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Our MA students have just completed a pattern-making project led by Artist in Residence Joanna Sokol, who we introduced in an earlier blog post. Spread across 2 weeks students received an introduction to surface pattern design and were then asked to create a moodboard based on particular fashion or interior theme, which they had previously pulled from a hat. During tutorials with Joanna the group was shown how to create a repeat surface pattern using Photoshop and through individual crits were given the opportunity to tackle any difficulties.
The photos below were taken at the final presentation this morning against our fantastic castle backdrop.
Over the last few months Sarah Bissell, an ECA alumni and one of last years artists in residence has been working with Edinburgh Collage Collective on an international submission of collaged based work themed around the subject of envelopes. Setup in 2016 by collage artist Rhed Fawell, the collective has been working on exhibitions and events over the last year and currently is showcasing their latest exhibition, G.L.U.E. in our very own Tent Gallery.
The collective (comprising of seven members including Sarah Bissell and another of our previous artists in residence Megan Elizabeth Taylor) believes that it is important to reach out and link to other like minded artists globally particularly in this turbulent political climate. Through their most recent project they have connected with over 70 other artists and gathered over 140 artworks for display in the gallery and the feedback has been incredibly positive with plans to travel the exhibition and future open submissions on the horizon. To get involved check out the instagram page and keep and eye out for future eventshttps://www.instagram.com/edinburghcollagecollective/
Sarahs work is part risograph and part collage as she runs risograph printers The Gutter Press https://www.instagram.com/thegutterpress/ . Collage has always been a focus of her work but since starting her business late last year she has also been making risograph prints created from her original collages. Her work for this exhibition was looking at the excitement and intrigue you have when receiving post and she wanted to celebrate this and inject an element of fun to her subject.
The exhibition is open until the 28th so pop by if you’re in the area. If you have an interest in risograph have a look at The Gutter Press website and contact Sarah with any printing projects you want to get produced. Also watch out for the Edinburgh Collage Collectives future open submissions, they would love more people to get involved and to connect with more lovely collage loving people.
This month three of last year’s Illustration graduates, Drew Starling, Felix Miall and Hari Connor, took part in the Stojkow Arts Residency Programme in rural Poland where they were able to do lots of drawing and gather inspiration for upcoming projects. In this week’s blog post Hari shares her experience and some of her lovely work created during her week-long residency.
The residency is on this beautiful farm in the rural south of Poland, surrounded by meadows, rivers and forests. I love going out of the city to work on drawings at a slower pace, and I’m always inspired by nature and by making work together with other creatives. I’m really interested in observational drawing as an exercise, how the process of drawing changes how you interact with a place, making you slow down and appreciate tiny details, and how the final artwork can reflect one’s experience of the space. It’s also really interesting travelling and working with other illustrators, and seeing how different artists’ interpretations of the same landscape or object can completely vary.
I’m currently putting together a new book called ‘The Way I See It’ that collects my observational drawings from the last few years chronologically, finishing up with the work from this trip. The book will be small, and include notes and prose that I wrote at the time – I wanted to recreate the feeling of handling something personal and intimate that you get when looking through someone’s sketchbook.
The book has gone to print, and should be arriving next week in time for launch at Glasgow Comic Con – I’ll be selling it online and bringing it to Thought Bubble after that. I’m doing a new, experimental comic that includes a huge amount of natural scenery and plants, but I’ve only sold short zines of my observational drawings before, so I’m really interested to see what people think of it in comics circles!
Stojkow Arts Residency Programme was set up by Jessica Kettle who graduated from ECA Illustration in 2014. For more information email jessicakettle10@gmail.com.
We congratulate our 30 new graduates whose degree show is currently in full swing!
Come to Evolution House / ECA to meet the artists and see the fruit of their work over the last year. There are a variety of things on display ranging from Graphic novels and picture books to printmaking, magazine design and 3 dimensional illustrated objects – and you’ll also be able to pick up a piece of affordable artwork in our degree show shop if you like.
This week we delighted to blog a post by Jonathan Gibbs, programme director of Illustration at ECA:
Mark Hearld’s exhibition at York Gallery has been The Lumber Room: Unimagined Treasures. This is an extraordinary room full of miscellaneous stored objects and artefacts, all of which are complemented by examples of his own work.
This magazine is the third Random Spectacular publication by by St Jude’s, entitled The Lumber Room in reference to Saki’s short story of that title. Simon Lewin and Mark Hearld have created an eclectic anthology of drawings, photographs, texts and illustrations to cast light upon this story.
My own contribution was to illustrate Saki’s text with a full-page illustration, and eight spot illustration to punctuate the writing. This was done in wood engraving, by making five different coloured prints from a big block, then cutting up the prints and making a registered collage of the bits. You will be able to see all my mistakes in this results. Or perhaps they are not mistakes . . . It was a great privilege to be asked to do this, as I have long admired Saki, whose last words were “put that bloody cigarette out”, just before being killed by a sniper’s bullet in the First World War.
Jonathan Gibbs
Such collaborations as Random Spectacular bring one into close proximity with like-minded artists and designers, and their various works are beautifully juxtaposed throughout this journal.
Simon Lewin’s highly skilled editorship and design skills have made this possible, to a very high degree.
There are various creative connections within this artefact. Notably, with Stage 2 ECA illustrator Alise Tipse, who shows some very fine drawings here. Chlöe Cheese, has visited ECA at various times and is an eminent artist, printmaker and illustrator. Likewise, Angie Lewin has lectured here, as indeed have Simon Lewin and Mark Hearld. Together, I believe that they make a powerful case for cross-disciplinary study, in theory and practice.
ECA alumnus Emily Sutton needs no introduction, and I was most fortunate in being able to see her standing in the York Gallery, for several hours, making these finely observed drawings of the glass cases and their contents.
The exhibition and this magazine enhance various fertile connections between the fine and applied arts. Their examples may be discussed from a conceptual or symbolic point of view, as well as their aspects of craft, design, typography and photography. It has been a truly inspiring process in placing imagery and objects together in an eloquent relationship to literature and visual culture.
We have had another great Bookmarks event this year, thank you to everyone who helped make it a real success.
A series of talks by educators John Brown, Astrid Jaekel, Alan Mason, Mike Inglis and Edwin Pickstone gave a good introduction to the subject and was followed by our annual Artists’ Books and Small Press fair in the atmospheric Sculpture Court.
We hope you had a great time and have mingled with fellow artists or discovered new fresh talent and will return for more fun and books next year!
In the meantime you will be able to find more updates on all things artists’ books on our brand new Bookmarks website http://bit.ly/2p112zp
ReimagiNation: ECA students illustrate stories of life in Cumbernauld
Throughout the year Edinburgh International Book Festival hits the road with an exciting program of events and activities called ‘Booked!’. Bringing the excitement and energy of the book festival to towns across Scotland, ‘Booked!’ brings together authors, artists and audiences to celebrate words, images and ideas.
This semester ECA illustration students collaborated with ‘Booked!’ as part of a project titled ‘ReimagiNation’, which aims to capture the stories of people living in Edinburgh’s New Towns. Third year illustration students travelled to Cumbernauld where they took part in a day of illustrating with pupils from four of Cumbernauld’s primary schools. The pupils had written stories with author Mike Nicholson and the illustration students helped them to bring these to life using a variety of art materials and approaches to image making. The subject matter and storylines varied, but all were lively and imaginative. One story saw a wicked witch reveal her true identity in a terrifying twist, while another involved an arcade game with the power to take you back in time…
The final images and texts will be on show at the festival in Cumbernauld on the 20th and 21st May. For more information about ‘ReimagiNation’ and the rest of the ‘Booked!’ program of events visit the website: https://booked.edbookfest.co.uk
We’re delighted to hear that one of our 3rd year students, Felicity Hamilton, was selected as a runner-up in Little White Lies’ latest Design Competition and is featured on their website:
In February this year our second year students made a visit to Seven Stories – National Centre for Children’s Books. This fabulous resource had both staff and students melting with delight as they oozed over original artwork for illustrations, sketchbooks and dummy books from the archive collection held at the centre.
The purpose of the visit was to study the process behind producing a picture book, looking at working with a writer, developing characters and habitats for those characters. The dummy book is vital part of the process and really exciting to see, exploring the pace and rhythm of storytelling as an illustrator plans out the pages.
Back in the studio the students were asked to design their own picture book taking the idea of home as their starting point and creating a story with a difficult social issue at the start of it. Some of the complex topics covered included parents with post traumatic stress syndrome, childhood obesity and the destruction of natural habitats for wildlife.
Alice Horn’s Picture book explored a small child’s exploration of cooking whilst his parents left him to get on with itEnter aHeather Charters children’s book imagined a world where domestic appliances had a world of their own
Having always been a bit preoccupied with magazines and food I thought that now would be a good time to do something with all those years of research I’ve amassed. And so, I’ve been developing a magazine about food called Frankly which is about talking honestly about our food and how it’s sourced. It’s based on conversations I’ve had with various people who are involved in eating, producing and cooking food.
In terms of my materials, I do love black ink, big paper and a big brush. But when sketching out and about that doesn’t always prove to be the most practical or discreet, so in those circumstances I use bright crayons and brush tip pens instead, with a tendency to use a lot of orange.
I enjoy listening to people and what they have to say, especially if it’s something they’re passionate about. I always find that if someone is interested enough in what they do they’ll have something interesting to tell you. I also quite enjoy a good sketching session in a coffee shop (this is where it comes in handy to be a little more discreet), and tend to quote the occasional person I might be drawing. The only place I think you could hear more interesting stories than in a coffee shop would be a hairdresser.
Jonathan Gibbs
Emily Sutton
Alise Tipse
