Dear Reader,
First of all, apologies for our distinct lack of posts over the last few months. They’ve been bursting at the seams with numerous other responsibilities and activities, so much so I can’t really recall the majority of things we’ve done since Christmas.
So on that note, I’ll start by looking at things ahead and ongoing. We’ve currently got a show at Harewood House, this year they’re celebrating the 21st anniversary of their Terrace Gallery, the first ever contemporary art gallery housed within a stately home and by extension the theme of ‘Innovation’, which is what we based the new works we’ve created for the show on. The show is called ‘Awesome Movement / Fantastic Motion’ and runs until 13th June, so there’s plenty of time to go have a look. There’s also prints and books, created specially for the show available for sale in the Harewood gift shop. Alongside that, we’ve helped re-design the Courtyard Café at Harewood, embellishing the walls with large scale vinyls. I’m not just trying to get you to go to see our show, but it is a really great place with lots to do and see, the grounds are really impressive and it’d be a good weekend activity, if you’re stuck for something to do. Paul Rooney, Northern Art Prize winner, is also showcasing a film there alongside our exhibition.
More Info about ‘Awesome Movement / Fantastic Motion’
The other thing, is ‘Pick Me Up’ at Somerset House London.The first ever Contemporary Graphic Art Fair, for some reason unknown to us – we’ve been invited to install some work and are one of the main contributors to the 10 day event, alongside Rob Ryan, who recently had some work at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and lots of other really amazing contemporary practitioners, we’re really humbled to be amongst such fantastic talent. So if you’re venturing out of Leeds to London between 23rd April & 4th May you should pop in for a look and a chat, we’ll be there manning our goods throughout.
More info about Pick Me Up
I’m sad to say it’s the last ‘Draft’ on Thursday (22.04.10) a series of one night illustration showcases we curated in collaboration with theartmarket, it’s been a really great series of events and we’d like to personally thank everyone who has attended so far. Not to mention all those that contributed some of the best illustrative work in Yorkshire, the quality has been really high, and we’ve been very pleased with the outcome, but again sad to see it go. Onwards and Upwards! Get down if you have the chance, 6-8pm theartmarket & Kunstfreund Gallery – The Merrion Market, which has also been the perfect venue. Many Thanks to Zo Sawyer curator / director, who’s donated alot of time and effort into the events, without her it wouldn’t have been possible. Thankyou!
More info about ‘Draft’
What we’ve been doing…well… most recently we completed a commission for the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art, London). We were working as part of a team in the ‘experimental / pilot’ education program for people with learning difficulties. We ran a series of workshops over a 3 month period working with the class towards a club night called MashUp. The students curated the evening with assistance from professional practitioners in several different areas from healthy eating to dance. We were also responsible for creating multiples and editions to give away on the evening, as well as creating the branding for the event. It was a really great experience, we held workshops on image making, storytelling, costume design & singing. We got the group to take part in a big fun time sing song at the end which was an amazing finalé to our input. Documentation can be found on our website. Big thanks to Harold Offeh, for being amazing, Harold (Tutor at Leeds Met) headed up the project and did a very good job at that. The evening was splendid and was a great excuse to take some time out, whilst still feeling we were working.
Last of all, we had an exhibition at The Contemporary Art Society in London, which came down as the Harewood show went up, quite literally. Again documentation on our website for those interested.
I haven’t really got that much more to say, I feel like I’ve been in an incubation chamber and haven’t experienced much going on in the real world – hopefully over the next month I will have things to report – other than our doings.
Take care,
JC / N V