Dunham Massey, A Georgian National Trust Property and Park land.
I went to visit Dunham Massey last sunday. It’s another beautiful site owned by the National Trust.
Over 300 acres with a fine example of a large Georgian house, a seven acre winter garden,
the largest of its kind in the UK and approximately 150 antlered Fallow deer as well as the
beautiful trees and parkland that has made this site a desirable place to visit since it was
first recognised as a park back in 1362. Well worth a visit, especially with the autumnal colour.
The Fifth Manchester Artists’ Book Fair
The Fifth Manchester Artists’ Book Fair took place last saturday and was attended by myself and about
40 other artists / illustrators / book makers. It was a great event, organised by the wonderful Karen and
Sean from the Hot Bed Press here in Salford, Manchester. Perhaps not as well attended as last year,
but in these times of recession and redundancy, it was still a busy and buzzy day out.
I’ll let the work of the makers speak for itself.
And last but not least…. me !
Knitwear for men with Attitude.
Anthony Cooley
Anthony Cooley is a young up and coming artist with a conscience. He recently donated a
painting to the organisation PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) which
raised over $1,000 for the animal rights charity, what an inspirational idea !
I got in touch with Anthony to find out just what makes him tick and he kindly answered a few
of my questions for my blog. He spent four years studying illustration at the University of Ulster
in Derry, Northern Ireland. ” I dabbled in many forms of visual media including illustration,
animation, graphic design and photography to name a few and thoroughly enjoyed all
elements of my degree. For me illustration was the one area I have always had the greatest interest in,
ever since a young age. I’m continuously looking for new ways to learn and develop my style. ”
When creating his work, Anthony tries to make the largest part of it hand-drawn.
He draws the outlines and creates textures by hand and then uses photoshop to literally put
all of the pieces together and finally to also apply the colour.
Anthony wants to illustrate Children’s books. He’s always had a fascination with them
from being a child, and feels like he would like to be able to create for other children,
those special feelings that story books gave to him, all those years ago.
He’s also influenced by Graffiti artists like Californian Alex Pardee, and the films of
manga artist Hayao Miyazaki and the equally creative Tim Burton.
The future for Anthony is hopefully going to be all about Childrens’ book illustration.
In the meantime he is selling some lovely prints here, check them out.
Emily Sutton, Multi-talented multi-media artist.
Emily Sutton graduated in 2008 with a BA in illustration from Edinburgh College of Art,
having also studied at York college, and for a semester at the Rhode Island School of Design.
She says ” My work incorporates a love of pattern and detail and is strongly influenced by the
landscape and creatures of my surroundings in the Yorkshire countryside, as well as all kinds
of weird and wonderful objects found in museums and antique shops.”
A visit to the museum of folk art in New York inspired an ongoing interest in folk art of all kinds,
and she is also influenced by 20th century illustrators such as Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious,
and the american lithographed children’s books of a similar era.
Now based in a house on a hill in the middle of nowhere, she is currently working on
the illustrations for a children’s book as well as producing work for various exhibitions
and a new fabric range for St Judes Gallery called ‘Curiosity Shop’.
Incidentally St Judes also have a show in a the Bankside Gallery in London, and their gallery showcases
the very best in British printmaking with limited edition prints from artists including Angie Lewin,
Mark Hearld, Jonny Hannah, Chris Brown and Rob Ryan.
Celia Hart, artist and Illustrator.
You can tell by looking at the work of Celia Hart that she’s really inspired
by her surroundings. She not only keeps hens, has a walled garden for her vegtables,
and she even has a blog all about her findings in and around her studio you can see here.
Being based amongst fields and nature suits Celia well as all of these elements are
interpreted into her lino-cuts.
Based in Withersfield, nr Haverhill in Suffolk, Celia studied illustration & graphic design
at Brighton College of Art & Design and started her career as a designer & art buyer for a
major UK publisher. Since 1991 she has worked freelance, enjoying the opportunity to
work on her own prints & designs as well as commissioned projects.
She uses the traditional techniques of Japanese printmakers to produce her limited edition
block prints of animals, birds, gardens & landscapes.
There’s a lovely interview with Celia here on Acornmoon.
It sounds like the good life to me.
Leonie Lord. Childrens’ Illustrator.
Leonie Lord studied illustration at Central St Martins College, London. Since graduating, she has mainly
produced regular editorial work for newspapers such as The Sunday Telegraph and The Guardian.
Leonie has a young family, which has recently renewed her love of children’s books, inspiring a world
in which anything and everything is possible and probably about to happen any minute.
The Dirty Great Dinosaur is her first illustrated book for children.
I love her partly surprised rabbit, it reminds me of a tapestry. You can buy Leonies’ first book here.
Daniela Rodriguez Carrizo and Unadani
Alex Malcolmson. Ships, Birds and Lighthouses.
Alex Malcolmson was born in Shetland in 1955 and studied drawing, painting and printmaking
at Edinburgh College of Art. He worked in the Northern Isles for several years teaching,
painting and exhibiting and then moved back to Edinburgh to work as curator of the
Scottish Crafts Collection, now part of the collection of The National Museum of Scotland.
In 1985 he established Godfrey & Watt in Yorkshire, a gallery exhibiting and promoting some of the
finest work by artists and makers from throughout the UK. His work has frequently been exhibited
at Godfrey & Watt and in exhibitions elsewhere around the UK. Sailing trips, the Northern Isles
and marine folk art provide much inspiration for the work.
Most of the work he has done over the past ten years or so has been in the form of box constructions
made mainly from wood; carved and painted, sometimes using found materials. Perhaps in common
with other artists making ‘boxworks’, Joseph Cornell is an unavoidable influence, as is that lovely
period of Picasso’s work when he found everything he needed lying around on the studio floor,
but another strand of interest for Alex lies in ship dioramas and other marine folk art.
The slatted birds started with the idea of an upturned boat, which is a motif he has often used
in other ways, they also draw on the tradition of decoy making.
Folk, naïve and primitive art; the kind of objects made for use and ornament,
often by unnamed makers, is probably the main source of ideas for the work.
More of Alexs’ work can be seen on his website here.
Chloe Cheese, Sheila Robinson and Bernard Cheese.
Chloe above, telling her audience how her mother created this wallpaper for their sitting room.
Chloe Cheese has always planned to be an artist. Her childhood was spent in Great Bardfield
where there were several artists of note including her own parents Bernard Cheese and
Sheila Robinson. As early as she can remember she was accustomed to wandering
into neighbourhood studios. The absorbed activity the rich scent of paint and turpentine
which she took to be the normal way of life.
The most splendid of these houses belonged to Edward Bawden. Big white and utterly marvellous.
Edward Bawden was her friend since childhood, he introduced her to the Curwen Gallery in the 1970s.
She attended the Cambridge Art School from 1969-1972 and in 1972 won the Royal Academy
drawing prize before continuing her studies from 1973-1976 at the Royal College of Art.
Her first solo show was in 1979 “Still Life in London and Paris” at the Curwen Gallery
and several more have followed since then in London and Japan.
She has also participated in various group exhibitions, freelanced as an illustrator for the
Sunday Times, Vogue magazine, Terence Conran, Galleries Lafayette, German Vogue
and Marie Claire. She lives in a converted warehouse in Bermondsey near Tower Bridge.
Just out of interest Chloes’ parents Bernard Cheese and Sheila Robinson created some pretty
impressive work too, it’s easy to see where Chloe got her talents from.
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