Cecilia Lundqvist wearing one of her animal mask creations

London Fashion Week is here, and to celebrate the outstanding designs, fantastic fabrics and flourishing drawings, Cass Art is hosting some Fashion Illustration events.

Art Macabre will be holding fashion drawing workshops on Tuesday 16th and Thursday 18th September, with the theme Morte Couture.

In the meantime, Art Macabre’s Nikki Shaill found out more about a London Fashion Designer, whose macabre millinery and masks will feature in the Morte Couture drawing salons.

CECILIA LUNDQVIST

Cecilia grew up in Sweden with her head full of wolf worries and wild wood ideas, in the margin of city and countryside. To support her film studies in London she worked as an artist model and both activities fed a growing fascination for masks, nakedness, veils and transparency, and the capacity for storytelling embedded in our bodies.

Cecilia started to create animal masks “to wear in Urbia, a reality informed by dream”. Inspired and encouraged by Coco de Mer, she further developed her designs, made by recycled vintage fur over a spider light paper base. Her animal characters are now cult collectibles and Cecilia continues to create new designs for the beast within.

 

NS: So can you tell us a bit about you and your masks?

CL: I have always been drawing lots and making stuff. Parallel to this I have been an artist model since I was 16. My masks are actually linked to my life modelling.  I started to infuse my poses with theatre, costumes and props, and turned it into a physical story telling performance. My first masks were very crude and DIY, not at all to be sold, and I used them to create these characters I lived out whilst doing my model theatre.

NS:  If you could be any animal, which animal would you be?

Hmm, maybe a lobster. I don't know why but I'm very triggered by crustaceans, sea molluscs, oysters and especially lobsters. I think they are one of the most amazing graphic designs in nature. It is one of the new characters I'm hoping to finish designing this year.

Sea treasures amassed by Cecilia's friend and fellow artist Bert Gilbert

NS: I know that as well as creating masks, you also are an artist and model, running your own life drawing events, and other exciting creative projects. How do all these things fit together?

CL: My focus with my life drawing events is to explore the way we look and interpret a model in a conceptual setting. I guess you could call it ‘dream drawing’. My events are all about creating a filmic or dreamy atmosphere and the very opposite to the clean, minimal setting I used to model in at St Martin's, the Slade & other institutions.

I studied film and I'm interested in how one creates that amazing feel of a Sophia Ford Coppola, a Fellini or Lars von Trier film. I use light and spend a long time creating a soundscape to suit each different set, but I also try to create an olfactory and gustatory element to the sessions. Often my masks become part of the universe I create.

I guess everything I do is an invitation to play, to create. I create the set but each drawer will capture their experience differently. I also make the mask but the people who buy them will infuse them with their own particular life and take them on a different journey.

NS:  How did you get to where you are today? What was your route to becoming an artist?

CL:  It sounds cliché but you need to first and foremost believe in the validity of what you do, at least if you plan to make a living mainly off of your art. And I think it's useful to build a universe around what you do to interact with a wider audience - whether that's hosting workshops, events or linking up with other artists that you feel suit your universe and do fun collaborations.

NS: What and who are your inspirations as an artist?

CL: A lot of inspiration comes from spending time in nature. I'm a big fan of industrial landscapes à la Derek Jarman. The typical children's treasures still trigger my imagination; a filigree thin bat skeleton, sea shells, crab shells...great natural designs!

I love the bizarre and surrealist rendered beautifully like the dream gardens in Francois Houtin's etchings or the nightmarish collages Une Semaine de Bonté by Max Ernst.

Francois Houtin’s Dream Garden

I'm a big fan of sensory artists such as Sissel Toolas who challenges the audience's concept of acceptable and pleasant smells or the exciting "body architect" Lucy McRae. I'm lucky to be living with an amazing artist Ewelina Kolaczek who shares a lot of my fascinations for sensory art, nature and we definitely inspire and nurture each other’s creativity.

NS:  Who do you imagine wearing your masks?

CL: Anyone with a sense for adventure and who enjoys playing around with their identity and stepping out of their everyday experience.

NS: Some well known people have already worn your masks. If you could create designs for any one person, dead/alive/fictional or real, who would it be and what would you create for them to wear?

CL: Well Grace Jones would be an amazing model, she's so physically expressive!

The Swedish Sun King Gustav the third was obsessed with theatre and he was famously shot dead at a masquerade by a man in a black domino mask in the 18th century. I'd make poor Gustav a lion mask.

 Daisy Lowe wearing one of Cecilia’s fox masks

NS: Where do you create your designs and how does this affect your work? Do you listen to music/have any routines to work to?

CL: I create in my huge room. Often with paper and glue all spread out on my wooden floor. I always have some posh strong coffee on the go if I have a big order and every so often I take a run or a walk in Hackney Marshes. I have 2 cats and they provide me with lots of little breaks of "procatination".

Also, having good things to listen to is very important for me. Each mask takes about ten hours to make and I have to concentrate but it helps to have some audio stimulation. I love listening to Swedish radio, their programs are amazingly varied and qualitative. I also consume audio books, interesting pod casts, Ted talks or get friends to compile mask-making play lists for me on Spotify.

NS: What's planned for Cecilia Lundqvist masks for Spring Summer 2015?

CL: In the summer months I'm busy with orders for festivals - often beautiful woodland characters. For this summer I will reveal a new collection of "Book masks" made out of recycled books with ink illustrations overlayed. Also a few new characters: the flamingo, the romantic predator (a fantasy creature for LA based artist Actually Huizenga) and of course the Lobster!

 

NS: What materials and equipment do you use to create your designs? Any Cass Art supplies you couldn’t live without?

CL: I use paper, lots of glue, recycled vintage fur, feathers, nappa leather, needle & thread. I'm absolutely dependent on my party size PVA monster bottle and Copydex glue!

We can’t wait to see more of Cecilia’s masks prowling down the catwalk, ready to be captured in your drawings next week.

Feeling inspired?

You can attend Art Macabre's Morte Courture workshops this London Fashion Week - click here to book your place.  

Visit Cecilia Lundqvist's website here.

You can buy the Letraset Promakers here and in all Cass Art shops - they are the must-have fashion illustration pens.

Image Credits

Steven Tishkoff, LA based artist and image is from the river of LA

Cereinyn Ord, London based photographer & Art Director

Bert Gilbert, a London based artist and fellow lobster loving loonie

Amelia Pemberton, young designer and photographer

Francois Stephan Cote, Canadian photographer we ran into on the top of Teotihuacan pyramid in Mexico

Yanko Tihov in his studio (left) and Brick Lane Girl, John Williams (right)

The BP Portrait Award 2014 is open for one more week, and to celebrate another year of quality portrait making, we've conducted exclusive interviews with several of this year’s exhibiting artists.

On Tuesday 12^th August, we hosted an art talk with painters Robert Neil, Tim Wright, Yanko Tihov and John Williams in conversation with oil-maker Michael Harding at our Islington Flagship. In case you missed it, we've pulled together some behind-the-scenes information on the BP Portrait Award artists. 

Find out what makes them tick, where their inspiration comes from, and which colours and materials fuel their paintings.

Tim Wright

Wright grew up and studied in London, after always knowing he wanted to be an artist. He has recently worked as the painting advisor for the upcoming film, ‘Mr Turner’, in which actor Timothy Spall portrays artist JMW Turner.

 

His exhibited painting, Timothy Spall, is a result of this professional relationship and shows the actor standing full-length, his body slightly tilted as he gazes evenly out of the canvas.

Can you tell us about your practice?

I have been painting the figure for a long while, but portraiture has become more important to me in the last few years. I am currently working on some portraits in which the subject adopts a persona.

What materials and colours do you use?

I use drawing media, watercolour and oil paint, as well as rags, paper and white spirit. My colours include White Lead, Raw Umber, Brown Ochre, Paynes Grey, Venetian red and Crimson – I can’t paint flesh without them.

 

Which product is essential to your practice and why?

Michael Harding oil paint –  specifically white lead in walnut oil. I use it to paint flesh and it has a fantastic texture.

Yanko Tihov

Tihov grew up in Bulgaria and studied painting at N.Raynov College of Fine Art and print-making at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, before moving to London. His painting, MF Husain, hangs in the BP Portrait Award this year, and shows a man all in white, with matching white hair and beard, reclining in a chair and clutching a long handle brush in both hands.

 
MF Husain, Yanko Tihov 

Was there a defining moment when you decided you wanted to be an artist?

I don’t remember a defining day or moment. It was always something I felt I needed to do.

Where do you look for inspiration?

I often visit galleries or museums, but not to spend hours viewing hundreds of works. I choose one or two and try to observe and understand certain elements, like how a certain colour works in combination with others. Travelling is also very productive, as it makes me see myself from a distance.

 

What are the vital tools in your studio?

I love Schmincke Mussini oil paints, but also Michael Harding and Old Holland oils. They give me the different body that I need and are very consistent. Graphite pencils and good paper are also essential.

John Williams

Williams grew up in a farming community in the United States where he attended many after-school art classes before studying Graphic Design at university. His painting of Edward Lucie-Smith is a photo-realistic depiction of a man’s face and shoulders, his glasses hanging around his neck. His mouth is closed in a serious line but his eyes, beneath bushy grey eyebrows, are warm and blue.

 
Edward Lucie-Smith, John Williams 

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?

I remember the moment clearly. I was having a pint outside the Chandos pub across the street from the National Portrait Gallery. I had just been in Trafalgar Square taking photos of a friend who agreed to pose for one of my very first portraits. As we were chatting I looked up and saw a banner hanging outside the gallery – and then it clicked. I wanted to be in that show – the BP Portrait Award. I thought, ‘it’s time to take this seriously from now on.’

Who or what has influenced your work most? 

I responded to a flyer hanging in the canteen of the Heatherly’s School of Fine Art which read ‘Professional Portrait Artist requires assistant, must be interested in Photo Realism.’ I jumped on the phone and the artist on the other end happened to be Edward Sutcliffe. I got the gig and he taught me the techniques that I use today and was a great, great mentor. We worked every Saturday for over three years and I will be eternally grateful for his help and support.

 

What draws you to portraiture?

The enjoyment is in painting people and somehow trying to capture an essence of life or even a split second on canvas. It is like a puzzle; and the puzzle is to somehow bring the person or object to life. My task is to capture the quiet intensity of the subject while caught in a single moment. To me people are endlessly fascinating, complex creatures. I just wouldn’t have the same level of interest in painting anything else.
 

Robert Neil

Neil attended classes at the London Atelier of Representational Art over three years to hone his portraiture skills, though he is a largely self-taught artist.

Neil’s painting, Jeweller, sees a bearded young man leaning causally against the wall, one hand in his pocket, the other looped with his thumb as he stares pleasantly at the viewer. 

 
Jeweller, Robert Neil 

Could you tell us about your method and process?

I paint from life and photographs. Each approach has its advantages but I like the fact that photography allows great flexibility when arranging and composing a sitter before committing paint to canvas. When working from life I use the sight size method.

How has your practice evolved?

I must not allow myself to be constrained by the notion of producing everything in a particular style. I’m fortunate that I do not rely on painting for all of my income and so I try to experiment, which has led to a fuller understanding of my medium. I’m currently revising a subject I have painted throughout my life – my father.

 

What art materials do you use?

Generally – thought not exclusively – Michael Harding oils, and various hog, sable and synthetic brushes and palette knives. I have recently started to use a coarser canvas weave, and generally put one coat of oil primer over the pre-prepared gesso. Most recently I’ve started painting directly onto white canvas instead of toning first.

Feeling inspired?

You can visit the individual artist’s websites by clicking on their names below.

Tim Wright, Yanko Tihov, John Williams, Robert Neil.

You can visit Michael Harding's website here. 

The BP Portrait Award 2014 is open until 21st September at The National Portrait Gallery, and admission is free.  

Read our other exclusive interviews with further BP Portrait Award artists here.  

Old Holland oil paints, whilst not sold online, are available in our Islington flagship.  

Ruth modelling one of her Immortal Florals creations, a Sea Lavender ethereal crown

To celebrate London Fashion Week, Art Macabre is hosting another fashion-themed drawing salon, Morte Couture. Thursday's workshop will feature wearable taxidermy and another element of the natural world: flowers. 

Immortal Florals take inspiration from Edwardian bridal crowns and the Victorian passion for preservation, to create delicate everlasting floral accessories. Ruth Boyd, the designer behind Immortal Florals, creates beautiful and timeless fine dried flower creations that will last a lifetime.

From traditional buttonholes with a twist and vintage hair combs, to bohemian floral bridal crowns, Ruth captures the beauty of flowers and the moments that they symbolise forever. Her preserved floral garlands and hair decorations are ethereal, delicate and nostalgic with a distinctly contemporary twist. Each design is unique, created carefully by hand by Ruth from her North London home - with a bit of help from her cats Indy and Lola...

Last year, Ruth was one of Art Macabre's Morte Couture models on the catwalk. This year, she is the other side of the catwalk as they showcase her new collection. Nikki Shaill from Art Macabre asked the designer more ahead of their workshop on Thursday 18th September.

 
Immortal Florals vintage hair combs and crown 

NS: How did you get to where you are today? What was your route to becoming a florist and floral designer?

RB: I became a florist ten years ago this year, when my sister married and wanted to save a few pounds on her wedding flowers by employing me as her florist. She sent me on a one day course at the fabulous McQueens, which really ignited a passion inside me for all things floral. From there I enrolled on further courses and started working at an amazing florist in Kensington, making floral displays for everyone from the Vietnamese Ambassador to the Queen. Not long after that I opened my own flower shop in Islington.

NS: What are your inspirations as a designer?

RB: I'm fortunate to live in London, where you're surrounded by inspiration on a daily basis. I try to go to a lot of exhibitions, visiting all the smaller galleries in Soho and Brick Lane more often than I go to the big shows. It might be just one image in a hundred that stays with you or triggers an idea, but that's all it takes.

I have a huge fascination with history - particularly the macabre! It never fails to enthral me learning about different cultures' & eras' attitudes to death and the afterlife. Preservation goes hand in hand with this - taxidermy and other ways to preserve life have always been a great source of inspiration for me.

Immortal Florals bridal crown

I'm an old romantic, and love weddings. I take inspiration from beautiful delicate Edwardian bridal head-pieces, made with wires and tiny china beads. (Ruth’s designs will also feature at the V&A’s Wedding Dresses Art Macabre special on Saturday 27 September, sponsored by Cass Art.)

NS: Any favourite designers/artists that you admire and who inspire your work?

RB: I recently went to the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition at the Barbican, and it really blew me away! The way he uses familiar styles and techniques from different parts of the world and various periods in time to create timeless, incredible garments really fired me up to get busy. His work is so feminine, whilst also powerful. It showed me that you can be really outlandish in your design, but a link to a historically familiar style will make you work more accessible/wearable.

NS: Why dried flowers?

RB: I've worked with fresh flowers for many years, and whilst they are wonderful they have huge draw-backs. In recent years floral accessories (hairpieces, garlands etc) have had a revival, but the choices are limited. Who wants to wear plasticcy fake flowers to their wedding? But fresh flowers weigh a ton and often wilt before you and your party do. Dried flowers are a natural, ethical, beautiful solution. And after the wedding they make a gorgeous keepsake of the day. Imagine your floral head piece displayed in a vintage bell-jar. What could be a more real, physical memory of the day. 

NS: Who do you imagine wearing your designs?

RB: Bold thinkers and dressers, with a discernment for quality! Children are very fortunate; they have an untarnished passion for sartorial adventure. I champion a similar devil-may-care attitude in adults. If it looks good then wear it and proudly own your own style. 

NS: Who'd be your dream model to create an Immortal Florals creation for?

RB: Imagine Lady Gaga asking you to make her something to wear... you'd have an entirely free reign to let your creativity run riot. I don't think it would have done me any harm to get a commission for Kate Middleton's wedding attire! But my favourite is Paloma Faith. I adore her style and if I could work with her stylist to create something then I'm sure it would be enormous fun, as well as a huge honour. 

NS: Where do you create your designs? Do you listen to music/have any routines to work to?

RB: I work at home, in Hackney. By the end of the day every lamp, every curtain pole, every chair-back ends up draped in drying flower creations. The only drawback with working from home is that I find it hard to stop - I can often work long into the night because I love what I do.

I think the music I listen to influences my work - If I listen to Classic FM then my creations are more traditional. Some days I'll listen to Brian Jonestown Massacre and create loose, carefree designs. Gogol Bordello can guarantee something colourful and bold! 

 
Immortal Florals bohemian everlasting floral garland

NS: What materials and equipment do you use to create your designs?

RB: Every design is different, and I love experimenting with new techniques and materials. I have to ensure my work is high quality, so to create the basis for my designs I use wire and carefully stitch lace and ribbons onto the base to give a good strong structure. I use dried flowers, seeds, herbs and leaves, but I'm always picking new flora and experimenting with drying techniques for unique materials. 

NS: What do you think are key design trends for Spring Summer 2015? What's new and planned for Immortal Floral collections in Spring Summer 2015?

RB: I've never really followed trends, but I’m aware that floral head garlands have been gaining popularity since Kate Moss dressed all her bridesmaids in them for her wedding in 2011, so I think this is a trend which will continue to grow. Immortal Florals intend to progress this from festival style, to something altogether more wearable and more refined. 

Ruth wearing one of the Immortal Florals crowns

We can’t wait to see Immortal Florals designs in full bloom on our catwalk next week!

Feeling inspired?

You can attend Art Macabre's Morte Courture workshops at Cass Art this London Fashion Week - click here to book your place.  

Visit Ruth Boyd's Etsy page here.

You can buy the Letraset Promakers here and in all Cass Art shops - they are the must-have fashion illustration pens.

Yanko Tihov in his studio (left) and Brick Lane Girl, John Williams (right)

The BP Portrait Award 2014 is open for one more week, and to celebrate another year of quality portrait making, we've conducted exclusive interviews with several of this year’s exhibiting artists.

On Tuesday 12^th August, we hosted an art talk with painters Robert Neil, Tim Wright, Yanko Tihov and John Williams in conversation with oil-maker Michael Harding at our Islington Flagship. In case you missed it, we've pulled together some behind-the-scenes information on the BP Portrait Award artists. 

Find out what makes them tick, where their inspiration comes from, and which colours and materials fuel their paintings.

Tim Wright

Wright grew up and studied in London, after always knowing he wanted to be an artist. He has recently worked as the painting advisor for the upcoming film, ‘Mr Turner’, in which actor Timothy Spall portrays artist JMW Turner.

 

His exhibited painting, Timothy Spall, is a result of this professional relationship and shows the actor standing full-length, his body slightly tilted as he gazes evenly out of the canvas.

Can you tell us about your practice?

I have been painting the figure for a long while, but portraiture has become more important to me in the last few years. I am currently working on some portraits in which the subject adopts a persona.

What materials and colours do you use?

I use drawing media, watercolour and oil paint, as well as rags, paper and white spirit. My colours include White Lead, Raw Umber, Brown Ochre, Paynes Grey, Venetian red and Crimson – I can’t paint flesh without them.

 

Which product is essential to your practice and why?

Michael Harding oil paint –  specifically white lead in walnut oil. I use it to paint flesh and it has a fantastic texture.

Yanko Tihov

Tihov grew up in Bulgaria and studied painting at N.Raynov College of Fine Art and print-making at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, before moving to London. His painting, MF Husain, hangs in the BP Portrait Award this year, and shows a man all in white, with matching white hair and beard, reclining in a chair and clutching a long handle brush in both hands.

 
MF Husain, Yanko Tihov 

Was there a defining moment when you decided you wanted to be an artist?

I don’t remember a defining day or moment. It was always something I felt I needed to do.

Where do you look for inspiration?

I often visit galleries or museums, but not to spend hours viewing hundreds of works. I choose one or two and try to observe and understand certain elements, like how a certain colour works in combination with others. Travelling is also very productive, as it makes me see myself from a distance.

 

What are the vital tools in your studio?

I love Schmincke Mussini oil paints, but also Michael Harding and Old Holland oils. They give me the different body that I need and are very consistent. Graphite pencils and good paper are also essential.

John Williams

Williams grew up in a farming community in the United States where he attended many after-school art classes before studying Graphic Design at university. His painting of Edward Lucie-Smith is a photo-realistic depiction of a man’s face and shoulders, his glasses hanging around his neck. His mouth is closed in a serious line but his eyes, beneath bushy grey eyebrows, are warm and blue.

 
Edward Lucie-Smith, John Williams 

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?

I remember the moment clearly. I was having a pint outside the Chandos pub across the street from the National Portrait Gallery. I had just been in Trafalgar Square taking photos of a friend who agreed to pose for one of my very first portraits. As we were chatting I looked up and saw a banner hanging outside the gallery – and then it clicked. I wanted to be in that show – the BP Portrait Award. I thought, ‘it’s time to take this seriously from now on.’

Who or what has influenced your work most? 

I responded to a flyer hanging in the canteen of the Heatherly’s School of Fine Art which read ‘Professional Portrait Artist requires assistant, must be interested in Photo Realism.’ I jumped on the phone and the artist on the other end happened to be Edward Sutcliffe. I got the gig and he taught me the techniques that I use today and was a great, great mentor. We worked every Saturday for over three years and I will be eternally grateful for his help and support.

 

What draws you to portraiture?

The enjoyment is in painting people and somehow trying to capture an essence of life or even a split second on canvas. It is like a puzzle; and the puzzle is to somehow bring the person or object to life. My task is to capture the quiet intensity of the subject while caught in a single moment. To me people are endlessly fascinating, complex creatures. I just wouldn’t have the same level of interest in painting anything else.
 

Robert Neil

Neil attended classes at the London Atelier of Representational Art over three years to hone his portraiture skills, though he is a largely self-taught artist.

Neil’s painting, Jeweller, sees a bearded young man leaning causally against the wall, one hand in his pocket, the other looped with his thumb as he stares pleasantly at the viewer. 

 
Jeweller, Robert Neil 

Could you tell us about your method and process?

I paint from life and photographs. Each approach has its advantages but I like the fact that photography allows great flexibility when arranging and composing a sitter before committing paint to canvas. When working from life I use the sight size method.

How has your practice evolved?

I must not allow myself to be constrained by the notion of producing everything in a particular style. I’m fortunate that I do not rely on painting for all of my income and so I try to experiment, which has led to a fuller understanding of my medium. I’m currently revising a subject I have painted throughout my life – my father.

 

What art materials do you use?

Generally – thought not exclusively – Michael Harding oils, and various hog, sable and synthetic brushes and palette knives. I have recently started to use a coarser canvas weave, and generally put one coat of oil primer over the pre-prepared gesso. Most recently I’ve started painting directly onto white canvas instead of toning first.

Feeling inspired?

You can visit the individual artist’s websites by clicking on their names below.

Tim Wright, Yanko Tihov, John Williams, Robert Neil.

You can visit Michael Harding's website here. 

The BP Portrait Award 2014 is open until 21st September at The National Portrait Gallery, and admission is free.  

Read our other exclusive interviews with further BP Portrait Award artists here.  

Old Holland oil paints, whilst not sold online, are available in our Islington flagship.  

Freya Pocklington is an artist who presents us with curious stories; she shows us human expressions within her menagerie of animals and surreal objects, living in questionable, exotic paradises.

Working with ink, collage, pencil and conte, she uses the materials to depict dark scenes with an edge of sardonic humour. 

Pocklington is one of the Artists in Residence of the National Open Art Competition exhibition, which will be opening at Somerset House on the 18th September. She will be working live inside the exhibition, making work for all to see, on 27th September, and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 16th, 17th and 24th October.

We caught up with Freya to ask about her artwork, and what to expect from her art-making at the National Open Art show.

Your work contains eccentric characters and curious animals – where do they come from?



When I was growing up, my dad was an antiques dealer and our house was full of strange old tribal, medical and crafted objects so I used these to create stories. When I studied painting and drawing at Edinburgh, I continued doing this by using the objects in all the wonderful museums there. Recently, I have begun to collect news stories from trashy magazines, newspapers and the internet to create narratives by putting the characters together in unusual scenarios. I like collecting and archiving material in new and innovative ways, taking them out of context and the museum environment. Archiving internet stories has been a recent fascination, as I like to make them into something solid and real, on paper.

 

Your conte work possesses something of a childlike quality, whereas your pencil drawings are highly intricate and detailed. Can you tell us a little about your process?

Caricature has always fascinated me. I collect images of Martinware bird pots and I am interested in illustrators such as William Steig, which influence that childlike quality. All the images have a dark undertone to them however, they aren’t meant for children specifically, even though children do tend to like them! Ink and pastel are very bright which gives them that glow and depth, and using this method means I cannot control the materials as well as when I use a pencil. I don’t use graphite as much these days as it takes too long and I like painting with the ink as it's more fluid. I layer up the pastel and ink like you do with oil, giving the work a sense of transparency. Most images consist of about 8 layers and the drawings are very dark until the final layer, when I put on the Sennelier pastels to make them quite vivid.

There is such a sense of immediacy to your work – how is this achieved?



I collect hundreds of images and stories for months before making the piece, which takes up a lot of time, but I only use a few of these images within the final work. I don’t draw it first; it just evolves quite quickly. I admire artists such as Rose Wylie and Armen Eloyan, as they have that sense of immediacy, where they aren't over planning or controlling the image. I enjoy making work like this, as before when I used pencil, it would become overworked and thought out, stifling the narrative.

 

Tell us about being selected for Art on the Tube.

I was selected from an open call. During Frieze Art Fair, I really wanted as many people as possible to see my work and it was a great opportunity to do so. I got thousands more hits on my website and it generated widespread interest in my work. I like the graphic/illustrative nature of the image with the text, and I don’t normally show my collages. It made me see that having your name in print really does help expand your audience and since then I have had many articles on the BBC news and in Printmaking Today, Elephant magazine, Wall Street International Magazine and featured on blogs such as London Loves.

What kind of work will you be making at the National Open Art exhibition?


I don’t want to plan it too much, but I will be making a piece in response to London in some way, and of course there will be an animal or two in there! There will also be some audience participation as I will be using some of the conversations I have with the general public within the work.
 

How do you feel about being an AIR at Somerset House? 


Excited - I love residencies, my work always changes direction when I do one. I have completed residencies with The Royal Scottish Academy, Scottish Arts Council, Chichester Cathedral, The Florence Trust and West Dean College and find them a great way of meeting new artists and talking to the public about my work. Working in front of an audience is a new challenge as I am used to dancing around my studio and singing very loudly and badly to the radio! You won’t be seeing any of that!

Feeling inspired?

You can read more about the National Open Art Competition exhibition here.

Visit Freya Pocklington's website here.

Image Credits:

1 - A Gift For Gertica, 2013, Conté, ink, pastel, crayon and charcoal on paper, 133 x 152 cm

2 - After Frida, 2013, Conté, pastel & ink on paper, 140 x 145 cm

3 - An Average Sized Rabbit and Some Exceptionally Small Animals, 2012, Conté, ink, crayon and charcoal on paper, 140 x 160 cm

4 - Sausage Drummer, 2011, Conté, pencil and ink on paper, 80 x 60 cm

September art exhibitions are drawing to close - so make sure you see some of the starts of the season before they're gone.

Here’s a few of our recommendations:

BP Portrait Award @ National Gallery

Another year has showcased the most talented portraiture artists among us. This year was the 25th anniversary of the portrait exhibition, and it does not disappoint. The show features a range of sensitive new takes on portraits against some more classic choices - but go and see it yourself to decide on your favourite.

See it by: Sunday 21st September 


Edward Lucie-Smith, John Williams 

Shelagh Wakely @ Camden Arts Centre

Wakely was transfixed by the tension between empty spaces and obstacles. Her work was described as delicate, appealing and attractive. The Cambridgeshire-born artist, who died in 2011, was hailed as an experimental artist whose creations encompassed design and architecture.

Our pick: Desiccated pears, pineapples and clementines rot away to near nothingness while the wire frame they are encased in stay intact. 

See it by: Sunday 28th September
 

Abstract America Today @ Saatchi Gallery

Some of the best US abstract artists around are exhibiting their works at the Saatchi. These include Ivan Morley, Brent Wadden, Keltie Ferris and Trudy Benson. Lisa Anne Auerbach, Wyatt Kahn, Paul Bloodgood, Jackie Saccoccio and Cullen Washington Junior are also at this celebration.

See it by: Sunday 28th September 

Remember a while ago when all those celebrities got together and made some art for Art In A Box?

Sir Ian Botham, Keith Lemon, Joanna Lumley, Chris Martin, Grace Slick and Suggs from Madness were among the celebrities who contributed to the project. And now you art-lovers have the chance to buy an Limted Edition print of any of their featured artworks. They are available as both framed and unframed prints.

 
Joanna Lumley's Untitled, hand signed, giclee print

An original concept conceived by Eazl, Art in a Box was set up to raise money for Upbeat Music, a Camden-based charity that uses the power of music to aid those suffering from mental health issues.

The process began with each celebrity receiving a bespoke art box, engraved with their names and containing an easel, paints and three canvases. With an invitation to paint a picture inspired by the word Upbeat, each celebrity created up to three artworks, and the finished pieces were exhibited at London’s Store Street Gallery in May.

The original artworks were sold at auction, raising a huge £14,000 for the charity.



But if you missed out on the originals, don't worry - because prints of each celebrity artwork are now available on the Eazl website.

And what's more, they're offering a discount for all Cass Art customers! You lucky things.

Cass Art Offer

Cass Art customers will receive 10% off all the Art in a Box prints. 

Simply state the code CASS14 when ordering.

Shop the Art in a Box prints here on the Eazl website, and place your orders via email to orders@eazl.co.uk.

Louis Vause's Upbeat in Bath, hand signed, glicee print

You've all heard it. The piece itself, or the news that, for the first time in its 20 year history, a sound piece has won the Jerwood Drawing Prize.

The sound piece Adjectives, lines and marks was made by Alison Carlier, and lasted 75 seconds. An open-ended audio drawing that consists of a spoken description of an unknown object, the piece won first prize and £8000.

Second prize went to a more traditional mixed media, watercolour drawing, Seed Pods, by Sigrid Muller.

The winning sound piece has sparked several questions about the prize - is it wrong to champion something that isn't classically a drawing, in a prize with drawing in the title? Or is it simply keeping things fresh, acknowledging that drawing can be more than making a mark on a page?

We asked winner Alison Carlier about her piece, and whether she thought she was a controversial choice. 



Congratulations on winning the Jerwood Drawing Prize, Alison! So, can you describe your piece for us in your own words?

Thanks so much! Adjectives, lines and marks is a piece of text, read aloud by the artist. The text describes a Roman pot. However, the object is alluded to rather than named, keeping the piece open-ended. It came about through a progression from studying the proximity of the activities of handwriting and drawing, using film, to honing in on speech and then paring it down further.

The text is sourced from a reference book held at The Museum of London Archive Roman Southwark Settlement and Economy - excavations in Southwark 1973-91. Not far from the Jerwood Space on Union Street, London. Despite being a factual description, for the purpose of cataloging an archaeological find, the language used is richly descriptive, mainly concerning the object's tone and materiality. And it's this that brings the work into alignment with drawing practices.To me, it is similar to a 2D observational drawing. The text descriptively charts the object just as the eye might in a 2D representation. Yet it is more for the ears than the eyes; the visuals remain in your imagination.

I think it's interesting to consider drawing as never perhaps reaching the page. That's where the proximity to thought comes in.

Do you think, being a sound piece, your work will prove to be a controversial choice for first prize?

Controversial? Yes, bring it on! I think all mediums are ready to be pushed and stretched to their outer limits; we've seen that already with painting and sculpture.
 
 

Do you work with traditional drawing tools too to help you arrive at your conceptual ideas?

In my own practice I use small notebooks to write and draw down ideas. Then a ZOOM H2n Recorder to record sound and my iPad to sketch out ideas in video. Also I'm a bit obsessed with drawing and writing materials and paper! Like many artists! I love different types of graph paper and the inside of envelopes, that kind of thing. I use a Lamy Left Handed Cartridge Pen as I love the way it flows across the page and you can get great ink colours.

I run a Contemporary Life Drawing Group in Dorking and we use all sorts of materials; last night we were using long twigs dipped into ink. I also love conte, compressed charcoal, ink and graphite powder. Mediums that can work quickly.

Did you study art? 

I studied BA Fine Art at The University of Creative Arts, Farnham, Surrey (formally The Surrey Institute of Art and Design) I graduated in 2002). Then MA Drawing at Wimbledon 2011-13. I always find that theory is as important as practice and love the discourse that is generated by work. My BA work was installation based; focusing on signs and meaning. 

During and since my MA I have been continuing to consider meaning and metonymical/associative meanings in my work. But I've mainly  been asking artists for their thoughts on the subject of a Drawing Attitude; a phrase used by Michael Ginsborg to describe Lucy Gunning's Drawing Residency at The Centre for Drawing, Wimbledon College of Arts about twelve years ago. There were only one or two actual pencil drawings in the show, but otherwise photographs and photocopies that embodied elements of drawing.

 

Were there any other entries in the exhibition that you thought were particularly strong? 

I like the works by Katie Sollohub, Alan Hathaway, Jonathan Huxley and Ara Choi. I find they all share an open-endedness which gives me the space to imagine.

 
What is drawing to you?
 
Drawing, to me, is a way of getting thoughts out. Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. It seems to me like an escape-artist, less tied down by conventions and canons, than neighbouring artistic mediums. This gives it huge potential to be wide and far ranging; it's that directness and closeness to thought that I love about drawing.

Feeling Inspired?

The Jerwood Drawing Prize Exhibition will be running until 26th October. Read more on the exhibition here. 

Image Credits:

Alison Carlier, Installation view, Adjectives, lines and marks, Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014. Photography thisistomorrow.info

Chloe Leaper is an artist who explores the realms of space - within her intricate drawings and installations, she examines our perceptions of lines, form and what she calls the 'thirdspace'. As well as a practicing artist, she is Head of Cultural and Contextual Studies at The Art Academy, London, and is currently based in Cambridge.

Leaper is one of the Artists in Residence at the National Open Art Competition exhibition, which will be running at Somerset House until 25th October. She will be working live inside the exhibition, making work for all to see, from 11:30am-6pm on 24th-27th September, 1st, 2nd and 4th October, 8th-10th October, 14th-16th October, and 22nd-25th October. On most of these days she will also be giving an 'artist's walkaround' of the exhibition at 12 noon - so don't miss that exclusive tour!

We caught up with Chloe to ask about her critical practice, and to find out what she'll be making at the National Open Art show.

 

Can you tell us a little about your practice? The themes and processes behind it?

 My practice is informed by an exploration, and reading of spatial perception as an experienced condition of connection, disconnection and flux, and my reading of ‘thirdspace’ as a fluid condition fusing actual/physical and virtual/mental space. My work examines systems and conditions of spatiality such as: framing, thresholds, bridging, repetition/herding, and interiority and exteriority. I have been focusing on both two-dimensional and three-dimensional line and its ability to lightly delineate space creating planes and volumes.

Your work works with both two and three dimensional space – many of your drawings and installations seem to resist being defined as one or the other. Is this intentional?

It’s not an intentional subversion; I think it’s because my interest fundamentally lies with linear delineation rather than qualities proper to drawing or installation such as mark-making or immersion. It is the spatial structuring function and capability of line that most interests me rather than the medium by which the line is manifest. I am also interested in the different experience proffered by an engagement with two and three dimensional space and whether one can create a more fluid ‘thirdspace’.

 

Your work includes both installation and drawing – do you find there is a harmony between the two mediums?

I suppose I am aiming for harmony as I am in part trying to reconcile the very different experience of engaging with two-dimensional ‘illusionistic’ space and three-dimensional ‘actual’ space. I personally find the mental immersion of 2D space a profoundly intimate and immersive form of engagement and find it much harder to be within ‘actual’ space, and so look for ways to frame ‘real’ space to enable me to grasp it better.

I have produced several linear compositions in pencil which operate on corner walls, thereby enabling the viewer’s engagement with the ‘drawings’ to be situated in time and space. These drawn elements can’t be seen as one autonomous framed composition, but rather engaged with through a meandering visual and physical form of encounter.

 

Do you have a set of art materials that you couldn’t live without? 

Drafting paper! It's so much more resilient than tracing paper; not easy to tear, crinkle and you can spill tea on it. I’ve also started to collect different paper for its aesthetic and structural properties such as graph paper, manuscript paper and a variety of packing materials.

What are your plans for the NOAC Artist Residency? Do you know what sort of work you want to make in the space?

I plan to develop my recent two-dimensional language system developed from an installation ‘Slipping Space Sphere’. This emergent series of work was also the reason I was invited to be a resident artist, so it seems fitting to explore it further at the NOAC. Obviously, I will remain open to anything that may present itself as a development, as I like to keep my practice open and responsive, a dialogue rather than diatribe. I’m really looking forward to having a designated time and space to visualise my current thinking.

Does teaching help you within your own practice, and if so, how?

 Definitely. I try to think ‘what do I wish I had been introduced to’ – not taught - at that stage. I think learning to openly engage with the numerous types of experiences art can provide is invaluable. Also, to learn to be critically engaged with your practice, without tying yourself in intellectual knots. To ask yourself the right questions and trust that the answers come from the work – you don’t have to solve it all before you make it, it’s an external discussion.

 

I do think an active and questioning (rather than didactic) engagement with Art History and Art Theory are very important to not only introduce students to the myriad possibilities of art and thought but also to understand their part in the long, ongoing visual exploration into the questions and experiences of being in the world. It takes the pressure off the notion of being ‘unique’, as anything you make authentically will be unique whether or not the subject or material has been mined before.

Why should people come and check out the NOAC exhibition?

Because of the variety and quality of work that will be there – not to mention the resident artist’s developing contributions...! Also, you should come because NOAC is more than just a competition; they are genuinely interested in supporting and developing artists in their practice.

Feeling inspired?

You can read more about the National Open Art Competition exhibition here.

Visit Chloe Leaper's website here. 

Image Credits:

Image 1 and 3: The Murmuring Corner, Mixed Media, 2013

Image 2: Frameless Space , Mixed Media, 70cm x 63cm, 2014

Image 4: Detail from installation wall drawing 'Score Scroll - Demolition' , Mixed Media, 2014

Image 5: Slipping Space Spheres, Mixed Media, 2013 (Detail)

It's the date for every art student's diary - Cass Art Student Day is back this October. (You're very welcome to do a happy art student dance.)

To celebrate the start of the new academic year, we're giving 15% discount off EVERYTHING at our Islington Flagship, on Wednesday 8th October. Open from 9am until late, come on down and stock up for your new year at art school.

And of course, in true Student Day style, there will also be free food, entertainment, art goodie bags and local offers. 

There will also be a Student Day at Cass Art Kingston on Wednesday 1st October.

If you have a Cobalt  Blue Student Card with us, make sure you bring it along, and if not, don't worry - you can sign up for one on the day!



FREE GOODIE BAG WORTH £50

As well as some great savings and offers, we will be giving away free goodie bags, worth £50 of artist's quality materials, once you spend £10. 

What's more, it's our exclusive Prussian Green tote bag, which is not even available in-store yet.

The art materials include Winsor & Netwon ink, Liquitex Spray Paint, a Promarker pen and Heavybody acrylic paint, but we don't want to give it all away - there are some other surprises in there too!



DATES AND TIMES

Student Day at our Islington Flagship is Wednesday 8th October.

Student Day at Cass Art Kingston is Wednesday 1st October.

Both are open from 9am until 10pm. 


 
GET IN TOUCH

Spread the word about Student Day on Twitter and Facebook so everyone can make the most of the Student Savings - it comes around but once a year!

Please tell us what you think on the day - in the queue, in the shop, once you're home and admiring your new art materials - wherever you are, we want to hear your thoughts! Use the hashtag #cassartstudentday and send us any photos you take.

Ready for the drum roll? Last night, the National Open Art Exhibition announced its winners from the 2014 competition.

First place went to Mackie, who won the £10,000 Towry Award for Best Work in 2014, for his two oil-paintings A Summertime Retreat and Autumn Rhythm. 

A Scottish born artist, Mackie is a pseudonym for an artist who now lives and works in London. His winning paintings both depict caravans, one opened to reveal a cosy book-lined interior, and the other showing one of Jackson Pollock's famed drip paintings. Quiet, unassuming and rich in narrative, they are well-deserving winners.



Mark Cass also awarded two Cass Art Prizes, to Thomas Allen for his mixed media Never Never Far Away Away, and Jean-Luc Almond for his Dripping Man painting. Both artists were awarded The Big Art Prize - a year's supply of art materials from Cass Art. 



Another 28 prizes were awarded by the competition this year, including The Ward Thomas Award for an Emerging Fine Artist to Rogan Brown, for his intricate hand-cut paper piece, and The Naylor Award to Gina Soden for her photograph of an Italian Villa.  

Ronnie Wood is the patron of The National Open Art Competition, and the YBA Gavin Turk is their Vice President, though he prefers the label "Artist at large."

We caught up with Gavin to find out what he thought about this year's show.



What do you think of this year's exhibition?

I really like it! I think it's great to see it in this environment, and it's still doing that job of representing lots of different kinds of artists - from young to old, all working in really different ways. The main difficulty with this exhibition is that it has so many entries, the selection process is so tough. And because the first selection is made from slides, I think the photographic work is often championed.

Do you have any favourites this year?

I'm mesmerised by the white paper one by Rogan Brown. It's kind of bacterial, when you see it close up. It's so technical but the technique doesn't overbear it, it's still an odd, strange thing. It's beautifully made but still a bizarre piece of art! And the Sigmund Freud made out of wire by Jane McAdam Freud is pretty cool, so I'm liking the sculptural works this year.

How did you get involved with NOA?

I was on the panel a few years ago, but now I have this 'artist at large' status and I'm still involved! I think NOA has a really important place in the art calendar. 

What's going on in your own practice at the moment?

This Is Not A Book About Gavin Turk is finished - it's 30 small essays by a varied selection of artists, lawyers, actors, pscyhoanalyists, a chef...it was quite an editing process! But I they were the ones that fitted well together.  

The Exhibition

The National Open Art Competition has been running for 18 years now, and this year the winning works are exhibited in London's Somerset House, before touring to the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester.

Two Visitor's Choice Awards will be awarded to the works that receive the most votes from the public at both exhibitions.

Cass Art has sponsored the three Artists in Residence with art materials: Freya Pocklington, Chloe Leaper and Rosie Emerson. You can see them making work live in the exhibition and giving artist walkarounds.

The exhibition will be showing at Somerset House until 25th October. 



 Feeling inspired?

Read our interviews with the Artists in Residence: Freya Pocklington, Chloe Leaper and Rosie Emerson.

We also interviewed the winner Thomas Allen about his dream-like paintings here on the blog. 

The Artists’ Preview of the exhibition is to be hosted by Anthony Gormley and Gavin Turk on Friday 26th September at Somerset House, with free Cass Art Prussian Green tote bags.

Keep an eye on the NOA website and enter for next year's competition. 

It's been quite an end of the year for Glasgow School of Art. The fire that swept through their beloved Mackintosh building is still a raw memory; some studios stand empty, some windows are missing. But the tragedy was laced with a silver lining, as the art community rallied and their knock-out degree shows were still displayed. 

The Glasgow School of Art Graduate Degree Show took place on Friday 5th September, inside the Reid and McLellan Galleries. The tremendous talent of the graduates was celebrated in a speech by Alan Horn, Director of Developemnt at the school, and Mark Cass, as Cass Art was sponsoring the show. Prussian Green tote bags were launched at the event.

The artwork shown was from a variety of courses - video art, architectural models, painting, photography, fashion design, sculpture and more.

You'd be hard pushed to select your favourite, but some of the highlights were from Design Student Charlotte Craig, Fine Art Student Theresa Malaney and Belinda Gilbert-Scott.

Charlotte showed some stunning photographs of what, at first glance, appear to be moths - though they were in fact authentic replicas that she'd made out of organic matter, collected from the moth's natural habitats. Theresa, in turn, makes work about memory and how the brain processes change, and bravely exhibited a full-size cast of the Mackintosh doors. Belinda made a large-scale wall painting for the East Gallery, complete with eyes to watch over the exhibition space.

We asked the graduates a little more about their pieces - and what their plans are for pursuing art now that they're leaving the school.

 
Small Fan-footed Wave 

Your moth photographs were so striking, Charlotte. What motivated you to make this work? Had moths come up before in your practice?

I wanted to research diversity in the natural environment, and communicate its importance. This was the first time I had looked specifically at moths; I wanted to look at a creature that was small and might live relatively unnoticed, and then magnify their presence. I had looked at birds, marine life and other insects but decided on moths because of their beautiful aesthetics in pattern and form, and also they have a slight sense of awe about them, perhaps because of their association with night. I made these in collaboration with a conservationist from the Butterfly and Moth Conservation to ground the research, and made replicas of specific moth species found in the UK.

 
Dark Arches 

What was it like using a Hasselblad camera – was it a rewarding process going back to old analogue?

I was very excited about using a Hasselblad; they are brilliant cameras and very satisfying to use, with such clever yet simple design. I love using analogue and feel a lot more connected to what I am photographing when shooting on film.



And Theresa - your piece was probably an emotional one for everyone at the art school: a life-size installation of the Mackintosh Building doors. Can you tell us how you made it?

I made it by casting directly from the doors, using latex. The physical process, involving contact with the doors was part of the work for me, and I photographed and filmed this. I plan to make a film, but will carefully edit, because I would like to convey something of the feeling of contact and touch - not the mechanics of casting.

 

Bearing in mind everything that happened with the fire – do they resemble loss, or perhaps the opposite of loss – holding onto something that will always be such a huge part of the art school?

All of my work relates to aspects of the brain, and the ability to change the mind through physical changes in the brain. My practice focuses on memory, recollection, viewing the past from the present, the validity of memory, and the transient nature of being. So I felt it was relevant to use the Mac doors as part of this work, as these would speak to the audience who would come and view it.  

Belinda, was it important for your painted collages to relate to the architecture of the East Gallery?

The Psychology Of A Wall Flower needed to be in a reclusive part of a room. The cut corners worked well with the composition, cropping her to fit inside the framed space, and added a nice dynamic compositionally. It was also reminiscent of the traditional mural painting in Glasgow of gable ends. She could  have been the east or the west room, but specifically she needed to be at the end of the room, to give her the best advantage. Using the composition of the room I placed Trust in Me diagonally opposite her, a pair of hypnotic eyes staring across the room creating a dialogue between the artworks.

What kind of paintings did you make throughout your time at GSA, and how did they lead you to working directly on the wall for the degree show?

While I was at GSA I worked on many ideas which connected to looking, and being looked at. One of the first pieces I did was a blank canvas with to bulging eyes popping out called You Looking At Me.
I am interested in creating a visual dialogue with the viewer, and creating the same between artworks either of my own or others'. I am trained a a Scenic Painter, so I am used to painting mural scale images, but this one is the first I have done for my own practice. Wall painting fits very well for my work; once the show was over, painting out Wall Flower felt very satisfactory. She has disappeared but remains in the fabric of the building. Also, the act of painting over her keeps it very relative to the painting tradition as she becomes part of the invisible layering in the process of painting. 

 

What's next for you, now you have finished at GSA?

CC: The momentum of an MA has been intense, so a tiny break and then back on to working on a new project. I want to continue doing more design work alongside conservation groups.

TM: I plan to continue to research, make and show work. I will exhibit work in October in the Grace and Clark Fyfe Gallery, as part of a group show. I would like to stay connected to the artistic community of GSA; the strength of this community was especially apparent around the time of the fire.

BGS: I will be working on small group shows with a few of the graduates from my year, re-instating Caravan residency programmes where I live. I am off to a residency in Eigg, working on ideas for small group shows with a few of the graduates from my year, and also working towards a solo show for the G.I 2016.

Feeling inspired?

You can read more about the Glasgow School of Art on their website.  

Cass Art will soon be opening in Glasgow, and we want to celebrate all art exhibitions and student art events in the area.  Use the hashtags #openforart #glasgow to let us know about any art events near you and we'll share the news!

The Bold Tendencies Family Day took place in September - a day full of balloons, colour and art-orientated fun.

One balloon hovered above the family helium-filled happenings to report back on our blog...

Balloon's Eye View

It was a bright and sunny day in September – a concession from the imminent autumn – and there was a stillness and calm in the air. It encircled the Bold Tendencies roof-top sculpture commission, James Bridle’s Right to Flight.



The central component of the installation is a military-grade Helikite balloon, drawing attention to the themes of technology and surveillance. It flew serenely 150ft above the Bold Tendencies Peckham car-park, in optimal piloting conditions of clear skies and low wind. The tranquillity was soon gloriously shaken off as 250 children arrived and scattered through the car-park for the Bold Tendencies Family Day, supported by Cass Art.

The children initially ascended through the levels of the multi-storey complex on a magical mystery tour with Vanessa Woolf, a famed local story-teller. They finally reached the open roof-top level as Woolf’s re-telling of Icarus neared its zenith. Subsequently, these boys and girls – naturally with several princesses amongst them, Disney ball-gowns to boot – were strewn amongst the foliage of the Derek Jarman Garden for Peckham, adding movement and vitality to the flora and fauna of this sanctuary space.

Soon, magic carpets of tarpaulin were fully occupied by balloon-hat-makers, painters and collagists, whilst a gigantic mural of a sky filled with balloons and tall buildings, designed by artist Melissa Launay, was eye-catchingly embellished. A special mention must go to the ingenious creator of the ‘Lol Tower’. Surely we can get Boris onto making this skyscraper a permanent addition to London’s skyline?

Meanwhile, little ballooners enjoyed story-telling workshops with wise Auntie Gloria, whilst musical workshops ranging from instrument-making to improvisation ensured that the roof-top space was permeated with the entropy of melodies.

As the balloon continued to fly, piloted by Bridle with assistance from the Bold Tendencies volunteers, a treasure-trove of materials provided by Cass Art was drawn upon with relish to create inventive artworks of all kinds in honour of the Helikite.

Our more connoisseurial creators favoured the luxuriously smooth Derwent Art Bars, whilst amongst our boldest young artists, bright paint was particularly patronised (Reeves Ready Mix in Fluorescent Pink proves a favourite). Everyone enjoyed getting creative in response to the commission, sampling coloured paper and glitter, stickers, feathers and of course googly eyes, and thus creating unique visual marvels to take home. Bigger ballooners constructed their own mini hot-air balloons, using cardboard boxes and helium; the successful ones even floated up into the sky above Peckham!

Satisfied that their balloon designs are perfect, families then enthusiastically devised their most original poses for aerial photographs taken from the camera attached to the Helikite, lying on the ground in fantastical shapes and compositions. Those of a more contemplative bent gathered in the Bold Tendencies film tank (designed by TDO architects) to enjoy special screenings of Pixar’s UP (Pete Docter, 2009) and Albert Lamorisse’s The Red Balloon (1956).

As the day drew to a close and the sun gradually began to melt into the horizon, families left with pink Opera Rose Cass bags in hand, filled with sketchbooks so that the creativity inspired by the day can continue to take off. Just like the balloon that has steadily marked the skyline in the September sunshine.

 

Guest Blog by Bold Tendencies

Bold Tendencies is a summertime non-profit art commissioning organisation which has transformed a disused multi-storey car-park in Peckham. The Bold Tendencies programme for 2014 includes sculpture installation, James Bridle: Right to Flight, as well as musical and theatrical events, and is home to the Derek Jarman Garden for Peckham and Frank’s Café. 

Feeling inspired? 

You can visit the Bold Tendencies website here.  

Gideon Summerfield is a young yet well-known artist, who is still studying at Illustration at college. He has already made a name for himself by taking on long-term, often laborious art projects, setting himself creative challenges that have caught the attention of the likes of the BBC.

In 2012, the ambitious artist decided to draw a sketch a day for the whole year. Shortly afterwards, in 2013, Gideon completed ten portraits of some Holocaust survivors, strangers he had never met before who told him their stories. These were exhibited at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster, as well as an exhibition in Hackney called ‘Drawing Inspiration’. 

We wanted to ask Gideon about what inspires him to take on these art challenges, and celebrate the drawings he has made in the process.

Your work is certainly about the real doing and making of long-term art projects. What is it about the process of long-term art-making that excites you? 

A lot of what I do is about challenging myself. I like long term projects which help me improve my abilities and excite people around me, and I often find the projects hugely educational. Sometimes the projects have been quite a slog but I get a deep satisfaction afterwards, a real sense of achievement.

 Can you tell us about your portrait project on the Holocaust Survivors? 

During the latter part of 2013 I completed a personal project, meeting and drawing the portraits of Holocaust Survivors. My rationale was that the survivors were in their twilight years - they were aged in their late eighties and early nineties - so now was a good time (possibly, the only time) to get to meet them and hear their life stories.

 

I attended an art class held at the Holocaust Survivors Centre in North West London. Weeks passed and I found myself visiting the homes of the survivors. I sat in their gardens, kitchens and front rooms. I met their husbands. I met their wives. I looked at their faces and I began to draw. And as I drew, some of the survivors would talk about what happened to them when they were children. When they were separated from their parents. When they found themselves in concentration camps. When their parents were murdered.

Within days I found myself overwhelmed with the enormity of the experience, of meeting extraordinary people who had led extraordinary lives. Some of the survivors told me a lot and in detail; detail that was difficult to handle. Other survivors did not want to talk so much and if they did, they could not talk about their time during the war. They preferred to talk about their family, their children and grandchildren.

Ten portraits were completed. In most of the drawings the survivors are holding something precious to them. Usually it's a photograph of parents or a family member who perished in the Holocaust.

 

When I started this project, I thought it would be about meeting and then drawing ten survivors. However, I realise now that the project has become a unique and meaningful relationship that I have with each of them and the portraits are just a bonus! It was an extraordinary privilege to learn from these people, to hear about their experiences and find out how they survived the the Holocaust.

That's quite remarkable. Perhaps less emotionally, you also embarked on a Sketch A Day project? 

To do a sketch literally every day for 366 days in a row is a pretty daunting challenge, but I thought I’d give it a go!  To give the project a focus, I decided to draw someone who was in the news that particular day, from January 1st 2012 to December 31st 2012. 

2012 was a pretty historic year - President Obama’s re-election, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics. This was also the year I visited Andalucia in Spain and spent 3 weeks in New York on an illustration course at the School of Visual Arts. It was also my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. 

 

It was an interesting personal project as I  learnt about who is in the news, why they are in the news and what makes news. Some people behaved very badly and this has created headlines. On other days, the news was led by stories of individuals who have achieved something extraordinary. I was particularly moved by the news of Claire Lomas who died whilst running the London marathon, but her tragic death prompted other runners and people around the UK to donate over £1 million to the Samaritans. Through the year I also noticed the growing number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan. 

As the year progressed, my drawing techniques changed and the sketches improved in quality. I had picked up on new ways to start a portrait, to essentially skip a few things and take 'short cuts'. When the project began, each sketch would take at least an hour but I was soon able to sketch more quickly.

I suppose the scale and significance of the project only sank in when I was invited onto BBC Breakfast on the last day of the year and they featured my project. I miss it in a way and often find myself thinking who I would draw as the news unfolds each day.

 

Which are your favourite drawing materials at the moment and why?

I often use fine liners and biro pens to create most of my artwork. Some people ask why don't you pencil things out first? l I like the idea of a permanent mark; you put a line down and you cannot take it off. I guess it's a discipline which my teachers in the past had encouraged me to adopt, to just move forward. It doesn't matter if you make a mistake, because you learn from them.

What drives you to make your own art projects outside of college and school?

At a young age, I have always looked at the world as if I was drawing it. It's something I love to do and drawing seems to come naturally. A lot of the time I see something out in the street which I want to draw, whether it is an interesting person or some architecture. I have a sudden urge to draw it! As I have learnt more about art I really enjoy going to exhibitions and learning about other people's work, understanding their techniques and critically analysing their work. 

 

You’re currently studying Illustration at the Cardiff School of Art, but you studied your Art A Levels at Hampstead Fine Arts. Can you tell us about the Hampstead art scene? 

I really enjoyed my time at Hampstead Fine Arts where I studied A Levels in Graphic Design and Fine Art. I also completed an Extended Project on Andalucia. Studying in the Hampstead/Belsize Park area was a delight. I loved the area, the beauty of the surrounding houses and of course the 'Heath.  My friends and I often used Cass Art Hampstead and we also occasionally visited the shops in Islington and the one near the National Portrait Gallery. Cass Art always offered all the best deals! 

What are you working on at the moment at university?

My first year at college was really challenging and I completed projects on Dylan Thomas and explored illustration using inanimate objects. During the summer I was commissioned to draw a map of Bedford Square in London, where Amazon were hosting a Summer Fete for their staff. From October I will be back at college to start my second year. I am looking forward to exploring Illustration further; learning the craft of book making, using Photoshop, typography and working with other departments in the School of Art and Design.



Feeling inspired?

If you have any personal art projects you'd like to shout about, post them on Twitter or Instagram with the hastag #amarting and we'll share them on our social media.

You can read more about Gideon Summerfield's artwork on his website. 

One of the 20th-century’s photographic style icons earns a well-deserved retrospective at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

The six prolific decades of Horst Bohrmann - better known as Horst P. Horst - are being commemorated from through September until 5th January.

The German-US fashion photographer will be explored through some of his best-loved pictures. 

Horst (1906-99) mainly took his camera to the fashion houses of New York and Paris, but he was an instantly recognisable face in the fields of fashion, art, high society and theatre. His preliminary sketches behind several of his prints also won him fame and his sketchbooks are much sought after.

A regular contributor to Vogue magazine from 1931, Salvador Dali, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Gertrude Lawrence and Coco Chanel were among his models.

He became heavily associated with the haute couture and surrealism movements and started looking at the world through a different light in the 1930s, as surrealism combined with eroticism and interest in the female form.

Foremost among his prints from this epoch is his 1939 iconic picture, Mainbocher Corset. In 1990 Madonna drew inspiration from this picture for the video for smash-hit Vogue.

 

But the V&A’s celebration also delves into some of Horst’s lesser-known aspects of his work. These include travel photography and nude studies, in which he dabbled during the start of the 1950s. This era included an exhibition of male nudes in Paris.

Horst’s popularity gained huge momentum in the 1980s with a raft of fresh television documentaries, books and exhibitions focusing on his work. His deteriorating sight prompted his retirement in 1992.

Image Credits:

Image 1: 83-year-old Carmen Dell' Orefice, often cited as the world's oldest model, stands next to a portrait of her taken by Horst P Horst in 1947 when she was fifteen at the launch of the exhibition by the celebrated Vogue magazine fashion photographer. John Stillwell/PA Wire

Image 2: Mainbocher Corset, 1939, Horst P Horst © Conde Nast / Horst Estate

This month, our Paint Light Colour campaign is celebrating all things painting – with a special focus on artist JMW Turner (because, let’s face it, he was the Master of all these things.)

He was an English Romantic landscape painter in the 1800s, which may not sound very exciting, but Turner was in fact known for his radical and completely original approach to painting. A controversial artist also known as the “Painter of Light”, Turner altered the way we view painting forever, and opened up new possibilities for the rest of art-making. And that in itself is one of the most exciting things about him as an artist.

Our painting celebration has also come at the perfect time, as the new film Mr. Turner is set to be released on 31^st October.

Directed by Mike Leigh and starring Timothy Spall, Dorothy Atkinson and Paul Jesson, the film focuses on the last 25 years of the eccentric artist’s life; his relationships, his travels, and of course his art-making - his watercolours, his oil painting, and his sketchbooks filled with many drawings.

The director has quite rightly described Turner as “a great artist: a radical, revolutionary painter”, and to celebrate the release of the film as well as Turner’s own legacy, we have partnered with the film to offer you an exclusive ticket offer.

THE TICKET OFFER

If you go and see Mr. Turner at any Picturehouse Cinema, you will receive a free glass of wine. You’ll get the voucher if you buy anything at Cass Art, in-store or online, and you simply need to take the voucher along when you buy your ticket.

You can also use it to get a bottle of beer or soft drink.



TIM WRIGHT

Tim Wright is an accomplished portraiture artist, represented by Shine Artists London. The painting consultant for the Mr. Turner film, Wright worked closely with actor Timothy Spall and taught him how to paint for his scenes, so he was believable as a painter on-screen. He also taught many of the other actors from the film (who were playing artists), hosting life-drawing sessions in his own studio in London.
 
After filming, Timothy Spall then sat for Wright and got his own portrait painted, which Wright then exhibited this year in the BP Portrait Award.

As part of our Paint Light Colour campaign, Tim Wright will be hosting an painting talk in our Islington Flagship this month. Watch this space for the confirmed dates so you can book your place.

 

PAINT LIGHT COLOUR

If you think Turner’s paintings are classical and old-fashioned, you may be surprised; he was in fact famed for his radical, experimental approach to art when he was working in the 1800s.
 
Keep your eyes open for our Turner fun facts and the history behind his paintings – from the story of his infamous red splodge to his dramatically emotional landscapes.  

After all, the Turner Prize was named after him for a reason; he was about being different, about doing things that weren’t the norm for art. He subverted expectations and pushed the boundaries of what painting could be, and for that, all artists owe him one.

We want to tip our creatively-freed hats to the eccentric Mr. Turner, and celebrate all things painting in his name.



Feeling inspired?

Visit our Mr. Turner page to explore the art materials, interviews and other Paint Light Colour features. 

Image Credits:
Image 1 - Mr. Turner
Image 2 - Timothy Spall by Tim Wright
Image 3 - JMW Turner, The Blue Rigi 1841-2
Image 1 - Mr. Turner
 

Props, costumes, dramatic lighting; flowers, faces and tumbling fabrics. All these things feature in the work of Rosie Emerson, an artist who draws on mythology, history and today's fashion industry to elevate women to goddess-like creatures.

Emerson is one of the Artists in Residence at the National Open Art Exhibition, which will be running at Somerset House until 25th October. She will be working live inside the exhibition, making a bespoke Cynaotype print, and you can see her working on 8th - 12th October. On the 8th, 11th and 12th October she will be giving an artist walkabout tour at 12 noon, so make sure you catch her then. 

In the meantime, we asked Rosie about the otherwordly women in her art, and the crossover of natural matter and art materials that she uses to make her pieces. 

 

You work in a variety of media, but your subject matter is consistent – haunting images of goddesses and sirens, women from another world…What is it that inspires you to make work about these women?

I have always been interested in how women project themselves and how society projects women on an aesthetic level. From mythology, art history through to today’s beauty and fashion editorials the female figure has been elevated, beyond the everyday. I am conscious that I do not make portraits, but create facades of women; sometimes the women look strong, goddess-like, and sometimes vulnerable. I sit in unhappy paradox with the work I make. I am always lured by the beautiful, and beautiful is a word as controversial in today’s art word as it is in feminist debate.

If you could choose any one woman to sit for you in your studio, who would you choose?

Grace Jones, although Naomi Campbell has an amazing profile.

 

You’re not afraid of using costumes, props and theatrical lighting. Do you think this brings a sense of performance to your work?

Yes, my figures are always staged, and are acting with an awareness of the camera; I like to think that gives a sense of theatre. I did shoot a 3-minute Super 8 film, ‘White Knight’ which was the model looking into the lens continuously for the duration of the film; that certainly has an element of performance to it.

Why do you also use natural materials like ash and charcoal?

It’s fun and more unpredictable to use unusual materials, like powders. I started using sawdust in conjunction with screen-printing. Screen-printing lends itself to bold and graphic work; I wanted to soften and feminise the work. Charcoal leaves streams of pigment, which gives movement to the work, which I like in contrast with the stillness of the models.

 

You work across collage, drawing, painting and print-making – but do you have a favorite medium? 

It is always changing; everything is always collage ’in essence’ to me, if that makes sense; I cut things up and bring things together. I am loving working with Cyanotype photography. The process uses the UV light from the sun; I work with real size photographic negatives and then collage with objects directly on the surface of the print, sometimes moving them during the exposure. It is a magical process, watching things expose and develop, and not knowing exactly how the piece will turn out.

 

What’s your favourite drawing tool and why?

I love drawing with ink. There is no going back with ink, and it forces me to be brave and to work quite fast, with energy and commitment.

What kind of work are you going to be making during the National Open Art Artist Residency?

I am very excited about the work I am going to make during my NOA residency. I am going to make a bespoke Cyanotype print which will be exposed directly over drawings taken from the architectural details of Somerset house. The end work will be on paper, and will be a figurative blend of the hand drawn, analogue photography, and it will then area’s will be hand gilded with gold leaf.

Feeling inspired?

You can read more about the NOA National Open Art Exhibition here.

Visit Rosie Emerson's website here. 

Tim Wright is an artist who has recently been on a rather unsual journey. Known for his intimate, telling portraiture, his painting of actor Timothy Spall was featured in this year's BP Portrait Award, and his solo exhibition was unveiled in London last week.

As well as an artist in his own right, Tim was also the Painting Consultant for the new Mr. Turner film, directed by Mike Leigh. His job was to tutor Timothy Spall for two years, to teach him how to paint and draw as well as tutor the many other acting artists in the film. After two years of work, Spall then sat for Wright, to have his own portrait painted.

Shine Artists London is showcasing several of Wright's half-length portraits, including two paintings of Timothy Spall, until 25th October.

We caught up with Tim to ask him about his painting, and find out what it was like working on the much anticipated film, Mr. Turner.



Congratulations on your exhibition, A Public Exhibition, at Shine Artists London. Can you tell us a little about the body of work?

Well, after my painting of Timothy Spall was selected for the BP Portrait Award Exhibition, I decided I wanted a show about portraiture, focused in on the figure. Instead of full-length, I wanted to paint them half-length, because it focuses down on the model and makes it a little more intense. I'd been looking at the Kit-Cat club portraits by Godfrey Kneller, and there was something about those paintings in a group that was really interesting. I wanted to look at a group of people with some kind of relationship, and I shook it down to a strict sequence. I like repetitive structures. It was really important to have them all the same size. When they're that size, it looks like you're seeing a real person. They have a presence, an intensity; they're a person, just like you. 



A really memorable piece is the one of the man staring up out of the canvas, as though he's staring a long way off. How do you decide on the poses of your sitters?  

We just play around with things. I make a full-length drawing, which takes a day, and take lots of photographs, and then I really start to get an idea of what the person is like. Some people like posing, others are more static. And it's the little things that tell you about a person. What's revealing is how they hold themselves; you can recognise their walk, their posture, before you even see their face. I'm interested in that physicality.   

How long does it take you, on average, to paint each portrait?

Recently I've been working very busily, painting two portraits a week for the last three months. Working quickly is annoying, but it forces you to get to the point and make decisions. It's a good drive, getting that deadline. I've had paintings that linger in the studio for six months, and they never get resolved. But having an exhibition means I can't spend hours and hours on each painting.

Which art materials couldn't you live without?

Michael Harding oil paint is fantastic. It's very exclusively Michael Harding, in that the texture is incredibly unusual; it behaves in an amazingly sensitive way. It uses no fillers so the colours are brilliant. It just makes painting a real pleasure. I want to make paintings made of paint, you know? I don't want to make paintings that are an illusion - they're an expression of something. 

I also Michael Harding oil and turps medium, and Balsam Resin, which is a little old fashioned, but you put it on and the paint just flows right in. I also use a wooden palette, not a white one, because it has a similar tone to the ground I'm working on. It helps when I'm mixing paint.



And let's talk a little about your work for the film Mr. Turner. What was it like working with Timothy Spall?

It was great! When we first met, neither of us really knew how it was going to work; we were just looking across the room at each other, unsure of where to start...but we had a really good time! He really wanted to do it, he wanted to learn how to paint and draw. He'd been a very successful actor from so early on that he'd never really had the chance to pursue his interest in art until the film. But he's inquisitive, and he was really up for doing it. Learning art is tough, and you don't get results right away - you have to keep going, and he was very good at that. I worked with him for two years in the lead up to filming, in what we called the research period. So then when it came to filming his scenes, he was up to speed - he looked natural with the art materials, and looked convincing as an artist.



What sorts of things did you work on with him?

Eventually we were copying Turner paintings, but we didn't get to that first. That came after working off a life model, some still life, casts of classical statues. And we went around the city a lot, to find places to draw - people would look over and wonder why this famous actor was sitting with me, sketching! So we discovered parts of the city where we were relatively undisturbed, and we worked in sketchbooks for hours.

And then after the film was made, Timothy Spall sat for one of your paintings?

Yes, he was very happy to sit for me. Then obviously it was chosen from the BP Portrait Award this year, and it's just set off a chain of events. There's going to be a show at Petworth House in January, with bits from the film, my paintings, Timothy's work - and it really is his work, you know. It's not just an actor making Turner copies. He had an exhibition recently at Maison Bertaux in Soho, of symbolist drawings and watercolours, which he made independent of my teaching. 



Have you seen the film?

I have, and it's fantastic. I guess I would say that, but the acting is brilliant, and the art direction is stunning. Tim really owns the part, and it wasn't an easy part to do. He's on screen almost all the way through. And when you see him painting, he's completely believable. Other artists are in it too, and I taught them as well, I think there were twenty actors on my list, and I'd do life-drawing sessions with them in my studio. 

I'm quite interested in this idea of performance. There's a lot of theatre in painting the figure, because people have more than one identity - they deploy different roles, and I like to look at that in my paintings. So then the idea of the role, when painting an actor, is quite important - and I was very aware of that.

I've painted Tim more than once, and you can see in some he's still very in character as Mr. Turner, because it was painted shortly after filming. But then a few months down the line he sat for me again, and he's much more relaxed. And I like the concept there. I'm not simply painting likenesses; I'm looking at the person's consistencies and inconsistencies with every portrait.



How did you get involved with Mr. Turner?

I was teaching Fine Art one day a week at the Motley Theatre Design Course, which is sadly closed now. And Mike Leigh, the director of the film, was a patron of the course; he used to do the occasional lecture, so I knew him, and then he just asked me to do the tuition for Mr. Turner. It was a really unusual job, but I really enjoyed it. And you know, if Hollywood calls, I'd be happy to teach Johnny Depp how to paint with watercolours!

Can you describe what painting is, to you, personally? 

It's a very important part of my life, part of my identity, and if I didn't do it, I'd be a different person. I don't know what I'd do without it. I'm very lucky. If you want to be an artist, you have to be an artist - you have to keep painting, somehow. 



Feeling inspired?

Tim Wright's Exhibition, A Public Exhibition, is showing at Shine Artists London until 25th October 2014.

You can visit Tim Wright's website here. 

You can read more about the film and watch the trailer of Mr. Turner here. 
 
Cass Art has partnered with Mr. Turner to bring you Paint Light Colour, a celebration of painting during October 2014. 

The Other Art Fair is the UK's leading artist-led fair, and it is back with its seventh edition this October. 

Returning to the Old Truman Brewery, and featuring work by 130 artists, you can go along to see the art itself - but also interact directly with the artists who made it.

This year it is co-located with the Moniker Art Fair, London's major event for contemporary art.

Cass Art has partnered with The Other Art Fair to bring you tickets to both fairs.



TICKET OFFER

Get your free ticket to The Other Art Fair when you buy anything in-store at Cass Art, up until 19th October. 

You can also get a free ticket when you buy anything online, up until 16th October.

COMPETITION

Cass Art and The Other Art Fair have teamed up to bring you an exclusive prize draw.

The winner will get two tickets to the fair, which includes access to the Moniker Art Fair as well. You'll also get lunch for two at the on-site pop up restaurant Dirty Burger. 

What's more, you'll win a System 3 Screen Printing Set from Cass Art so you can get creative at home.

Simply enter your details on our competition page to be entered into the prize draw. Applications close on Sunday 12th October.

Feeling inspired?

The Other Art Fair is running at Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London from 16th -19th October 2014.

When you think of the term “gold rush”, the locations that immediately spring to mind are Klondike, the Yukon, Victoria and Tierra del Fuego. But Folkestone? Perhaps not. A gold rush started in the unlikely location of Kent town, however, and all in the name of art, when German artist Michael Sailstorfer buried gold bullion underneath the beach.

Over 200 residents hunted the 30 24-carat bars, each one worth an average of around £333, during low tide.

It was a case of finders keepers, as treasure hunters were allowed to keep whatever they found as part of the Folkestone Triennial arts festival. Kevin Wood, Kirsty Henderson and her sister Megan were the first confirmed finders when they unearthed a £500 piece after digging for an hour at low tide.

The project excited many people from Folkestone and the surrounding environs. Many of them originally dismissed it as a stunt, but within hours a plethora of metal detectors could be seen on the beach.

Event organisers hope that diggers will create an artwork through simultaneously creating sand castles; the project also aims to change people’s perceptions surrounding public art.

Sailstorfer’s Folkstone Digs initiative on the town’s Outer Harbour sands isn’t his first left-field art installation. He once re-affixed falling autumn leaves back on a tree before painting them spring green. Sailstorfer has also hidden treasure in his native Germany. This event saw locals foraging with huge mechanical diggers.


Artist Michael Sailstorfer

The Festival 

The arts festival, which started on Saturday 30th August, runs until 2nd November. 

Yoko Ono is one of the artists visiting at the festival. Her giant poster bearing the legend “Earth Peace” is the first thing visitors to the town see when they step out of the town’s central railway station.

Other exhibiting artists include Pablo Bronstein, Strange Cargo, Something & Son and Andy Goldsworthy and Jonathan Wright, who is exhibiting a series of water towers.

One of the more intriguing exhibits is Krijn de Koning’s Dwelling, set in some of the town’s rocks. Fans of the original Star Trek series cannot fail to draw comparisons with some of the sets from the 1960s sci-fi series.

Back to the gold bullion, and event organisers are leaving festival visitors with this thought: will the bars’ value rise as a gold bullion piece or as a work of art?