A VISUAL artist is bringing the community together through her creative vision and passion for thrift.

Yvonne Preston has a studio in the Borough Road Nursery School building and is running a variety of arts classes as well as taking her Scrap Studioarts workshops into the community.

She is currently working on a series of peep boards – giant picture boards with circles cut out for faces - for September’s Festival of Thrift and is throwing open her studio doors to let other people benefit from her materials and expertise.

Budding artists can buy materials from Ms Preston’s Scrap Store for £5 a bucket, from offcut fabrics to zips and buttons, to create their own artworks or functional items such as bags and blankets.

Many families are already attending the classes and making use of the Scrap Studio’s facilities which include printmaking and sewing machines.

Ms Preston said: “Really anything at all is possible here.

“I have got ideas, people come with their own ideas, and it is helping them to achieve that because we have the materials and the equipment to facilitate it.”

The opening of the Scrap Studio and Scrap Store has been the culmination of Ms Preston’s desire to bring her thrifty philosophy to a wider audience.

“I really liked the idea of having an open studio that could double as a scrap store, so although most of my work is going into schools, I thought it would be really nice to have an open base,” she said.

“Most of my work is using recycled materials and wherever I go people are really intrigued with the materials I use.

“People ask how I make things, or tell me they thought the way I do things doesn’t exist anymore, so I thought it would be lovely if I had a studio opportunity for people to come and work in as well.”

Ms Preston is excited to be involved in the Festival of Thrift again and said although there could be “no peeping” at her peep boards before the event, she suggested that this year’s festival will have even more attractions than in 2013.

She said: “Because of the numbers attending last year it has obviously given the organisers a huge boost and I am sure that they are going to go the extra mile this year to go even bigger and better.”

Scrap Studioart classes run on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and more information can be found at yvonnepreston.com