"Salvage": a show of work at the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard

"Salvage", a show of work at the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard, was intended "to save used, damaged or rejected goods for recycling" or "to save something of worth or merit from a situation or event that is otherwise a failure."

Perhaps because the show followed so hard on the heels of Christmas and New Year or possibly because the idea was a shade ambitious not a lot was actually salvaged. Indeed were it not for the energetic output of Emma Ingham-Dunouk there would hardly have been enough work to call a show.

However, all was not lost. There are several works that showed impressive imagination and resourcefulness. Lynn Morell, it turns out, is one of those people who cannot throw anything away.

She probably has one of those infamous balls of string made up of pieces "too short to be useful". Well known for her beautiful quilt work, it seems that the cut off pieces of clothing that cannot be included in her quilts, such as bits of collars, cuffs, pockets, plackets, buttons, button holes and the rest have not been thrown away but saved against this very day.

In "No Jacket and Tie Required" the assembled detritus of her work makes up a fun and surprisingly coordinated work on its own. "All those Loose Ends" assembles thread too short to be otherwise useful into a collage of sad embroidered words representing the debris of life and its missed opportunities. It is heart-rending indeed.

"Sticks & Stones: a New Approach" is a less successful rehash of a rejected quilt of 1996 found in whatever storage Mrs. Morell uses for her collection unused oddities. Its colour scheme is mainly produced by rust stains and, while perfectly effective now, one would expect the fabric to rot in time.

In somewhat the same vein is a rejected work by Christopher Marson recently found in an attic. The subject child in the water at a beach is unfortunate and no doubt was responsible for the rejection of the work. The canvas is slightly damaged and one blemish has been covered by a Band-Aid, adding a wry touch. The impression of water and sky, however, is absolutely splendid.

Mr. Marson might well explore that inspiration further.

The most startling work is "Cat Fish a Jumpin" by Suzie Lowe. It is made up almost entirely of the lids from cans of cat food. These have been saved over quite a period of time unless Ms Lowe has a very large number of cats. Each one has been hammered to give it added texture and assembled to represent scales in a large fish shaped frame of copper tubing. The effect is brilliant.

No one can bring himself to throw away a key even after its use is long forgotten and even, in my case, when the house the locks of which they fit has been pulled down.

Joyce Joel-Hayden, however, has found the solution to such a collection of keys. In "Keyhole" she has assembled scores of such abandoned keys into the shape of a large keyhole with effective result. In "Wrapped" she takes salvaged shrink-wrap stretched loosely over a frame and paints it with bright colour. It is probably not a very durable work, but fun while it lasts.

Rick Marson's collage of the litter of Christmas past is both effective and fun, but it must be said that he has a long way to go before he learns to paint. His paint is invariably muddy or chalky.

The rest of the show is made up of work by Emma Ingham. These are assorted strings of beads interspersed with bits of this and that, mainly ribbons and feathers, but even some twine.

They are colourful and dramatically displayed, pinned to and draped from a series of brightly coloured fashion heads drawn in coloured pencil.

Sometimes two such works are applied to the same fashion head, causing some confusion. The result is festive and saves the show from a feeling of destitution.