UNUSUAL works of art by a Bradford student are to be auctioned at a star-studded event in London for a charity close to his heart.

Collages by James Owen Thomas - who has made a name for himself through creating artwork from discarded scratchcards - are to come under the hammer at the Butterfly Ball on November 26, an annual event held by Caudwell Children, a charity which transforms the lives of disabled children across the UK.

When James, who has autism, was five he attended one of the charity’s events in Brighton, partly inspiring him to pursue his passion for nature and art.

The former student of Bradford School of Art is donating a major project he worked on in collaboration with the Staffordshire-based charity, to mark its 20-year history.

To create the mosaic canvases - which together make up a giant measuring 2.5m by 1.6m - he used items connected with the charity, which they no longer use - old brochures, baseball caps, T-shirts and fabric bags. The Charity’s butterfly theme also features in one of his collages, which each contain a penny coin bearing the year of issue to represent fundraising.

All pieces auctioned will be hung at Caudwell Children and each of the auction lot winners will have a plaque dedicated to them underneath the section they bought.

“It is an ambitious work-of-art made up of 20 individual canvases that form an overall picture when displayed together. It reflects the 20-year history of the charity,” said James. “The whole piece took hundreds of hours to create and involved cutting up materials provided by the charity and turning them into mosaic pieces. . Some pieces also include recycled scratch cards as this is one of the materials that I have regularly used in all my artworks over the years.

“We hope it will raise funds for the charity at their prestigious Butterfly Ball event in London. I first became involved with the charity back in 2006 and so wanted to give something back to one of the charity’s that has supported me in my life.”

James’s interest in the use of recycled materials began after he noticing how people would discarding their unsuccessful scratch-cards without a care for the environment.

He found a creative way to re-use them by sorting, tearing, cutting and separating patterns and symbols to develop his unique artwork.

Since 2000, Caudwell Children - founded by British businessman John Caudwell - has supported more than 50,000 children with 653 different conditions. The Butterfly Ball - which is attended by VIPs including celebrities and top business people - has over the years raised more than £15million to help disabled children and their families.

Mark Smith, director of marketing and communications at Caudwell Children, said: “The standard and quality of James’ work has surpassed all our expectations. When you see the textures it really is incredible. We sent James a box full of materials from our history. He hole-punched our brochures and every bit is individually glued to form a mosaic. We are thrilled and amazed by what he has achieved.”

Leading artists from across the world are also donating work, and it is hoped that James will meet some of them on the night.

This year James has also collaged two views of the tree onto broken mobile phones. “These images will later be enlarged to cover two more canvases and I would like next year to be able to give John Caudwell the two original mobile phones. The mobiles are completely broken and all the recyclable components have been removed.”

To find out more about James and his work visit jamesowenthomas.com

*caudwellchildren.com/butterfly-ball/