Sybil Edwards makes pyramids with paper snowballs

By Bethan Bailey
BBC Inside Out (West)

Sybil Edwards wants people to love art and join The Snowball Gang

There are many pyramids in Gloucestershire, made of the lovely Cotswold limestone, sitting in churchyards, gardens and gateways.

However, artist Sybil Edwards, based between Stroud and Rodley, is carrying on the tradition - with a bit of a twist.

Her art concentrates on making pyramids. Her building material? Paper snowballs of course!

They're made very easily, by soaking any waste paper - even bank statements - in warm water, moulding them into a ball and leaving them to dry.

This simple method has meant that she's been able to get members of the community involved, from school groups to vulnerable adults.

In fact, it's Sybil's aim to use these snowballs as a way to get as many people involved in creating art as she can.

She's got grand plans for what she calls 'The Snowball Gang' and needs lots of snowball makers to help her out.

Monument

The piece she's working on at the moment will be shown at the Stroud International Textile Festival in May.

It's a five meter high hollow structure made of snowballs threaded onto wire, and surrounded by woven paper.

The whole piece is weatherproofed with wax, and will move with the elements.

At the festival, there'll be a skeleton pyramid, waiting for members of the public to dress it with snowballs.

So why has she chosen to make just pyramids, and nothing but pyramids?

When she first made the snowballs and started stacking them up, they naturally formed a pyramids shape.

But it's more than that. They're an elemental shape, reaching up into the skies.

Sybil says "Historically, they're a monument to everyone's effort", and that's exactly what she wants her art to be.

Sybil Edward's work was featured on BBC1's Inside Out (West) programme on Monday, 8 February, 2010 at 7.30pm.