A place for escapism....and tea and cake!

New brief time. A number of live briefs were offered to us and we were to choose one to work on. I chose the paper brief which in short, is to encourage more designers to visit specialist paper company, Fedrigoni’s, show room. I was most interested in this project as it would allow me to have a play with paper and gave more scope for creativity. After the disaster of the slow moving silence project which is STILL incomplete, I wanted this project to be really fast pace and fun, so I started researching straight away, I researched the company and what their show room offers, past and future events, exhibitions etc. And then moved onto paper artists and the ways that paper is manipulated in the design world. While researching I came across this artist, Matthew Sporzynski.....  

He creates objects, predominantly food, out of card and paper. I instantly liked his work and thought that I would like to create objects using this method.

For my dissertation I wrote about escapism and how shop windows were a way of transporting consumers into new and exciting worlds different to our own that would ultimately persuade people to buy into false needs. I think that this is a proven way of advertising and I think that this is something that Fedrigoni should use in order to entice people into their showroom. I brainstormed the idea further and was trying to think of ways that this feeling of escapism could work as an event or exhibition. I eventually came up with the idea of a ‘mad-hatters’ tea party. 

The mad-hatters tea-party was something that I thought would be fun and had some really enjoyable text and imagery. Although I have taken this as inspiration, I don’t want it to be about this particular tea party and the guests that were there, i.e. no Alice or dormouse. 

I thought that the feeling of being sociable with tea and cakes in a warm and welcoming environment would be attractive to potential clients, as it is becoming clear to me, that designers enjoy tea! I hope to have a table which is set with cutlery, plates, bowls, tea cups and tea party food all made of paper. It will be open for people to come and visit but will be originally opened with an event, with drinks and cupcakes. I think that this idea could work and I’m hoping know one will burst my bubble. All I need to do now is start making :)

You are invited to the marriage of text and Image.

I am very lucky to be chosen to attend Lucy May Schofield's once a week tutorial sessions. Friday was our first meeting and It was so helpful. Lucy showed us homemade books that she had made and others she had collected on the way. We first of all went around the class and talked about our silence project and how we wanted to further that project using skills in the bindery. It was good to talk to new people about this brief which seems to be haunting me. She gave us some useful advice about the connection between form and content and how they must relate. What is going on the inside of the publication must relate to what is presented on the outside. The book as Lucy sees it is something that should be a piece in itself not simply something that documents something else. After a visit to the special collections library and a lesson in French and pamphlet stitch I think I am ready to start creating work on my Silence project. I hope to in someway create a sort of confessional, where silent thoughts can be kept and stored.

YCN.

Ok something I need to get off my chest...... BOOOOOOORRRRRRRINNNNNNNNG! phew.

So Alex from YCN came to visit today, to tell us a little bit about the work that YCN does and how that the awards and the company work. I don’t really have much to say about this lecture because to be quite frank, I didn’t get anything from it. What I do remember from the ‘talk’ though was Alex saying 'Do lots' This is something that a lot of people have said when talking abut their experiences at uni and in the design world so I think I maybe should start thinking about this....

Archiving place and time.

Wowzers, its been a while since I blogged so I hope im not too rusty! This week as I was walking through the Holden Gallery I noticed that there was an interesting exhibition on, about contemporary art practice in Northern Ireland since the Belfast agreement. Although I dont know alot about this subject I found the work quite thought provoking and shallow as it may sound, visually nice to look at. Among my favourite pieces in the small exhibition was this piece of work... 

Im pretty sure that this piece is by Rita Duffy (My photographs seem to have jumbled!) I was drawn to this piece because it did remind me of Tracey Emins work. This little 'houses' were set up along a long white piece of wood. There were all different shapes and sizes. I’m not quite sure on the reasoning behind the piece because there was any accompanying text, but I was just drawn to it.

These two pieces of work were by an artist called Conor McGrady. My favourite was the bottom piece with the two men looking for something in the water, It is called Silent Forest, and is Guache on paper. What I love about this piece, is it looks really complicated the way it is created but if you look closely its just deep black paint and then water of the top so the line bleeds in lighter shades of grey and black. I found it intriguing to be introduced to a new way of creating  images.

I would definatly recommend a visit to this exhibition if your passing. It was interesting to look at work that had a deep concept and aesthetic. The paintings, photographs, sculptures and paintings were by real people showing there interpretation of a real subject. The only thing I would say, is that I think it needed some sort of exhibition guide or leaflet as some people probably wouldn't understand the meaning behind the connotations of the Belfast agreement (i.e. me) But overall its good to go and see, even if its only for the machine gun made of chocolate!

'Thats Entertainment'

This week while the rest of the group have been 'gallavanting' around New York ive been writing my essay. I was researching British department store Selfridges and found this gorgeous advertising piece for the store. It wasnt until I looked further into the image that I found out it was by Si Scott. Si Scotts work will never fail to amaze me, and I think this piece is another example of his ground breaking work....

Manchester Artist Book Fair 2009.

So yesterday I decided to take the day off work to go to the annual Manchester artists book fair. The fair held stalls showcasing the book art work of around 40 independent artists. It was a really inspiring trip as I am interested in experimenting in this area of work. Some of the pieces were abit dissapointing and some very expensive!! I bought a couple of things my favourite being a beak book made by Sarah Morpeth, A paper cut artist....

 

Sarah's Business card

The book was encased in this little pouch. It caught my eye as I like things that you have to pick up and 'play' with. I think this maybe useful for my silence work as I am exploring the idea of hiding thoughts when silent. So if I created a book and thought of ways to encase them like a secret.

The front cover of the beak book...

Exploring the beak book...

The work sarah had produced was absolutly beautiful. I could have bought it all although some of the books were a little over my budget and went up to £250! I found Sarah's stall really helfpul and I got lots of new ideas on how to set myself up as a 'respectable' artist and designer. Everything on her stall was well thought out. She had work which ranged in price from £1.50. She didnt leave any stone unturned by creating postcards, business cards, bookmarks and even christmas decorations. One of the books which I loved was called buterfly and she had sewed onto the bookcovering material to give it something extra. unfortunatly I cant find an image to show you!

Mary Lundquist was another artists work which I loved. Her drawings were gorgeous and had a little something extra. She had created books which were fully illustrated but had also made lovely notebooks. I thought this was a great idea as it still got her work out there by being on the cover, but it also meant you could take it away with you. I think that this can be a problem with artist books. They are beautiful to look at, but what do you do with them when you finnished looking, Mary solved this! Something which I might think about when I start to create work for sale. Mary, as well as creating cute little notebooks had printed her own canvas bags with her designs on the front. Her work was really useable and visually nice too look at, her are a few of her amazing drawings..


Mike Frodshams work also stood out to me and I bought one of his beak books because I thought his drawings were lovely. I wanted to buy a book he had made which was called birds and had lots of illustrations of birds, but it was over my budget! 

Front cover of the beak book.

The lovely drawings in the book

All of this talk of book making got me thinking about a book that Sue showed us last year which was created by Lucy-May Schofield. I decided to have a ganders on her website and I thought it was beautiful. Heres one of her interesting books, and I think her website is well worth a look...

www.lucymayschofield.co.uk