I heart rubber stamps

A couple of days ago I received a box of rubber stamps of the alphabet. The greatest present I have been given for some time. I had already thought about starting a new collection of rubber stamps so this surely is a sign I must do so, Mark Pawson style. I have since ordered little bird stamps to print Christmas cards which my parents are commissioning me to make for them.

Shadow Catchers

I went to the V&A last week to see Shadow Catchers. The exhibitions showcases work from five contemporary artists who work without a camera. Instead, they create images on photographic paper by casting shadows, manipulating light or chemically treating the surface of the paper. It was amazing but at the same time amazingly complex how such images were created, especially the work of Pierre Cordier who uses the chemigram process. I still don't fully understand it so here's an example of his work.

Letterpress Day

Letterpress day at the New North Press in Hoxton. We went there as part of a project called the Cockney Alphabet. Each of us was given a letter and what is stands for. For example:

A for 'orses
B for you go
C for miles
...etc




I was given the letter M. In the alphabet, 'M for sis'. I then had the task of finding suitable typefaces to visually represent this, or at least make it look pretty. We had to work within a certain space to create each of our letters so they could be printed in a grid on the final poster. Our work will the exhibited on the 9th December in an exhibition.



I had a brilliant day and letterpress is definitely something I'd like to learn more about. Last year I went on a Printmaking course at Edinburgh College of Art summer school which sparked my interest in printing. The physicality of it is much more satisfying than working on a computer, generally. Hopefully I'll be posting more prints on here soon.

No Ifs, No Buts, No Education Cuts

I joined the student demo on 10th November to protest. Along with 52000 others, we marched against Tories' proposed 30% cuts to the arts council budget and an increase in tuition fees by £6000-9000. Students all over the UK, from Edinburgh to Plymouth, joined the procession. I carried my 'arts cuts: worse than comic sans' sign, which turned out to be very popular. And Very true. We gathered at the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square and marched down Whitehall to Westminter then ended by Milbank Tower, Tory headquarters. Paige and I bought snacks and watched the riot kick off then left for Chelsea as the police arrived. Unfortunately the protest turned violent with 35 people being arrested. The tuition fee increase is not set to take place until 2014, after I graduate, however, how the government expect anyone but the upper classes to pay that for a degree is beyond me. Without getting political, it was a brilliant day and I loved being part of a cause so worthwhile.

UAL and other arts students met at the Fourth Plinth

Protesting outside the Houses of Parliament

Protesters on the roof of Milbank Tower

My friend Lara has written an article for the UAL magazine, Less Common More Sense. It sums up the day perfectly so please follow the link below.

http://wearelesscommon.com/2010/11/nus-demonstration-against-education-cuts/

I'm just nuts about...

Brief: do a 3 minute presentation about something you're passionate about. I chose Collecting and made a short reel of images showing a small proportion of my items. Other passions included pet dogs, fat cats, fire, shoes, chicken, leggings, grandma's apple pie, tea, cake, iron bru, butter, playing live music, oreos, home and painting. To name a few.

Part two will be to create a shrine to our passions in pairs. I was paired with Ben who is passionate about being tidy, he probably has OCD. I'll post whatever we come up with in due course.

Vogue Cover

Cover illustration by Georges Lepape. Designed for Vogue USA, February 1929. Seen at the Drawing Fashion exhibition at the the Design Museum. Only managed to get half way around the the display but the work is definitely worth a second visit! Very beautiful illustrations from 1920 to present including amazing images by Antonio from 60s-80s.

Logos: conclusion

Continuing from previous work on the Logos project, I ended up creating a logo based on the word 'wahooo'. It reflects the excitement and ups and downs of higher education/first year graphics. The above two images are experiments I did before creating the final logo.

Below is the final logo I submitted for assessment. I was not as satisfied with the result as I had hoped so will work on it further. Letter thickness should be greater and the word more rollercoaster shaped. More like a mixture of the above two images.

Toy Soldiers

Lead toy soldiers from Spitalfields market. Temporarily misplaced but at least I have this photograph of them heading into battle until we are reunited.

Frank

This halloween I dressed up as a bloody Frank-N-Furter. 'Boss' tattoo and all. I think the make-up is a piece of artwork in it's own right, thanks to my lovely friend and flatmate Anna Ross. Although I generally hate musicals, I love the Rocky Horror Picture Show, somehow the sinisterness of the film and weird characters makes it very enjoyable.

At Chelsea College, we currently have a project about iconic photographs where we each must reenact an iconic image of our choice. Dressing up as Frank was one of my ideas but don't think a girl dressed up would be as humorous as a man in drag. I have a few thoughts and will post the photograph from the shoot in due course.

Swarm

Swarm by Tessa Farmer, 2004. Seen during a visit to Newspeak: British Art Now at the Saatchi Gallery yesterday afternoon. Made from desiccated insect remains, dried plant roots, and other organic ephemera. Each handcrafted figure stands less than 1cm tall. Very beautiful.

Giants in Trafalgar Square

Paige and I made this double page spread during the Photoshop tutorials. The class was divided into pairs and we each had to design two pages as below to help us learn the important tools of the programme. It's not perfect but good enough for a first effort. Improved Photoshopping skills to follow.

Surnames R and S

Photograph from the first day of Graphic Design BA at Chelsea. I'm in the bottom right of the S.