'ODD SOCKS' is an installation that was inspired by my 13 year old son and his friend whilst we were playing on the beach in the summer of 2018.

As we were leaving, the boys filled a sock with sand and started to playfully swing the sock around. When they plonked it on the ground, I was fascinated by the organic form that the sock had become. 

Inspired, I returned home, dug out all the odd socks that I had kept....( as my family will attest, I never throw anything out! ) 

We returned to the beach a couple of weeks later, armed with a bin bag full of socks. I had selected mostly neutral colours to emphasise the form.

As the boys dug a large hole to bury themselves in, I used the displaced sand to start filling the socks. As I was filling and placing the socks in a group.  People began to wander over, looking  to see what the strange sight was.

I invited people to join in. Several did, with great enthusiasm. Every person that engaged with the work was intrigued by the ambiguity. Initially, they could not work out what the forms were until they got close. They were guessing. Among other things, 'Is that? 'burnt wood', 'cats', ceramic vases', 'chess pieces', plants', 'stones', 'sea lions', 'penguins'. 

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When it was time to leave, the random total socks filled, amounted to 60, hence the title of that day's work,  '60 ODD SOCKS'.

I encouraged the boys to deconstruct the installation. They did with gusto! 

 

The next time we created the work, there were 46 odd socks. On this occasion, our family happened to be meeting at the beach to celebrate my mother's birthday. My folks turned up later that day.  Serendipity, their clothes were the same tonal colours as the socks! Result.

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I am very excited to develop this collaborative artwork. I would like to  take  it into different environments. In particular, using it as a educational  tool for students.

The concept essentially embraces many of the inherent properties of sculptural concepts, expressed in a simple and fun way! Mission on!