Reece is a Midlothian high school pupil with a forensic eye for re-imagining things people have thrown away. He uses found treasure to create portraits and artworks, each with a story about their place or meaning.

Reece’s teacher, ‘Mr H’ – or as Reece calls him ‘Posh Neighbour’ – sees connections between his imagination and real life as an important view of the world. Together they’ve worked out new ways to explore learning, turning every school day into an adventure. Tuning into Reece’s joy of discovery is very refreshing for everyone; reminding us of the wonder of investigation and everyday experimentation. Reece also worked alongside Artlink artists Chris Coatham and Tyler Carrigan to produce this exhibition, with a booklet to come.

When Reece has finished his sculptures he will name them and sometimes explain why. The story for each sculpture starts in piles of discarded junk, or rubbish in a hedgerow or something dropped on a pavement. These conversations are about his sculptures and the next part of their story.

Discover the stories behind the sculptures below.

First Papa
(Sadly deceased)
“Wasn’t this one of your first sculptures?”
“It was the first… I made it for Papa as a fun present – he has spiky hair when he wakes up”
“Is Papa’s hair made of broken chicken bones as well?”
“Probably”
“What happened to him?”
“He fell off the fence and got broken during the high winds – but real Papa is ok”

First Granny
(Sadly deceased)
“First Granny is dead”
“Dead?”
“The dogs ate her… the sculpture not Granny”
“That’s sad”
“It was… the necklace was made of gold wire – they must have eaten that too as we never found it”

Bin Face
(Missing presumed dead)
“Where did the lid come from”
“I found it in a bush near Loanhead Library – I took it even though you said to leave it”
“I remember… I ended up liking Bin Face”
“He got blown away in the high winds – we never saw him again… I’ll probably make Bin Face 2… we’ll need to go back to Loanhead Library”

Bougie Granny
(rescued from the garden collection of George and Wendy Maben)
“I know I made a Granny sculpture already – but I wanted to make a Bougie Granny”
“It’s good – one of Chris the Sculptor’s favourite pieces”
“Remember her nose – we found that magnet fishing”

Bumble Bee
“Why have you called it Bumble Bee?”
“You know how a bumble bee looks like it shouldn’t be able to fly but can fly?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… its got a massive fluffy body and tiny wings so shouldn’t be able to fly but it can”
“Ok”
“Well Bumble Bee looks like a working go-cart but it doesn’t actually work – so it’s like the opposite of a bumble bee”

IKEA Room
“Is this a model of a room?”
“You know in IKEA they have all the little rooms you can  go in. I made a room out of some of the treasure we found at IKEA”
“Could you live in the rooms at IKEA?”
“No – lots of people would keep walking through your room”

Not a Lamp
(loaned from the private collection of Paiton Rowland)
“It looks like a lamp”
“It isn’t a lamp as a lamp would light up”
“So it’s not a lamp”
“Exactly”

Merry Go Round
(loaned from the private collection of Rob Heasman / Mr H)
“These bits turn…”
“Everything goes round… like at the shows… some people like the shows”
“Do you like the shows?”
“Stop asking me questions, Mr H – it just goes round…”

X Marks the Spot
(loaned from the Artlink Collection)
“This sculpture only has a few pieces”
“But it marks the spot – and if the x marks the spot – it’s where everything happens – so it’s the most important spot”
“The X?”
“Didn’t you hear what I was saying – it’s the spot – not the X?”

Dr Dolittle’s Bird Table
“A phone on a bird table?”
“If a bird wanted to talk to Dr Dolittle and he was away – the bird could phone him up”
“What about the rabbit?”
“He doesn’t just speak to birds…”

Trophy One
(from the private collection of Ali Blythe / Mr B)
“Nice trophy?”
“It’s for Mr B – he loses a lot against me – everyone likes to win – so it’s for him”
“A trophy for not winning?”
“Yes”
“What if Mr B wins?”
“He won’t”

Papa and the French man
(from the private collection of George and Wendy Maben)
“This is easy to explain… that person there is Papa and that person looks like a French man”
“Has Papa ever met a French man?”
“Maybe… we’ve been to Berwick – and I think we’re going again”

My Crazy Mindset
“What about this one?  Is that a kettle at the bottom?”
“It was a kettle – it’s part of my crazy mindset now”
“What’s your crazy mindset?”
“It’s lots of random stuff stuck together – like being in my mind…”

The Face of Scotland (& George Washington)
“Are those teeth?”
“Some people in Scotland have rotten teeth – then they could get new metal ones to make their faces look ok”
“Metal teeth?”
“Yes – George Washington had wooden teeth – he never needed to clean them – he would just paint them”

The Walkway to Edinburgh
“This was the called the Bridge to Ireland”
“Bridge to Ireland? What is it now?”
“You don’t need a bridge to Ireland so it’s The Walkway to Edinburgh”
“I’m totally lost…”
“If you walked from Glasgow to Edinburgh the people in Glasgow would think that was funny – I don’t know what the people in Edinburgh would think – at least they’d have their own walkway”

Fun Friday
“You know on a Friday when your head is spinning?”
“I think so – like after a busy week?”
“I wonder if my brain is turning round inside my head”
“Do you think it actually spins? “
“It would if we put in new batteries”

The Awesome Skatepark
“This was going to be a tree of tubes”
“Was?”
“It’s now an awesome skatepark”
“What?”
“If you fix a skateboard on to any sculpture it becomes an awesome skatepark – obviously”

Family Reunion
“Is that a flag on the top?”
“Basically, it’s a very tall house – so tall it needs a flag to show people where the reunion is”
“Why does it say Ludo on the flag?”
“The Ludo family have all met with everything and everyone”
“And the reunion”
“Did you listen?  They all moved there – so it’s a reunion”

Mugged at the Gym
“When you’re at the gym you always need a coach to make sure you work hard.  What if your coach was a mug?  Could you keep it in your bag?  What if you got mugged by a mug?”

Lazy Sunday
“Everyone likes peace on a Sunday?”
“What do you mean by peace?”
“Just some time sitting away from other people”
“Do you like peace?”
“Well that depends on what day it is…”

Face of Ford
“Is this a representation of a multinational corporation laughing at people who are powerless to break away from their corporate control”
“You’re an idiot Mr H – I told you not to ask”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s a face made of parts from a Ford car – A Face of Ford – what did you think it was?”

Race Track
“If you had a car and it didn’t matter what happened to it… what would you do?
“I would never clean it”
“You do that already… I would just drive really fast around a race track and go over jumps…”
“That’s an exciting idea”
“Mr H… can I get your car keys?… just for a minute…”

Battle for the Kingdom
“So that’s where my spare chess pieces went…”
“You said when we played chess it was like a battle – two armies fighting…”
“I did – what about my chess pieces?
“Well… I found them… so they got sculpted”
“I can see that…”
“The armies have combined into one – and they travel about fighting other chess sets – and always win.  You can call then if you want a battle.  You wouldn’t win – there’s too many of them”

Casino
(loaned from the private collection of George Maben)
“This is one of Papa’s favourites… it’s not real money… just a bunch of money… it’s just Monopoly money… if it was real money it would get robbed”
“Where did you find the money?”
“It’s Monopoly money… not real money…  I found it at the charity bin at Sainsbury’s – so it was free… free money”

Download the poster (578kb PDF)