A LABOUR of love is currently on display at Haslemere museum until the end of the month.

The mass invitation to create a decorated square to form a contemporary mixed mosaic, inspired by the museum’s collection of homespun peasant arts, proved to be so popular the 600-strong finished exhibit overflowed the space originally allotted.

Aptly entitled ‘From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary’, the outpouring of creative talent ranges combines wall-hung knitted, painted and collaged squares with table-top modelled Playdough and slipware tiles to form a gigantic single artwork.

The museum’s education officer Kay Topping said: “It’s a modern take on peasant art and its central idea of it being all about love not money.”

The ambitious project headed by artist in residence Diana Burch, which included workshops and outreach sessions, was made possible thanks to a grant from the Ernest Cook Trust.

“The European Peasant Arts collection at the museum contains beautifully decorated household objects and intricately embroidered textiles, which shows visitors how much craft was valued in days gone by,” she said. “The aim of the project was to apply some of those fundamental values to the present day.

The endless, free supply of material in today’s world is considered waste and the central theme was that we create something unique and special using offcuts, spares and re-purposed, recycled materials.

“We were really keen to involve the whole community and all ages.

“Our youngest contributor Rosie Everett (pictured right), was 10 days old when the square with a colour impression of her feet was added, and one of our oldest contributors was 90.

“It was lovely to see people having a go at something they had not had a chance to do before.

“It has made the artwork very special and given it an additional value to what you see. It really did take on a life of its own and that was great.”