Broken dolls

Jessica Harrison is an Edinburgh based sculptor who has recently created a body of work called 'Broken'. At it's simplest the 'Broken' series is customising ready made porcelain figurines, the kind that you find on your Aunties mantelpiece but Jessica Harrison brings a gruesome, dark side to the usual broken ornament.
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Mapped Out

Clare Brewster, The Harbingers. paper cut map

I  recently upgraded the software on my iphone, and it asked me if I wanted to activate location services, normally I'm on automatic when this sort of stuff takes place; I click the shiny button and don't think anything more of it but this made me stop and ask myself if
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Everyone's a critic!

A bit of an unexpected post today, I was hoping to mention a couple of up and coming exhibitions taking place in London on the theme of maps but instead my I find myself writing about my own exhibition which has just been bombed. Yes you read correctly bombed! Now I know everyone one has the right to criticism but this is a touch too much!
I am of course making light of the situation and am being a little melodramatic and a little untrue, it wasn't my work that was the focus of such ire and anger but the building where my work was being exhibited in Derry, the Culture Offices based just off the Guildhall Square.

As you may or may not be aware Derry/Londonderry was awarded UK city of Culture 2013 last year, a great achievement, that in my eyes gives not only the North West a chance to show itself in an new light (that has nothing to do with sectarian violence) but the whole of Northern Ireland. However some factions of the political spectrum take exception to the letters 'UK' and what they represent. They then vent this dissatisfaction by placing bombs in the doorway of the Culture Offices. Now I'm not a politician and this isn't a political blog but speaking as someone from the area I can only see the accolade of City of Culture 2013 (be it UK or Irish, European or even Galactic!!) as a positive thing bringing renewed infrastructure, jobs, investment and tourism to the region. Believe it or not people still equate Northern Ireland with the troubles and violence and would rather visit the south of Ireland than the North, it's time to show them that it is about so much more than violence and what better way than giving them a good time and the putting on display the rich cultural heritage we have not only in Derry but in the North as as a whole. Everyone has the right to protest but not just by leaving bombs in the street.

Here are a few gems from Derry's rich cultural tapestry, taking in the Undertones, Our Krypton Son, Famous Seamus and a bit of Danna as well…

 I was only joking about Danna!

Culture Night

Tonight is Culture Night across Ireland. As I mentioned before I am taking part in the celebrations in Derry by showing some work in the Culture Offices just beside the Guildhall.
I have created a new papercut based on the tale of a local Derry legend called Half Hung MacNaughton.
The story goes that MacNaughton was a down at heel part of the Irish gentry, who claimed to have fallen in love with a young heiress, Mary Ann Knox from Derry. However, her father did not give consent to their marriage. In November 1761, an attempt by MacNaghten and his followers to abduct Mary Ann from a carriage on a journey to Strabane and elope with her failed, when he shot and mortally wounded her by mistake. A court found MacNaghton guilty of murder and he was sentenced to execution by hanging. So distraught with grief was he by the death of his love that MacNaghton is alleged to have hurled himself from the gallows with such force that the rope broke. Some versions say that this was divine intervention and MacNaghton could not be hanged for a second time; others say that he could have used the cover of a sympathetic crowd to make good his escape but he chose not to. Instead John MacNaghton freely re-ascended the gallows to be hanged successfully.

This is the first in a series of paper cuts that I am planning to do on this subject.

So if your in Ireland go  enjoy the nearest event to you and if you in and around Derry then please pop in to the Culture Offices and say hello!

Culture Night – Derry 2011

It's been a little empty round here this month. This has been down to the fact that I have been busy creating some work for Culture Night .

I will be showing a mix of work I have already created and some new stuff in the City of Culture Offices just beside the Guild Hall. Exactly what I am going to show has yet to be finalised but one thing is for sure; I know there will be a few long ,frantic, cafe infused nights ahead, that said I'm really looking forward to it. Time to get my head down again…

Nobrow niceness

Monsieur le facteur has just passed by my letterbox and left me a beautiful bundle of goodies from Nobrow including this beautiful print by illustrator Robert Hunter. I also got a copy of his latest illustrated story called The New Ghost. The smell of ink filled my nose when I opened the package and I was transported back to the print rooms at CSM.
The print comes from an exhibition called Murmuring Landscapes and is simply one of the nicest pieces of print that  I own!

A selection of spreads from The New Ghost © Robert Hunter

The current exhibition at the Nobrow Gallery looks equally promising, it is by Stuart Kolakovic and is called Under The Damp Earth, but hurry it's only on till the 23 June, you can find out more at the Nobrow website . Take some time to browse through their shop as they have some excellent prints and publications.

Gill's brother

OK I'm in danger of turning this blog into an arts listing but here are another couple of exhibitions that if I had the chance I would love to go to. The first is on Eric Gills' brother, Macdonald 'Max' Gill. Now I know it is horrible to introduce someone through the life of someone else but to be honest Eric Gills figure loomed so large that I had no idea that he had a brother, let alone one who worked in a similar field and to an equally high level.
Macdonald Gill was well known and respected in his day and was reputed for his highly detailed pictorial maps which all have a strong sense of Englishness about them which reflect their time and, like his brothers work, a certain sense of national identity, just look at the map above which places Great Britain at the heart of the world, it reminds me of medieval maps of the known world which did exactly the same thing with Jerusalem!

Detail from the Wonderground Map of Londontown

What looks like a highlight of the exhibition will be Macdonald Gills' Wonderground Map of Londontown. This was printed in 1914 for Westminster Press and shows an intricate and beautiful look at London and its Underground stations. The illustration style, colours and lettering evoke an almost Arts and Crafts take on London. The original was printed as 16 sheets (roughly A4) and sold in it's thousands for six shillings, I hope they do a modern reprint as I don't think I could track down never mind buy an original!

The exhibition is in Brighton at the University of Brighton and runs from 22 July - 29 August, for more information click here. There is also a fascinating blog on the restoration of Macdonald Gills' work by Sirpa Kutilainen.
To continue the Gill trip then pop into The British Museum to see Eric Gill; Public and Private Art. This exhibition looks at pieces of art created by Gill for Public commissions and for his own private pleasure. As the museum says itself 'The exhibition features work by Gill intended for both public use and private delight, including stamp designs for the Post Office, coin designs for the Royal Mint, drawings for the Stations of the Cross, and his own engravings and publications on religion, politics and art. The centrepiece of the display is his famous sculpture Divine Lovers, on loan from Ditchling Museum in East Sussex. The display also examines Gill’s work on the British Museum building itself, including the war memorial at the main entrance.' The exhibition runs until 9 August and is FREE!

Images from top:
Self-portrait medal depicting Eric Gill. Engraved by George Friend, about 1933. © reserved.
Proof for a one shilling coin by Eric Gill, 1925.© The Royal Mint.
Air Raid Precaution Badge, Eric Gill, 1939.© The Trustees of the British Museum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
And just for good measure  here's a reminder of Gills most famous creation  Gill Sans, originally created for a book shop in Bristol and then developed as a full typeface for LNER rail travel posters.

Kai and Sunny at Stolen Space Gallery

Kai and Sunny's work has appeared on everything from Adobe's CS4 to ads for Cadbury's chocolate and never mind the wealth of book covers including the award winning  Cloud Atlas by David Mitchel.

This print was part of the collective show Never Judge?, held last December again at the Stolen Space Gallery

If you are in London between the 3-26 June then you will have a chance to see their latest gallery show at the Stolen Space Gallery in Brick Lane. It's called The Flower Show and features a series of large two colour hand screened prints, which look beautiful. If  like me you won't have the chance to pop down then there is always the  limited edition box set of prints with a short story by the a fore mentioned David Mitchel but judging by the photos it looks like it could cost a good few pennies!

Desmond Paul Henry

Serpent by Desmond Paul Henry, V&A collection

Just heard about the Desmond Paul Henry exhibition which is opening at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester this week.
I hadn't heard of him or his work before so when I googled his name I was confronted a bit surprised as to why I hadn't, here is a bit of a biog on the man taken from the V&A site to give you a bit of background:

Following service in the Second World War as a technical clerk in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Desmond Paul Henry took a degree in Philosophy at the University of Leeds. He went on to teach at the University of Manchester, where he remained until his retirement in 1982.
Henry had attended evening art classes prior to the war, and remained fascinated by both art and technology. In the early 1950s he purchased a remaindered Analogue Bombsight, a machine previously used by fighter pilots for accurate bombing of targets. Henry adapted this device to create a drawing machine. His first exhibition of machine-made drawings was at the Reid Gallery in London, in 1962, and it brought Henry and his machines considerable publicity.
Henry continued to create and experiment with new drawing machines throughout his life, and in 2002 Henry developed his fifth drawing machine, based around a pendulum design.
The drawings created by Henry's drawing machine are beautiful frail veils of lines that bring to mind old bank notes and x-rays. He first used biros then added colour by adding different inks to tubular pens. What I love the more I read about him and his work is the way that these drawings were born out of two passions which are rarely twinned; engineering and art! Looking at a machine and noticing it's mechanical, ticks and turns, it's swings and shudders and then thinking about capturing this as a physical line is jump of genius that is explored more in art (see Yves Klein – Cosmogonie series) and that is being carried on by designers like Jon Maeda today.

Here are a few more of Henry's images you can find his website here and the exhibition at MOSI runs from now until the 7 May.

British Museum Print rooms

I have left the confines of Versailles this week for a list of meetings and evenings spent with old friends in London. It is never a chore to comeback to London as it is always changing and evolving, new trends, new shops, new buildings, it seems in a constant state of flux.

An old friend and constant in London that can supply a bit of refuge is The British Museum. The first time I visited London I trawled around the Egyptian galleries, pressing my face to the glass cabinets trying to see embalmed mummies, cats and crocodiles but it was only when I took a life drawing class at at CSM that I actually took my time to explore. One of the most beautiful discoveries that I found was The Print Rooms, I can still remember walking in and being confronted with Albrecht Durer etching of a rhinoceros, formed from a simple description in a journal. I had saw it in books but this was the first time I had 'seen it in the flesh' so to speak.

I went back today and he was there to greet me again along with Durer's original sketch. Another treat wa the exhibition that is on there at the moment called From Picasso to Julie Mehretu, this was an exhibition of prints and sketches collected over the past 35 years, it also showcases many of the great artists of the 20th century, starting with Picasso’s study for his masterpiece Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, the painting that shook the art world in 1907. A few of the highlights were by Heinrich Campendonk, Charles Seliger, Dorothy Delue and Julie Mehretu, I have managed to find a few examples of their work to give youa feel of the exhibiton but if you have a chance pop along, it's free and it's beautiful.