Bug Project for The Manchester Museum

We recently visited The Manchester Museum and was briefed on our new project. The museum are holding an event on Saturday 28th January where our work will be on display and there will be activities for children to enjoy.

http://events.manchester.ac.uk/event/event:b1j-gv2iyhr3-dff5z1/

The brief was to illustrate bugs for children. We were asked to create an A2 poster correctly illustrating our chosen bug, for educational purposes. We were also asked to create an activity surrounding our chosen bug, other options were to create a book or 3D models.  

Before choosing which bug we wanted to illustrate, we were shown the museums amazing bug collection! I fell in love with the butterfly wings! ..But I wasn't keen on the spiders I have to say!

Below are some photo's I took.

Obviously my chosen insect was the butterfly! I chose to work using the same method I had adopted for other briefs. I found this brief challenging because we are trying to educate children and so the insects had to be atomically correct, which made me feel a little restricted. Also I was trying to show the life cycle of a butterfly, and so instead of cutting out a million butterflies and suspending them and photographing them..(which is what I would of loved to do!!)..I had to make sure I had things in the right place and it was starting to feel more like a diagram. However, I did my best and I have my poster!

For my activity I am creating butterfly masks that can be cut out, and decorated with bits n bobs such as sequins and other nice things! 

       

Visit from Lord Whitney

A few weeks ago we had a visiting lecture from Lord Whitney. 

Lord Whitney are a collaboration between Amy Lord and Rebekah Whitney, They are two university graduates that have set up business together and they do some very exciting work! They are playful and inspired by all things wonderful! They have created work for a wide variety of events from festivals to exhibitions, they enjoy creating magical environments. One particular festival they continue to work on is the 'Just So' festival, it looks wonderful! 

http://www.justsofestival.org.uk/

http://www.lordwhitney.co.uk/

They have so many amazing pieces of work, I have posted a few of my favourites above. I think I can relate to them as I work with cutouts and suspending elements. They tend to work with a 3D aspect and on a much larger scale which I feel is the next progression within my own work. 

They spoke about their journey from being graduates to how they have got where they are now, and reassured us that it can be a struggle but to persevere. There doesn't seem to be any set path but to just try new things and knock on a lot of doors! They advised to begin by doing work for free, this is great exposure, but also warned us not to let people take advantage.

 I asked the girls what  working in a partnership is like, and wondered what would happen if they had different ideas on a project, but they said they seem to cope with this fine and tend to agree on the same things and make decisions together. It made me realise that I would like to work alongside someone but it would have to be someone I fully trust with decision making, and someone who has similar ideas and ways of working as myself.

After the lecture Lord Whitney visited us in our studio and set us a quick brief. The brief was entitled 'Compound Nouns'. We had to mix two words together that wouldn't usually be associated, and then create whatever we wanted to illustrate this.

I worked with Emma Thorpe, we started by writing words on pieces of paper and picked them out of a mug! The compound nouns we had were 'jam river' , 'spoon moustache', 'ribbon tree' and 'cutlery tent'. We decided to create 'cutlery tent'.

We had so much fun on this brief and got stuck in straight away, we had almost completed the brief by that afternoon! We learnt we worked well together and there wasn't so much pressure on yourself when you have two peoples ideas and two peoples input. 

Here are a few pictures of our creation!

       

We would like to continue this brief if we can find the time! It was very enjoyable and I think we could create some great work!

Portfolio Visit at Taylor O'Brien

Today I had a portfolio visit at Taylor O'Brien in Manchester's Northern Quarter. 

I researched before my visit and was apprehensive as most of the work they do appeared to be digital. I didn't know if my hand crafted style would appeal but I received great feedback!

I gained an insight into industry and how tight the deadlines are in reality, sometimes with a 24 hour turnaround! This could be a problem with my process of working. I cut elements from paper, suspend them and photograph the pieces as a whole to get my final image. I was advised that the problem I could face would be clients changing things last minute and my work (once finished) is not very flexible. Helen O'Brien suggested that book covers, cards and other commissions with a longer time period to create images would be suitable. I do not like to  photoshop my work but I think maybe learning some new skills on the computer would also be handy!

Helen suggested I contact a few people that she knows that specialise in events and exhibitions, as they use set design at such functions and my work could appeal on a much larger scale, which is great because my next urge is to create much bigger artworks using a similar style to the one I have now. 

In the meantime I will be continuing to contact illustrators that work in a similar way to myself for advice on the problems I may face and how they work around them. I will also ask what sort of clients and jobs they get. I have researched other artists that predominantly work with paper and found that an artist called 'Zoe Bradley' does some exquisite shop window display for the likes of 'Tiffany & co' along with other high end brands. 'Lord Whitney' were commissioned to do the 'Just So Festival' and they create lots of lovely 3d pieces for the entire event. I think there are many avenues I could go down and research and contacting people within industry is going to be key in finding my path!

Su Blackwell

An artist I have admired for a long time is Su Blackwell, an artist and art director who works predominantly with paper. Her art works are amazing! Many of them are book sculptures, they are really delicate and whimsical.

I have often wondered if there is a market for handmade art as I work in this way myself, and it is very comforting to see that Su Blackwell has been commissioned for many projects. Here are some below:

Amongst her book sculptures and other paper cuttings, Su Blackwell has also designed installations for prestigious shops such as Harvey Nichols in London.

It is my dream to do this!!

Clearly, Su Blackwell's works are exquisite and I can only aspire to be as good as her!

http://www.sublackwell.co.uk/profile/#

My book!!

My book is finally completed! I'm so excited to see it all made up!

 I used flock vinyl for my type and imagery, and I sat for hours sewing little tiny beads all around the edge of my cover..just to add a little something! The whole book is made by hand which I think gives it a certain quality and makes it unique. I added a sparkly gold ribbon as a finishing touch! 

My book will be exhibited at the Salford Zine Library at Salford Museum and Art Gallery. The exhibition starts 15th October and runs until 29th January 2012. Have at look at link for times and address! http://www.craigjohnbarr.co.uk/index.php?/salford-zine-library/

Making of my Zine

To create one of my pages for my Zine I made a set of a forest!

To do this I used cardboard...and lots of it! I cut trees and a little cardboard house complete with light inside. Cute! I added my own hand made fairy lights that I made using coloured tissue paper and cotton. It's fiddly and time consuming but worth it for the end result! I only wish it could be seen in its 3D state as its hard to capture the magic with a camera (when you're an amateur)!

I am definitely going to continue with this method of working, I enjoy the delicacy of it and the fact that i can set it up and change bits around easily by hand. I am able to take pictures and then rearrange my elements and shoot again.

 It's really nice to see the set in the photographic studio in the darkness all lit up, I am thinking of taking some footage next time.

Finishing off Zine brief..

Finally, my final page for my book is finished!

Above is my title page.

I am currently working on my cover design and after that I am ready to start binding my book! I have never tried book binding before and  I am very excited to see a product that I have designed and created from start to finish!

Fingers crossed!