Ruthin Craft Centre

I had a great time running an animation masterclass with 11-14 year olds at Ruthin Craft Centre last week. The 12 students made paper cut-out and stop-frame animations, inspired by some of the beautiful work currently being exhibited.

For inspiration, we looked around the Jerwood makers exhibition currently on show at the centre. It's full of fascinating work; one of the most striking pieces on display is the giant swimming polar bear, Byaku, by artist Nahoko Kojima, cut entirely from one sheet of white paper. Floating from the ceiling in the centre of the gallery, he casts rippling shadows across the walls.

To give the students a starting point, I suggested that they create a character who swims or flies. They were already brimming with ideas, though, and came up with some weird and wonderful films. To name a few; a girl turning into a flying pig mermaid, a cluedo-esque murder mystery, and a unicorn eating a dinosaur!

Hard at work under the rostrum.

The workshops also gave me a chance to road test a home-made multiplane. If you're not sure what this is, it's basically a lightbox with multiple layers; sheets of glass / heavyweight clear plastic, so you can create layered animations with a more 3D effect.

An overhead view of the multiplane

Mine was made by separating sheets of glass (taken from cheap clip frames) using blocks of wood, cut to size. A light, covered with a frost filter, was placed underneath the bottom sheet of glass so that it shone upwards through the layers. To hide the light fittings from the camera eye, I also covered the bottom sheet with tracing paper. To make sure the glass and wood were secure, they were attached using heavy-duty double sided tape. However this is all temporary - it needs a bit more tweaking for long term use! For example, you can't adjust the distance between each layer of glass, which you'd be able to do on a proper multiplane. But it was exciting to be able to test it out.

Also worth mentioning is Andy Singleton's gorgeous paper sculpture, recently created with students of Bryn Hyfryd. It's hanging like a swirling cloud in one of the artist spaces at Ruthin Craft Centre, so if you're in the area you should check it out. Andy is an artist and illustrator working in paper cut-out, and has previously done window displays for Mostyn, Liberty and much more.

Away in a Sand Dune

In other, completely un-animation and entirely illustration and time-travel related news, just before Christmas I had a lot of fun creating a front cover illustration for Universal Ear play 'Away In A Sand Dune' (as yet un-performed). You can find the book on Smashwords.

Graeme Cole is the mastermind behind the Universal Ear series (which follows our hero, Manchester postman Harley Byrne, as he travels through time on a mission to collect all the world's music, ever); he is currently living in Bosnia, studying an MA at the Sarajevo Film Academy. Inspiring stuff...

Ruthin Craft Centre

February always seems to be the bleakest month! Luckily, I'm ending it by helping 11-14 year olds make some animation at Ruthin Craft Centre in North Wales. On Thursday the 27th of February, over the Easter break, we'll be using simple paper cut-outs, stop-frame techniques and light boxes to experiment with creating layered and playful films.

In October last year I ran some workshops with Mostyn Ninjas and members of Cylch, at Mostyn gallery in Llandudno.

The Ninjas had fun creating a halloween clay animation about a greedy trick-or-treater, while members of Cylch experimented with stop-frame and continuous drawings.

The workshop at Ruthin takes place on Thursday the 27th February, 11 - 3.30pm. If you know of any young people in the area who are aspiring animators, pass it on! For more details or to book please check out the Ruthin Craft Centre website. Roll on Easter!

Pictures from our Blinc 2013 performance

It's been over a month since I updated this. I've been a bit slack on the old writing front! But the past few weeks have been productive and creative so I'll try to sum them up in a few posts.

As mentioned in an earlier post, end of October took me and Alys over to Conwy to perform at Blinc Digital Arts festival. It was a great experience this year despite the torrential weather. Well done Alys for dancing in a rainstorm, which added to the atmosphere of the piece!

Alys performing in stormy conditions

I managed to get a few pictures from some friends (thank you Gwyn and Johnny). Note to self - nominate someone next time to photograph and film the show, as along with Neil I spent most of the time setting up the space and practical side of the performance and neglected the documenting side of things!

Setting up the projection / performance space - we had to anchor
the screen to the platform to stop it from blowing away!

Unfortunately we didn't manage to get a film of the performance either, but we are hoping to perform it again sometime in 2014. I am currently updating my website so I'll put up the animation on there. We will also be devising another project for Blinc 2014 and are investigating other potential platforms for a dance / animation piece!

Curious Books

This week the Curious Books exhibition, curated by Jane Millar, opened at Studio 73 in Brixton Village. I've got three books on display in amongst an eclectic library of hand-made and limited edition lovelies, including work from Okido magazine, Sophie Herxheimer and Tony Hayward.

Jane Millar outside Studio 73 (photograph by Sophie Hexheimer)

The private view is on Friday night. There'll be some poetry readings by Sophie and I think I'm going to be reading aloud a short story I wrote on the MA! Ooh-la-la. I might need a swift shot of rum to see me through. Come on down and show your support, and see some interesting and beautiful work (and provide a hip flask).

Magical Blinc

I am currently getting together a film and images from this year's Blinc performance. Thank you to everyone who helped to make it so fantastic this year; Alys Hughes, Casi Wyn, Afal Drwg Efa, Kevin Jones, Neil Mayston, and the whole Blinc crew. It was even better than last time and we are incredibly proud of how it went. I'm still floating!

In the mean time, here is a still from this year's performance (copyright Michal Repec).

Alys and Casi performing 'Action / Reaction' (photo copyright Michal Repec)

Blinc, curiously..

Let's hurtle towards the weekend in a wheel of light and magic; here are not one, but two helpings of stuff occurring in the very near future.

First off is Blinc festival, kicking off on Friday in Conwy with the Bridge of Light, the largest laser display in the U.K.

Preview still from the performance

(I was chatting to one of the Blinc crew the other day, asking him how everything was going. He said; 'Ah, it's getting there, it's getting there...and then it's here, you know what I mean'. I couldn't have put it better.)

Alys and I will be showing our Action / Reaction performance the same evening, with live vocals from Casi Wyn (times TBC). We will be performing on Saturday as well, so if you miss it on Friday all is not lost. There will also be a display of last year's project, 'Hiraeth'. Times and locations TBC.

Next on the agenda is Curious Books, an exhibition of handmade books at Studio 73 in Brixton Village, from 4th - 10th November, with a private view on the 8th (Friday); here's the press release from curator Jane Millar....

 Printed, hand-written, folded, collaged, constructed, informative, chaotic, poetic, photographic...many artists use a book form to express themselves....come and browse a collection of works, explore this unusual art form...and enjoy a piece of cake! You will find an inventory of rat-traps, books made from fruit, book sculpture, nail tip art, culinary poetry, kids’ magazines and cloth books.  Curious Books is a selling exhibition of artists’ books, limited editions, poetry, hand-made sketchbooks, object multiples, and more...this is the place to buy that totally original and collectable Christmas present! (Prices start from £2.50) Curated by Jane Millar for Studio 73, located in Brixton Village, among the lively bars, shops and restaurants.  Studio 73 showcases local artists with rolling exhibitions of original paintings, drawings, photography and prints; and also offers bespoke picture framing. 

I'm showing three handmade books alongside treasures from a range of artists, some of them Brixton natives, some from further afield. In addition to this, as part of Studio 73's showcase in their space next door, I'll be screening some animation and exhibiting some prints, so come on down. It should be a melting pot, but without any pots or anything melting.

Blinc Artists of the Day

...that'll be us, then!

Alys Hughes and I are Blinc Festival's Artists of the Day today. It's adding to my excitement! Take a look at their website for more info...the festival takes place on the 25th-26th October 2013.

Preview still from this year's animation

We will be doing a live performance incorporating dance, projected animation and sound on the Friday and Saturday around the town of Conwy (exact locations to be confirmed).

Keep an eye on the blog as I will update with more info as it emerges....

Sensoria Festival: Now Will You Listen

Just wanted to show you a photo of Furry People being read aloud by Juliet Ellis this Sunday gone at the Lantern Theatre, Sheffield, as part of Sensoria Festival's Now Will You Listen event. That's my animation in the background! Looks like it was a great event - I'm sorry to have missed it, but hopefully there'll be a repeat performance in London soon.

Photograph by Netty Boo

Blinc 2013

I'm collaborating with dancer Alys Hughes again for this year's Blinc Digital Arts festival, which takes place on the 25th - 26th of October. The theme this year is Action / Reaction and we are devising a dance, sound and animation piece which aims to highlight Welsh culture, language and freedom of expression.

For this project we are also enlisting the talented input of Afal Drwg Efa, Casi Wyn (TBC) and ironworks / crychddwr studios. 

We were so proud of last year's performance and felt it had the potential to go further, so being part of Blinc 2013 is a great chance for this to happen. Watch for more updates!