ANN CARRINGTON TRANSFORMS OBJECTS INTO ART
Kendra Dresser
British sculptor Ann Carrington turns spoons, buttons, and pearls into works that rethink culture, craft, and beauty.
From the 1960s To Today’s Lens
Since the 1960s, artists have blurred boundaries between high and low art, and Ann Carrington continues this legacy by turning ordinary objects into intricate, playful sculptures.
In fact, “I merge materials with form to tell a story through familiar objects,” she says. “All objects have cultural meaning, and I like to explore that.”
Her work, both playful and profound, collapses distinctions between craft, decoration, and fine art, revealing beauty, wit, and cultural resonance in the everyday.
Everyday Objects Transformed
Carrington’s sculptures often begin with discarded or mundane items, such as cutlery, buttons, pearls, coins, and textiles, and transform them into works full of symbolism and history.
Pearls and Sheng Fa Wave
Furthermore, Her fascination with pearls started with Yangzi City in China, a hub of mass-produced pearls. “I liked the contrast between pearls as symbols of wealth and how they are mass-produced,” she explains.
Using secondhand pearls, she crafts monumental forms, including seahorses in Sheng Fa Wave, merging opulence with playful critique, and inviting viewers to reconsider the ordinary.
Buttons and the Pearly Queens
Buttons, however, became central after she projected a postage stamp of the Queen in her studio, noticing that the printing dots looked like buttons. She then thought of London’s Pearly Kings and Queens. “My button works connect royal tradition and street culture.”
Pearly Queen of Electric Avenue by Ann Carrington
Large portraits and banners, including the Pearly Queen of Electric Avenue and the Diamond Jubilee Royal Crest, celebrate craft, care, and creativity.
Ann Carrington’s Cutlery as Sculpture
In fact, a visit to the Rijksmuseum, Vanitas-inspired bouquets emerged. In particular, “I wanted to make a modern-day Vanitas, a bouquet from cutlery.”
Forks, spoons, and knives are transformed into sculpted petals in works such as Japanese Snowball and Persian Slipper, demonstrating that everything, literally everything, can become a sculpture.
Selected Key Works
significantly, among other pieces, Carrington’s portfolio includes The Four Seasons, where crushed drink cans are transformed into seasonal goddess figures with machine-sewn patchwork dresses, and Brimstone, a spider-web-inspired steel sculpture capturing insect-themed jewellery and totems.
Additionally, Heads She Wins presents oversized coin impressions in pewter and tin, inspired by guilloche patterns.
Candy Tuft reshapes industrial materials into light, feathery, showgirl-like forms.
“Each sculpture has a story,” Carrington adds, “I collect, experiment, and let the materials guide me.”
The ANN CARRINGTON Studio Ritual
In fact, her practice is tactile and meditative. Firstly, ideas are recorded in sketchbooks, accompanied by notes, diagrams, and photos.
“Anything, from a conversation, a song lyric, or even a pile of rubbish, can spark a piece,” she explains. Most ideas fail, but when one works, “you know it in the pit of your stomach.”
Mary, Queen of Hanging Swords Alley by Anne Carrington. Photographer: Alexa Clarke-Kent.
Significantly, assistants help with sewing, welding, and assembly, yet each piece retains her hand, humour, and vision. As a result, repetition, experimentation, and intuition shape the sculptures’ rhythm and precision, which viewers can sense in every detail.
Function, Decoration and Ritual
As a result, Carrington enjoys exploring the tension between art, decoration, and function. “I make sculptures, but I love celebrating decorative work, even if the art world frowns on it,” patterns, colour, and beadwork create rhythm and invite viewers into the story of each object.
“I like to give everyday objects a star moment, because they’ve been hiding in plain sight, waiting to shine,” she adds.
Exhibitions And Recognition
Ann Carrington’s work appears globally:
- Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, Nashville (2024–2025)
- Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Significantly, her awards include the Herbert Read Award, Commonwealth Fellowship, and Freedom of the City of London.
Expanding Visual Language
Subsequently, Ann Carrington constantly experiments, developing pearl galleons into monumental seahorses, bouquets incorporating chains, safety pins, and unusual textures, and wax models merging with found objects. She also crafts fungal forms from soap dishes and silver trays.
Hoya Memoria by Ann Carrington
Moreover, Future projects include studying metal-thread embroidery in India, a solo Margate show in 2027, and collaborations for upcoming films, all of which broaden her creative reach.
A Cultural Provocateur ANN CARRINGTON
Indeed, Carrington elevates the overlooked, where spoons become flowers, buttons turn into crowns, and pearls transform into mythical creatures.
Finally, “I want viewers to feel something surprising or beautiful in everyday objects,” she says. Her work demonstrates that value lies not in cost, but in perspective, inviting audiences to see the ordinary in a new way.
Where To Find Carrington’s Work
Learn more, explore Ann Carrington’s sculptures at https://anncarrington.co.uk and follow her studio journey on Instagram @anncarringtonart.
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Kendra Dresser is in Communications and Public Relations with a focus on how fashion, media, and culture shape the way we see the world and ourselves.
She’s interested in the connection between image and meaning: how a campaign, an outfit, or a trend can say something deeper about identity, mood, and the cultural moment.
She’s especially drawn to how Generation Z uses fashion and beauty to express individuality, often in bold, layered, and playful ways. She’s also curious about how social media continues to reshape storytelling, changing how we create, share, and connect through visual culture.
To Kendra, fashion is more than just style; it’s a language! One that reflects who we are, how we feel, and what we stand for. She’s committed to sustainability and believes fashion and culture should not only inspire but also respect the planet.
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