Leipzig in July; photographic footnotes

Hundreds of hanging shoes, makes for a pretty eerie sight.

 Casually walking into hotels with his axe.

Post office built in the 60's, a classic GDR communist type.

 Good working clothes.

 A vintage Leipzig bus with lace curtains

Inside the Stasi Museum some attractive curtains.

Music in Sheffield Sex City and others

I haven't struggled for entertainment recently, after some particularly spectacular trips to Glastonbury, Leipzig for Melt Festival, via the Champagne fields of France, Belgium for Dour Festival, and Tramlines in Sheffield (not so spectacular but nice to be close to home).

Some photographs will follow. Mostly they are of Pulp.

Ice Cube, baby

Plenty of chairs

Sign writing for Site Canteen

Site Canteen at Site Gallery, Sheffield has gone into summer with a new tact. New lovely food. Longley Farm yoghurts always win me over. I did the frieze map months ago and just made some amendments. So if you're in the vicinity, check it out - find out where your bread was made or even where they sourced your tea cup.

Hackney farm

Largest pig I've ever clapped eyes on

Hackney Faram chicken no.19

Louise - Columbia Road roses

Photographs taken in Winter '10, Pentax Spotmatic II.

Time to break the creative hiatus

Awful break in blog maintenance not for lack of things to say (promise) but a great deal of excitement at Site Gallery and Article Magazine, from radioactive merry-go-rounds, book clubs, shows to write about and general planning. Surely not enough making.

Yesterday I met with the delightful Sarah Abbott (Sheffield illustrator) and stressed my concerns over this hiatus in my art making, having gained so much in the last few months supporting artists such as Eva & Franco Mattes, and writing about the latest young artists at degree shows. Mark my words, by the end of this summer I'll have prepared towards an exhibition (no matter how small) as I'll have revived my paints and pens!

Collage Party at Bloc Projects, Sheffield

Tonight I remembered the joys of collage, joining artist Elizabeth Rowe and a group of fellow cutters & stickers at a Collage Party - definitely as fun as anticipated. Printed material and tools provided, great vinyl djing by the artist herself and lovely conversation whilst we all selected between a photo of a tropical fish, and a photograph of Prince Charles when he was remotely handsome. Pieced together on the gallery walls, our pictures built into narratives as we utilised the matter that artist Rowe sourced in charity shops but made individual choices about them. 

These collaged works certainly say a great deal about our disparate visual interpretations and decision making processes. Here are my results, mostly ridiculous! :

 

 I've been really inspired by Rowe, who will take her collage approach to the Bloc Billboard on the building exterior. Thanks to Bloc Projects for providing such a fun place to cut & chat! Collage night should come weekly...

New work on the Site Gallery Canteen Frieze

<<< Somewhere to put the menus...

 

The frieze after an update & reshuffle...

...And a new bull for summer!

www.sitegallery.org

Live art at Sheffield Millennium Gallery back in April!

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/museums-sheffield/page2/

Why so blue? Article Magazine interview with illustrator Sarah Abbott

I recently interviewed [personal favourite] fellow Sheffield based illustrator Sarah Abbott check it here! on the Article Mag website

Seeing the trees for the wood - peg board animals & condiments / silver birch shelving

We Are Click have been working on their handsome new website to showcase their excellent late work as Industrial Designers.

The silver birch they felled now stands in the gallery as a shelving system

Included are some cracking photographs of our transformation of Site Canteen back in March (see post).

Here are the wooden pieces they carefully cut in order for my Frieze to be realised on the gallery canteen wall, and the frantic painting that took place on the launch date, I literally painted my heart out for 24 hours! Also see the Site Gallery website for further information.

Cycling in the big city and a pretty Christmas box

Again I stumbled across the lovely LOOK MUM NO HANDS cafe on London's Old Street

www.lookmumnohands.com

I spotted this sign being painted last year and posted a photograph (click here), largely in envy of the task: if only sign painting by hand was still a vocation! They have serve coffee and beer, show movies, and even have on site bike mechanics, so it's a one stop shop for cycle enthusiasts. Sheffield needs this!

  

In other news, I have also stored up these photographs of an Christmas Advent Box made for my sister - hand-painted and collaged, containing an assortment of treats from dried fruits to hot chocolate.

Final inappropriate festive post - I was determined to try my hand at old school lino printing to mass produce my Christmas cards last year, but without losing a sense of receiving something personal. So became this robin print. I'd like to layer colours in future - practice makes perfect.