All Things Considered

Ed Kluz – Paperworks
Posted by Simon Lewin

We've had the pleasure of working with Ed Kluz for a number of years now - both exhibiting his prints and collages but also working on his range of screen printed fabrics for St. Jude's.

Ed has an exhibition of prints and collages opening at The Idler Academy in London W2 on 22nd May and running until 2nd June 2013. Find out more about the exhibition.

If you're unable to visit this event in London, Ed will be joining us for St. Jude's In The City at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh opening on Tuesday 2nd July 2013. 

Here are some images from Ed's London show plus the short film we commissioned about the work of this talented illustrator, graphic artist and textile designer.

Posted by Simon Lewin on May 15th, 2013

The Unsophisticated Arts
Posted by Simon Lewin

Another Barbara Jones post! Our friends at Little Toller have just republished The Unsophisticated Arts in which Barbara Jones records the art of everyday life. She travelled throughout Britain visiting fairgrounds, tattoo parlours, taxidermists, houseboats, high street shops, seaside piers and amusement arcades.

The book was first published in 1951, the same year that Barbara Jones curated the ‘Black Eyes and Lemonade’ exhibition for the Festival of Britain. These two events were definitive in the history of popular art, creating a vibrant snapshot of culture in postwar Britain which has influenced generations of artists and designers ever since.

This new edition includes previously unpublished ephemera and art from Barbara Jones’s studio including watercolour, ink and pencil studies from her sketchbooks which reveal her lifelong fascination with vernacular art.

Find out more about the book or take a look at a few pages from the original catalogue for Black Eyes & Lemonade.

Posted by Simon Lewin on April 30th, 2013

Mark Hearld
Posted by Simon Lewin

And here are some of pieces Mark Hearld will be exhibiting as part of York Open Studios.

Both Mark Hearld and Emily Sutton will taking part in our next St. Jude's In The City event in Edinburgh in July. If you'd like to attend the opening, sign up for an invitation.

Posted by Simon Lewin on April 11th, 2013

A conversation with Ed Kluz
Posted by Simon Lewin

We're pleased to announce the launch of a short film about the work of Ed Kluz.

Filmed and edited by Alun Callender, Ed Kluz discusses his work, inspiration and working practices. The film is shot on location at Racton Tower in West Sussex and at Ed's Brighton studio and home.

Ed is currently collaborating with us at St Jude's on a range of fabrics and wallpapers. You might like to take a look at his Painswick and Lionheart fabrics.

Ed will also be taking part in an exhibition of prints, paintings and collages that we're organising in Edinburgh in July.

Posted by Simon Lewin on April 10th, 2013

Paul Bommer
Posted by Simon Lewin

Printmaker and illustrator Paul Bommer has an exhibition in Norwich from Friday 12th to Sunday 14th April 2013.

'Sack & Sugar' is a selling exhibition of Paul's limited edition prints and Delft tiles.

Paul is a graduate of the National College of Art & Design in Dublin. Working until quite recently in the East End of London, Paul has now relocated to the wilds of the north Norfolk coast seeking space and new inspiration.

Paul's work is informed by an irreverent humour and a love of character, history and a rich sense of time and place, captured with a deft line. He is currently focussing on limited edition screen prints and decorated ceramics which include limited edition tiles and private fireplace commissions.

If you're unable to visit the exhibition at Yallops Gallery, 59 St. Augustine's Street, Norwich NR3 3BG, we're pleased to offer a selection of Paul's prints over at our online gallery.

Posted by Simon Lewin on April 8th, 2013

Sheila Robinson
Posted by Angie Lewin

We had the pleasure of printmaker Chloe Cheese's company last week - she was staying with us whilst working on a print for our St. Jude's In The City exhibition in Edinburgh in July.

The week before we'd received of Chloe's mother Sheila Robinson's illustrated book of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

This was never published in her lifetime but The Centre for Children's Book Studies at Anglia Ruskin University have worked with the Fry Art Gallery in Saffron Walden (who hold the original artwork in their archives) to publish the book for the first time, instigated by Professor Martin Salisbury with additional design and retouching by Brian Webb of Webb & Webb Design.

The illustrations - with skilfully varied weight of line and texture - are just beautiful. Where she has applied colour it is in a simple printmakerly way and the delicate script text and drawings are combined to fit a landscape format. The dust jacket is lined with spreads from her original sketchbooks. It's a beautiful piece of print.

Printmaker Chloe Cheese says of the book…

"The beautiful pen and ink drawings and delicate text of this book fascinated me when I was a child and drew me into the enchanted world of the fairy tale.



Although she hoped for publication at the time, she was still a young woman and I think other things, such as working on The Festival of Britain, marrying and having children, took over her life so that this book was put to one side.



The princesses in the boats rowing across the lake in particular is an image that fired my imagination and inspired me to emulate my mother to become an illustrator myself. Looking at this illustration now I admire the lightness of touch and the use of light and shade. The picture still takes me to the edge of the lake and into the story."

Copies can be ordered direct from Anglia Ruskin University. You might also like to visit the Fry Art Gallery website to see more of Sheila Robinson's work.

Posted by Angie Lewin on March 11th, 2013

Barbara Jones
Posted by Simon Lewin

Regulars will know we're long time fans of Barbara Jones' work.

Born in 1912, Barbara Jones studied at the R.C.A. and was a pioneer in the field of popular culture, demonstrated by the book ‘The Unsophisticated Arts’ - published in 1951 and described by Peter Blake as “a treasure trove of information about popular art”.

In 2009, Ruth Artmonsky published a book on Jones’ work - “A Snapper Up Of Unconsidered Trifles” which we recommend.

We were very lucky to source a copy of the poster for her 'Black Eyes & Lemonade' exhibition in 1951 and a copy of the catalogue for the exhibition - we've put a few pages of that online.

Our friends at Quad Royal share our passion for Barbara Jones' work as you'll see here and here.

We have a few of Jones' original drawings and sketchbooks which we'll share before too long.

We've been prompted to post this for two reasons.

Until 9th March 2013 there's an exhibition of British murals and decorative painting in London organised by Liss Fine Art which features the magnificent 6' x 12' piece Out in the Hall (below).

The exhibition brings together many of the important murals and decorative cycles undertaken in Britain between 1910 and 1970. Not featured in the exhibition is our gouache piece 'Shelf and Mirror' (below) which we believe was a working drawing for a mural for the ocean liner SS Orsova.

We're also pleased to hear that The Museum of British Folklore are working on a collaborative exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery which will look at Jones' unique curatorial approach to her Black Eyes and Lemonade exhibition. More news on that soon.

Posted by Simon Lewin on February 24th, 2013

Lionheart
Posted by Simon Lewin

It's always great to see how our fabrics are used. Although it's printed on an upholstery weight linen, Luke Edward Hall couldn't resist tailoring this shirt from Ed Kluz's Lionheart fabric for Patrick Wolf to wear on his tour last year.

We'll soon be adding a 3rd colourway of Lionheart - sign up for our St. Jude's fabric newsletter for details. And who knows, we might even look at printing this on a lighter weight cloth.

Find out more about Luke Edward Hall and visit Ed Kluz's blog.

Posted by Simon Lewin on January 25th, 2013

Mark Hearld Birds & Beasts
Posted by Simon Lewin

Yorkshire Sculpture Park have just released this great film about Mark Hearld's current Birds & Beasts exhibition which runs until February.

You can also view our album of photographs taken during a recent visit - or view Mark's fabrics and wallpaper for St. Jude's.

Mark Hearld: Birds & Beasts from Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Vimeo.

Posted by Simon Lewin on December 11th, 2012

Mark Hearld at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Posted by Simon Lewin

One of the joys of my job is getting to see behind the scenes when the artists we collaborate with at St. Jude's work on new projects.

Never more the case than for the past couple of years of working with Mark Hearld whilst he's been creating work for his Walker Books A First Book of Nature, his recently published Mark Hearld's Work Book and this forthcoming exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Birds and Beasts showcases Mark Hearld’s practice which stems from a love of the British countryside, curiosity for objects and a magpie approach to collecting. He has taken inspiration from YSP’s 500-acre historic estate and its inhabitant wildlife to create new work, all of which is available to buy.

 The Park’s visitor centre and Upper Space gallery are decorated with Mark’s hand-painted wooden animals; three-dimensional, hand-decorated ceramic hares; collages in hand-painted frames, lino-cuts, and limited edition litho prints. A flock of hand-decorated wooden pigeons hang in the concourse and found objects will feature in a characteristically eccentric window display.

We're delighted that Mark's fabrics for St. Jude's will be on display, alongside his award winning Harvest Hare wallpaper (you might also get a glimpse of our forthcoming Harvest Hare fabric - sign up to our newsletter for details of this nearer the time).

The exhibition opens at Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield on 17 November 2012 and runs until 17 February 2013. On Saturday 17th November Mark will be on hand to sign copies of his new book for Merrell, Mark Hearld's Work Book. For full details please visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park website.

Pictured below: Mark at work in his studio, his Autumn Fox limitededition lithograph for the exhibition, Harvest Hare - Mark's award winning wallpaper for St. Jude's, the bag and scarf that he has produced for the exhibition and his Bird Garden fabric for St. Jude's. (Images 1, 2, 4 and 5 copyright Jonty Wilde).

Posted by Simon Lewin on November 13th, 2012