Annette is excited to win a Big Screen Challenge award since it is the first challenge she has ever entered. That her piece “Cleopatra” was selected by an expert panel of AMCAW judges for the winner of the ‘Big Screen Challenge 2025’ is an honor for her.
Annette’s inspiration came from the 1963 film Cleopatra. The movie resonated with Annette’s lifelong interest in ancient Egypt and its symbolism. Ancient Egyptian symbols represent fundamental concepts of life, death, rebirth, power and protection. They are often seen in tombs, temples and art. These sacred symbols were used by all levels of society to convey complex ideas and invoke divine protection. Egyptian symbolism inspired Annette’s piece.
Annette designed the piece after completing several sketches. She discovered that incorporating the intended details on both sides was difficult because the symbols used had different depths. To overcome this challenge, she constructed a foam platform with various heights to support the piece while she worked on it.
The lotus flower became the focal point of the piece since it’s a symbol of purity that is associated with the creation of the world. Annette added the ouroboros to the stem of the flower: the ouroboros a snake eating its tail, representing infinity. On the reverse, she incorporated the ankh, known as the key to life. She added a cross with a looped top to represent eternal life and immortality. Annette also included a cartouche, an oval Egyptian name plate that contained a royal name written in hieroglyphics. And finally, she incorporated a scarab beetle, a symbol that embodies transformation and rebirth. When used on jewelry, it is believed to safeguard the wearer against evil.
Though Annette is happy with the piece, she would not make it again. However, it has inspired her to design and make another Egyptian-themed piece to be worn with Cleopatra.
Annette lives in Exeter, a city in Devon, in the Southwest of England, UK. She retired after working in education for 46 years. She started getting interested in metal clay about 18 months ago. Annette loves to keep active with new challenges. She saw an ad for a 10-week metal clay evening course taught by Grainne Reynolds. Though it was a 160-mile roundtrip every Wednesday from Exeter to Bournemouth, she did not mind because she loved the class! Annette found Grainne to be an inspirational and extremely talented tutor and artist.
Annette has many years of experience working and teaching in other mediums, including textiles; since retiring, she has also begun creating with wood. She has continued developing her skills in metal clay, both independently and through other courses and workshops. Annette also gets support through several WhatsApp metal clay groups. She particularly likes the challenge and intricacy of making 3D pieces. She is looking forward to combining other mediums with metal clay.
Annette has made several of the tutorials on the AMCAW website e.g. ‘Little Bee’ and ‘Treasures of the Sea Trinket Box,’ both by Grainne Reynolds. She considers AMCAW tutorials to be excellent for building metal clay skills and confidence.
Annette originally thought that maybe her work wasn’t good enough to enter a competition, though she really loves working with metal clay. When she read about the Big Screen challenge, she decided that this would be a major step in developing her skills and confidence. Receiving feedback and encouragement from experts in the field is invaluable for continued improvement. Annette would tell people who are thinking about entering a challenge to “Go for it.” You might just surprise yourself just like she did.
Find Annette at:
instagram.com/lyonsannette20
