Neil Cruickshank

Neil Cruickshank – re-arranging the strandline I have lived on Portland since 2007, having moved from Essex. I was a teacher and I have also been a church leader, musician, social worker and, before all that, I was a baby. I don’t count myself an artist, more of a collector and coordinator of loose ends. All sorts of stuff gets washed up on the beaches: some of it quite sad because it was part of people’s boats, some of it unusual (my day job was as a psychology teacher, and I found half a plastic brain on the strandline a few years ago!). Out of a whole heap of stuff, I try to find things that go together – like small pieces of sea-glass to make tiny framed sailing boats. All of my sculptures are from things that have been lost, sunk, left behind or washed up. The trendy terms are recycled, recovered and repurposed. No two pieces can be the same therefore. I alter things as little as possible and nearly always use old screws and other fittings. I have made furniture, sculptures, pictures and even a shop sign as well. Art or fuel? You decide …