Commission Enquiries

Two bumblebees recently commissioned. The colour request was for gold, lime, yellow and mauve; we think they turned out really well.

Savile Row Collaborators

Special thanks to my collaborators on Savile Row and beyond, I finally dressed my vintage mannequin with a few of the leftover labels. A true celebration of bespoke tailoring, Savile Row history and fashion design, long may it continue.
Portraits include Sir Winston Churchill and King George VI.

Joy-next-the-Sea

I have been busy making a new sign for my studio at 12 High Street, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk. Looking to forward to sharing new work made with 1000s of used clothing labels later in the year, when it is safe to open. #joynextthesea #wellsnextthesea #Norfolk

My journey

I wanted to go to Art College when I left school but my parents encouraged me to get a ‘proper job’. For 20 years I worked as a Civil Servant at The Nottingham District Land Registry and later at HMRC. I began to study art when my children started school, although I always did the school run and family was always a priority. That’s the thing with art you can work around obstacles and I often worked in the evening after their bedtime. I studied art for 7 years and loved every minute of it, I was awarded MA Fine Art with distinction in 2005 from Nottingham Trent University. My work with garments and labels simply evolved through a programme of exploring and manipulating a wide range of materials.

Joy Pitts #joynextthesea

Savile Row

Winston Churchill made with Savile Row bespoke woven labels.

Window Exhibition August 2020

Over the August Bank Holiday ‘99 Used Labels’ was exhibited in the window of Nomad & the Bowerbird, 19 Staithe Street, Wells-next-the-Sea, NR23 1AG.

CALLOUT FOR EREWASH

94 more names needed from Erewash essential #lockdown workers and #volunteers, these will join the 838 names already signed up for inclusion in the art work, see criteria below and email joy@joypitts.co.uk

Names of WWI fallen soldiers.

Invitation to Workers & Volunteers

Have you been working or volunteering in Erewash during Covid-19? 

Would you like your name to be included in a free art project supported by Arts Council England? 

This is a really exciting opportunity for important workers and volunteers like you who have given your time to help others. All you have to do is email your name and a brief note about the work/voluntary action that you have carried out during Covid-19 to the following email address joy@joypitts.co.uk 

Example: - 

NAME: Joy Pitts 

JOB/VOLUNTARY ACTION: Bus driver/make PPE/visit neighbour.

No job is too small to be included so please put your name forward, all are welcome and I would love to hear what you have been doing. Examples might include checking on someone in isolation, delivering or preparing food, delivering newspapers, keeping in touch on the telephone, making PPE, organising volunteers, food bank deliveries, any other acts of kindness or essential work.

Your names will be presented in an artwork in the future similar to the WW1 Homing Pigeon made with the names of 466 Ilkeston men who gave their lives in WWI. These names are listed on the Cenotaph at Ilkeston Market Place.

Read more about the project HERE.

 Joy Pitts is a local artist working with 1000s of clothing labels; these are unpicked from the neck of rag garments and used to make images on canvas. Joy has been commissioned by fashion designer Paul Smith to produce art using his clothing label brand. Joy has also collaborated with several famous Savile Row, London tailors using their bespoke labels to create famous portraits.

Norfolk Open Studios 2020 goes Online

Norfolk Open Studios goes online, Saturday 23 May - Sunday 7 June

Artists have had to close their studio doors during this difficult time, but they are still artists all year round. To continue to celebrate them and our local art community, Norfolk Open Studios is being brought into your home …virtually!

Over 50 wonderful Norfolk artists have been busy filming themselves, their workspaces, their work (both in progress and completed) as well as art demonstrations. Others have been taking photographs of their work and studios along with recordings of their thoughts about what the creative process means to them, especially during this strange time.

All of this is now available on the Norfolk Open Studios website from Saturday 23 May to 7 June to view at your leisure.  Grab yourself a cup of tea, sit back, enjoy and be inspired… you never know, you may even want to have a go at something yourself.