British artist Barbara Franc uses recycled scrap metal pieces to create sculptures of animals, from domestic dogs and cats, to woodland rabbits, squirrels, and pine martens, to a wide variety of small birds—finches, tits, robins, and more. In this 2019 A2 Gallery video, Franc talks about a life-size metal badger sculpture that she created for Meles Meles, an A2 Gallery exhibition to celebrate the now-protected animal. Meles meles is the scientific name for the European badger.
“Bisto the Badger” is “made from a whole assortment of objects from old bicycle gears, Singer sewing machine parts to typewriter keys and several toy metal farmyard cows…”
More about badgers from the Woodland Trust:
Badgers are omnivores, which means they will eat a wide range of food. Around 80% of a badger’s diet is made up of earthworms – they can eat hundreds of them in a single night – but they also eat slugs and other invertebrates.
Fruit features in the badger’s diet too, including pears, apples, plums and elderberries. Elder bushes can often be found growing near badger setts…
Historical persecution means badgers are now fully protected by law. This has helped the UK population to grow, roughly doubling since the 1980s. However, many badgers are killed by cars and illegal persecution does still occur.
Find more of Franc’s sculptures on Instagram:
Related videos to watch next:
• Exquisite scrap metal creatures by Insectophile Edouard Martinet
• Chie Hitotsuyama’s recycled newspaper animal sculptures
• Colorful animal sculptures made from recycled flip-flops
• Washed Ashore, giant animal sculptures made of found beach plastic
h/t Colossal.
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