Bluecoat Typography Show

Earlier in the summer I visited the bluecoat typography show. It was interesting to see how typography had been included within various arts and craft pieces as I tend to only work on print or screen based projects. Jessica Turrel's work caught my eye for it's intricacy and detail, yet it still had a sense of ambiguity as her lettering had the appearance of having been srawled in thick ink; rendering most of it illegible.

Something else that caught my eye were some books that had been produced by Hand and Eye Editions, who only use traditional letterpress printing methods, which has given the books a lovely traditional feel.

Two of the titles 'Insectissimo' and 'Circus Minimus' have been illustrated by LJMU lecturer Chris Brown and I was suprised to learn that all of the images were lino cuts as they had such rounded edges and a fair amount of detail to them.

It would seem that a lot of the pieces display unconventional uses for craft techniques or simply a reversion to traditional methods in situations where technology may now more commonly be used. The exhibition has certainly inspired me to experiment with craft within my own work a little bit more.

Sentimental value.

Along with the record collection, I found a selection of gig tickets and a scrapbook that my mum had put together, documenting all of the music that she liked at the time and general things that appealed to her such as scooters and mod fashion. It was this that made me realise how much music meant to her when she was younger and the sentimental value this collection has to her. It was also nice that the scapbook gave a contextual insight into the music scene at that time and is something that I could refer to for my design work.

Tamla Motown.

A significant chunk of my mum's collection are motown records.

The style council.

When The Jam parted ways my mum followed Paul Weller to pastures new; as half of the duo 'The Style Council'.

The Jam.

The Jam were my mum's favourite band when she was a teenager. These are few of their records that she has in her collection.

A mixed bunch.

Here is a mixed selection of some of the early records my mum collected.