Grafik on Random Spectacular
We recently had the pleasure of letting Grafik know a little more about our Random Spectacular publishing imprint, looking at its inspiration, our current Concrete Antenna project and what we have planned for the future. Read in full.
Mark Hearld’s Horses
Visitors to Mark Hearld's exhibition at York Art Gallery, The Lumber Room - Unimagined Treasures, will have seen the slipcast and hand-painted ceramic horses Mark has created based on a wooden 19th century toy horse the artist found in a Berlin flea market, a reaction to two Leeds Horses in the York Museums Trust's collection.
Mark will continue to make these horses over the coming months and two fine specimens have made their way into the Godfrey & Watt Christmas exhibition in Harrogate.
We'll be featuring the horses in a Random Spectacular publication dedicated to Mark's exhibition. Find out more about Random Spectacular, present and future.
Harbour Fireworks (Bonfire Night Version)
We're pleased to share this video that accompanies an edit of one of the tracks that appears on our forthcoming Random Spectacular project.
Harbour Fireworks is taken from Concrete Antenna, a sound installation and 12" deluxe vinyl album package exploring the past, present and imagined future of Newhaven in Edinburgh. Much of the sonic palette for this track is derived from recordings of firework displays in the area. Find out more about the track.
Baddeley Brothers
The Gentle Author, creator of the Spitalfields Life journal, has just published a book dedicated to the work of specialist printers, Baddeley Brothers.
This book is embellished with fine tipped-in samples illustrating the range of Baddeley Brothers’ print techniques, an anatomy of envelope design, a glossary of printing terminology, typographic designs by David Pearson, drawings by Lucinda Rogers and a fold-out map by Adam Dant.
Find our more about purchasing a copy of this wonderful publication.
From The Page to The Wall
Based in Edinburgh, publishers Birlinn work with Scottish writers such as Robin Jenkins, George Mackay Brown and the author of the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Alexander McCall Smith and international writers including Jan-Philipp Sendker, Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti.
During the Edinburgh Festival, the Doubtfire Gallery are hosting an exhibition of original illustrations and printed work by some of the artists that Birlinn commission for their covers. The featured artists are Tim Archbold, Jill Calder, Bob Dewar, Debi Gliori, James Hutcheson, Owain Kirby and Iain McIntosh.
The exhibition runs until 29th August at the Doubtfire Gallery, 3 South East Circus Place, Edinburgh EH3 6TJ. View the gallery website
Find can out more about Birlinn via their website.
'Reekie' by James Hutcheson
'Bruce and DeBohun' by Jill Calder
'The Bruce' by Jill Calder
'Bertie Plays Blues' by Iain McIntosh
'Allotments' by Bob Dewar
'The Great Wood' by Owain Kirby
Mark Hearld’s ‘The Lumber Room: Unimagined Treasures’
Visitors to the newly reopened York Art Gallery will be able to pick up one of these souvenir broadsheets, created by the artist Mark Hearld as part of his curated exhibition The Lumber Room: Unimagined Treasures.
The Upper North Gallery has been transformed to reflect one artist’s vision of a Lumber Room – a room of miscellaneous stored objects and artefacts.
For the past two years, York-based artist Mark Hearld has been visiting the stores of the Yorkshire Museum and York Castle Museum as well as York Art Gallery researching the objects and artworks to include in the exhibition.
His choices include textiles, costume, oil paintings, works on paper, furniture, and taxidermy, many items of which have not been on public display before.
Alongside these are new works that Mark has created especially for the show which are inspired by the collections. The exhibition is influenced by a short story called The Lumber Room, by Saki, which was read to him in an English class when he was 15.
Mark explains…
“Since I heard Saki’s story I have always been intrigued by the idea of a locked room that contained treasures so wonderful they are beyond what your mind can imagine. In this exhibition I wanted to create the sense of excitement and wonder that you get when you discover the key to the room and see the “forbidden” objects for the first time.”
Visit the exhibition at York Art Gallery, Exhibition Square, York YO1 7EW. Find out more from the York Art Gallery website.
You might also like to view Mark's range of artist design fabrics and wallpapers for St Jude's.
Brick House
If you're familiar with the work of Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious you probably will know of the Brick House in Great Bardfield in Essex. This was their home, along with their wives, Charlotte and Tirzah, for a few years in the 1930s.
The illustrator and printmaker, Alice Pattullo, has recently created an ingenious and characterful fold-out replica of the house for Design For Today. With rooms filled with the objects you would expect to find from cats and patterned wallpapers to Bawden's printing press and cast iron bench, there's a wealth of detail. There's even a sheet of cut out extras including the two artists themselves looking rather like Gilbert and George.
Alice Pattullo is an illustrator and printmaker working in East London. Her work can be found at the V&A, The Higgins, John Soames Museum, Cecil Sharp House and in the pages of design and illustration magazines, Alice is inspired by the folk traditions of England and influenced by the mid-century printmaking of artists such as Edward Bawden and John Piper.
Design For Today was founded by Joe Pearson, an established collector and writer on mid-century lithography. As one of the country’s experts in his field Joe has given talks at several institutions such as the Double Crown Club, St Brides Printing Library, The House of Illustration and the University of East Anglia.
Find out more and purchase a copy of Brick House from Design For Today’s website.
