Sherry

I was lucky enough to go to Firstsite gallery in Colchester this week, they were mid way through changing the main exhibitions, so there wasn’t as much art as I would of liked.

I did get to see one really cool exhibition focusing on the works of thirteen printmakers, including Oswaldo Goeldi, Livio Abramo, Antonio Henrique Amaral, Olga Blinder, Nemesio Antunez and other key practitioners from the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

It showcases work from a period when printing enjoyed a prominent position in art education, as well as in national and international exhibition circuits, and when debates about the medium’s artistic status, and the uptake of abstraction by printers, were hotly contested.

Also the building itself is awesome.

This week the Sherry team have been playing a game of Heads, Bodies and legs, or ‘Exquisite Corpses’.

Exquisite corpses (cadavre exquis) was developed by French surrealists in the 1920’s. It was also more recently used to especially grotesque effect by the Chapman brothers in 2000.

The game is played by a number of people, each drawing a section of body, then covering it for the next person to draw without being able to see what has been drawn so far.

Here are our (perhaps not so) exquisite creations:

It’s very busy at Sherry HQ and so we are hiring a Junior Designer. If you think you have what it takes to join our team then please download this job description. We look forward to hearing from you.

Don’t you just love it when you find a treasure, most unexpectedly? While browsing through strange household objects in TK Maxx, I stumbled upon this incredibly lovely little book by Keri Smith – Mess, The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes.

As designers we are encouraged to experiment and think freely, but under everyday time pressures it is hard to justify ballsing things up just for the heck of it. And if you’re a precious and meticulous designer like me (I am being kind to myself here – I am a control freak), just the thought of making a mess of things makes breathing quite difficult.

Through written instructions, and black and white photography and illustrations, the book takes you on a journey by suggesting all sorts of ways to lose control – ‘Rub some dirt on your elbow and lean here’, ‘Fill the page with anything you can crumble’, and ‘Bury this book. After three days, dig it up’ are just a few of my favourites.

Along side these are helpful references for further reading: Buckminster Fuller, Chinese Calligraphy and Bruno Munari are just some recommendations of who weren’t afraid of more than a little experimentation themselves.

Now all I need to do is have the guts to deface the book – something I was always told not to do as a child. I thought about going back to buy the second copy in the shop – keep one nice and use the other to make a mess – but somehow I don’t think this is entirely the point. If you fancy having a go yourself, or taking a look at Keri Smith’s other adventurous books, they’re all available here on Amazon.

In 1969, a young brave boy, named Jerry Levitan strolled into a hotel room to one of the most critically acclaimed artists of the time, John Lennon.

Armed with a tape recorder Jerry began to charm the star into an interview about peace, music the USA and the Bee Gees. Nearly 40 years later, Levitan revealed the interview to the world.

I Met the Walrus is a beautifully animated journey through the interview, in which Lennon’s original voiceover comes to life. James Braithwaite and Alex Kurina are the talented artists behind the illustrations.

Levitan’s once-in-a-lifetime Lennon adventure is now available in book form.