Former Worthing youth mayor expands repurposed art challenge to promote environmental mindfulness and creativity

Henny Sonnemann-Petty has been working with schools and youth groups as part of her competition to create a piece of art inspired by the environmental movement, using repurposed materials to transform what is often considered rubbish into something beautiful.

The winning sculpture, a stag's head coated in discarded crisp packets that was created by students at Worthing High School, is now on show at Montague Gallery, in Portland Road.

Henny said: "From my proposal in the Lions Young Ambassador Awards, the original Repurposed competition was created as a project to engage young people, in line with ongoing efforts to promote environmental mindfulness and creativity.

"I am thrilled to announce that the winning design has been selected, a remarkable laser-cut cardboard sculpture of a stag's head, coated in discarded crisp packets. This piece represents the power of artistic repurposing in symbolising the importance of environmental sustainability.

"I am passionate about ensuring the ingenuity of our young artists is celebrated, so I set out on a mission to find a display space for this extraordinary artwork. I connected with the artist-led Montague Gallery, who kindly offered their window from September 5 to 17, to further promote this cause.

"They have helped me to evolve the project into something that is accessible to everyone, not just young people, as new ideas can be formed and old habits changed for all ages if we view waste materials through a new lens and don’t waste them."

Henny has set a new challenge for people to come up with an original and creative way to repurpose an item of household waste to be in with a chance of winning a £50 voucher to spend at Montague Gallery.

There is free rein to choose what to repurpose and how to repurpose it but the item must be absolutely no bigger than 20cm x 20cm x 20cm.

Hand it in at Montague Gallery with your name and contact details clearly marked and send a picture of it to [email protected] by September 30 for a chance to have your creative idea posted on the Repurposed Instagram page. The most creative repurposing of an item will win.