down by the water front

Clone Me!.....Again

 

Original photograph copyright of Glenn E Friedman

 

Public Relations, Plagiarism, and Self Promotion

 

 

This is how the World Assembly of Public Relations defined PR in August 1978 :

"The art and social science of analysing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest".

 

So..... In a world now where it’s OK to use PR to maintain and promote any image and in turn fight for that image when the image is perceived to be threatened or damaged by a plagiarizer.

 

Is shameless self-promotion …the only way to go ?

 

I have taken a couple of examples of recent, contested or problematic image/ownership rights in the arts. 

 

Photographer / Artist : Glen E. Friedman’s Run DMC photograph being re-worked by Mr Brainwash, street artist ; with the ruling that the original had been plagiarised and the re-works to be *removed* (possibility of being destroyed)

Photographer / Photographer ; with Janine Gordon contesting Ryan McGinley’s re-works ; thrown out of court as vagaries of specific body imagery could not be *owned*

Art / ownership ; Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty land lease for this site specific land art and its continuing curation.

 

 

But first a little backdrop history:

 

The Music Industry set a precedent years ago having seen a mix of technological opportunity which enabled copying and sampling.

The realisation of the argument; to say that anything not left in its pure state is therefore plagiarised, on the surface, seems to have been rendered un-navigable with the rapid flux of internet connectivity today. Unless, of course (as always) you have enough time, money and clout to throw at it.

And true, knock-off pirated copying is still very much on the no-no agenda in all the arts. Artists need to get paid. End of.

Although I wish I could be more positive about this simplistic sentiment. There are so many middle men and Mr 20% involved in the promotion of artists, designers, photographers and their work, that altruism is probably only half the story in protecting the original work.

With artists also being protective of their intellectual property or brand from commercial sharks. And legislation leaning heavily toward an overall semblance of control in these *share it* times.

Couple this with social diversity; communities being so poor, having no infrastructure with any wider connective say-so. Or those who are so switched–on they find themselves in a democratic minefield of who is allowed to say what and when. Some fall foul of their on-line presence. Others manage to free-up and share information that otherwise would have been inaccessible to most.

No Doubt the internet, as a popular tool, has power. And so in the hands of so many, so relatively quickly, also makes it a moral, social and political soup.

 

 

This is an art blog so I am not drawing on wider (and deeper) issues like phone hacking or wiki-leaks and all that has churned up.

I have tried to bring together different aspect within the arts here:

A simple concept really; artist/designer/musician/photographer/writer/journalist has/makes an idea of something out of something and so *captures* it, puts some creative value on it, it can be accepted, rejected or copied!.

 

The arts having different nuances ; all having very different histories and with that subtleties in legislation over the years.

Different mediums of expression but I will use the word captured to refer to the finished piece. Whether it is fashion, photography film, art, music or writing.

 

 

And, I am using writing here purposely as the idea of the written word is possibly far more readily understood as a standard tool for capturing and furthering expression of an idea.

 

As with rip-offs, subsequent similar close-to-the-mark expressions can be seen as a blatant regurgitation or expression of a new idea.

PR uses journalism/writing as one medium to further promote an idea or object. Straight word- for– word regurgitation is now being abhorred (whether paid PR or not…)

But still using the same word format and possibly similar words differently to form another view or opinion, is accepted difference.

 

The difference of the captured expression is what marks it out as different.

So with that in mind….

 

The Music Industry >>

Considering the longevity of sampling and mixing within the music business (as opposed to art and even fashion with its rip-off culture now coming full circle sometimes throwing things up much more interesting than the original….)

The mix/music industry is now far more accepting of *sampling* as opposed to *stealing*.

>>The music industry initially resolved the copying issue mostly by making it acceptable to copy as long as a reference was given to the originator and so suing was curtailed to out and out rip-offs. In so the music industry became far more hypothetically in favour of unlimited free use as a means to an end.

An example of Music Industry PR in the 80’s- 90’s. The White Label (usually 12 inch dance music) was already put into clubs 3-6 months before the official artist was named with a release date.

An acceptable form of hype or PR which created demand and interest. The Buzz style of which has been embraced in fashion, film and art.

 

Fashion >>

Fashion has also had a long history of rip-off culture and subsequent suing. I could name not only high end brands (Asian sports shops emulating actual shop brand design is a current problem for original brands). Friends too with smaller outlets having their own designs copied and done differently (damage can be seen to be done to the original design's worth, if it is copied badly).

I know of at least one person who eventually gave up on this as the court cases began to take over and lasted years and cost too much. I think “sod him” was the ultimate term he used. He went on to make different designs (some of which …ahem… possibly had a similar nod to the rip-off merchants own…).

High end dress designer Roland Mouret, mentioned here before, while during a talk for Fashioning an Ethical Industry at the Fashion and Textile Museum London. Also expressed exasperation at his designs being ripped off literally as they hit his internet PR machine, way back in 2005. Battened-down secrecy was the only option, as he saw it then.

All was fair in love and war it seemed. But then things moved on in fashion….

Style Bubble’s recent article about Prada brogues and their ASOS counterparts points out that maybe the plagiarism issue in this case is much more about the lower end of High Fashion brands being affected by this done-differently and (slightly) cheaper design than any blatant damage to reputation rip-off issue. ASOS having used a different style and mood of colour mix (gold and silver).

 

Photography >>

Photography has a long history of *intellectual property rights just as in the film industry. The photograph technically belongs to the originator.

 

The case last week when a judge threw out a copyright infringement lawsuit against the artist Ryan McGinley. The lawsuit, brought by artist Janine Gordon, was about images that allegedly copied Ms. Gordon’s own photographs :

The judges conclusion…

“ The plaintiff’s apparent theory of infringement would assert copyright interests in virtually any figure with outstretched arms, an interracial kiss, or any nude female torso.”

 

 

Two practices converging :

Photography and Art >>

One example recently of two creative disciplines having met like this, is the recent photographer- suing- artist debacle over an original piece of photographic art work.

The original art-work-photograph of Glen E. Friedman’s Run DMC was upheld by a US judge as having been plagiarised by Thierry Guetta (Mr Brainwash) street artist.

It was seen as not being different enough from the original piece to warrant its own status as *art* coupled with possible value-damage to the original piece and its original status.

And there was another distracting, but important issue here as to whether this was also a Banksy/Guetta art joke ; * you can’t sue who you don’t know*. The idea being the identity of Theirry Guetta although real, is supposed to be close to Banksy’s own shadow.

 

 
 

Run DMC done again differently by Mr Brainwash photograph courtesy BoingBoing.net

and sampling Irony aside! this remake has been mosaicked with broken cd’s

 

 

Art >>

Spiral Jetty, just maybe has the crux of what is going on at the moment within the arts :

Greg Allen; a filmmaker, curator, art collector, web entrepreneur and a philanthropist and an artist in his own right is petitioning for the land lease which houses Roberts Smithson’s Spiral Jetty.

The basic story elaborated on by Felix Salmon's reuters blog…is that the land lease is up...and so up for grabs. Utah State Council is opening up the lease for bids and so Greg Allen is bidding (alongside other newcomers) and the original lease holders The Dia Foundation, who have looked after the work up until now.

 

Whatever the nuances of Allens intention the potential problem is clear:

The work is iconic and so attracts attention. The work was made from the land it sits on and the line between where it starts and where it ends cannot be easily drawn. It was made as a site specific piece and so was captured in this state. It is not replicable. It cannot be valued other than in terms of *public* consumption.

So renders it practically and artistically immoveable aside from the elements taking over.

 

Whichever area of the arts we are looking at, the point here isnt about theft or using anothers property to form the expression on.

 

 

The written word shows how it captures expression;

A word is understood in its singular original form and meaning. A building block.

Words can be rearranged to express different meaning and subtly so.

 

Cloning is cloning, as is regurgitation, however badly or well done. It has its place.

 

PR is a delicate and fine art these days and with it brand ownership similarly so.

Social media with all the potentials of the social graph being realised has provided a PR’s wet dream.

The captured image/design/ music/art/written word today is no less its own entity.

It is though being (un altruistically) contested more than before as to who actually owns *it*, and therefore owns its right to exist.

 

Artists take a collective creative chill pill, its going to get a whole lot rougher...

 

Lives of Artists Series Three : The Designer So Far Soda Good

 

Its a funny old world…. as I am out here in Spain expecting to post about the nuances of Spanish experience, and away-from-it-all rural niceties. With sporadic internet and therefore a less frenetic absorption of *wider* info.

Only to find East London’s new and cool fashion phenomena Lazy Oaf’s models and photographic team on a photo shoot in the village (look book and details soon!). And after a brief encounter with a number of Spanish plumbers (no that is NOT a euphemism) ; read my unfortunate yet timely connection with an errrrm not-so-rural-nicety and the current exhibition at the Wellcome Foundation London. Which, on similar lines to a number of recent posts here, offers a much closer insight into how we deal with waste from pre Victorian ignorance to our current product rife cleanliness and out of sight out of mind attitudes. To the current reclamation of 50 year old largely unregulated New York Land Fill, Fresh Fields.

So, during my almost internet-monastic few months here ( I did say almost ; ) it didn't come as too much of a surprise to find, out of the blue, an email from Nottingham designer Sarah Turner, pop into my inbox:

Sarah is an old favourite on this blog, having taken part in the Lives of Artists series with her innovative and sculptural re-use of plastic bottles which form wonderful, colourful and ethereal lighting.

 

Part of Sarah’s range of lighting, Bluebell and her green Sprite table lamp

 

Lily table lamp and Daisy ceiling adaptation

 

With Cola 30 (yup! 30 cola bottles used in the making!)

 

Sarah’s lighting installation at this years London Fashion Week

 

With her recent exhibition at Maison&Object in Paris AND being enlisted for her special lighting installation at London Fashion Week earlier this year. The following email content seemed a definite par for the course progression;

SodaStream uses eco artist, Sarah Turner’s recycled bottle sculpture in their latest campaign with British super model Erin O’Connor

I can only say this latest venture just totally fits in with the here and now, of what we do about waste and all the wider issues of consumption crisis, the economy and environment.

And, for the uninitiated, when Sodastream was a mere whippersnapper, us youngsters would go round to play at friends houses and sometimes find this latest gizmo of resounding drooling awe. An astute, ever-so-cool acquisition made by various tuned in mums and dads of the day. A glorious array of refillable glass bottles full of fruit syrups with the added bonus of the lava-lampesque design for the water-from-the-tap fizz dispenser The Sodastream!.

Original Sodastream circa 1960

A tap water aerated drinks idea first pioneered in the 1920’s taken to todays wide ranging and healthy options. 

 

A child's dream, a dads economical and possibly dental (for the late sixties anyway), fizzy drinks prayer answered. And a mums, how-to-keep-the-kids amused with easy to use 60’s space science all wrapped up in one ever so displayable package. (I know I’m using stereotypes here but it was back in the day!)

 

And it doesn't surprise me either that Sodastream should want to collaborate with Sarah and her recycled plastic bottles. As they were very much pioneering the idea of the economical use of product containers from the start. The syrups were the first of the super new concentrate concept and, if memory serves me correctly, refill sachets for the bottles to boot!. A great almost against the grain idea during the advent of mass consumer production.

 

Hot on the heels of this collaboration Sarah begins her current her exhibitions at Pulse, Earls Court in June from Sunday 5th to Tues 7th and she then moves onto Tent at the Truman Brewery Building during London’s Design Festival this September.

 

This collaboration has Sarah’s handmade spherical lighting from 562 recycled plastic bottles. And a perfect image to help communicate the message of 'A World Without Bottles' for Sodastream……..

 

Erin O’Connor with Sarah's creation

British supermodel Erin O’Connor holds the sphere symbolically on her shoulders, recreating the iconic pose of Greek God Atlas, highlighting the burden of the world's plastic bottle waste.

 

Sodastream’s campaign aims to reduce the amount of plastic bottles people buy, therefore reducing the amount that end up getting thrown away.

And, Erin O’Connor who wholeheartedly supports the campaign, added that, “We take plastic bottles for granted in our everyday lives but it’s easy to forget that plastic bottle overuse and wastage can clog up our landfill sites”.

 

Fiona Hope, Managing Director of Sodastream UK, also commented: “With so many environmental issues competing for the public’s attention, bottle waste often gets forgotten. Yet reducing the casual use of plastic bottles is one of the easiest, most impactful we can do for the environment.”

 

And as I said its not the first time Sarah’s bottle creations have caught the eye of the fashion world. Snapped here with her light installation for London Fashion week earlier, in February.

 

 

Sarah has a wide range of ‘bottle creations’ as mentioned here before, and all can be found on her website  www.sarahturner.co.uk .

Oasis range

 

To see her work up close, she will be exhibiting her recycled bottle lighting at these two fantastic exhibitions in London this year.  First up is Pulse at Earls Court in June Sunday thru Tuesday 5-6-7th and then onto her second year at Tent during London’s Design Festival in September held in the Truman Brewery from 22nd to 25th. 

 

 

back in a couple !….

Lives of Artists Series Two : The Designer Sarah Turner

 

 

Sarah Turner

 

 

I love all this new social media stuff, I keep stumbling across people and things that I probably never would have on an ordinary day, pre-social-internet-mingling, trolling through reams of web pdfs and word searches (urrrm what did I do exactly before twitter and the like ?)...... well you get the idea......

So it was with all this tweet and re-tweet stuff I came across Sarah Turner – literally in my backyard so to speak, she popped up in a competition she was entering under the Creative Nottingham Banner site for new designers.

 
One of Sarah's designs : Jasmine

What really intrigued me though were the images of Sarah’s work. On closer inspection I found out that her very sculptural and soft and clean line designs were in fact made from (I think) the most profuse and unacceptable side of the detritus of our daily lives; that of plastic packaging – or bottles to be precise. The stuff, that once produced takes aeon's to disintegrate and clogs and pollutes so many spaces. So much so it almost seems the norm for our landscapes to be this way (why is it I see so many people chuck stuff on the ground, out of cars, into rivers etc?). I do remember a purge by the council decades ago to *Keep Britain Tidy* - so much for *national pride* not that that should have anything to do with anything but even on that level there seems to be an apathy or disconnect with the result.

Still it takes big business and governments to influence by example sometimes and – well – times are tough, inconsequential things like excess packaging and what to do with it are quite frankly off the radar in terms of priority it seems.

Nothing really new there, if only for the fact that people who are involved or interested in what actually happens to waste and how it affects our environment and.... errrrr.... us !?! are not missing out on many great example-setters on that score.

Not sure how the funding of small start–ups are faring now either, especially with the direction of impending cuts but I can hazard a guess. I keep thinking about the Film Council closure and the precedent for an industry that is actually making a profit  £ for £, well £5 back for every £1 of funding, if that isn’t a good enough bet what is?. I know it’s not as simple as that and I have already delved into this in the first of these posts with Russell Noon who’s an independent film maker.

But the fact remains (aside from funding and we all know NHS and the like are far more crucial) that things are bound to be sidelined somewhat.

So even more reason to un-sideline!! 

 

Sarah with some of her designs!

 

I asked Sarah how she first got the bug;

“I have always designed and made things since I can remember.  So when it came to choosing a degree course at university it was clear to me that I should study design.  After I graduated I really wanted to continue designing and making my own work so I set up my own business selling handmade products from everyday waste materials.  I now have a website selling my products with sales enquiries from around the world.”

Part of the colourful Oasis range
 

And I'm sure Sarah would agree, It isn’t easy to start any pioneering design process without the well trodden dogma and the trial and tribulations of many before: The burgeoning ethical fashion industry coming out of Central St Martin’s and other UK Colleges will testify to that; five years ago if you wanted to design with certifiable organic and fair trade cotton – I believe - good luck!!!! was the general mantra. A tricky process that was convoluted and almost unmanageable from start to finish – all it took was someone to metaphorically sneeze un-organically over the product - and when detected by the certification process (and they would) it would be considered a void venture. Things are now, thanks to encouragement and more awareness within industry and education not so unattainable. And if you can’t make the 100% grade, recognition is given to the effort made rather than (as with the food industry) finding ways of saying what it actually isn’t.

Sarah believes that creating ethically sound products is a key motivator. “ I definitely am concerned about the environment and it is the main inspiration for my work.  The amount of rubbish that goes to landfill site is one of the most worrying things.  Here in the UK I think we are a bit behind some other countries with recycling but we have got a lot better in the past few years."

"I also find it a bit of a personal challenge, I think anyone could make something from new materials but it’s harder to make something from waste materials.  I love to make something from rubbish and people can’t tell it’s made from waste materials.  The novelty never wears out seeing peoples shock when they are told of the product’s origins.”

Lily table lamp
 

Although she went on to stress “It’s actually quite a difficult material to work with, you have to have a steady hand to cut the bottles up precisely and I have honed the skill over time.  You also need a lot of patience as some of the lights take a long time to make.”

  

Cola 30   (30 cola bottles used in the making)
 

 
Sarah has though by using a product already deemed to an extended life of rubbish after its short shelf life, by turning it into something else that is really usable, useful and beautiful,  taken the process one stage further than the recycle bin. Why though are we are still sadly lacking in the commitment compared to many other EU countries?. Sarah’s creations only serve to highlight even more, the possibilities of re-creating rather than *it* being some kind of alien technical recycling process which most of us probably imagine as a factory somewhere magically re-cycling into the great blue beyond. Reinforcing the idea of why can’t someone else pick all the bits out of the rubbish (thereby saving us from having to pick and un-mix in our busy and fast-food oriented lives). I know I’m being a bit sweeping here, and I'm probably one of the first who needs this fixing in my brain, but really unless encouraged, I think the message gets lost. Wasteful packaging and our denial of joining up the dots ie; someone else’s *job* or *responsibility* - is a mindset long past its wake-up call. And what better way than to actually show positively what can be done with that coca cola bottle that won’t squish down into the bin.

I asked Sarah what ultimately made her decide to design with used packaging and products?.

“I first started when I was at university when I wrote my dissertation about recycling in design.  I decided I wanted to make a product from everyday waste materials.  So I set about collecting all of mine and my housemates rubbish and I was shocked at the amount of plastic bottles we used.  Plastic is such a damaging material to the environment as well so I did a little research into how much was recycled and found that only 5.5% of plastic bottles are recycled in the UK.  So I decided that I would save a few of these bottles from the landfill sites and make something useful out of them.”

 

 
Daisy table lamp

Daisy ceiling adaptation

 

A wow factor here, not least because Sarah has done this as an entrepreneur, she has also honed her skill.  This is a can-do-able thing and, when contrasted with big corporate’s new ventures the ability for the small start-up-would-be designer, or I-have-an-idea-would-be designer, have been in the past invariably put off by the capital outlay. Usually because plastic based moulded products or similar would require minimum runs of 500 or so with denaro’s $$$ to match and a guaranteed market to recoup your investment.  Not really the thing of small *lets test the market* start-ups.

Sarah’s work shows in so many ways that it is possible to un-do, if you like, some of the potential damage, re-do it by yourself, design with beauty and durability in mind, and with an eye for your business. A positive, and in one fell swoop reachable idea that encourages thoughts like, if she can do that – maybe I can do this ; no mean feat in these times of not much on the horizon for many.

 

So stuff make do and mend bring on the re-do and create!! 

In Sarah’s words; “The Cola lighting range is the best, with my signature piece being the Cola 10, named as it reused 10 Coca Cola bottles.  The bottles are attached to a base made from recycled card and are secured using their own bottle top.  It was one of the first products I made from plastic bottles so it’s definitely the favourite. But I do have a few other products still on the drawing board.  I would love to design a make-it-yourself kit which would enable people to recycle their own waste at home and make their own creative recycled product.”

Cola 10

Cola 30 by day!

 

As we speak Sarah has just returned from exhibiting at the Maison et Objet show in Paris this week. The exhibition is, with the presence of Philippe Starck amongst its organisers, rapidly becoming one of the most innovative design forums for new designers. Giving a well deserved heads up to new and relevant design for the 21st century.

 
Sarah’s lighting collections have also been exhibited at the Ideal Home Show in London, coming second place in their Innovation Nation competition.

And more recently a selection of her products were shown in Milan during this year’s Furniture Fair.  Her products were selected by not for profit organisation H20 along with a hand full of other designers from around the globe.

 

Eco blog, Inhabitat spotted her designs and Sarah's lights won their annual ‘Spring Greening’ competition.  The final designs were up against 22 other designers from around the globe and the winner was decided by a public vote.  Inhabitat then exhibited a selection of Sarah’s lamps at the ‘Dwell on Design’ exhibition in LA.

 

Such a great achievement for this young business!!.

 


Green Sprite table lamp

and by day!

 

Sarah describes how she approaches each individual design:

   


"Coca Cola and Sprite bottles are reused in this decorative lighting range. The bottles are sandblasted then cut and formed into beautiful shapes.  Each piece is then attached to a recycled card base and secured using their own bottle top."

 
 

Bluebell

"A variety of two litre drinks bottles are recycled to create this gorgeous lighting range above. Water bottles, standard fizzy drinks bottles and green Sprite bottles are all used which leads to some very different looks. After the bottles are collected and cleaned they are sandblasted to give an opaque look. They are then formed around lampshade rings in beautiful patterns."

Oasis Colours

"These little table lamps are made from a single 500ml Oasis plastic drinks bottle.  They are a simple yet stylish miniature version of their Cola cousins." 
 

 

All available on-line at www.sarahturner.com with shipment worldwide, and Sarah can be contacted at info@sarahturner.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 Back next Thursday 16th with my favourite Nottingham Gallery owner George Thornton of Cuadros and his thoughts on Art, the business of selling and critical direction.

Plus George happens to be hosting a new show starting on the 24th of this month by another artist mentioned in the very first of the series ; Matt Jordan (who I happened to meet a few months ago at Louise Starkey's group exhibition Stop Robbing The Rich  - when he very kindly gave me a packet of smarties! )  see relevant art below! 

 

Matt Jordan's : Dyeing of Hirst

Lives of Artists Series Two

 

 

So after a rainy/sunny/sunny/rainy hiatus I’m leaving my brolly in the porch (for now!) and I'm back with a brand new series of Lives of Artists.

I have been hugely impressed and inspired by the tenacity and enthusiasm from the artists on board so far. And this next series proves no-less impassioned.

And so first up with his timely and positive contribution is from Independent film maker Russell Noon.

Part of Russells latest film : Lighthouse Scene from The Wizard and The Werewolf ; Ian Attfield and Sam Jarvis (Actors)

I say timely because while he was typing away on his keyboard joining in this series, the news broke about the closure of the UK Film Council. Without going into too much detail here about monies, funding and necessities like the NHS (very true). I am more than a wee bit gob-smacked at the thinking behind any council’s closure especially the arts, so this can’t help but create a woah!!!-stop-and-take-stock moment.

To hear more on this and Russell's thoughts along with his new independent film venture The Wizard and The Werewolf, which was filmed in the North of England and based in Sheffield; tune into the first in the series starting this Thursday 26th in a once-a-week-look at Lives of Artists.

Amongst the other artists who will be sharing their views and ideas on how they keep their own creative processes going with the impact of day jobs (please note; I'm saying the word job with tentative reassurance here), location, the different types of creative-business opportunities already in place or inspired by the artists themselves  -  and there are some pretty novel ideas! - there are some varied and interesting insights emerging. All of them tuned into what its like to be a creative today:  

Also included is Jennifer Dalton who first arrived on my metaphorical radar a few months ago when I noticed a blurb in an ArtNet tweet mentioning a project being launched called #class to be held at Ed Winklemans gallery in New York; the brief being all about artists and the chasm of social, and economic divides which could alienate or excluded large groups of artists outside art-centric cities such as the one Jennifer lives in, New York. The project was a huge success (as mentioned in previous posts!) in its ability to cut through those areas of gender, class, location and gatekeeper style exclusivity, through informed, positive and lively debates.

Are Times of Recession Good for Art? part of Jennifer Dalton is a Scientist - Not!

Smack Melon Gallery NY, March-April 2008

Jen and William (Powhida) amongst others put a lot of impassioned effort into the making of that project which is why I went straight to her when I initially started thinking of doing these posts about artists and how the reality of their lives impacted on creating their work.

So, Russell and Jen (who's latest here called Making Sense is at Flag Art Foundation) will be joined by;

Beyond the Valley the entrepreneurial St Martin’s Graduate’s fashion outlet-come-gallery-space in London’s Soho, 5 years on from inception.

Beyond The Valley's Newburgh Street, W1 (Soho) shop and gallery space

 

Fresh from degree photographer Zoe Boundry who is enthusiastic but at the same time anticipatory and pragmatic about her future.

Zoe Boundry's Summerfield's series

 

Sarah Turner’s innovative start-up in Nottingham recycling plastic bottles; an eco artist & designer making beautiful products from waste materials.  Her latest creations are decorative lighting products made from waste plastic drinks bottles. The bottles are collected from cafes and households then they are cleaned and sandblasted.  With some clever cutting they are then transformed into decorative forms, totally unrecognisable from their original state.

One of Sarah Turners lighting designs

And a new gallery owner also in Nottingham at Cuadros who has, after being involved in London's commercial art scene for 10 years started his own small outlet with a view to nurturing the artists he finds; having a direction which is artist driven rather than market led.

George Thornton's Cuadros Gallery in Hockley Nottingham

 

Along with these are more artists, including Errol, a Nottingham musician who has recently changed his music style and set up his own business selling insurance so he can work his studio time around that. An artist who designs theatre-sets as his day job. And Norwegian sculptor Gunnar Fretheim, who lectures at Trondheim's Art and Media Studies to keep family and art/work in balance along with the ideas he generates with his students. These and many more artists in the mix.......

 

 

Starting this Thursday 26th August with Russell Noon, Independent Film Maker

 

 

Hiatus Time!

 

Taking a bit of a hiatus over the next week(ish) and will be back starting with a brand new series of Lives of Artists.
I’m looking forward to this cos there are some really interesting people onboard with different and enlightening ways of how they manage to show their creativity.

So enjoy the rain/sun hopefully in equal proportions to your holiday/work /whatever status ie; rain’s fine when you’re not in it!

And I will back on Wednesday 18th August with some interesting stories!

 

Hasta!!

 

Something's Happening

 

Better, Better, Best!

 

 

 

Don’t get me wrong I don’t think this phenomenon ever went away. But something special seems to be happening on my own metaphorical doorstep in Nottingham.

 

A while ago my local centrally placed Chinese supermarket had to up sticks and relocate in the advent of *redevelopment* Nottingham City style. So they logically went to a space in the Hockley area of Nottingham – I know I’ve mentioned before but this area has always been just ever so slightly off the beaten shopping mall track and with rents apropos.

 

Hockley Village;  Goose Gate

In a nutshell this has always attracted entrepreneurial and individual styles of spaces, shops, cafes, restaurants, deli’s including art-house cinema art-theatre and a writers studio. And also the new(ish) Jam Cafe, a super relaxed music venue with open mic night and some comedy in the offing.

 

In short the stuff of creativity.

 

 

The Oriental Food Market (as was Hanson’s) is now firmly ensconced and doing roaring trade in the middle of Hockley Village. So out on a mission for noodles, Vermont curry and some Callibee Okonomiyaki flavour crisps - and seriously, if you’ve never had you have missed out! even if you don’t like crisps! – don’t know the exact translation but mine is T.A.S.T.Y.

 

Ok, so shopping accomplished, I was caught by a shop sign literally just off the main route through Hockley, and meandering over looked into the window and saw – well it reminded me of something innovative I would see in Barcelona or similar – interesting shoes (including children’s)  - I knew it had a mix of stuff from the window but on looking inside the shop the shapes, designs, male female – it didn’t matter – it just looked fresh and refreshing!.

 

 

 

I meant to take some photos of the window display and urrm forgot cos I was too busy nattering with the owner, but will be sure to enlighten you with images when I do a futher post!

These photos will have to suffice for now, taken on my coffee table although I think they all work quite well!

 

Lilac Komodo t

Back detail

 

I spent some time talking with the owner Neil Echo who will be in the next series of Lives of Artists. I’m really excited about that too because this guy is so interesting, not only is he well into his designs and designers, he has an eye on the world (of art, music, design and everything that meets ) which coupled with his experiences create a unique vision and it shows within his shop/studio space. The stuff of chilled energy springs to mind here.

 

Komodo dress (tried to drape it from my mirror)

Side detail

 

And the shop is just about that kind of energy – Neil was talking and arranging stuff with a bunch of designers when I walked in and the feeling was good. Later he summed it up saying;

“I listen to the designers and artists who come in I‘ve been in the business of getting creativity out there  (designers, art, music, etc) for a few years now and I will never patronise the younger designers who have ideas and enthusiasm.

I can help facilitate – be their voice if you like”.

 

Fish and Flowers uv print t

 

And I thought Yes!! here is another artist /shop space owner who is actively involved with his designers;

Not the glass ceiling/door stand –offs, of so many business of late (who really do only see the bottom dollar) – which has dampened a lot of enthusiasm of budding creatives, who actually become just that; falling on tried and trusted methods, morphs of a style that works or will work (ie; brings in the cash).

 

 

One of Neil’s designers (Jordan Henry) hung around and showed me his hand painted t shirts and hoodies (really! not just a dawb and a price tag) with them being painterly-hand-painted, wearable and certainly affordable. These too as with everything in the shop spelled individuality, creativity and quality and the items including Jordan’s being so individual as the shops name suggests, Xample; were exactly that, one offs.

 

One of Jordan's many diverse, original and expressive tops

 

I so had my eye on a pretty and beautifully detailed top which as a one and only, I reluctantly had to leave cos of a buttons-not-meeting-in-the-middle thing. But I also had my eye on some of Komodo's creations, whom Neil also shows. Which seems appropriate as he is also very much on Joe Komodo’s wave length, with people and planet in mind (ie; all Komodo’s stuff is SKAL certified and part of the Netherlands Madeby organisation). But not just a nod in that direction a personal genuine embrace and ethic within the company itself.

 

The Komodo top I had my eye on

The detailed back

 

And Jordan’s Halfmoon Project too, is going to be so worth delving deeper in a later post.

 

Halfmoon project; hand painted hooded top, In My Mind I Am Here

 

 

I think I was just so blown away to see ummmm something happening, not just in one space but several, all relatively at the same time – and this seems a wider thing - not just in Nottingham.

Hockley seems to be having its phoenix moment in so much as it’s mojo never really went away, but of late this has somehow become much more than the sum of its parts.

 

Businesses in Hockley have been around for yonks like the Deli, The Market Bar (well-trendy in its inception) the Juggling Shop (yes it’s been there through thick and thin), rubbing shoulders with a really cool new guitar shop, a no-nonsense noodle bar that does really good food, a super inventive interiors shop that never seems to go away (they also let me do sketches when doing foundation years ago) and as a customer although welcome, access to American Express Black/Gold style cards would be much more handy - and no, unfortunately ones with fish motifs are not on that list.

 

Centre of Hockley Village; where Carlton Street, Broad Street and Goose Gate meet

 

Nearly all independent and spaces with personality.

 

The sort of feeling that this is generating is a special-ness that can’t be recreated in any shopping mall or retail park:

I will use that word again! Personality!!

 

And boy do we need it!

 

Back on Wednesday

 

 

 

I'll Huff and I'll Puff And I'll Blow Your House Down!

 

 

 

 

 

This isn’t strictly about art but the area of architecture which I'm highlighting here, seems to be showing most graphically how other areas right through science, design and the arts could pay heed with attention focused on long term development, in thinking at least.

 

I heard today that the June figures for growth in industry had been unexpectedly higher than anticipated followed by the usual newsy stance; and now here is the bad news .........(that was before all the announced cuts) etc.,etc.

But apparently one industry has been showing more stamina than others in, surprisingly I thought, construction – but what do I know!.

 

Really I suppose I was surprised because of the stagnation of new homes being built and new ones being left empty to rot, unsold or in debt – and this is right across the *house buying* globe.

No-end of sorry tales have been told of people investing (why is it always investing?) in a bought home only to find the development has collapsed financially or similar and they are left without, or a half built home or the only one bought and occupied on a ghost estate. Again this is well documented all over Europe the States and the UK. Europe until recently compared to the UK didn’t buy as a rule; homes were generally rented.

A typical ghost estate in Ireland

image courtesy Friends of the Irish Environment

 

 

But recently the home became a commodity of vast financial proportions, a far cry from post war (WW2) beginnings when a job was for life with a pension and to buy your own home was feasible with that cost spread over time. Then it all went a bit?? Crazy.

I know this is all a bit hindsight but the social intention portrayed was essentially good, but I also I think had a subliminal message; to enable people to mimic what *the landed gentry* had been doing for years - only at more affordable prices, but none the less a lifestyle choice. Someone somewhere made a lot of money from this type of lending on such a large scale.

 

 

A typical ‘60’s estate home – usually a short walk to the shops, a park and schools. Roads being different were more child and bike friendly. Not everything was rose-tint perfect though; different lifestyles left many *housewives* eughh! feeling isolated coupled with rising aspirational expectations and a keep-up-with-the-Jones's culture (think Abigails Party).

image courtesy retrowow blog

So, anyway it is good to hear that construction is not past its sell by date and that things are still being built, just.

 

I say this because homes are so important for a social sense of well being. Let's face it we need them; I imagine anyone on any of those ghost estates that are rotting and left unattended or unfinished would agree. A well thought out design and community plan is uppermost to creating the glue for a functioning neighbourhood.

Architects have always known this and have been striving to embrace the new with that social aspect for decades. Look at Milton Keynes the butt of so many jokes, too many really, for a completely post war new town to have suffered. Now its main original shopping centre is a designated grade two type listed building – in an effort to stave off developers tweaking it into a morph of our modern day malls of units and shop space revenue. Milton Keynes was originally designed as a public space to be used by the public for events as well as shopping, a covered and glass ceilinged space for all seasons with water features and communal seating.

 

 

The Centre, Milton Keynes

image: wikipedia

Many just didn’t like the shape – but hey that’s life; the essence of a social space was there. Whereas the shapes of modern buildings may look pleasing but so often the social aspect is missing from the architects minds ; the architectural and developers equivalent of bums on seats.

 

 

Now seems a perfect opportunity to take stock of these issues that over the past decade have for example escalated to see so many rabbit warren type inner city developments – sorry Inner City Dwellings – for young and trendy urbanites. Not complaining – I can’t I lived in one - albeit rented and I definitely agree the cities have been transformed into living breathing spaces, not empty as they used to be after everyone had vacated the offices, factories and shops.

 

 

 

Luxury inner city apartments

 

More typical with space usually compromised and noise even with super-sound-proof windows can be a problem ; prices never compromised until recently.

 

 

 

 

But the developers of late have had only one thing on their mind; more buck for their bang. Property as a form of printing money. Not content with just making a profit but as a speculative gamble. We know this already though; the home no longer being a home but a pile of bricks and mortar to hedge your bets with.

 

Definition : property ladder ; as safe as houses as roulette gets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again the stuff of 20/20 vision, but, now more than ever places like CAT ; The Centre for Alternative Technology are turning into beacons of how our architectural endeavours right through the industry should be nurtured.

CAT started out in the ‘70’s (when the economy was also well-dodgy) . Ok it was on the wave of a vague hippy idea that the environment was not all it was cracked up to be and oil was not a guaranteed commodity. So a series of hands on architectural programs and projects were amassed over the years; a living and work-in-progress kind of educational journey for the institution, with buildings and design taking on from where one project left off, incorporating new ideas and technology and basically evolving a core of experience. Paying most attention to the things that worked while at the same time still looking at new and also the original ideas which on their first attempt didn’t seem to work.

A form of logical embrace; technology, environmental ideas and issues ensued. Not from a fanatical or one-sided idealist approach, although they are keen to point out that it is from a holistic and environmentally sustainable one – so by default has certain criteria.

 

Their current building project is a duel-run affair alongside the Wales Institute for Sustainable Environment also with years of research and knowledge in this area.

 

A sneak preview of the WISE / CAT building

 

 

Originally run as a cooperative although now some academics earn the going rate CAT has many layers of expertise as shown with the integrated building project above. And the founder was an ex-Etonian scholar, so there you go - even more reason to invest public money in quality education for all!.

 

 

 

As far as a healthy outlook for society goes, I think nurturing long term ideas and projects like these can only bear fruit. Quick fix, get rich quick solutions to social housing, whether public or private, public spaces and their buildings is no-longer the way to go. Ok so buildings that have money thrown at the architects are more likely to come up trumps structurally and *aesthetically* :

But good design and architecture at a grass roots level needs a physical space to evolve and for too long the bean-counters have dictated the hell out of the social aspects, reducing to nothing more than a superficial gesture dressed up as a grand price for a pile of bricks. That, in spite of all the eco friendly global warming hinters and indeed deniers, has had very slow uptake and little real effect in an industry so crucial to our long term well being.

 

 

 

What ever gets built out of this recession should give more than a passing nod to the CAT Institute and similar long term projects of this world, which have spent years learning by design and fit for purpose products based on far sighted thinking. Not the want it now - cheapest bottom line to maximise profits dressed up as the Emperor’s New Clothes!.

 

 

 

 

 

 

back Wednesday........

 

Plastic Plastic Plastic

Revered and Reviled; Plastic The Legacy






As my art work has increasingly involved all sorts of organic, inorganic and synthetic matter. And as I have been balancing their uses with earth and human related conundrums and evolutions whether historical pre industrial ones, or brand new.

Plastic has to be one of the most revered and reviled products to have entered into our scope of man-made things short of the discovery of oil.

Remember seeing the fairly well documented start out of the Plastiki? The vessel hewn and shaped and bolstered with thousands of plastic bottles? When David de Rothschild (as from the Banking family) set out on this project I remember first hearing about it a couple of years ago, when they were initially designing the vessel.


Plastiki

 

Plastiki catamaran : image courtesy of Seawayblog

The idea being to voyage from San Francisco past Hawaii and Samoa to Sydney through what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch;

a vortex of bits of plastic detritus which has gathered in the slow moving centre of the Pacific circular currents.

One of many illustrations and drawings by the expeditions artists : Sophie Henson

image courtesy Plastiki's amazing full on blog, twitter and video/photo update site (if a little slow with all the imagery)



Quite frankly at the time I thought what a brilliant concept (almost art!). The vessel made from plastic being aided by plastic, travelling in a pioneering way through all this mulch that refuses to go away. On the same route that the Kon-Tiki took a nearly 3/4 of a century earlier. Similar styles of travel completely; different results.

The Kon-Tiki apparently was following the earlier routes of travellers from North America to the Antipodes. A route which according to Nick Thom a professor from Nottingham University, in an unrelated book documenting his fascination with The Origin of Tongues believes to be a significant sea faring link in part of the global route of morphing language and so forming a map of migration and seafaring/agricultural settlement with products and trade.

We have taken a long time to get where we are, but apparently the plastic phenomenon in this area of sea has only been recognised for 12 years but it is BIG.

Not just floating on the surface in an area the size of The North Sea, but down into the oceans depths, tiny, tiny fragments which work their way back through the food chain.

 

illustration by Andrew Ray courtesy Plastiki

And we use so much of the stuff! . How useful it is! Mr Tupperware made a fortune out of the stuff. And now even the food halls who pertain to free-range this and organic-that please buy a reusable bag at the checkout, still go into overdrive when it comes to useless packaging (M&S you know who you are!).

Did anyone see the Stark series on design?  Well apart from the usual tv design school competition type stuff he did make one point very, very clear to all has students. THAT OF UNNECESSARY PACKAGING.

Local artist Sarah Turner has also set up in business recycling plastic bottles not dissimilar to the ones shoring up the Plastiki:

An eco artist & designer making beautiful products from waste materials.  Her latest creations are decorative lighting products made from waste plastic drinks bottles.

The bottles are collected from cafes and households then they are cleaned and sandblasted.  With some clever cutting they are then transformed into decorative forms, totally unrecognisable from their original state.

A use that is meant to last far longer than it takes to drink a bottle of sprite and chuck it in the sea!

More Please!!

Sarah Turners Lighting : Daisy above and Lily below

 

And there will be more! as Sarah joins in a more in-depth article in the continuing series The Lives of Artists. With her thoughts on how she started her business and her experience in an area of industrial design which, like fashion, is still burgeoning out of dogma.

Sarah on one of her plans for the future;

“I am still designing and making new lighting products made from waste plastic drinks bottles but I do have a few other products still on the drawing board.  I would love to design a make-it-yourself kit which would enable people to recycle their own waste at home and make their own creative recycled product.”

A new series of Lives of artists is coming soon; this time looking at fresh and exiting NY artist Jen Dalton, the entrepreneurial Central St Martin's graduates fashion outlet-come-gallery-space of Beyond The Valley in London’s Soho, 5 years on from inception. Fresh from degree photographer Zoe Boundry and Sarah Turner's very innovative start-up.

All with different accounts, experiences and solutions! in the business of creativity.

Back on Sunday !............