Dilka Bear, Artist and Jeweller.
Dilka Bear is a bit of an enigma. From her home in Italy, she creates wonderfully pouting,
sad little girls who seem to lead lives that we, as her audience,
can only guess at and be intrigued by.
Dilkas’ slightly eerie style, detail and characters cleverly draw the viewer into the frame.
Only then to be confronted by someone who is, in turn, regarding them.
I’m often left wondering who’s watching who !
However not all of Dilkas’ girls are part animal or quite so sombre.
In fact she has other animals that are really very amusing, like the bear in underpants.
Another talent that Dilka has is in making Jewellery, and also creating a visual history of that object
through the photographs she takes. A very versatile artist indeed.
More of Dilkas’ wonderful work can be found on her Flickr site and Etsy shop.
Alvin Lustig, Graphic Artist, Architect and Trend Setter.
A student of Frank Lloyd Wright, among others, Alvin Lustig had a very successful career
in graphic design and art direction. Revolutionizing the approach to book cover design in the 1940s,
Lustig would attempt to get a sense of the writers direction from reading the book and then
translate it into his own graphic style (The previous trend was to summarize the book with one image).
The combination of technology and creativity in his designs was reminiscent of the Bauhaus,
as did his intellectual approach to problem-solving.
He designed books in LA for New Directions before moving to New York to become the Director
of Visual Research for Look Magazine. He rose to success early in his career garnering work for
all types of clients and working on a vast array of types of projects.
He died much too early at the age of 40, in 1955. His simplified shapes and use of flat colors,
all while creating elaborate and intensely interesting compositions, are still imitated today
by many graphic designers. He also designed fabrics and buildings.
Beryl Stocker, Artist and Neighbour.
I’ve spent the last few days catching up with my folks and old school friends on the Wirral.
It was a wonderful trip (as ever) and I’m forever grateful and remind myself, how lucky I am
to have such amazing parents and a wealth of friends who mean so much to me, that I’ve known
for the past 25 years. Whilst I was home I bumped into our neighbour Beryl Stocker.
I have fond memories of playing on the swing in her garden as a child, in those amazingly long, hot
summer holidays from school. Beryl is now 83 and has painted with oils for her own enjoyment
for the past 30+ years. I went to her home to see some of her work and was instantly transported
back to being that small boy by seeing the familiar green paisley carpet and ornaments I recall
from those early days. Beryl’s work has a lovely light touch and I think she has a good eye for what
makes a painting capture the viewers’ attention. She kindly allowed me to take some images to
share with you here.
These were taken from photographs and are the hands of Nigel Slater and Monty Don.
These are taken from childhood memories of life where she grew up in Norfolk.
Below Beryls’ depiction of The Four Seasons.
And for purely sentimental reasons, my favourite has to be this view of the side of the house
which was the view I had from the swing. You can still see the ropes used on the tree for her
grandchildren to play on.
Thanks again to Beryl for sharing her lovely work with us.
Olle Eksell , Swedish Graphic Designer and Illustrator.
Olle Eksell made his name through his involvement in the re-shaping of Swedish graphic design
during the 1950’s. Inspired by the American lifestyle and a period at Art School in Los Angeles,
he returned to Sweden to work as an illustrator. He was the first to work with corporate identity,
company logos and graphic profiles. Though he is most known for“Mazettis Cacao Eye” ,
he also wrote many articles and books on the relationship between corporate economics and design.
His sketchy illustrations and book covers are also beautifully captivating.
More illustrations from his book appear here.
Andy Lovell, Art and Nature Illustrated.
Observational drawing and painting act as the foundation of Andy Lovell‘s work,
imprinting memories from which he creates screenprints, lithographs and
monoprints, exploring the layering of texture and colour.
Born in East London, Andy studied illustration at Liverpool School of Art & Design.
More of Andy’s beautiful work available to buy here and here.
Liverpool Biennial, Bluecoat Gallery and Shop Displays.
I’ve been putting off doing this post, not because I didn’t want to, but purely because I knew it
was going to be a bigee ! All done now. Phew ! So a couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough
to get to spend a day with two great old friends of mine, walking around parts of Liverpool’s
Biennial Exhibition, Art Galleries and generally just catching up with the city itself.
I found this painted building in one of the back streets.
The Biennial is Liverpool’s International Festival of Contemporary Art and is a huge event
spread over 18 venues and on, this year, from 18th Sept until Nov 28th,
so there’s a few days left if you’re quick ! Initially we caught up with a few old favourites
in the John Moores Exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery.
This was first held in 1957, the John Moores Painting Prize is the
UK’s best-known painting competition and is named after Sir John Moores (1896 – 1993),
the founder of the prize. The competition culminates in an exhibition held at the Walker Art
Gallery every two years, which forms a key strand of the Liverpool Biennial.
The John Moores exhibition is held in partnership with the John Moores
Liverpool Exhibition Trust, and although the appearance of each exhibition changes,
the principles remain constant: to support artists and to bring to Liverpool
the best contemporary painting from across the UK. Here’s some winners from 1957 0nwards.
and a feel for what exhibiting and judging the prize was like in the late fifties too.
This years entries were a real mix of styles and areas of interest.
The last two artists work above were part of the Shanghai Awards which is another
new addition to the JM Award.
After this we saw some more exhibitions at the Tate. Key figures from the cultural arena
had been invited to co-curate selected sections of an exhibition. Artist Michael Craig-Martin
and designer Wayne Hemingway, and his son Jack, assembled their own
interpretations of the Tate Collection, A few pieces were unusual and uplifting
but I thought some of the sculptures we’re there for shock value alone and were sadly rather
tasteless and unnecessarily offensive. Something for all as they say ! More info on that here.
The Bluecoat School was next and as usual one of my favourite Liverpool haunts.
There was a room densely filled with coloured ribbons that were tied to a framework
on the ceiling. Artist Nicholas Hlobo created a bizarre environment where the ribbons
were hanging so close together that it was like entering a dreamlike swimming pool
of coloured strands and you had to push your way through the dark labyrinth to see
in front of you and to also create a path to walk on.
A most creepy and bizarre, yet enjoyably refreshing experience.
Also beautiful work in the Bluecoat Gallery Shop by artist and toymaker Robert Race.
The rest of the day was spent admiring the creative window and instore displays.
Oh and before I forget I picked up a leaflet about a Winter Arts Market on at St George’s Hall in the
city centre on November 27th. Tons of interesting gifts and crafts going on.
Ideal for some pre-christmas browsing. More info here.
Thanks again to Gill and Sarah for their company on such a great day.
Eleni Kalorkoti, an Illustrator with a Russian Eye
Eleni Kalorkoti lives and works in Edinburgh, where she creates her work using a combination
of hand drawn, digital and screenprinting techniques. Her illustrations playfully mix strong
use of colour and pattern with a mischievous sense of character design and distinctive composition.
She is inspired by Russian theatre, American comic books and a lot of the other stuff in between.
I do like the way her characters look a little shifty, this last one reminds me of a russian spy, in an old
Pink Panther / Inspector Clouseau kind of way. What do you think ?
Christopher Brown, Linocut Artist
Christopher Brown was born in London in 1953. He attended the Royal College of Art
where he was introduced to, and eventually assisted, Edward Bawden, the master of the linocut.
It was Bawden who encouraged him to explore this medium. Since then, Christopher has
exhibited at the Michael Parkin Gallery,The Royal Academy, The Fry Gallery,
The Fine Art Society, and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
You can purchase a selection of his prints here at St Judes Gallery.
Florentijn Hofman, Sculpting Life On A Larger Scale
I’m liking the work of Florentijn Hofman, who is known for his integrating, intriguing and
interactive installations into public space. You may already know him for his 13 meter rubber duck !
He changes with great joy between performative (public) art and the domain of the sculpture
(only to mention a few of his used media) and has a strong wish to amaze, making life and the
scale of objects, much more fun. Like these tree houses or beach pianos…
His amazing 8 x 22 meter mirror wall or musk rat thatched sculpture….
A fatigued monkey made from flip flops !…..
His salvaged wooden rabbit, red dog or blue houses…..
and I love his take on the traditional sofa, imagine coming home to relax with these friends !
More of his amazing ideas here and Thanks to E-Sushi for pointing me to Florentijns’ work initially.
Jenny Lee-Katz Homewares for the Environment
Jenny Lee-Katz now lives in Pennsylvania. Born in Wales, UK, she’s worked as a designer
in Sydney, London, Paris and the Middle East. She prints digitally due to a concern about
the amount of wasted dyestuffs through conventional printing methods this allows her to use
eco-friendly pigment dyes on her products.
Jenny loves to travel and combines her findings from other countries cultures into her work.
She also includes some welsh too as it helps to ease the longing she feels for her original roots.
The beautiful seaside range alone is enough to take anyone back to their coastal haunts.
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