The Channel 4 Big Art Project

About the project

The Channel 4 Big Art Project is inspiring and creating unique works of public art in selected sites across the UK.

It's a first from Channel 4: an opportunity for the public to be at the centre of a unique initiative right where they are living and become a central character in a prime-time television series.

The beginning

In October 2005 Channel 4 asked the nation to get involved in the Big Art Project. The response was overwhelming – over 1,400 members of the public across the UK said they wanted some art for their communities and proposed a site.

The Big Art selection team tackled the huge task of working out which of those sites should go forward.

Selection was based on a list of practical criteria, including:

• planning and political support
• aesthetic and educational potential
• funding availability
• the range of art that might be possible
• enthusiasm and flexibility of the nominating community
• achievability within the time-frame
• the potential to maximise public access to the commissioning process and the final art work.

The Big Art Project selection team included:

Isabel Vasseur, a pioneer of the Public Arts movement
Peter Jenkinson, founding director of Walsall Art Gallery
Gus Casely Hayford, Executive Director Arts Strategy, Arts Council England
Kevin Murray, planning and regeneration consultant.

Together, they travelled the country meeting nominators, funders, politicians, public authorities and landowners to make the selection. From April 2006, seven sites were selected by the panel.

Commissioning the art

Public art can transform a space into a place. When a community participates in that transformation, it can change how people feel about living in or visiting that place.

Communities around the selected sites worked with curators appointed by the Big Art Trust. The curators supported the communities in choosing which artists they wanted to see commissioned and the kind of art each place wanted to create. They are also helping communities manage their Big Art Project as it progresses.

Project partnerships

There were, of course, challenges along the way. The seven selected sites were very different. The ambitions of each community were different too and that's what makes each Big Art Project unique.

Lone Wolf or Gang warfare

The tradition of the illustrator working alone seems to be changing, increasingly illustrators are forming collectives and working together in studios, give examples of the set up and compare and contrast. What are the advantages and disadvantages inherent in each method of working? Which approach do you feel would be most desirable for you?

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The one-man band approach to illustration has long been one of the traits that defined an illustrator.
A pro of being a ‘solo’ illustrator is that the client knows the style and know what to expect, the client is also only communicating with one voice which can be an added bonus in some cases.
But working alone is for some illustrators the only way to work as it allows them to fully concentrate on the job in hand. Some of these illustrators find this is because they are ‘easily distracted’ (Andy Martin, 2009), and prefer to work in their own space alone. Andy Martin works from home. Working from home is an effective way of keeping cost down (this can be especially important when an illustrator is just starting out) and is likely to be more comfortable. This then raises the giant issue of self-motivation, this is second nature to some but for others the temptation of the sofa and a brew, surrounded by all of your favourite things procrastinating can be easy. Self-motivation can be important for an illustrator working alone.
Freelance illustrators can work through their styles with their self promotion and self-initiated projects, like creating a series of work based on an object, book, observation anything really these projects often manifest themselves in books and limited publications. I see these self-initiated projects very important to an illustrator, these experiments can add a sense of play and adventure to the illustrator’s life and method and will ultimately impact their work. Having time to explore and develop allows the illustrator to create “free from the constraints of (the) commercial pressures” (Otto Dettmer, 2009).
Illustrators who work alone already or must learn to love the solitude of the job and find it easier “without the irritation of peoples mind games, agendas and general bad behaviour” (Michael Gillette, How To Be An Illustrator). This sound quite harsh but in some cases this can be true, but I don’t know if being alone would answer ‘my’ insular issues about ‘myself’. I did choose this quote for another reason to out line another point; the ‘bread’ of illustrators is changing. This is due to the development of technology, teaching, cultural development and also the influx of graduates and students into ‘The Business’ creates greater competition and I think being around people and working with like-minded people can help keep you motivated through transitional periods weather it be graduating and trying to get work or just a dry spell in commissions. One of the cons of this renegade life style is that there is no one around to give you their opinion, time could be lost pondering over an element or colour that could/couldn't be moved or changed.
This brings me perfectly to another point. The Happy Medium. Big Orange is a group of freelance illustrators that occupy a space in Shawditch, LONDON. Big Orange has gained a good reputation in the design industry and is one of the longest standing spaces, with some its past and present occupants becoming well known in their own right. (Andy Pavitt, Paul Davis,…). The current 8 illustrators share half of the space with the AOI (Association Of Illustrators), This is good for contacts and any queries the illustrators have regarding, payments, invoicing, contracts and pricing.
These illustrators are all freelance who occasionally work together in a collaborative way, in the past they have put on exhibitions and indulged in their own self-motivated projects together. This way of working directly mirrors the ‘collaborative way of life’.
As the studio evolved creating spaces, illustrators moving in and out from time to time this could have been an issue, they solved this problem by offering spaces to people they feel would fit in with them and the studio. Mostly all the practitioners currently work on their own freelance work and use the studio as an office/ escape/creative environment not actively seeing collaboration.
There are many different types of collaborative groups, some die some thrive with a clear and like minded approach to all their projects, and some are small, just existing to furnish peoples faded dreams.
Most collectives grow organically starting out with friends starting a website (peepshow) or to create a platform for new young illustrators (LeGun), but when they gain a clear objective a creative collective is born. These multi-layered and multi – purpose all weather teams have skills that hail for all corners of design and rejoice in the creation of a collective vision!
The Bauhaus had an aim and an objective summed up in the little mantra of ‘Form Follows Function’ and this changed design forever, from graphic design, to ceramics and architecture, very ambitious feet that was realised with precision, dedication, a clear goal, and with no demand.
Today’s collectives can only dream of such a fate (like Nous Vous), and mostly dedicate themselves to being progressive, pushing boundaries, being professional (most of the time) and enjoying what they do, while they exploit the demand for their services.
Nous Vous, ‘ A multi-disciplinary collective’ actively working together with no discernible style, maybe just the aesthetic they are working with at the time, they are really into social development and dream to one day open the Bauhaus Mk.2 along with a creative studio and publishing house.

Rinzen is a world wide collective with 5 illustrators based in Berlin, Brisbane, Melbourne and New York. They also have a clear goal – they “want to become part of peoples lives” I'm assuming this is referring to creating things that people could interact with in their day-to-day lives, imagery and objects alike. The collective would like to use more “tangible items that people interact with in meaningful ways”.
They work via email and occasionally come together for exhibitions and installations. Obviously they are very pro- technology as they are quite reliant on it but I think this also translates to their work, they have wide-range of styles and techniques, often featuring Utopian alternate realities, bold, geometric designs or intricate, hand drawn studies.
This style of long distance communication is clearly working for them but I wonder if working so far apart you lose some of the creative enthusiasm you have with your peers whilst physically brain storming, chatting, arguing, laughing, that can be the making of a project. Rinzen get around this problem by only using two or three illustrators at a time that usually get on and have worked together before. For me I think I'm just to much of a people person and this approach harps back to the practices of a freelance illustrator, emailing in his roughs and finished pieces for the art director to tweak with his friends, I think I would miss a studio environment even though I was working collectively.

Now the ‘garage band of the image world’ LeGun. I have always loved LeGun’s publications; they are progressive in their promotion and styles. They have become a forum and a platform for new designers, illustrators and artists to publicise their work. The quarterly independent publication showcases printed, hand drawn and free form collage images, the publication uses work created by LeGun themselves and work sent to them or created with or around them by other new, and regular (to the publication) artists and illustrators. LeGun doesn’t use much text as they feel it gets in the way and does not work with the ‘flow’ of the publication; instead they use selected and diverse quotes, created on an in house letterpress.
Using parties, performance and exhibitions that have quirky entrance requirements like passwords and dress codes, these events are used to raise money for the publication but also serve another function, bringing the work into a social situation where they can interact with or even join in.

Peepshow are another design collective that have banded together to challenge themselves, armed with a stockpile of skills and disciplines, illustration and animation being the core of their work. This 10 strong team use the “ Strength of 10 brains, 20 eyes and 100 fingers” to be progressive and create new and exciting pieces tailored to fit every client. Some of their clients include Diesel, The Guardian, Channel 4 and Perrier.

During my research I have noticed that clients often tend to treat collectives as they would a design company, giving them more freedom to experiment, explore provoking a better outcome.
Working as part of a collective carries other favourable and not so favourable, situations, effects and opportunities.

• Multiple creative approaches to one brief
• Speed
• Quality
• Creative impact
• Extra pair(s) of hand to share work load
• Ability to approach different jobs a different way each time …
Con – This could be a problem if a client is after a certain style, this could affect the quality and originality of the outcome.
• Criticism
Con – Un- wanted criticism
• Inspiration
• Sharing costs – Studio/ Projects/ Equipment
• More creative freedom
• Working with a collective brings opportunity, which you may never achieve as an individual.
Con – Contrasting opinions
Con – Jealousy

Collaborators often use their personal work, like commissions and self initiated projects to inform their collaborative work vsv, this also serves as a sort of escape/break from collaborating and helps to keep the individual style of the illustrator.
Havass and Hannibal are one of these types of collaborations. The two set up in 2006 in Denmark and began running their design studio whilst still studying at The Danish School of Design in Copenhagen.
The pair began their collaborative journey by one starting a piece and sending it to the other and carried on until they had designed a poster, they have carried this technique through into a lot of their recent work. In comparison a lot of freelance illustrators step into the collaborative domain from time to time on a project for a client and this can then lead to a personal collaboration, these collaborations can last for a whole brief, days, weeks or like Havass and Hannibal, choose to work together on a ‘full time’ basis.
The Elvis Studio founded in 1996 by Helge Reuman and Xavier Robel, work in a similar way to Havass and Hannibal, working together rotating drawings and working on a varied number of projects. I feel illustration is now much more than the original editorial, book cover/illustration of years gone by. The lines within design are becoming increasingly blurred, when I brought this up with an art director I accidentally met in a bar in London, he told me “If you think that your stupid”, well he proceeded to rip me to shreds on everything else I said but the point being I'm not “stupid” and that’s my opinion! With evidence like the success of multi-disciplined collectives and the advances and advantages of technology it seems obvious that the lines will be blurred, and this is an exciting prospect for the design world as well as the world in general. He also expressed his love for airbrush art and illustration so I think that says it all about him really! (Not to offend the airbrush of course but there is a time and a place for everything)

“Illustrators will continue to work alone”
Lydia Fulton, Vroom, 08

But as Luke Best from Peepshow said,

“You don’t get to laugh much working at home, alone”

This is true, although I do make myself laugh from time to time but that’s because I'm funny, I can also be quite boring so I don’t think the ‘Lone Wolf’ approach would suit me, and also I have a severe lack of self-motivation. Aside from that I don’t think I ever planned to work alone, I have always wanted to work with creative, insightful, talented people, I also think this environment would also serve me better as it would give me a sense of ‘going’ to work but enjoying the company, the work and the environment.
Researching and finding out about all the different styles of collectives and studios out there, only reinforces my view. Everybody is different and everybody knows something you don’t know, thinks and imagines different things from you and even if you start at the same point, you always end up somewhere different. I think the skills you can develop (social+technical) as an individual within a group is more beneficial, that’s why I'm up for some ‘Gang Warfare’.

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I need to add images :)

Andy Lovell

Lovell studied at Liverpool School of Art and Design (1983-86) where he specialised in illustration. He has had numerous commissions for newspapers, magazines and books and held several exhibitions of his prints. He works using drawing and painting as the starting point for his prints, mainly lithographs, mono prints, giclee prints and silkscreen prints. He was influential in the creation of 'Big Orange' a well know design company in Shawditch in London. After he left the studio carried on and is still going strong and Lovell became a well know illustrator and print maker.

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Here is a few of Lovell's images

Book cover designs 'Poetry 2000'

Lovell's work ranges from book covers and editorials to beautiful landscape limited edition prints. His editorial work uses block colour along with texture, and his communication is usually clear and straight to the point. His use of texture and the way he represents objects and people are what interested me to his work.

Book cover design, 'The Collector Collector' by Tibour Fischer

Sheet tube poster design 'wrcs workthing.com'

I like the perspective on this image, I also like the way he has just used outlines to represent objects. I think the communication in this image is clear and the concept of a maze comes across well.

Sewabeats 'joy of drumming' brochure

The was Lovell uses line in this image is what attracted me to this image. His hand drawn lines add alot of interest especially when it is over layed with a colour or repeated and put over itself again.

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These are some of his Giclee prints.

WHAT IS A GICLEE PRINT?

Giclee (pronounced “gee-clay”), from the French word meaning to “squirt”or “spurt,” is a highly sophisticated inkjet printing process that was introduced in the late 1980s that enables the artist to produce limited edition prints of the original digital artwork. In the Giclee process, a fine stream of ink - four million + droplets per second - is sprayed onto archival art paper. Because no screens are used, the prints have a higher apparent resolution than lithographs. The prints are created from high-resolution digital images, using archival, light fast ink and heavyweight paper stock resulting in a long-lasting museum quality work of art.

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Cliffs 1

Curves


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Wet Lands (silk screen)


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http://www.andylovell.com/

http://lovelly.com/

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:D

MPs plan to let artists take over empty shops to prevent ghost towns...

The Guardian, Tuesday 14 April 2009, Robert Booth

A woman walks past empty boarded up shops in Bristol. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Ministers are outline emergency measures today to prevent the recession creating ghost towns across Britain.

Hazel Blears, the communities secretary, and Andy Burnham, the culture secretary, will announce a £3m plan to make thousands of small grants of up to £1,000 to people who find creative reuse for vacant shops.

Planning rules will be relaxed to allow changes of use which go against local guidelines. For example, a disused clothes shop could become an art gallery or an empty Woolworths an NHS drop-in centre.

Temporary lease agreements will enable owners who want to retain a vacant property in the long term to make it available for community or creative use during the recession. Councils will be urged to take control of empty properties until the recession ends.

The measures come amid predictions that more than 70,000 retail outlets will close this year. Plymouth and Scarborough have 30 and 40 empty units in their respective town centres. In Northampton, almost one in six shops in the town centre stand empty, according to the Department for Communities. At the same time, artists' co-operatives and local councils have shown a desire to take over units which have become victims of the economic crisis.

"Empty shops can be eyesores or crime magnets," Blears said. "Our ideas for reviving town centres will give communities the knowhow to temporarily transform vacant premises into something innovative for the community - a social enterprise, a showroom for local artists or an information centre - and stop the high street being boarded up.

"Town centres are the heartbeat of every community and businesses are the foundation so it is vital they remain vibrant places for people to meet and shop throughout the downturn."

The initiative follows pressure from a government adviser on community cohesion, Ted Cantle, who believes the closure of chain stores is an opportunity to loosen the stranglehold of big retail chains on high streets. He called for vacant Woolworths stores to become farmers' markets.

It is also an attempt to accelerate a grassroots "slack space" movement, which has already seen 11 empty premises in a shopping centre in Margate taken over by artists and a pair of empty units in Torquay transformed into an NHS Stop Smoking Service shop and a young person's advice drop-in centre.

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Andy Pavitt : Visit

Andy Pavitt recently visited Stockport college to talk to us about the internship they are offering to a third year and some of the issues and practices within the industry. Big Orange was set up 15-16 years ago by illustrators Andy Lovel, Darrel Rees(Heart agency) and Dan Williams (RCA). The studio is situated in the now trendy ('Bo-ho') Shawditch in LONDON, when the studio was set up Shawditch was like a ghost town, but now its one of London's 'places to be'! The studio currently houses 8 illustrators. They added different people as they went along, starting out looking for people with a fitting style but soon realised the dynamic of a studio "can be a little much"(Andy Pavitt) and their were certain people that just didn't adapt very well into the studio atmosphere, and now opt for peoples personalities, their skills and seem as if they will fit into the studio. Some recent editions include Paul Davis and Cheryl Taylor.

Darrel Rees

Andy Lovell

Paul Davis

The illustrators share half of the space with the AOI, this is useful for first and for most FREE membership, it also comes in handy for advice and networking. The going rate for a space is currently £200 per single space per month, this includes the phones, cleaning services, comp. network and rent. Andy did say this was quite steep even for LONDON. When I visited Big Orange I met one young illustrator currently sharing a space with someone else, splitting their rent and alternating days, this seems like a convenient and easy way to keep costs down and be able to work in a studio environment.

Example of a paint studio

Big Orange studio
London 2009

Andy also mentioned that a 'painting studio' rather than a studio (mod-cons, Internet ready, warm) can be alot cheaper as they are usually warehouse space, well yes please I think there would be alot more room and I have a far off dream of having a giant 'painting studio' with big windows and lots of floor! for lovely printing presses just like in the modern adaptation Great Expectations by Alfonso Cuaron!! Anyway I was very glad to hear about the price not being too high. Big Orange is open 24 hrs a day, "which gives you alone time in the studio if you are working to tight deadlines" this is also a nice perk even if there is no deadline, sometimes you just want to work alone. Although Andy said that "bouncing ideas off other people is one of the most useful tools in the industry".

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Question
"Do people share contacts"

"Some people are more generous than others, editorial contacts are shared more freely, because there helpful, but if someone has done a large job and it has taken them a while to build up the contact, they maybe a little resistant...but you have to respect that."

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Talking about editorial jobs, Andy mentioned that working for overseas prestigious clients like The New York Times for example, do not really have a concept of the time zone difference, and don't consider the time taken to complete the job. I don't think this is much of a problem really if you really want to do it, it promotes you and your work overseas to alot of potential clients, but you would have to think carefully about if you think its right for you or not. Not meeting deadlines even a few times can have a "detrimental effect on your profile" and work will dry up.

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Andy Pavitt


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.Tracey Kendall .

Graduated with an MA from The Royal College of Art.
Whilst studying Tracey's screen printing and wall decoration were discovered and started her on her path to new and innovative wall paper design. She is now based in London and working on her new wall papers and decorations.

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Tracey Kendall was my favorite lecture, I could just see her in her print studio printing away and attaching buttons to chairs! Tracey often works with organic forms like leaves, feathers and plants, and other items such as 1920's dresses, fabric, sequins, 'giant' french sequins, jigsaw pieces, buttons, text and materials.

This approach is what makes Tracey's style quite unique and innovative, some are based on a straight geometric dotted pattern some are just random. She does like to stick to wall coverings, but has in the past made chairs and lampshades, for clients, competitions and charity. She is obviously inspired by her surroundings as her first published and sold wallpapers were a design for her own kitchen. Using a knife, fork and spoon enlarging them to fit the 2.5m tall paper, every 'piece' accommodated a giant piece of cutlery. This was spotted and soon there was an editorial spread including the wall paper leading to sales of the wallpaper and great exposure. The unusual process of attaching things to the paper before it is hung is achieved with a clothes tagging gun and alot of time and effort. Tracey has students that come and work in her printing studio, helping her with the aattachment of the objects to the paper and printing. Tracey likes to cut out the middle man or has to a couple of times when her suppliers have gone bust or closed down, she actively find the source of the product and problem solved.

Her designs break boundaries and challange convention and even give fire regulations a run for their money, but I get the feeling this is not the main intention of her work, I think just making the wallpapers and playing around with print, ideas and designs seems the motivation behind her work rather than challenging the norm. The question was raised about the appropriateness and the restrictions of some of the material she uses, she answered by telling us that she doesn't see it as a problem as she just makes it and its not up to her who buys it or what people do with it (to a point). Tracey also told us a story about buying two small pieces of lace from a little French flea market (I think), for around £1.50 and then went on to use it as one of her wall paper designs. This design was then picked up by a shop and was used to cover all the wall space and is now sold to the general public from her website along with lots of other lovely designs, in an array of colours, http://www.tracykendall.com/.
"This old £1.50 piece of lace has made me around £50.000"
Oh My Goodness, OK take out the costs and the time accumulated and that's alot of money, an earlier statement that she was lucky and in the right place at the right time seems to be very true in this case. Tracey has the advantage of trend on her side, with her innovative designs and creative exhibitions and trade shows booths, the design savvy are on her tail. Tracey now stocks her wallpaper in John Lewis.

One beautiful exhibition she was involved in was held in an old warehouse with fellow designers, smallish Christmas tree type trees were hung from the celling with plastic transparent bags tied to the trunk containing water to make sure they would last. These trees created paths to openings where the designers product was displayed the work was also hung from the ceilings. Tracy mentioned the smell and the atmosphere at the exhibition. I thought this exhibition was exciting and pretty! walking down paths to the clearings sounds like it would have been an experiencee in itself and walking into the separate designers 'spaces' would have been a nice surprise I think this would also separate the designers but in a good way, having a different experience with the work displayed as opposed to it just being displayed in a large room next to other designers work, it may also effect the time spent looking at certain pieces or designers as it would be a more intimate experience with the work. Tracey relies alot on editorial exposure for her promotion, but also has a website that is used to sell and promote her work further.

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Tracey Kendall travels all over the world for traid shows and research. she has been 'lucky' but she has also worked very hard and her willingness to embrace new technology brings her work up to date and desirable.

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Dettmer
OTTO

Otto studied an MA at Kingston University.
There in 1995 he discovered screen printing and used this to produce his work, he found it more effective than digitag.

Otto creates alot of books and mail outs for his clients/future clients his most recent mail out consisted of images he had produced for his regular editorial job in The Guardian, it look really clean and interesting, with a limited colour pallet and all individually screen printed on some LOVELY paper.


Otto's recent style is clean and a stripped back style with shape and silhouettes within his ork this shows his influences like El Lizitzky, Saul Bass, Rodchenco, Majakovski, Boroque and the Renaissance period, he said the last two directly influence the figures, posture and faces within his work.w
Starting off self promoting after he left university, he said he was going to London as many times a week as he could and doing editorials for European magazines. Otto developed his style and found different ways to print and publish his artist books. Otto has a large collection of stock illustration available from his website. Some of his past commissions and other images he has created, that have an expired licence, resold for half the price. Otto seems very organised and business like but balances it well down to earth demeanor.
Otto explained how some of his clients are attracted to his style of combining flat shapes and silhouettes with photography.

OTTO Screen Printing his recent mail outs

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Example of Otto's recent work
Illustration for The Guardian 2009


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"The simpler, the better"
OTTO Dettmer

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Otto believes that being present on the Internet is important but admits most of his commissions come from his published work in magazines and self promotion. He also feels the future of illustration is moving image, explaining that with the advances of technology and advertising capabilities it is its logical path.
Otto's very logical and futuristic out look reflects in his work especially his personal work for example his most recent publication 'The Rise of the Phantom King', it tells a story of an adapting, mechanical, juxtaposed ever evolving monster, who is an ancient king trying to exert his power and take over London, in a phycodelic futuristic world. Using photographs of London and added architectural structures he created sky scraping city scenes.The monster in the story is constantly changing and is represented with the use of jauxtaposition and photographic collage, the mosnsters change is relevent to its place in the story and works alongside the limited type and other visual elemnts very well. Otto is very into finding a narrative within his personal work, collecting and making pictures, pining them up and letting the 'story' write itself.

Image from 'The Rise of the Phantom King'

More images from Image from 'The Rise of the Phantom King'

HELLO

After the talk I waited behind and showed Otto some of my work. He showed an interest in my 'chance' work and confessed to me that he has been playing with chance but doesn't seem to be having much luck, needless to say i gave him a few pointers he seemed happy to oblige (hahah so intense). Showing him my poster/ book cover design for the 'Space Opera' series, I had created a large poster just using a photocopier and ephemera.
I think he was quite impressed by the large all-in-one poster concept which was Super cool and it is one of the better things I have done!
He advised me basically to do what he did with 'The Rise of the Phantom King' to 'try and find a way to tell a story' this is defiantly something i want to do to help develop my style. With my style being so sporadic I asked Otto which he preferred, he didn't really give me a definite answer but pointed out the good bits and the bad bits and the bits he would change and the bits that he liked. This defiantly served me better, some of the things he pointed out were things I had thought of changing but was a little apprehensive about, it defiantly gave me more confidence in my judgement and my ability to work with quite a simple style.

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