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Life In Colour- Screen Print with Black Glitter & Pink Flock
Dying of Almost Certain Death- Screen Print with Gold Foil & Pink Flock
Lets say I couldn’t keep my excitement in when I was asked to be part of this project. I think the first thing that went through my mind was that, how would I screen print onto a car without a curved screen? Then all these other random thoughts came to me, as I knew that I couldn’t just paste prints onto it as the cars were going to be displayed outside and needed to last! It is times like this, that I wish I was more proficient in using a spray can! Being a print designer for me is always about planning, sizing and layering, as everything needs to be quite precise with how I work. I first began with the theme and how I envisaged the whole car to end up looking like- I went back to my Surface Design fashion roots with this one, wanting to combine my love of 80’s pattern and Versace-esque “bling”with my more refined arty animal heads. Once this was decided, I began designing each element that would be included- the only problem now was the scale as I had no idea with what car I was going to get. To be truthful my one fear was that I would run out of time- So much was to be done and prepared once I knew the measurements of my car panels as each piece of art work had to be re-created to scale. New screens had to be made and printed from scratch and never mind preparing the car and ordering the materials. Got my VAN, yes VAN on the Thursday evening- 6 days before the One Night only Private View, before they were being ferried off to the LoveBox Festival! I was quite delighted but in my mind I had always imagined I would be pimping a Mercedes or a Jaguar, not a Ford Van. Once I had analised the meaning of this, I realised that my initial concept would have been too obvious and expected on the flash car that I had been dreaming about. The van was the perfect metaphore of what I am and symbolise- From the outside, what I do, does seem quite glamorous to some, but in fact, I am a proper working grafter, always in my inky apron, hair pulled back with dried old hands- perfect. So, in a nut shell- I spent most of the days in St.Peters estate car park, with John helping me get to grips with the old spray can. Working to all sorts of hours with dust in my hair and lungs as well no toilet to go to for up to 8 hours a day! The near by cafe actually took one look at me with my dirty hair and sprayed up hands & turned me away from using their toilets- very hospitable they were. During the evenings, I would rush back and make the relevant screens I needed for each design and car panel. What was interesting was that my van was taking up equal time with me working half the time in the car park and the other in the studio prepping, printing, glittering and breathing the most uncomfortable amounts of vinyl ink. I opted to screen print on to car vinyl as well as printing the flatter sections of the van with a screen. On some parts I sprayed thorough the mesh of the screen which seemed to give the car a lovely hazy, pixilated pattern effect. I even had a go at blending aerosol colours, by the end, I got quite good, I think it works on the same principles of blending inks on a screen. Out of all this, what I will most remember was working those 6 days along some amazing artists and people. The most interesting part was our unique and individual approach and application on to the same substrate. It was amazing to watch Pablo Delgado, destroy and take a blow torch to his car whilst I had mine protected with masking tape and newspaper, trying to keep it clean, even dusting it with a paint brush most days! The other interesting thing was that this project even had the pro’s like Sweet Toof who often works very fast take quite a few days out to add the much needed finishing touches to his beast of a car. I am so privileged to have been asked to be part of this exhibition- Once again, I was out of my comfort zone, challenged to some extremes and pushed to the next level of my interesting career so far. I know, the Wilde 1, isn’t everybody’c cup of tea (especially the boys) but I wanted it to be an extension of my identity and my past. Those of you who know my work from 10 years ago, would definitely recognise the imagery and it’s references. FYI- The fluffy dice inside the car was all hand made by me! I actually screen printed all the fabric and various sections of the dice, I sewed it and hand stitched the finishing touches- it took me 8 hours and I have a new found respect for people who make fluffy dice (everywhere)! FYI- We used 8 cans of Blanco Malta spray- how many times do I have to say it- it wasn’t White! it’s “Bone” actually! BIG SHOUT OUTS! To my gangstaaaaaaa “partner in crime “John A- always by my side, soaking up all my stress and anxiety & my fury To my gangstaaaaaaa Tom.A.B, who saved what is left of my lungs and borrowed me his spray mask! (the mask has been featured in some blogs- so it’s famous now!) To the gangstaaaaaaa Technicians-Catherine Sparrey, Michele Vannoni & Esther Fdez Castelo- you kick ass! To my Gangstaaaaaaa David L.F, for providing me with some good car painting advice & long lasting enamel paint- To the Gangstaaaaaares Akayzia- who had the cojones to steal art work from the inside of the Wilde 1, she was smooth but not that smooth, caught her but let her keep the poster seeing as she went to all that effort. To the gangstaaaaaaa film makers, photographers and bloggers Hooked, Graffotto and IDI (aka Pro), sorry for having too many diva moments……there wasn’t a ladies & Finally the biggest Gangstaaaaaaaa Family of them all-Nelly Duff- much love and respect for all the blood, sweat & tears that were shed, we were there with you xx BTW- to the person/persons who stole my Glitter Gun out of the car at LoveBox- I want it back……….
Aida- Wilde 1 for Nelly Duff Banger Art for LoveBox 2012
Mix media, including screen print, spray, screen printed glitter and Vinyl
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Competition winner- Holly-Anne Buck
Little did I know a chance meeting with Holly-Anne Buck who had the next stand by mine at the Other Art Fair 1 that I would end up printing her winning designs a few months later!
To top that, I actually think that Holly-Anne well may be the first lady artist that I have made a screen print edition for!
In fairness, we didnât begin work straight away on the print, and getting the artwork right was our prime concern.
Majority of Holly-Anneâs work is collage based and she has a great talent of juxtaposing various imagery together to make amazing and sometimes crazy compositions.
This had itâs own little hurdles for us as screen printing is obviously an analogue process, so when you try to reproduce something that has already been processed digitally transferring it back to analogue you really need to handle it with experience and care to no experience too much dot clash (Moiré). Luckily Holly-Anne has a printmaking background so she immediately understood what I was going on about so she was a little more forgiving.
Very bizarrely I had just purchased some140T mesh screens, which are probably the tightest mesh count I have printed through as yet, so I thought I would give it a go!
After we had the go ahead from the initial samples my work continued. Armed with the original artwork close to me, I couldnât seem to get the Rose in the middle of the deign bold enough! So, I have a little confession to makeâ¦..I actually had to add another layer to the print so it became 4 colours instead of the 3! I know, I know, but I couldnât really let the print leave without me being a 100% happy.
As you could imagine Holly-Anne was very pleased with her print she actually told me that she couldnât take her eyes of it.
I am so happy Holly-Anne won, well deserved winner.
We really enjoyed running the print comp because I really believed in it, and wanted to connect with other artists and designers. I love being able to make work for other artists as much as I love making work for my self. Thank you for all who voted and thanks once more to the entrants and the runners up. Aida x
The new stunning prints titled “Flowers that Wander & Bloom, London 2012” will be available from here: hollyannebuck.com
Surface Design @LCC Graduate shows 2012
Surface Design at the London College of Communication has a long history in priding itself in delivering one of the best Applied Arts programmed in the UK.
Our philosophy is that design for the âSurfaceâ needs to be innovative and unique and this can only stem from our belief of imbedding the traditional fundamentals of Surface Design and image making in the developments of our students time with us.
We are pleased to announce that this years Graduate Surface Design at the London College of Communication will be exhibiting at the Elephant & Castle, 3rd Floor Galleries which will be open to the public from the 15th June- 21st.
There will be a showcase of over 60 graduate students exhibiting a diverse selection of work, which includes Screen Prints, textiles, paper based products, ceramics as well as more Conceptual 3D and innovative pieces.
The opening reception will be on the evening of the 14th from 6pm, where there will be various screen printing demonstrations including, how a textile length gets printed into a repeat design as well as having the opportunity to pull your own squeegee, and print a mini poster and other various delights on the evening.
We will also be taking a wonderful selection of our graduating students to what promises to be an eventful year at the prestigious New Designers Exhibition in London between the 27th-30thJune at the Business Design Center in Islington- www.newdesigners.com. This year will be our first year exhibiting under the category of Contemporary Applied Arts (stand CA22).
We would love to see you so come and say hello, and if you canât, you can see some behind the scene photos and ramblings on these sites.
http://surfacedesignlcc.tumblr.com/
http://collectiveink.tumblr.com/
It was a bit of a last minute rush for me but my friend Alex Daw asked if I would like to bring down some of my animals to accompany his artwork for the latest pop up restaurant for the Wild Food Kitchen in Hackney, as he thought the theme seemed to be right up my ally. I couldn’t refuse now could I!
When I arrived first thing last Thursday morning you wouldn’t think that the restaurant was going to be open later on that evening. So I began taking the cut out prints out, barely awake and started work. To my great surprise what Alex had already done really complimented all the different colours of work that I had brought down. So I carried on amongst the electricians fixing the light fittings and the head chef Jimmy Garcia organising the kittichen staff  who were scurrying around prepping vegetables, there was a real great buzz about the place, with everyone working hard to meet the opening deadline.
I couldn’t wait to see it all finished and taste the yummy wild foraged delights which were going to be on offer. We headed down there on Sunday evening, where a friendly and charming hostess greeted us at the door and showed us our table. The place looked amazing, with all the ambient low lighting, the art work, the smell of the delicious food and the late entertainment which proved to be one of the highlights of the night. We were fortunate to be sitting on the same table with two of the scattered members of City Shanty Band , who didn’t let on that they were going to perform that night with the rest of the members who had also been discreetly dotted about the restaurant to surprise us with their heady mix singing & hand clapping & minimal instruments. They performed catchy  humorous songs with a twist of traditional sea shanties with an urban vibe.
Throughly enjoyable and refreshing evening. I am told that they City Shanty Band will be back at the venue again next Thursday so I would highly recommend you book early to taste some great food and great entertainment!
