Penny Byrne

When researching the Looky Looky Posse, I came across the Mayorettes blog, formerly known as Mayoress, (www.mayorettes.com) which by the way is too cool. Go by their site some time. Anyway, the Mayorettes then led me to PENNY BYRNE. My new favourite artist.

You know those boring, saccharine sweet figurines that tend to live in old people's sitting rooms and in jumble sale stalls? Well, Penny Byrne (also part ceramics restorer and part lawyer) has taken those and made them killer.

"Art is an opportunity to say something about the way I'm feeling in a way that a lawyer is not necessarily able to do," says Byrne. "By doing it in a lighthearted way, it is not forcing it down people's necks, but it's still got a powerful message. People get suckered in by the cuteness, but there's these other levels".