Pick Me Up 2013
From learning how to model Shaun The Sheep with Aardman’s Jim Parkyn to pulling a screenprint with Print Club London or creating your own A5 artwork with Human After All using specially created facial feature rubber stamps – here’s the CR guide to Pick Me Up 2013 which opens at Somerset House this week…
From learning how to model Shaun The Sheep with Aardman’s Jim Parkyn to pulling a screenprint with Print Club London or creating your own A5 artwork with Human After All using specially created facial feature rubber stamps – here’s the CR guide to Pick Me Up 2013 which opens at Somerset House this week…
Yes, London’s annual graphic art fair, Pick Me Up, opens this week and there’s a lot going on over the eleven days at venue Somerset House, so we thought we’d explain the various elements of the festival and also flag up some of the things we’re most looking forward to.
Pick Me Up Selects is the first part of the fair that visitors will encounter. This is essentially an exhibition of brand new work by 17 image makers selected by a panel of curators that included established illustrators Andrew Rae and Chrissie Macdonald, Charlie Hood of east end gallery Beach, editor and curator Liz Farrelly, plus CR’s own Gavin Lucas.
PMU Selects exhibitors this year include one half of design duo Jiggery Pokery, Anna Lomax (the above work was created collaboratively with photographer Jess Bonham) and also Damien Florébert Cuypers:
Plus Daniel Frost:
Malikafavre will be showing off her Kama Sutra alphabet artworks and animations (see here for more details):
After feasting your eyes on the work of the 17 PMU Selects artists, visitors to Pick Me Up will soon find themselves upstairs in amongst the wares of numerous collectives and galleries from around the UK (and beyond) who will be exhibiting work and selling prints and products. Some will also be inviting attendees to get involved in various activities.
Pull a screenprint and hand colour it with Print Club London, print your own handbills and T-shirts with Illinois ‘print posse’ Fatherless, find out about papercraft with Handsome Frank illustrator Helen Musselwhite (examples of her work, above), or create your own Face Stamp! artworks using the specially created rubber stamps at Human After All‘s activity area (Adrian Johnson’s and Craig and Karl’s face stamp contributions shown below).
Meanwhile, a schedule of Daily Specials sees yet more illustrators including Jon Burgerman, Ian Stevenson, Emily Forgot, and calligrapher Seb Lester present their own fun art-making activities, each for just one day only.
Pick Me Up also has an activity space which is hosting different events each day. Highlights on the festival schedule include a letterpress workshop with Alan Kitching on Friday April 19; a Shaun the Sheep model making workshop run by Aardman‘s Jim Parkyn on Saturday April 20; a reading workshop and book signing by Axel Scheffler, author of The Gruffulo, on Sunday April 21; plus a felt toy making workshop with Felt Mistress on Monday 22 April (more on that here).
As if all of the above isn’t enough graphic art action, there is also a full schedule of lectures and screenings at Pick Me Up. On Tuesday April 23 Derek Brazell, illustrator and projects manager at he AOI, will provide an introduction to copyright, the foundation on which an illustrator makes a living, while the AOI’s Matthew Shearer will explore the importance of competitively pricing your illustration work and understanding commission fees and buy outs on Thursday April 25. The Guardian Digital Agency is set to deliver an already sold-out talk on turning raw data into striking visual stories.
In short, there’s a lot happening and with talks already selling out, it might be worth booking the events you’d like to attend sooner rather than later. Find full details of Pick Me Up here and also a nifty Daily Diary day planner here.
Pick Me Up 2013 runs from April 18-28 at Somerset House, Embankment Galleries. Open daily from 10am to 6pm. On Thursdays the show is open until 10pm. Last admission is 45 minutes before close. Admission is £8. Concessions £6. You can get a Festival Pass for £15.
And if you can’t make it to Pick Me Up, you can always visit the online shop at pickmeuplondon.com
The April print issue of CR presents the work of three young animators and animation teams to watch. Plus, we go in search of illustrator John Hanna, test out the claims of a new app to have uncovered the secrets of viral ad success and see how visual communications can both help keep us safe and help us recover in hospital
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