Just published by Merrell is Jonny Hannah's wonderful 'Greetings from Darktown - An Illustrator's Miscellany', the first book devoted to the work of this popular illustrator, printmaker and painter.
Born and bred in Scotland, Jonny Hannah now lives by the sea in Southampton, but he also resides in Darktown – a mysterious coastal town, not found on any map, peopled by pin-up girls, jazz artists and tattooed sailors. Darktown is home to the Unquiet Grave junk emporium; the Mermaid Café, where folk legend Woody Guthrie still plays each week; McVouty’s vintage clothes shop; and a pier with a condemned helter skelter. Joining Hannah on his trip to downtown Darktown are the writers Philip Hoare and Peter Chrisp, who explore the eclectic influences on Hannah’s work, and Sheena Calvert, who introduces a special typographic catalogue of hand-drawn lettering. As he tours Darktown, Hannah presents his prints and paintings in thematic chapters reflecting his passions, and bids farewell to his alter ego, Rocket Man, who inhabits the darkest corners of pop culture.
Find out more about Greetings from Darktown or view a selection of Jonny Hannah's limited edition prints.
In April 2015 we'll be hosting an exhibition of Jonny's work in Edinburgh which will incorporate prints, paintings, music and spoken word. Sign up for our gallery newsletter for details.
And later in 2014 we'll be launching Jonny's first wallpaper for St Jude's, the follow up to his fabric The Captain's Pattern.
We're delighted to announce the forthcoming launch of the second edition of Random Spectacular - a collaborative exploration of the visual arts, literature, music, travel and much more.
Contributors include Mark Hearld, Angie Lewin, Emily Sutton, Ed Kluz, Ralph Steadman, Jonny Hannah, Christopher Brown and many more.
All profits from this issue will again be donated to Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres who St. Jude's have been pleased to support over the years. We raised over £6,500 with the first issue of Random Spectacular and hope to beat that with issue no. 2.
Find out about how you can express an interest in purchasing a copy.
From 4th-14th July 2014 Ed Kluz is exhibiting a series of new works with our friends at Pentreath & Hall, shown alongside a selection of original works and prints by Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden.
Ed is fascinated by the objects of our cultural heritage. He seeks out the eccentric, the lost and the overlooked. Follies, curiosities, vanished buildings and folklore inspire artworks which explore themes of renewal and reinvention.
To date Ed has designed two fabrics for St Jude's, Painswick and Lionheart, with more in the pipeline. We worked with Alun Callender on this film about Ed's work.
Amongst the new works being exhibited are (from top to bottom below) The Rushton Triangular Lodge (scraperboard - £975), Blickling Hall (linocut - unframed £225 - edition of 18), King Henry's Hunting Lodge, Dogmersfield Park, Hampshire (scraperboard - £875), Kew Palace (scraperboard - £745).
From 4th to 14th July at Pentreath & Hall, 17 Rugby Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 3QT. Telephone 020 7430 2526. Open 11am–6pm Mon–Sat.
This August Hanna Tuulikki's heartfelt re-weaving of Gaelic song will be performed live on the Isle of Canna.
Away with the Birds will be performed by a female vocal ensemble in the beautiful harbour of the Isle of Canna, where the music reverberates with the bird-calls and the ebb of the tide.
Hanna Tuulikki is a Glasgow-based artist and composer. Away with the Birds is her most ambitious work to date. Selecting Gaelic song from historical archives, she has sought out extracts and fragments which imitate birdsong and rewoven them into an extraordinary soundscape. Each of the five movements represents a different habitat and bird community – wader, sea-bird, wildfowl, corvid, and cuckoo.
Find out more about how you can support this Kickstarter project
Our friend Tommy Perman has recently collaborated with 59 Productions on their commission for Sydney Opera House's VIVID festival. Tommy explains:
"A couple of months ago I received an email with the subject: 'Illustrator Task (From Hell?)' from my old friend Leo (co-founder of 59 Productions). The task was to produce a technical drawing detailing all of the tiles of the sails on the Sydney Opera House. 59 would use this drawing as part of their pre-production process for an impressive commission they'd won to light up the famous landmark with colourful visuals for the annual VIVID festival.
I replied to Leo saying "this doesn't look too arduous". I'm used to drawing intensely detailed images but I perhaps underestimated just how many tiles there are on the roof of the Sydney Opera House! But like the brave soul that I am, I plotted on, hunched over a hot graphics tablet for many hours longer than is medically advisable. To retain some sanity while drawing I decided to colour in each tile as I went – I told 59 to just disregard these colours though as all they needed was the position of the tiles. After days at the screen I finished the drawing and sent it off, happy that I'd played a small part in such a cool project.
I have a fairly busy life at the moment and I'd pretty much forgotten all about this job until the other Friday evening, my friend Mark (also of 59 Productions) posted a link to a Daily Mail slideshow of the opening night of the VIVID festival. I was flicking through the images thinking "these are stunning, it's ace that I was involved..." I'd almost reached the end of the slideshow and was wondering how great it'd be to see some of my own work on such a large canvas. And then I came across a photo of the Opera House illuminated with my brightly coloured drawing. I don't think I've felt that kind of jaw-dropping awe since my girlfriend told me she was pregnant!
Apparently 59 loved the colours in my drawing and decided it would become part of the final piece. I'm truly honoured to have my work shown in such a high profile way."
Tommy Perman is an artist, designer and musician based in Edinburgh. A founding member of the artist collective/experimental pop band FOUND, Tommy now concentrates on his own work as artist, illustrator and graphic designer.
Tommy and Rob St. John feature in the second issue of our Random Spectacular journal, with a contribution exploring their recent Water Of Life project.
Our friend and collaborator Christopher Brown has been busy over at Wild At Heart's Pimlico store, hand painting a number of iconic Chelsea characters in their windows.
These images are also available as a series of hand coloured prints and a little folded leaflet.
I'm not sure how long the display will be on show - perhaps give Wild At Heart a quick call before travelling.
Contact details for their Pimlico store can be found online.
And you can find a selection of Chris' limited edition linocut prints over at St Jude's.
Saturday 10th May 2014 sees the opening unveiling of the restored mural at Greenside School in West London.
The school earns the star on its Grade II* listing for Gorden Cullen’s mural, painted in 1952.
Erno Goldfinger designed the school and commission Cullen to paint the mural which features a range of subjects including Dover Castle, the de Havilland Comet and the Britannia 7000 locomotive.
Having been covered up for years, the Friends of Greenside Mural raised funds to restore the mural and hope to continue with restoration of the original terrazzo floor in the foyer.
The unveiling event will include a fair featuring a number of publishers, illustrators, print specialists and related exhibitors.
The event takes place on Saturday 10th May from 11am until 5pm at Greenside School, Westville Road, London W12 9PT. For further details about the project, visit the Greenside Mural Facebook page.