D and A D, as a year group have had the opportunity to hold an exhibition at NOISE in Manchester. A brief was written and we were to design something based around the word Panic. I brainstormed and felt, panic for me was usually linked with time, so... I started drawing clocks.
I’ve ended up making a book that will be shown at the exhibition, but I am also working on a poster for my portfolio, ill be posting pictures of that soon.
While I was at Dublin, I stumbled across Dublin City gallery, the Hugh Lane and it was showing an exhibition on Francis bacon, called Terrible Beauty. Not really a big fan of Francis Bacon but thought I should go and have a nosy if only to pad out the old journal!
The exhibition was much bigger than I’d thought and the whole gallery was like a maze, when It looked so small from the outside.
Terrible beauty was a celebration of the centenary of Francis Bacons birth at 63 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin and the galleries extensive collection of Francis Bacons studio material. In the end I thought the exhibition was really quite good. I didn’t pay much attention to his actual art work but did enjoy the other materials surrounding his life both at work and at home. It was particularly interesting to see what his house was like and his studio.
Alan Fletcher has been described as ‘Britain’s best ever graphic designer’ by the Observer and ‘one of the giants of 20th Century design’ by the Guardian, So I was interested to go and see an exhibition of his work at the CUBE gallery in Manchester.
‘Alan Fletcher was the most prolific graphic designer of the 20th Century and his legacy continues to influence global trends in graphic design. This will be the first time that Manchester has seen such a vast and important retrospective archive celebrating fifty years of Alan’s work (and play).’
This comprehensive exhibition includes original sketches, posters, objects and archive footage spanning Fletcher’s work from his student days at the RCA to the playful and more personal work he created after leaving Pentagram in 1992.
I was really impressed with this exhibition, I have been to exhibitions at the CUBE in the past and haven’t been too keen, but the work shown in this exhibition and the way it was displayed was really inspirational.
I wasn’t overly aware of Alan Fletchers work before I came to visit the exhibition, but I was surprised at the volume of work that interested me. His work spanned over a number of different disciplines from his rough sketches to his graphic prints. There were a number of pieces that I loved and I think I will use his work as inspiration for this term. His typographic pieces impressed me because they were so simple but so striking. It has become clear to me that I like simple design with decorative twists. Alan’s work fitted this scenario.
Alan Fletcher: Fifty years of graphic work (and play)
‘Alan was ever-aware that what touched him had the potential to touch others. His open-minded panoramic view of the world always allowed him to see when something was good, regardless of its provenance’, Peter Saville, Creative Director, Manchester.
I cant believe URBIS is over, finito! I’ve always loved going to visit the exhibitions at the URBIS, but for no more! Isobel, molly and I went to visit the exhibition commemorating the best exhibitions in the 6 years its been up and running (I thought it was longer than that too!) Although it was nice to be reminded of all the different exhibitions and talented artists and designers that have exhibited there, I was a bit disappointed in the actual work on show It was simply the posters from all the popular shows. I was drawn to the urban gardening poster because I love the use of type and image and the way its still looks raw and organic. Another poster that struck me was the Matthew Williamson poster which I have at home and goes nicely on my wall!!
Being a hoarder of anything that takes my fancy I was drawn to this interactive piece called The tiny traveling treasury. Not sure why, but it reminded me of cabinets of curiosity, which I studied on my BTEC at college, and I loved the little trinkets, drawers and pots.
I’ve always been interested in collections. What people collect, why they collect and how they display them. I want to explore the idea of collections this term, and I would like to experiment with illustration.
To get some inspiration I visited the Manchester Museum, just to see how collections were displayed...
