Humber Street Sesh

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Humber Street Sesh was a recent local event, organised within a relatively short amount of time – with massive success! What could possibly be better than a free live art and music event? It was a fantastic event, which brought together veterans and newcomers of the art and music community in Hull. There was a massive array of talent on display, and I for one seriously loved the creative atmosphere. Fingers crossed they do another event next year!

I was invited along to this event – spur of the moment – by my lovely friends Jason and Dean. Jason has been involved in the local art andmusic scene for quite a while now, so he knew practically everyone there! I’m very happy that they invited me along, it sure beat being sat in on a hot, sunny day!  Art, music, fast food and cider sure sounded like a much more appealing alternative. Not long after we arrived, I bumped into my tutor Gareth (http://apopheniainc.wordpress.com/), whilst he was creating a live art piece. There was a group of people, busy at work, and it was fascinating to watch!

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I never realised prior to this event, just how big the local creative scene is! It dawned upon me as we travelled further and further down Humber Street, and became immersed in waves of people – old, and young. An all manner of subcultures and artistic genres were present: Aging Punks, Indie kids, Hippies, Gothic and Alternative, Expressionist, Surrealist, and many more! It was also nice to see some very young faces wandering around with their parents, having a good afternoon.

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To be honest with all of you, I don’t think that Dean had ever seen anything quite like it! I for one, have never had the chance to attend a street art festival before, so this was a nice new discovery for me. If there are any other similar days to this on at other venues, then I will definitely take a look into them. Hopefully, if they run another event like this, I can organise something and get much more involved with the artistic side. I have so many ideas buzzing around my head already for some live art!

The one thing that excited me the most during the days proceedings, was finding out that Garth Merenghi’s: DARK PLACE was going to be playing at a future CULT TV event at FRUIT. My love for this venue, at that precise moment, increased tenfold. I am an absolute die-hard fan of the series, and make a point of watching it whenever it is on TV. Seeing that the immortal classic THE ROOM was also going to be shown, sweetened the deal moreso.

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I was particularly fascinated by the Graffiti artists which were attending. The pure, unimaginable skill which they used whilst spray-painting their art was really quite something to behold. Now, I myself am not a painter – in any sense of the word. So watching someone with an adept skill at the medium was a real treat. The variation in styles from the different contributors was interesting as well. They covered practically the entire spectrum by the end of the event.

My favorite section of the wide canvas that they used, was the Monster Spray Can, situated to the right. It was profoundly detailed, as well as being heavily stylised, which I thought was an unusual and incredibly successful combination. The spectral colours surrounding it in the background were incredibly beautiful too, and gave a nice touch to the overall image.

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Of course, what would a festival be without fast food vans? There was a fantastic array of food on all along the street, catering to different tastes. At the furthest end, there was the most amazing Crepe Van – sweet chilli and mushroom – what a taste sensation! First of all though, we each had to go with the all around Great British traditional favorite, and have some Chips (mine being smothered in brown sauce). It went perfectly with my half-pint of Cider that Jason so generously bought me! (Which reminds me, I still owe the man a drink…)

If I had to rate the food on offer at this festival, it would be a straight up 9 or 10. Utterly spot on! My tummy was veritably satisfied. Now, here’s yours truly enjoying her healthy breakfast, haha!

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Still going with the theme of food, there was an Ice Cream Van parked up at one side of the road, down the street…which had a very questionable phrase written across the front of it. This caused more than a few choice giggles and murmurs from onlookers and passers by. What do you all think? Just me? No?

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The music which was on offer was in every sense of the word: Brilliant. The event was heavily booked with bands of various genres, particularly the more Indie sounding bands of the local area. We stayed in FRUIT for most of the day, as it had several bands which we were each already fans of on the bill. One of these bands included one which had Dean’s brother in it, on guitar. The instrumental composition by this band was fantastic. Incredibly re-listenable stuff. FRUIT itself was (and is) a brilliant venue – apart from the massive queues to get into the bathroom, haha! They were ludicrous!

It was also quite nice to bump into a few farmiliar faces from the NGW Team in the venue. In fact, we bumped into a surprising amount of friendly faces whilst we were there, which only further added to the wicked atmosphere. There were also tutors, classmates, work colleagues and a large amount of family in attendance.

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Taking a break from the music (we wanted to waste time before seeing the amazing FONDA 500) we met up with Iffy, and had took to the Crepe Van for some of those delicious sweet chilli dishes, before engaging ourselves in some live art. Granted, neither Iffy or I had come prepared, so we literally had a pencil between us, and a pot of paint generously supplied to us by an incredibly drunk man who was watching. Iffy is a much more seasoned artist than I am, so his piece turned out much better than mine did. Next time, I’ll definitely come prepared!

I volunteered to go first. I rummaged around in my bag for a good few minutes before pulling out Old Reliable (my mechanical pencil – the only pencil I EVER use), and cracking on with some doodling. I decided to draw Jason, in a tshirt saying “Remember the 90’s” – as the 90’s were a topic which we were discussing at length all day. I tried drawing a demonic goat-faced demon as well, but my art mojo really just wasn’t working after all of those generously donated ciders. Iffy, drew and painted a fantastic looking decorative squid next to my art, and completely (excuse the pun) blew it out of the water.

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Finally, the best part of my night, was getting to watch FONDA 500, front row. What a mind-blowing bunch of performers – they really know how to work a crowd up into a frenzy! This was my first time seeing them, and they were just as good as – if not better – than Jason had made them out to be! A big thankyou to him for introducing me to their music! Every single song was really up-beat and and brought on some really good vibes throughout the venue and the streets outside. The lead singer was incredibly funny – and I have to say, he has a very fine taste in hats. In fact, all of the band had a really good rapport on stage. Each of the band members looked so unique, and were wonderful at what they did. 10 / 10 all the way.

I managed to get this really close-up shot of the lead singer whilst I was stood in the front row. Definitely one for the albums to look back at in the future!

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Peace out for now, people!

Spring Awakening Collaboration

It has certainly been a bust Summer for me already! During the past two-and-a-half months since I’ve broken up from University, it has been non-stop requests and commission work from various people and businesses. It has been really nice (albeit a little bit hectic) being so in demand! This isall quite new to me – but either way, I am absolutely loving this creative streak, and I’m getting so much portfolio work done because of it.

After I had completed the t-shirt commission for James Ramon Baker (director and starring role in the local production of “Spring Awakening”), and seeing my work debuted in a professional setting, I was asked to contribute more towards this theatre production. James commissioned me to create an individual drawing of each of the actors / characters in the musical. These would go towards being put on an album cover for the cast recording (which is available for purchase now from Hull Truck Theatre).

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As well as being grouped together on the cover, each individual character has been put on individual pages in the inside booklet. In total, there were 16 individual characetrs drawn for the cover (one character had to be re-drawn due to an innacuracy in the costume). Each character was drawn separately, and edited together for the full group image using editing software. They were drawn up and coloured using my standard tools:

• Mechanical Pencil
• 0.8 Pigment Ink Fineliner
• Copic Markers

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ROW #01:

• Fraulein Knuppeldick
• Wendla Bergman
• Melchior Gabor
• Herr Knochenbruch

ROW #02:

• Martha
• Ilsa
• Moritz Stiefel
• Georg

ROW #03:

• Rupert
• Ernst
• Hanschen
• Otto

ROW #04:

• Dieter
• Anna
• Ulbrecht
• Thea

Hope you enjoy those little doodles! Thanks to those being commissioned, I’ve gotten many more requests since! One of my payments for doing this project for “Spring Awakening”, was free entry to the local production of “Footloose” – which was equally as amazing! Anyway, I’ll keep you all updated on the projects I participate in in the coming weeks! For now, enjoy a preview of the cast recording! If you like it, please don’t hesitate to buy a copy!

An Afternoon at the “Hull Maritime Museum”

During another glorious day a few weeks ago, Alex (http://mrteaandcreamcrumpets.wordpress.com/) our classmate Callum (http://lastshadow21.wordpress.com/) and myself, went on a trip to another local museum. We saw this as another excellent chance to accumulate ideas for the “Documentary” project for our second year at University. I assumed my role as the snap-happy member of our group, as we made our way around the museum and its exhibits.

Local museums prove to be excellent sources of ready inspiration for this project, and I am really currently enjoying learning some local history. Seeing as Hull was famous for its fishing industry back in the day, it seems like a good option to take for this assignment. It would also give the city some much needed exposure too. I want to look at other places around Hull too, such as the “Street Life Museum” and the wonderful “Ferens Art Gallery” located in the town centre.

Here is a selection of the best examples of the many, many, many photos that I took during the course of the afternoon. Please enjoy!

FISH AND CHIPS!!!

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THE MUSEUM

“Spring Awakening” Tshirt Commission

Referring back to my previous post on “Spring Awakening” (“Spring Awakening” @ Hull Truck Theatre), I was commissioned by the lead actor (and director) of the production, to create a tshirt design for him, which he intended to use in the final performance of the show. I have since been commissioned again by James Ramon-Baker to create several designs for a potential CD cover, for the “Cast Recording” Album which will be released soon.

He had previously asked me to create the tshirt design, but the intention to use it in one of the performances was decided upon after I had actually finished making it. It was created as a one-off use piece (as I did not have any access to decent fabric pens at the time) with Crayola felt-tips purchased at Tesco. He stated that he wanted the title of the production on the tshirt, with a “Chibi-esque” portrait of his character on the front, surrounding red font saying “Blah” multiple times, and the phrase “Totally Fu**ed” scrawled across the back (in reference to one of the songs). James supplied the tshirt for the project, free of charge.

I say “Chibi-esque”, as my stylised form of caricature has roots in the “Japanese Manga” style. The style was originally similar to the generic sort of “Chibi” look, but has since evolved into my own aesthetic over time – for example, the large, empty, white eyes. The design of these stylised portraits has, over recent months, proved very popular with people in the local alternative community, and various people and projects as far as Nottingham and Sheffield. This has made me immensely proud, and I am looking forward to other collaborations and ventures using them in the days and months to come!
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THE FINISHED DESIGN

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FRONT DESIGN

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BACK DESIGN

“Spring Awakening” @ Hull Truck Theatre

I recently had the absolute pleasure of attending a local student performance of “Spring Awakening” – a controversial “Alt Rock Musical” based on the 19th century play by Frank Wedekind. The play was originally banned due to its graphic subject matter, and scenes of a sexual nature. It was performed by students (ranging from ages 15 to 22) and colleagues of “The Northern Theatre School / Northern Theatre Company” (http://www.northerntheatreschool.co.uk/pages/home-page-northern-theatre-company.html) and ran from the 30th of May to the 2nd of June at the “Hull Truck Theatre” (www.hulltruck.co.uk/home), and I attended two of the performances – it was just that good!

I was particularly drawn to watching this play – not only because of the fantastic musical score – but because of several friends being involved in the production and performances. My flatmate Craig was asked to participate in “Spring Awakening” as a swing quite far into the production, so he had to learn the play through and through in a relatively short space of time, and take on several of the singing roles and harmonies (as well as learning some of the choreography). His role was never defined as such, but he is down in the program as “Otto”.

James Ramon-Baker was not only the director of the performance, but also played the lead role of “Melchior Gabor”. He did a damn fine job of putting together a fantastic example of entertainment for everyone! He is a considerably new acquaintance, but nonetheless has been a delight to meet and get to know! I actually saw him perform in a musical prior to this one, which was for his final year of University: “Little Women” (of which Craig was also taking part in as a swing), and thoroughly enjoyed that too, so I had already gained high hopes for “Spring Awakening”.

Of the two performances I went to during the shows run, I was accompanied both times by Jen – the lovely girlfriend of Mr. Baker. Both times, we were sat (essentially) on the front row, which was incredibly lucky! Both of us found it hilarious and quite surreal, when some younger attendees sat behind us voiced (quite audibly) their undying love for James and Craig, and there were the two of us, sat there, secretly laughing to ourselves due to the fact that we know them off-stage. I felt quite priviledged in all honesty!

Also, as it was afterall a special occassion, we both attended dressed in formal attire (well, Jen was actually off to the University Ball straight after, I went in formal attire because…why not?), and seeing as we were dressed in formal attire, and we were both “sophisticated” ladies attending a play, I decided to drink some (horrifically strong) red wine from the theatre bar. I wore boots with the dress, as you can see in the image below, just to maintain some personality.

One thing in particular which amused the both of us greatly, was the fact that when we went into the bathroom during the interval, we spied something on the wall which had us both in stitches…granted, it probably isn’t very dignified to start giggling in an infantile fashion in a busy bathroom, but afterall, it isn’t exactly everyday which you get to see your mate’s face plastered up on the ladies room wall for all to see!

We actually decided to go to another performance – the final one – on a bit of a whim, as James had announced that he was going to wear a customised tshirt, which I drew for him, beneath his costume – of which he would reveal right at the end of the performance in the encore. So excited we were, that we immediately went out and bought tickets, at the mere thought of the prospect.

You see, the night previous to this performance, we (Craig, James, Jen and I) were having a small social get-together, and James asked me to draw a “Spring Awakening” tshirt design using some markers and an old white tshirt he had spare. He gave me an initial idea of what he wanted, and I soon got to work. I thought this was a fantastic opportunity overall, to get a bit of publicity for my artwork. Subsequently, I have also been asked to design the CD cover for the cast-recording album which they are producing (for a small fee of course!).

Here is the tshirt in question, worn by the very man himself, as soon as I had finished it! (Please bear in mind that this photo has reduced a lot of the tshirts actual quality).

It is such a shame that I wasn’t able to get a photograph or video clip of when he did do the big reveal at the end of the show – it would have been fantastic for you all to see! I was so proud at that moment. I even had a few nice comments from other audience members after the show (who had gathered that it was I who drew it).

In all, this was definitely a performance which I will remember, and recommend strongly to those of you out there who enjoy good music, good narrative, and compelling acting from some real future stars! Not only was it highly enjoyable, it was also packed with a decent mix of comedic moments and heart wrenching scenes which almost brought many people in attendance to tears. I am looking forward to collaborating with the cast members on creating the album cover for the cast recording, and will let each of you know more about it as developments occur!

Thankyou once again for reading!