trip to london

We had a trip to London to go and get a portfolio as well as visit a not so well known place in London, and the group I was in visited Leighton house. In this beautifully decorated building was a selection of paintings by Winston Churchill. We produced a few on site drawings while here but I'm not the biggest fan of architectural drawing and it didn’t really relate to my work. I also didn’t have enough money for a portfolio on me so hope to go to London again to get one.

my dreamland poster

This was the outcome of using the different types of fonts from the run down shops in Margate to produce  a poster. I was happy with the outcome as it was my first screen print i had done since first year. I do think that it need something else in the back ground.

self promotion

For my self promotion project I decided to do a selection of my Lino prints in a post card way but larger so each one could be torn off to become an individual poster. I thought by having it in the style of a post card it related strongly to my seaside theme. 

Bargate exhibition

We were asked as a course if we wanted to have an exhibition in the Bargate gallery in Southampton, which we thought could be used as a practice for our degree show when we have it.  The exhibition went on for a week. As we were asked this during our last project the artwork I used for this was that of the last brief. When the exhibition opened for the week it was a big success and many people came to the opening and we raised a bit of money selling stuff for our degree show in London, which we hope, will take place at the beginning of July. From doing this show I learnt how to hang my work in a gallery and what goes into running a show. I also volunteered to help out by working on the desk one day during the week.

poster designs

From looking at the various type fonts around Margate and the iconic landmarks i decided to combine the two of them in a poster type way. I then thought of what I think of Margate and what things come to mind when you think about the beach as well as using quotes of what people say when they think about the seaside.

fonts from run down and abandoned shops and buildings

While walking around Margate and looking at the vast amount of closed down shops and arcades I couldn’t help notice all of the old shop signs and the variety of different fonts and type faces and how unique they were. And while being a big fan of text as images and type faces was very much drawn to this. I decided to take photos of all of these signs and record some of them in my sketch book. From these type faces I began drawing up some poster designs and came up with the idea for making a poster that started of as the alphabet but the went of to spell dreamland and then finish off with the alphabet again. I decide to produce some screen prints of this as its is a method in which you can massively mass produce an image.

Lino prints of landmarks in Margate

I researched into the history of Margate and its heritage and looked at several images of it back in its hay day and decided to select some of its landmarks and produce a series of lino prints. My initial intention was to produce them as a set of images that would all be positioned to make one whole images but after printing these decided that they worked very well as single images. I also played around with using different layers to help produce the images.

stick of rock

 I decided to make a stencil of a big stick of rock after a trip to Folkestone, where in a gallery there was a giant 3d stick of rock that lit up and said Folkestone in the middle. I thought it would be a good idea to have the rock as a sign or poster that I could use to promote people to come to Margate. To do this I wanted to use a different image of Margate where the piece of paper that usually has an image of where you got the rock as well as a different phrase at the end of the rock inviting people to go Margate. 

Andy Tuohy

After choosing my brief I decided to look about on the Internet to see if any artists had done any work about Margate. And to my delight I found the work of someone called Andy Tuohy. He has produced work on the landmarks in Margate as well as work on other places around the country. He produces his work in Photoshop and his work is normally consists of very simple shapes. I like his work but personally think its all a bit too Photoshop for me as I like the texture that printmaking produces.

photos from trip to Margate and Ramsgate

These are examples of how the local council have commissioned an artist to produce work to go on the boarded areas of the theme park and shops. Seeing this work have given me some great ideas and has shown me the extent the size of these pieces could potentially be.

These are a selection of photos that i took when i visited Margate, i believe that i have really captured the decay of the town.

 The images above are from when we made a short stop at Ramsgate these are the pieces of art that were on the boards that section off the building site for the new hotel.

trip to Margate

Once I had decided on my brief I went back home for the weekend as I live in Kent and it would be easier and quicker to get to Margate from there.  So I set off early doors on Sunday with my girlfriend and headed to Margate to familiarised with the place as well as venturing around the town to places I had not been to. Wile walking around it was quick to notice that a lot of the town was full of closed down shops and boarded up and appeared to of been left to rot. And many of the places I remember as a kid have either been knocked down or boarded up. So on my travels I was taking a lot of photos to record the extent of the issue but as well as just taking photos I decided to produce a few on site sketches with my brush pen, I decided to draw a variety of different places showing some closed down shops, the closed down and abandoned theme park and deserted beach. I think that by using this type of media to produce these images it gives them a very cold, dark and ghostly feeling.

After we had taken pictures and been everywhere in Margate we decided to drive to its neighbouring town of Ramsgate to get lunch. We thought while we were in Ramsgate we might as well have a look around the town and beach. On the seafront where they are building a new hotel they have boarded it off and on these boards were a selection of pieces of art which consisted of images of Ramsgate and other seaside based things which I was greatly inspired by.

Final Major Project Proposal

Since cheap cost holidays to other countries have been introduced to England the British seaside has suffered and in many places these towns have become derelict and ‘left behind’, so for my final major project I want to produce some artwork that will help to revamp a run down seaside town. The seaside town I have chosen for this is Margate in Kent, my reasons for this is that it is a place which I use to visit when I was younger and it is a shame how the town has deteriorated since the closure of dreamland. Dreamland was one of the oldest theme parks in the country and once it closed the rest of the town began to suffer and most shops closed. I would like to either produce a series of posters that will show Margate in its glory days and then how Margate will look after it has been revamped, these posters will be similar in style to the ones that were produced for south-eastern and southern rail in terms of layout and content. If I don’t produce these posters I would like to produce some art work that could be put on the shutters of closed and run down shops, which would make them visually more appealing especially until the town has enough money to reopen them. Or I could produce work that could be used for both posters and to go on these shop shutters.

In order to produce these works I will travel to Margate and take photographs to help me get a first hand look at how bad the town has deteriorated and to collect a visual catalogue to use as references for some of my work. I will also research into the history of Margate and look at images and videos of what the town was once like in order to give me a feel for what my work should include. I will also research into the plans for what the local council and government what to make Margate like in the future. As well as looking at photos of Margate I am going to look at artists that have already produced work based on Margate and other British seaside resorts and towns. Through my research I will also find out when Dreamland is due to reopen and if this information is not available online then I will get in contact with Thanet council and ask if they could let me know and if it will be possible to send me any information they can about their campaign. 

Last Project

For my previous project i chose to do editorial illustration which was based on issues in working class society. I started off by listing issues in working class society and then finding news articles for each of these, the topics i chose where consisted of homeless people, drug addiction, unemployment and knife crime. I used a variety of medias and techniques through the project but in particularly Lino cuts and stencils with a limited colour pallet. I was pleased with the out comes of my final pieces but if i was to do it again i would be a bit more strict on myself and set my self a size limit for each of the pieces so they linked together or so i could incorporate them within the text of the articles.  My reasons for choosing to do issues in working class society was that some of these issues occur where i live and some of my friends have been affected by them, and i think its because of these reasons that i got more stuck in and involved in some briefs than others so if i was to do it again i would want to apply the same enthusiasm to all of the topics.

why im doing my blog

I am producing this blog to record my progress through my final major project. Through this blog I will record what I have been up to, my work in progress sessions with tutors, my influences and rips to places. I will also look at other artists work that are of the same subject matter.

about me

In this blog we have been asked to talk about our interests and ourselves. One of my biggest passions in life is skateboarding; I have been skateboarding for the past 10 years and have been many places in order to carry out this hobby. I use skating as a form of stress relief and to clear my mind. Through skating I have made many friends and been exposed to a variety of art. Another one of my hobbies is sea fishing, which I do with my dad as well as friends. I enjoy fishing because it gives you some time to take a step back and just watch the world go by and at the same time sped some quality time with the old man. I think my love of fishing is mostly due to my attraction to the sea as it has been since I was little when I use to go there on days out with my grandparents as well as my parents. I think my attraction to the beach is that I believe it’s a magical place when the land meets the sea. Also just the culture of the seaside and the relationship between man and the sea. I also feel the need to be near the water because the sea fascinates me due to it being so mysterious as well as the life it holds.

I am also very into graffiti, both stencilling and freehand, and do take part in it occasionally not so much nowadays due to university and finding the time. Also because I’m older now he consequences are a lot greater if you get caught. I like a variety of art but am a massive fan of text and font and believe this is due to graffiti. I also am a big fan of retro styled art and like 50’s pin-up girls and old shop signs, this is probably because I would of loved to of been around in the 50’s when everything was very classy and new. I like a variety of music from rap to punk rock and I MC in ne of the clubs in Southampton on a Thursday night.