BEV WILLIAMS

Incorporating a family connection to aluminium, Bev Williams has investigated the properties of recycled aluminium sourced from drinks cans. Creating new and innovative tools to process the unpredictable metal, Williams has created artworks to pay homage to her late father-in-law Bob Williams, through his WW2 RAF service and subsequent employment with the Aluminium Corporation Ltd in Dolgarrog, North Wales.

Aluminium is an industrial metal used for a variety of applications including drinks cans. Repurposing aluminium from drinks cans and manipulating the metal has produced some dramatic results mainly because of the uncertain outcomes of working with the metal. Thin aluminium sheets from drinks cans form the basis of the work and Williams uses her textile knowledge and expertise to join the pieces of aluminium with thin wire.

“I have to listen to what aluminium is saying to me, I can’t anticipate or influence what to do with the metal, I have to be sympathetic to what the metal allows me to do.”

During WW2, Lord Beaverbrook, the Minister for Aircraft Production, encouraged members of the public to donate aluminium pots and pans for the war effort, specifically to raise money to buy Spitfires. This was known as the ‘Spitfire Fund’. Many other war campaigns encouraged households to recycle, and the motivation of recycling initiated Williams' investigations into using aluminium from empty drinks cans.

Footage from experimental videos with Williams' work draped over a Spitfire plane, seeing the aluminium dancing in the breeze and listening to the sound emanating from the moving discs, influenced Williams to explore the visual and sonic properties of aluminium. 

Separate collaborative working with a photographer and a musician has enhanced Williams' art by looking at the effects of coloured stage lighting reflecting from the silver discs.  Further research investigated the sound made by the discs resonating against each other.

Building on from the successful experiments with repurposed aluminium, a passion to work with this unpredictable metal was ignited.