I can now reveal the sleeve I designed for this year’s Secret 7″! I created an original linocut and printed it directly onto the record sleeve for Tame Impala’s track ‘The Less I Know The Better’. If you want to know where I got the idea for the image from then watch the video for the song, but be warned it is a bit risque!
The Secret 7″ exhibition is now open! It runs until 1st May 2016 at Sonos Studio, London and is open Tuesdays – Sundays, 10am – 6.30pm. Go and see if you can guess which record sleeve I designed!
(Image credit Secret 7″)
I’m excited and surprised that my Secret 7″ record sleeve design is being included in the exhibition at Sonos Studio, London! Apparently this year there were a record number of submissions, which is why I’m surprised I am selected! I’m not allowed to reveal the artwork until after the exhibition, which is from 8th April – 1st May, with the sale day being on 2nd May. Each record is for sale at £50, with the money raised going to support the charity Amnesty International UK.
On Saturday I visited The Bedford Higgins, especially to see the Bawden By The Sea exhibition. I had never been to Bedford before, the museum is in an old brewery building and is situated in a pleasant spot near the castle mound and the river (lots of lovely swans on the river!).
I was really looking forward to seeing Bawden By The Sea, especially the original lino blocks for Brighton Pier. The exhibition took you from the initial sketches, to the lino blocks and to the final prints. I loved studying the block in detail and reading about the process. It was refreshing to see that the ‘master’ of linocuts made mistakes and struggled with the process, but still produced excellent prints. There are other sea related etchings and linocuts, including Snowstorm at Brighton, as well as porcelain designed for the Orient Line. There were also other works by Bawden hidden away in vertical drawers and a bench that he designed. I was very impressed and feel lucky to have seen the lino blocks up close.
Aside from the Bawden exhibition, I saw J.M.W. Turner & The Art of Watercolour. There were some great paintings, my favourite being The Great Falls of the Reichenbach, the scale and realism are impressive. This exhibition is joined to another room of watercolours from the museum’s collection and included some very nice works by David Jones and Paul Nash. J.M.W. Turner & The Art of Watercolour runs until 10th April 2016.
The permanent exhibits at the museum are very interesting too, I particularly enjoyed Somewhere In England, which documents Bedford’s agricultural and engineering heritage, and also the display about the history of the brewery.
For anyone interested in printmaking I would definitely recommend visiting Bawden By The Sea!
In January I went to Aldeburgh for the day and came across this sculpture by Antony Gormley. It is a cast iron, life-sized figure and is one of five sculptures across the UK that make up the piece called LAND. It stands on top of the Martello Tower and faces east across the North Sea. As you can see from my picture, when I finally reached the tower it was almost dark, but I did manage to see it! I studied Gormley at Sixth Form so I was interested to take a look. If you want to catch it I think you have until May 2016.
Apologies for my lack of posts recently! I have been preoccupied with making new prints and setting up the UK Printmakers community (which you should check out!). I kept meaning to post a couple of things just before Christmas, the first being the Etsy Made Local fair in Cambridge. I went there especially to have a go on Richard Horne‘s new Printvend machine, where I managed to complete my collection of Printvend prints! I previously used the original Printvend machine, which is now a permanent feature in The Book Hive, Norwich. It was great fun and I love the idea of a vending machine with prints inside! It was also nice to actually meet the person behind the prints, Richard Horne.
After the fair I went to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology to catch The Power of Paper, an exhibition featuring printmaking from Australia, Canada and South Africa. The exhibition was described as ‘a revelation of eloquent art made by black and indigenous artists since the 1960s. Inspired by environments from the Arctic to the Australian desert, from the country and the city, it foregrounds visions of place, custom and history, in settings that are at once profoundly different, yet linked by empire and the politics of decolonization.’ There were some great prints, which reminded me of some of the work I saw earlier in the year at The Polar Museum.
Earlier this month I visited Ronald Searle ‘Obsessed with drawing’ at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. It is a brilliant exhibition, I had an interest in his work to begin with but I learnt so much more about him by visiting the show!
Firstly, I did not even realise he was born in Cambridge and rather aptly, used to visit The Fitzwilliam during his youth.
When you think of Searle’s work, you might think of his St. Trinian’s or his animal illustrations, however, Searle worked across a range of different genres. In this exhibition you can see examples of his work as a war artist. In contrast to this are Searle’s illustrations for books, magazines, theatre, film and political satire. Before visiting the exhibition I was unaware how much Searle’s style varied throughout his career.
For me, one of the highlights of the show is Trafalgar Square: ‘The People of Porridge Island’, 1951 – I love the detail of this image, lots of things going on, but even the characters in the background are part of the story being told.
I was really drawn to the vibrancy of the colours used in some of the illustrations, the catalogue images do not do them justice, something you must see in person! Examples of this are Molesworth, 1999 and Raven with Parachute, 1990.
A must-see for anyone interested in illustration! The exhibition runs until 31st January 2016
Earlier this month I visited Cradled in Caricature: Visual humour in satirical prints and drawings at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
The amusing exhibition features work from James Gillray, Glen Baxter and Hogarth. The show includes both humorous pictures and illustrations with a moral message.
It is hard to pick highlights from the exhibition as there are so many great pieces, but I was especially pleased to see two works by Glen Baxter after having looked at him whilst at art school.
The exhibition runs until 31st January 2016
Here is the final print for the Cambridge Folk Festival project!
Earlier this year I created a design for the Cambridge Folk Festival. I chose to do a reduction linocut and to experiment with ‘rainbow rolling’!
