Alan Kitching: A Life In Letterpress @ Somerset House

It's been a long time since I wrote up an exhibition visit for my blog, which is odd because I've been going to galleries at an insane rate over the last 6 months! On Monday I visited the 'Pick Me Up: Graphic Arts Festival' at Somerset House, which was wonderful for me as a design student. Running for it's 7th year, Pick Me Up showcases the very best movers and shakers rising up in graphic design and illustration. They have some very inspiring work on show so I'd really recommend spending some time exploring it. This year however, Pick Me Up is also hosting a retrospective exhibition of work by one of my personal design heroes, Alan Kitching. 'Alan Kitching: A Life in Letterpress' features over 100 prints, following Kitching's career from apprentice right the way through to the world-renowned designer he is today. 

Spring 2016 Essential Exhibition Visits

Last year I wrote a post giving the run down of the top UK exhibitions that were on at the time, and it went down really well (it's actually still my post popular post I've ever written). Today I'm going to be doing the same thing for spring 2016! Time to get your diary out again, there's a brand new wave of exciting exhibitions on their way...

Exhibition Visit: Magna Carta (An Embroidery) by Cornelia Parker @ The British Library

When I first found out about this particular commission, I have to admit I yelped with excitement slightly. If there were a perfect storm in artwork form then this would be it for me. Take the fact that it's done by one of my favourite artists whom I have heard speak in person, as well as it being stitched, involves type and strikes a resemblance to my own final piece for my art foundation (by pure coincidence), and you've got me very excited.

Summer 2015 Essential Exhibition Visits

(TOP LEFT) (TOP MIDDLE) (TOP RIGHT) (BOTTOM LEFT) (BOTTOM MIDDLE) (BOTTOM RIGHT)

With summer now on our doorsteps, and many of us looking forward to some better weather and even a little break away from school or work, a whole new wave of exhibitions are sweeping our way. From painting pioneers to parakeet shoes and even a helter-skelter, there's some really exciting stuff to look forward to over the coming season. So get your diary out - I'm doing a run down of my top UK exhibition picks for summer 2015.

Manchester School of Art Degree Show: The Private View

The Manchester School of Art Degree Show is now officially open to the public (13th-24th June 2015), showcasing the talent and achievements of final year degree and foundation students. But before the exhibition opened its doors at the weekend, there was the annual private viewing on Friday 12th June. It was such a lovely evening and felt like a real celebration of all the hard work of everyone from across the art school. It was a wonderful opportunity to finally relax and see the fruits of all the blood, sweat and tears over the past year!

Art Foundation Final Exhibition (FMP #4)

So it's all over. One year (or 9 months if you want to get technical) of blood, sweat, tears, sweat, stress, hard work, sweat and late nights. Before I started my art foundation, I was something of a lost confused soul, watching all of my friends go off to uni but having little idea of which path in art and design I wanted to take myself. Twelve months on, I can now whole heartedly say that a foundation course was the best thing I could have possibly done for myself and my future. I have never worked so hard and created so much work in such a short space of time, or developed my creative capabilities in such a profound way. 

With the end of the year comes the final exhibition. This is the culmination of everything from the year, but in particular the ten week final major project. I've done a few posts on my FMP previously which I will link here, here and here. The foundation exhibition goes up alongside all of the degree shows at Manchester School of Art and is ultimately a big part of the final grade. 

On the surface, my FMP has stayed consistent to my original subject as experimenting with letterforms has been central throughout the ten weeks. However, discovering textiles was a defining turning point for me and what I initially intended to be a short research test turned into a change of direction. From that point onwards, the craft, process and materials became key. I taught myself how to knit and crochet and my focus changed from illustrating phrases with typography onto testing, exploring and developing the potential of traditional textiles crafts in the context of graphic design and typography.

After weeks of testing, developing, refining and many balls of wool later, I have created one piece to showcase what I have been working on in my FMP. I will insert a few photographs but as a general outline, my final show is a wall piece in which I have recreated the definition of 'TYPOGRAPHY' with crochet and knitted letters, replicating the links, fonts and punctuation of online dictionaries...

I am really genuinely happy with how my exhibition has turned out. As a huge perfectionist it was difficult to let go of the fact that this is a handmade piece of graphic design, and so imperfections are necessary to its character. The 'homemade' element is, I hope, a part of the charm. It's been a labour of love to bring this exhibition to life and I feel at a bit of a loss now that its all over!

On Monday I handed in all of my supporting work from the year, my portfolio, sketchbooks and artist research for marking over the next couple of weeks. After this time the Manchester School of Art degree show will open to the public (which I will do a little post on with more details), so essentially I am finished for the summer now. I have loved every single minute of being in a creative environment this year, I have met such amazingly talented friends and tutors and I truly wish I could do it all over again.

Now though, it's time for some chill time...

FMP #3

Before I start this post I want to apologise for my less than consistent attempts at blogging over the last few weeks. Hopefully this post will go some way to explaining that but the short version is that I've been crazily running around trying to get my final exhibition together for the foundation/degree show at Manchester School of Art. My final deadline is Monday 1st June so I'm really looking forward to having more time to dedicate to blogging soon. For now though, since my life is revolving around my final major project and completing my exhibition, I thought it'd be good to do a little update. If you haven't seen my previous two FMP posts I will link them here and here so you can take a look at 'the story so far'. 

The final countdown for my FMP is well and truly in full swing now. This week I've been getting my hands dirty preparing my exhibition space, getting it cleaned, sanded and repainted as well as measuring everything out to within an inch of my life. I'll tell you now, if measuring burnt significant calories, I'd be a very skinny girl by now! It's no secret to people that know me that I'm a huge perfectionist and so everything's taking a fair bit of time to get right, but I'm really happy with how it has gone so far *touches every item of wood in sight*. I have been allocated a wall space in a corner so I've had quite a few obstacles to overcome including a big red fire alarm which has played havoc with my need for clean white surfaces! Preparing the exhibition space has been a fun experience though and it's been lovely to make some last memories and spend time with some really great friends I've made on the course. 

To a certain extent I thought it would be nice to keep my actual exhibition as a bit of a surprise for when it's fully complete, so I won't be sharing too many photos of it today. I will say that I'm still continuing with the theme of experimental typography which has evolved into using techniques such as crochet and knitting to make letterforms. Over the last 2 weeks I've been locked away creating what must be hundreds of little wooly letters - but I don't want to give too much away! All will be revealed very soon and I'm working my fingers to the bone to get it finished by next week. 

I realise this has been a very quick insight into what I've been doing with myself these past few weeks but I hope you all understand! There isn't too much completed new work to share but I still want to document the process of this project and I think the exhibition preparation is a big part of that. I can't wait to share the finished results of the show as well as photographs from the private view later on in June. One last final push!

*Sneaky preview!*

Cornelia Parker Artist Lecture @ The Whitworth

For the next three years, sculptor and installation artist Cornelia Parker will be an Honorary Professor within the University of Manchester. To mark this occasion, she spoke, amongst other things, about her acclaimed exhibition at the Whitworth, forthcoming projects and how she collaborates with scientists, engineers, pyrotechnicians and others to make art. I was lucky enough to attend this lecture on Thursday 23rd April within the surroundings of the newly refurbished Whitworth gallery. 

As many of you may already know, The Whitworth Gallery reopened in February after a £15million redevelopment, launching with ten new exhibitions including a major solo show by Cornelia Parker. I visited about a week after the gallery's high profile relaunch and it was soon obvious to me why this exhibiton has received such high praise from across the art world. The show combines career-defining works such as 'Cold Dark Matter (An Exploded View)' and 'The Distance (A Kiss With String Attached)' along with new works including 'War Room', a vast and immersive installation made from punched out paper negatives taken from the Richmond poppy factory, which is unique to the Whitworth. 

The critically exclaimed exhibition is both impressive and thought provoking and so I was incredibly excited to hear Cornelia herself talk about the show from her own perspective. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. Often we think of artists as these highly strung, inaccessible folk who almost seem to speak a different language to the rest of us. But Cornelia was a joy to listen to, incredibly intelligent but also humorous in her manner. At times she had the audience in fits of laughter as she spoke of how she inadvertently blew up an (empty) pram which was needed by it's owners as they were expecting twins any day, and other times she held all eyes as she explained her compelling work marking the 100 year anniversary of World War One. By the way, the owners of said pram were at the gallery opening in February to see if they could spot the misplaced item from 1991 in the midst of 'Cold Dark Matter'! 

Subtitling the lecture 'Truth to Materials', Parker amazed us time and time again with her quests to get her hands on materials that most of us will never even touch in our lifetime, from sawn off shotguns and bullets to snake venom and cocaine. But there was a strong sense that she is far from content with simple police confiscated weapons and a jar of poison. Cornelia wants to take this even further, confessing that she is still working on getting NASA to help her out! 

I'm finding it difficult to condense all of Parker's wonderful anecdotes and explanations that she shared into just one blog post, and in honesty I could never retell them in a way that does her any justice. I will however say that for the next three years, The University of Manchester will be lucky to call Cornelia Parker one of their Honorary Professors, her exhibition and her talent is truly world class.  

Cornelia Parker's exhibition runs until 31st May 2015 @ The Whitworth Art Gallery

My Failed Attempt At Seeing Antony Gormley's 'Another Place'

At the mouth of the Mersey estuary, just North of Liverpool, 100 cast-iron figures of Antony Gormley stand staring out to the horizon. Gormley's sculptural piece 'Another Place' spreads out along three kilometres of Crosby Beach, stretching up to one kilometre out to sea. As time has passed, nature has taken over and the men have become at one with the sea and their environment, weathered by time, engrossed with moss, algae and rust, making them ever more poignant in their location. 

It is supposed to be an incredible spectacle and there are some truly stunning photographs of these figures dotted around the internet. Unfortunately however, my own will not be adding to these! At the weekend I decided it was about time I travelled the hour that I takes down the motorway from my house to see the sculptures. It’d been on my to-do list for a while and since we have been getting such lovely sunny days recently I thought there was no time like the present…cue unpredictable British weather! Judging by all of the reduced speed limits and warning signs along the M62, I knew we were in for a windy day, what I couldn't have anticipated was the gale force winds we were met with upon arrival at Crosby Coastal Park. My car door flung open almost dragging me with it, and an unknown receipt was swept away. Regardless, I decided I hadn't come all this way not to even catch a glimpse of the statues, so me, my dog Tara and slightly unimpressed boyfriend set off down the path.

It may seem like I am overreacting but the sand was hitting our faces like bullets, I could barely see a thing through the dust! I've never known wind like it in my life and looking back we were slightly crazy to even consider going onto the beach. Eventually we reached the very first statue, and as we did, the rain started. I just about managed to grab a few shots (with my eyes 90% shut!) before it was too wet to have my camera out. I was determined not to have a wasted journey so we battled to the next statue and snapped a quick picture with my boyfriends phone. Tara usually adores the beach which is why we took her along, however by this point she was shaking and crying and the sand was getting into her eyes too much, so we decided we had to call it a day and head back to the car. Disheveled and cold, we ended up in the nearest McDonalds before heading back to Manchester!

Tara having a 'closer look' at one of the statues!

While I am disappointed that I didn't get to see more of the statues, I can't help but think that my experience is an important and necessary part of the artwork. Gormley wanted to harnesses the ebb and flow of the tide and in turn, explore man's relationship with nature. Each persons experience with the statues will be different, and therefore everybody who visits will see a different piece of art. In the words of Gormley himself, “each person is making it again". From clear sunny days, to glorious sunsets, to snow, to busy summer bank holidays, to the peak of the tide where the statues closest to the shore are up to their necks in water. My experience was perhaps unique. I was able to look out and see nothing but the eerie figures themselves, staring out alone with a sense of serenity and thoughtfulness. Battling the elements in their full force, the figures remained as we, the only people mad enough to be there, left the beach.

Antony Gormley's 'Another Place' is a permanent fixture @ Crosby Beach, Merseyside

Exhibition Visit: Casa Tomada by Rafael Gómezbarros At The Lowry

It feels like a very long time since I last posted about an exhibition visit, which is odd because I seem to have been going to loads of galleries recently as I am working on my Final Major Project at university. On Tuesday I visited this very interesting (and somewhat creepy) installation at The Lowry gallery in Salford Quays and thought I'd do a quick write up. 

The piece is by Columbian artist Rafael Gomezbarros, and consists of 1000 handcrafted ants, made from fibreglass casts of two human skulls along with twigs and rags, which scramble around the walls and ceiling of The Lowry’s long gallery space. In the installation, Gomezbarros explores issues experienced by undocumented immigrants and migrant workers, often displaced by war and unrest in their native countries and left feeling invisible and ignored by society. The unclean and grotesque visual appearance of the ants seeks to echo how migrants are often seen by wider society as unsightly vermin. Along with this however, the installation also celebrates the hardworking and productive nature of ants and in turn the positive contribution that migrants and immigrants make to society. 

Alongside the artwork itself, there were photographs displayed of Casa Tomada when it has been installed on the exterior of major public buildings across the world. The piece is often placed at points of departure and arrival that are historically significant for travellers and migrants and if you look into the history of the Manchester Ship Canal which The Lowry overlooks, it's easy to see why Salford is the perfect place to display this work due to it's diverse cultural history.

The Lowry isn't a gallery I tend to visit often however I'm very glad I gave this exhibition a look. Part artwork, part political statement, I found the piece extremely powerful and of course, visually incredible. 

Casa Tomada is running until Sunday 26th April @ The Lowry in Salford Quays 

Exhibition Visit: Transmitting Andy Warhol at Tate Liverpool

It's contextual studies week for me at uni and so yesterday I decided I'd better get my act together and finally see the Andy Warhol exhibition that's on at Tate Liverpool before it closes its doors on the 8th February. Now, I must first admit that I'm not the greatest Andy Warhol fanatic. His work is more of an inspiration of process for me rather than a deep love of pop art on my part. I do however respect his incredible influence and the fact that many of his statements about the world are even more vital to today's society than the society from which he practiced. 

Despite any of my preconceptions, he is the most widely exhibited of all 20th-century artists, and Tate Liverpool are featuring more than 100 examples of his work, so I'd probably be mad to miss the opportunity to see miss Monroe for a fiver. I am a graphic design student after all, I thought there was bound to be something there to tickle my fancy. 

The exhibition had an interesting take, choosing to focus on how the American artist publicised his iconic paintings to as many people as possible around the world and I have to say I really did enjoy the work. What was interesting to see was the vast range of Warhol's commissioned graphic design work, from album covers to book design as well as his work as an artist in his own right. I even found a new favourite. The Electric Chairs Portfolio (1971) is a series of silk-screens done in shockingly inappropriate sugary colours, completely at odds with the morbid subject matter. It's a very odd sort of sensation you get when looking at them, especially in an exhibition environment with velvet underground playing through speakers in the next room. 

The music, bold colours and flashing images all combine to make this exhibition a true sensory experience throughout and I'm very glad I took the time to visit. 

The work is only showing for a few more days so definitely get down to Tate Liverpool this week if you can!

x

Matisse Cut Outs Exhibition Review

As the blockbuster exhibition of Matisse’s paper cut-outs drew to a close on the 7th September, Tate has since announced that it has become the most popular show in their history, attracting more than half a million visitors. 562,600 people went to the Tate Modern in London to see the groundbreaking exhibition, which also makes it one of the most popular paid-for exhibitions in Britain for decades. I was lucky enough to be one of those 562,600 people who witnessed the beauty of Matisse's last years of work, and I know first hand why this particular showcase has captured the public’s imagination in such a profound way.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is one of the most iconic artists of the twentieth century who brought a whole new concept of colour to the art world. For the last 17 years of his life, he developed an entirely new approach by carving directly into colour with a giant pair of scissors.  From small studies that show him using cut-outs as compositional tools for paintings, to his prophetic final works, Matisse’s genius surges, growing room by room as the works themselves become ever more ambitious. 

Every single room in the exhibition from start to finish was a joy to explore and 2 hours went by in a flash. From mermaids to dancers, circus scenes and a famous snail, the exhibition showcases an impressive range of 120 works made between 1936 and 1954. 
I knew the exhibition was going to be something special, but what I wasn't prepared for was the way in which I would be emotionally touched by it. It was such a joyous and fascinating collection and it has stayed close to the forefront of my mind for weeks after visiting the galley - also becoming the only exhibition I've felt inclined to buy the accompanying book from! Matisse wanted “anyone tired, worn down, driven to the limits of endurance, to find calm and repose” in his art. In this he certainly succeeded. I left the exhibition inspired to start practical art again, what more can you ask of an exhibition?

I'm no stranger to exhibitions but there was something about the fact that at a time in his life where Matisse was very unwell, he managed to not only carry on his artistic career, but reach new heights of creative triumph. There can't be many people who left the exhibition this summer that didn't want to replace their home decor with the vibrancy and excitement of Matisse's cut outs.