Friday, 26 April 2013

Sharrow Vale Market

Sharrow Vale Market is an event which happens a few times a year; a large amount of stalls line Sharrow Vale road in Sheffield with a range of different things on offer, such as art and crafts, handmade gifts, antiques, food and music.
I have been a few times before in previous years and I have always enjoyed it. I find it has a very friendly atmosphere and there is plenty to see and buy.
Alongside the market, various shops down the road open their doors and hold special events for the day. One in particular was called The Vintage Tableware Company which was a small building behind a large antiques centre. It didn't look like there was much inside at first until you went through; there were two rooms opposite each other. One contained The Vintage Tableware Company which has beautiful crockery and other 'vintage' tableware.
In the other room, there were two artists displaying their work, one focused upon lino prints and another concentrating on digital designs of buildings and cityscapes.
Jonathan Wilkinson is one of these artists- on his business card it says 'Jonathan Wilkinson is an artist and designer whose prints and products celebrate the buildings and sciences that define where we live'. His artwork is very modern and often portrays urban cityscapes and buildings. Jonathan grew up in Nottingham, however he studied painting and printmaking at Sheffield Hallam University and so therefore a lot of his prints are based around Sheffield.
I love his use of vectors and flat colours to build up an image; they look just as effective as a photograph or painting. Also, I think creating them as vectors portrays their modern and urban feel.
The other artist was James Green who is a printmaker that specialises in the use of lino printing. He likes to user simple graphics in order to compose his art and I really like his style. I find he uses suitable colours for each piece; they compliment each other really well.
There is no particular theme to his work concerning his subject matter, however I have seen that he often uses animals and buildings. One series of prints he did was based around areas of Sheffield- he finds Sheffield a very Inspiring place in the sense that there is a mixture of old and modern architecture, industrial and urban areas.
I feel quite inspired by James's prints; lino printing is something which I share an interest in and I would like to explore it further.

Saturday, 20 April 2013

Storm Thorgerson

Storm Thorgerson, a graphic designer famous for album covers for bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Muse. Unfortunately, this week Thorgerson passed away after suffering from cancer but his work can still be treasured and I'm sure it will be remembered for many years to come.
One of Thorgerson's most famous pieces of album artwork was for Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon which features a prism spreading a spectrum of colour across the cover.

Another famous cover he designed for Pink Floyd was one featuring 700 hospital beds which were dragged down to a beach in Devon. Thorgerson liked the photographs rather than illustrations and as this was before the time of Photoshop, it had to become the hard way. The result is a very realistic and believable looking image.

Thorgerson will be missed, however he will still live on in his artwork and continue to inspire.

Storm Thorgerson 1944- 2013