Transforming everything from unassuming sheets of old plastic to fabric found in a skip, a group of artists and makers hope to challenge the perception of recycling and highlight the beauty that can be created from waste. Hove Museum’s latest exhibition continues a tradition popular with artists from Marcel Duchamp to Tracey Emin, of giving “found objects” new meaning.

The group, whose work is known both nationally and internationally, were set the challenge of turning materials no longer deemed valuable into desirable creations.

“Recycled things can look a bit less clean and less ‘precious’,” explains co-curator Polly Harknett. “The idea was to take something that’s been discarded and rejected and transform it into something that looks very beautiful.”

The title is also a tongue-in-cheek reference to “the worthiness that often surrounds the ideals of recycling.”

A raid on a neighbour’s skip resulted in Donya Coward’s model of a magpie emerging from a sewing box, while Jasmine Pradissitto made her illuminated, laser-etched image from pieces of plastic she found at Hove Waste Recycling Centre.

One exhibit sees a pile of battered old books taking flight as butterflies and birds, another uses computer parts to form a strange landscape; furniture and drink cans are reclaimed and re-made.

Even the press release on the exhibition gets the Precious treatment, with recipients advised how to turn it into a pretty paper daisy chain.

The materials found informed what was created, Polly says, and a film installation shows the artists selecting their objects and later, transforming them into the works of art on show.

“If you look closely enough you can see what they come from, but that’s part of the beauty of it.”

The recycled nature of the show’s theme is highlighted by the inclusion of Brighton Museum pieces such as a 1940s wedding dress made from curtains and a costume fashioned from old copies of Vogue magazine.

“People have been using found objects to create artwork for centuries,” Polly says.

“If there’s a message to the show, it’s that we need to remember to look around carefully because there is often beauty in the overlooked, and to think of all resources as precious.”

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