V.Day in Dublin!

Ok, so this Valentines day, me and the other half decided to take a trip to Dublin! As our last trip to Dublin was an utter disaster, we decided that this time it had to go well! We had a lovely time, and I thought that some of the buildings in Dublin were absolutely beautiful, a Georgian town house is definatly on my birthday list! I also loved St.Stephens green, which did for some reason remind me of being in Central Park, New York, Miles apart but you've got to dream!

Another of my favourite places we visited was Butlers Chocolate cafe. Definatly take a visit for the best hot chocolate in the world (as I am aware of so far!). 

A few holiday snaps! 

Alan Fletcher, Fifty years of graphic work and play...

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.

Love this typographic poster, Simple yet striking.

One of my favourite pieces in the exhibition. Flora logo.

Collage work that really got my attention.

This concertina style book was intersting, through its use of technique, colour, photography and text.

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.

Urbis has left the building...

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.

Castle cuteness!

Today ive been researching stamps for my new project and I stumbled across this, although nothing to do with postage stamps I thought it was too nice to totally disregard. I dont know who designed it but I think its just lovely!

Manchester Art Gallery...

Facing East

Takashi Murakami

The Big Kiss, Chen Lei

Yoshitomo Nara

Yoshitomo Nara

Ron Mueck

Ive seen some of Ron Muecks work at the Tate before, and I thik its absolutly amazing. The two pieces that stood out tome most at manchesters exhibition were the spooning couple and wild man. Rons work plays with scale and although Mueck’s sculptures are astonishingly lifelike (despite their scale!), apparent realism is not ron muecks sole priority. Mueck wants us to believe that his figures are experiencing certain emotions and for us to empathise with these feelings. ‘Wild Man’ shows signs of extreme anxiety, even terror; he grips the stool and his toes press down onto the floor. Mueck has made him look doubly vulnerable. Despite dwarfing us mere mortals who look at him – he is nearly three metres high – his state of ongoing fear elicits a sympathetic response from us. Instead of our feeling intimidated by him, he seems intimidated by us.

The Spooning couple

Wild Man

Manchester Museum and the Darwin exhibition.

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...

Rings

Toys!

My love of baby shoes continues!

While I was at the Manchester Museum there was an exhibition on about Charles Darwin. I had a look around and found the collections of butterflies really intersting. 

66% of all businesses fail in the first three years...

Last Friday I went to the lecture on starting your own business. After being on the “design and art direction” course for the past three years I have come to realise I definitely, under no circumstances want to become a ‘graphic designer’ its just not me. Although I am really interested in design and everything about I have realised Im just not the sort of person who can be told what to do especially in such a pressurised office environment. I feel that the only way to work in the area of art and design but avoid the stress of producing work that suits somebody else, I will probably have to freelance. I have always wanted to have my own business and I was glad this lecture was available to go to.

Jan Moore from the careers and employability service came to talk to us about aspects of being self employed that would need to be thought about and planned. Although a lot of the talk was pretty much common sense, there were some points that I definatly need to think about. I think that I do have some of the important traits of becoming a successful freelancer but I do need to work on some aspects of my personality to have a better chance of success. 

Rather than scaring me this lecture really made me think about the possibilities but also the downfalls of starting your own business. Although I don’t feel like I could start up on my own straight after graduation I do feel it is something I would like to pursue later on, when I feel I am stable financially. 

All I need to do now is...

Find my style

Motivate myself

Learn about copyrighting

Plan my successful money making machine of a business!!