A woman from Plymstock creates remarkable animal models by crafting them out of cardboard. Inspired by her travels to Borneo and Japan and watching David Attenborough wildlife documentaries, beautiful animal characters come to life in the hands of talented artist Angela Shaddick.
Angela has been creating these works of art for several years and has made over 60 of them, from lions, giraffes, dragons, turtles or seahorses and birds. The 60-year-old has always “dabbled in crafts”, then turned her hand to making creatures out of papier mâché in 2019.
The animal characters have an emphasis on environment as they are all made from items that would otherwise be thrown away. The artwork itself is also completely recyclable, Angela gets through a lot of cardboard every week as each new creature is made.
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She said: “I often say to my husband, don’t buy me flowers, bring me cardboard instead. I start off by drawing a pattern on cardboard for the animal I’m creating. I’ve been inspired by nature programmes, travelling and my son shares photos from his travels on social media which also gives me new ideas.”
Angela’s son, Ben Nicholson, said: “She’s very talented, she creates upcycled, hyper-realistic models of animals. She, as yet, does not sell them or have them in any galleries or anything, but it’s interesting work that covers environmentalism and art.”
On Angela’s Instagram page, Maureen White wrote “your creatures are all beautiful, great work” Many others commented sharing their love for Angela’s animals.
The 60-year-old artist said she names each animal she creates. One recent creature is called Myrtle the turtle – she’s made from a recycled air fryer box.
As well as papier mâché and cardboard, Angela also uses felt and even merino wool for the finishing touches. She uses various textures and fabric to create the mane of a lion or the cowhide of a Highland bull.
Angela’s favourite creatures include a group of giraffes and a newly made lion. She said that her home is full of animal models and each character can take up to a few weeks to make.
You can scroll through our gallery to see a collection of Angela’s creations.
You can follow Angela’s Instagram page here
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Angela Shaddick creates animals from cardboard
(Image: Angela Shaddick)A dragon creation by Angela Shaddick
(Image: Angela Shaddick)Myrtle the turtle is one of Angela’s recent creations
(Image: Angela Shaddick)An elephant by artist, Angela
(Image: Angela Shaddick)A Hornbill bird made from paper and cardboard
(Image: Angela Shaddick)A lion made of cardboard by Angela
(Image: Angela Shaddick)
