Special collection exhibition of Mr Dedman's Victory Suit.

The Booklet.

I went up to special collections at the University for enquiry and much to my delight I came across this exhibition:  Mr Dedman's Victory suit: Intimate stories of make do and mend.
What a delightful exhibition this is. I would most certainly recommend the textile students to go and have a look. It's about World War II in England and also the clothes rationing in Australia.

The back of the booklet.

Crochet.

A crochet shawl.

War time Journals on show.

Patterns.

Television installations. 

Posters

Panties and stockings.

Dress patterns

Another of the exhibits.

This is small selection of the exhibition. There is a  darning basket belonging to Beatrice (1935-1945)  skirt made from patchwork squares maker unknown. Handbag covered with small felt flowers. Apron made of patchwork hexagons with a flowered waistband, again maker unknown. And utility stockings these are fascinating to look at and they still have the utility mark stamped on the foot in black. There are many other objects to see and it gives you a glimpse into the women's life during the world War II.

Unit X The Art School.

During my research of Manchester Art School, I wanted to know what the original colours for the art school  were. So I went to special collections and asked if they could help me and a very nice gentleman called Jeremy Parrett said yes, he was sure there was a document available and would email the documents to me.  Below is the image of 175 names I will be using for Unit X.

 This is a list of the staff andAlumni from 1938. 

 And this is the document that was sent to me from special collections.

This is from the " Calendar of the Municipal School of Art"  1913 – 1914

and this is the earliest reference to school colours that can be found.

 These are the colours that I will be using as part of unit X. Unless of course they

do not fit in to what I am doing !

Some more Unit X

 Jouer Group we all met at Hilton House to make some more posters and to finalise the ideas we have for unit X. We are very fortunate to all get on well as a group and appreciate each other's qualities that they bring with them. At the moment we are only meeting once a week as we all know what we are going to do. Leahna, Safia and myself have decided to work from home as we think we will be far more productive. Leahna and I both travel each day. I spend three hours plus a day to get to Manchester Art School and I feel I can spend more time on unit X and Blogger than I would if I came into Manchester.

 Above are the photographs I have taken at our last meeting of our group working in Hilton House. There is Leahna, Safia,  Jacob, Ollie and me behind the camera.

Unit X

Over Easter I spent some of my time doing 175 research and recorded them into a sketchbook. I have to say, I found loads of information on 175 – did you know the University of Westminster is 175 years old  and you can't score 175 with three darts on a dart board! Also it takes three hours for a train to travel 175 miles at a average speed of 58:33MPH and 175 
anniversary is called seploqiunquecentennial....... say that !!!!!!

 The Beetle 175 turbo

175  Portobello Road.

 This is what 175 staples look like.

 This is what 175  knots  look like tied into string

 So, I've got loads of useless information about 175

Mark Nelson at the Storey Gallery

I was invited to the Storey Gallery for a exhibition opening " A Northern View" by Mark Nelson a urban artist.

 The decoration inside the Storey Gallery.

 This is another image from the stairs leading to the main gallery.

 Photograph of Mark Nelson's  pictures hanging in the gallery.

 This is one of the many paintings in the exhibition.

One his many portrait/ caricature face paintings.

 I've not heard of Mark Nelson before, so I was quite intrigued, and went to see his work. His work was very much of the samey with the towns and landscapes. Some of the paintings were of actual places of Lancaster and surrounding areas, others of Liverpool, Ribble Valley but some of them were a figment of his imagination. The face paintings were something different, not like real people more of caricature image I think some were actual people as the paintings had a name!  The pictures were very vibrant and I can see they will be good, commercial art. I personally wouldn't want one hanging on my wall, but that's is my opinion. I did notice there was a younger element of non artists at the opening and hardly any of the Lancaster artists who usually attend these exhibitions openings !

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As I was getting ready to leave the Storey Gallery I noticed an exhibition of  contemporary digital art by Neil Eckersley entitled " City skyscrapers and Feelings of the Soul". Contemporary digital artwork on  his iPad.

 New York skyscrapers.

 I thought these digital works were very playful and quite liked them. I know a few people that do digital art on their iPads. My partner he uses his iPad to draw local musicians playing their instruments in the Lancaster area. Of course, it was David Hockney who first made digital art created on the iPad respectable and not something just to doodle on.

 The Storey Gallery is a hub of activity where local artist's work is shown.
The tourist information is situated in the same building. Also there is a
very nice cafe and restaurant, which is  actually called Nice where they
serve very nice cakes, snacks and meals including gluten-free goodies much
to my deligh.