattress, wool thrums (left over warp/loom waste) and paper ribbon.
Dimensions: 25 x 140cm approx.