Month: March 2016

The Galerie Simpson Selection Box is a very special limited edition fundraising portfolio project.
Managed by Jane Simpson, Jane has spent the last 6 months working very hard bringing together 18 artists to create brand new pieces of art especially for this unique box of tricks. Each box is hand varnished, laser cut and houses all 18 pieces of art.
Artists include Peter Blake, Jamie Reid, Gavin Turk, Gary Hume, Rachel Whiteread, Simon Periton amongst many others!

Mid varnish workshop

Limited to 50 Selection Boxes the 18 artists include  many of my heroes.

I’ve been very fortunate to be selected to create a silk screen and digital printed piece for the Selection Box.

Gavin Turk – ‘G.T’ Biscuit 2016

‘Tuck Shop’ – Silk screen and digital print on Somerset satin. 2016

This gold plated leaf by Simon Periton is stunning and is placed on a red velvet bed in the Selection Box. A delicate feast to the eyes.

Above is the Peter Blake print that is included in the Selection Box and a beauty it is too.

More details to follow to how to purchase this unique work of art.

Galerie Simpson is part of The Arts Council of Wales, Collector Plan.

We have a party at Galerie Simpson on Friday 22nd April to launch the Selection Box and there will be a London launch later this Spring.

I spent the whole of February working at Hackney Archives. This local authority Archive contains all documents relating to the borough of Hackney. Based at Dalston Junction, I rode the number 56 bus everyday to work on the historic photographic collection held by the archive. My role was to clean up and restructure the metadata held by the archive collection system. The photographs will then be taken to the Digital Preservation company Max Communications who specialise in digitising large archival photographic collections.
Once the photographs are digitised Hackney Archives are able to give digital access to the thousands of fascinating images that they currently hold from the 18th to 21st centuries. It was great to have the opportunity to be a part of the process to make this happen.

I worked with a small team of Archivists who were absolutely wonderful and made my short time working with them very memorable and welcoming. It’s a fascinating archive with community firmly at its heart. I witnessed several community and outreach projects while I was there, with visitors using documents to delve deeper into their own personal social history.
I felt like a bit of an expert on the area even after the first week. As I travelled back and fore to work I saw the areas from the photographs on my route and I began to have an affinity with Hackney, its people, its businesses and industry. I was also very interested to learn about the many social housing projects that sprung up from the 1930s to the 1970s in the borough and I was fortunate to work with many photographs from the 1950s that covered these new urban living spaces.
It was great to be back working at a local authority archive again and I felt privileged to work with such a unique collection of photographs that will have a new lease of life in the digital world once the project is completed.

It’s The Clash at Victoria Park in 1978!

Images copyright of Hackney Archives, Hackney Borough Council.