Alison Counsell

Love Token

copper, glass, pigmented jesmonite

height 120mm diameter 70mm

Paul and I were married on 22 August 2003.

Copper for 22 years.

This is our family today - Paul and I, Monty, Olly and Scout. I love and cherish them all to bits.

postscript

22 August 2025 - very sadly we also had to say goodbye to Monty today. He will be in our hearts forever

artefact / souvenir

stainless steel mesh and sheet, brass nuts and bolts, pigmented jesmonite, shells collected from Red Wharf Bay, Anglesey, Wales

height 240mm diameter 170mm

Red Wharf Bay

Last year (2024) I spent an idyllic week in Anglesey with Paul and our 3 dogs, Monty, Olly and Scout. It was late summer, sunny with blue skies. We walked on the beach, swam, licked ice creams, collected shells, all very wonderful and yet I dare say commonplace.

Red Wharf Bay is a souvenir, it reflects the beachy, ice cream colours and incorporates the collected shells. The mirrored top is there to capture blue sky.

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artefact

stainless steel mesh and sheet, brass fasteners, pigmented jesmonite, personal collection of Catholic objects.

height 305mm diameter 135mm

So this is school?

I’m an only child and was brought up on a farm in the middle of nowhere, in Zambia. Until I went to school, I had very little interaction with other children and adults. The most I knew about church was it was where weddings and christenings happened.

In 1966, aged five I started school, as a boarder. I was taught about God, Jesus and cruelty.

My first school was called Eureka and was run by American missionaries. It was extremely strict and religious. Lots of Old Testament terror stories. Meals were eaten in silence, and all food must be eaten, or you would be caned. How dare you waste food. I was very grateful for the no talking policy, as my cheeks were often filled with unswallowable gristly meat, that I could spit out later. I often discretely spat food into my napkin and threw if under the table. I think the only kindness in that school was the people cleaning the dining room, as I was never reported. I did get caned on occasion, as we were rotated around the table, and occasionally I sat next to the headmaster, so was unable to fill my cheeks or drop food on the floor.

Eureka closed after a year, and I moved to the Dominican Convent in Kabwe. Here I was taught about death, sinners going to hell or suffering centuries in purgatory. I wasn’t a Catholic, so I was doomed as a sinner unless I converted. I sensed my parents wouldn’t agree, and I was afraid to ask them. Therefore, my family was doomed to go to hell. All my friends were going for Holy Communion, little brides of Christ with their triangular white lace mantillas. I went to mass daily, prayed and was scared. I left in 1970.

Looking back at the first five years of my schooling. I can remember very little about reading, writing, maths or other subjects, although I must obviously have done all that. My main memories are an overwhelming fear of God!

‘So, this is school?’ is a reflection on this inhuman and brutal time. How could adults teach young children this savage dogma? It kept us all behaving. And if that didn’t control us, a beating would. I’m hoping it’s creation will set me on the way to expelling this negativity once and for all.

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vessel

stainless steel, iron wire, jesmonite and acrylic paint

height 210mm. diameter 210mm

I think this artefact germinated from my subconscious. Worrying about the asbestosis in Paul’s lungs, and the decreacing diffusion of oxygen into his blood.

Tribute

stainless steel, copper, brass, jesmonite, Petri dish, cast bronze sobriety medals

height 390mm diameter 165mm

The 22nd March this year (2025) marked 26 years of continuous sobriety. One day at a time for 26 years I have chosen not to take a drink of alcohol.

This artefact holds my sobriety.

26 sobriety chips, adorn the walls of the artefact.

The Alcoholics Anonymous program has 12 Steps

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

For me a ’Higher Power’ or ‘God’ is the kindness found in the Fellowship of AA. Alcoholics helping each other. The group of people on the top of the artefact represent this fellowship.

In the early days it was extremely hard. Drink or lack of drink was on my mind constantly. Now a days it feels quite easy, I almost forget I’m an alcoholic. Inside there is a cup attached to a chain, a reminder of how close I am to a drink at all times, and to remain vigilant, stay close to the AA program and attend regular meetings.

souvenir

stainless steel mesh, copper, silver-plated brass fasteners, pigmented jesmonite, wooden buffalo

height 380mm diameter 135mm

I was born in Zambia, and lived there until I was 15.

Reflecting back, my childish memories of Zambia, the country, are naive.

I think of the long grass of the bush, animals, bright colours, copper.

Shrine

iron wire, jesmonite, brass, cast iron Buddha (collected), Vietnamese glass beads (gifted to me)

height 338mm diameter 210mm

artefact / souvenir

iron wire, jesmonite, modroc, enamel and magnets

height 337mm diameter 200mm

I first came to the UK in July 1976, in the middle of a prolonged and intense heatwave and drought, lasting from late June to late August. Coming from Zambia, I wasn’t too bothered by the heat, it was the dryness that struck me. The scraggy dry grass and dusty flowers. 

I was very exited to be in England. I felt my life was about to begin. I was 15.

evidence

This is a slow sequel to ‘Nordic Thriller’ created in 2014. I’m not an avid reader of Nordic Noir fiction these days, but I watch an occasional series, and love the atmosphere, the crispy cold.

pigmented jesmonite, stainless steel, brass, aluminium and cork

height 410mm length 140mm width 130mm