electric angel /design for life

click the north… and the south

culture vultures in scarborough are rather spoilt for choice tonight. click the north at the undercroft, st james’ arts centre (corner of seamer & valley road) is billed as ‘ an exciting combination of digital, medium format, ‘toy’ camera and mobile phone images capturing fleeting moments of place and memory’. preview from 7pm tonight and open 10-3 (12-3 sundays) until 9th december.

and scarborough’s newest gallery opens tonight on south street with first things first. work is by local and national artists including david chalmers whose photographed seascapes were stunning at the an unfamiliar place exhibition, they look as if scarborough has been frozen with dry ice. preview from 6pm.

i feel ever so slightly smug, but also rather excited that both are a short walk from our house. it’s particularly exciting to see south street gallery open in what has been for many years a rather neglected corner of town. once very much part of the privileged south cliff society culture, the street’s most recent claim has been as a set for itv retro dramas heartbeat and the royal – quite often you’d see a disused shop transformed into a period greengrocers complete with prices in pounds, shilling and pence. but with a gallery, a vintage clothing boutique next door and wonderful step-back-in-time (in a good way) francis cafe opposite this is really becoming a rather happening bit of scarborough. and only 30secs walk from the esplanade which always has great views. see you there.

ea at ycc

i’ve been invited to yorkshire coast college this morning to speak to design students, show some of our work and do a crit on their helvetica project. i’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve come up with to celebrate the font’s 50th birthday. it’s the third time i’ve been in to show work and it’s a welcome opportunity to take stock and see what we’ve been up to over the last 6 months.

creative support flyers

flyer for course supporting creatives in bradford.

creatives and class

had an interesting evening wednesday night at creative coast – firstly because we had chance meet andrew clay the person (useless trivia: his favourite colour is red and he wants a bike for christmas) plus we got lots more insight into woodend creative workspace which will probably open in february/march 2008. exciting times – i really hope that woodend is a big success. it certainly looks to be in good hands.

what always amazes me about creative coast is the ever changing composition at events. there are those who you can pretty much guarantee to be there – essentially the core of the coast’s creative sector – but there are always new faces. this is, of course, fantastic. last night was a strange mix and some of the conversation during and after the event got me thinking about the mix of working, middle and upper class accents on display. in some ways it reflected some of the old stereotypes about art and creativity eg. the posh art-as-hobby brigade vs the creativity-transforming-ordinary-life posse.

there’s sometimes a snobbery that runs both ways when these two camps mix. some of those who have studied art and often struggle to make their living can be rather disregarding of people who have a more casual attitude and clearly don’t rely on selling work or creative services to pay their bills. likewise there is also a rather unattractive middle/upper class attitude at looking down on those who seemingly sully the the whole thing by working hard and speaking in regional accents.

have i got a chip on my shoulder about the latter? probably. ok, yes, i have. since when does how i speak matter more than how i design? but it’s happened on enough occasions for me to get annoyed about it. and whilst i’m on a rant, don’t even get me started on how it’s seemingly acceptable and funny at the moment to use ‘chav’ as an insult… there’s a whole load of unpacking about problems and attitudes in contemporary society to be done there. but i’m drifting off topic…

class status is one of those deeply unattractive things about britain and it raises its ugly head in arts & culture as much as anywhere. ironically it just makes me want to drop more h’s and soften more t’s. quick, pass me a red flag and a copy of class war.

what would be nice though is some manners and a little respect all round. ’nuff said.

what we’re listening to [11]

nothing. because it is no music day.

artworks annual review 07

having designed artwork’s visual identity it’s fun to be using it and letting it develop and establish itself over a range of materials. some are direct communications from artworks – such as this annual review, some are flyers and reports produced by artworks which need a their own visual style but with the artworks brand applied somewhere in the design. keep watching for examples of both.

from recent photos it appears that the studio floor has tilted to the right by about 10 degrees. i think i was probably just wearing odd shoes one of which may have had a stiletto heel.

renaissance news christmas work experience

november issue of scarborough’s renaissance news above and below. if anyone wants to take us up on the offer of a little work experience for the january issue do get in touch. we’ll be working to get it to print before christmas so could be ideal if you’re a student looking to do something productive with your xmas break.

more tips for networking newbies

following our homegrown creative coast networking tips, i came across these from the other side of the pond. some good advice and wittily written.

more renaissance friends

above is the lapel badge featuring the renaissance friends logo – we blogged about the website when it was launched in october. below is the membership card we designed – both are mailed out to you when you sign up on the website. the badges were being given out at the ‘looking back, stepping forward’ weekend with the website launch and it was fun to see them being worn with pride. we had several nice comments about them – thanks folks!

creative coast heads up

heads up for the next creative coast ‘the directors cut’ on wednesday 21st, 6pm at the merchant, eastborough, scarborough. all welcome. it’ll be a relaxed evening chatting and sharing ideas with andrew clay, the director of wood end creative workspace (formerly known as the creative industries centre). come with some questions to ask andrew (serious or silly) – and be prepared to have them asked back at you! download a flyer from www.creativecoast.net

plus we’ve got a creative coast action group meeting on monday 26th, 11am at the renaissance office, falconers road, scarborough. the main item will be planning for ‘creative coast whitby’. ever since we launched creative coast last year we’ve talked about having a whitby launch and running mirror events and some uniquely whitby stuff too. all creative coast members are welcome to the action group – just turn up. we hope to be finished by 12noon.

the whole whitby-scarborough dynamic is an interesting one and something we’ve had to consider on several recent design projects. i’ll collate some thoughts and blog them after the 26th.