Collaborative Flyers 1985

Open publication - Free publishing - More collage

Knutsford

Nice walk around Knutsford this morning to see a few charity shops and mooch round the graveyard. Amazing to see the path made from old grave stones and this huge wall made of grave stones. The coffee morning was interesting too we saw advertised - a white elephant stall, home made chutneys and jams, cakes and a book stall. Hazel bought two knitted outfits with hair and eyes for Cadburys creme eggs. I found a DVD of a French film about a ventriloquist with Eric Von Stroheim. Also got a small picture frame from another charity shop. Sadly the Oxfam was closed for refurbishment. Popped in to see Hazel's Mom and sister afterwards at Lostock - saw some Spring lambs on the way.

More Shopping

We don't often buy furniture, infact hardly ever as we have no room for it and we aquired most of our wonky chairs and tables from other people over the years. But Hazel spotted a lovely old oak tambour in the antique place near us recently and she had to have it.When she knocked the price down and said I could use it for my spare DVD's it then became more of a required item. Later we discovered they are quite pricey going for 300 quid or more so ours seemed quite cheap by comparison and it certainly looks the part - goes where the chair used as a coffee table used to be in the front room. Just the right height for a cuppa and glasses and oofa-doofahs fit on top very nicely thankyou. Oofa-doofahs in case you were wondering are Granma and Auntie Audreys name for the remote controls! Also in the antique place I found a clockwork Grinning Gorilla and some postcards. It was like Xmas all over again. More like a post Valentines treat what with the egg on toast and side order of chips in the cafe. Yum!

Petite Pierre

One of those little joys of a film that we managed to capture on the old VHS machine many years ago and have looked for a better copy but never seen one until now. Not sure this IS better but its slightly longer than the copy we have I think. Emmanual Clot who directed it does a wonderful job with the atmosphere, editing and the music.
Short films don't get any better than this!

When Pierre dies his creation was neglected and vandalised but thankfully it has been moved to a Outsider Art Museum called Fantabulosa? Kenneth Williams used to love it there.

Murry Krishmush!

Open publication - Free publishing - More catalog

More nonsense from the past. A small publication I churned out every festive season for friends and family based on those annoying little mags that drop out of the radio Times and Sunday papers when you least expect it.

Peace In The World Or The World In Pieces 1984

Open publication - Free publishing - More 1984

I have been having fun trying to figure out how to transfer old 'zines and catalogues to Issuu - a site for publishing online documents of all kinds. The pdf files give me a lot of trouble - also working with Word which refuses to do anything I want it to! How do I get rid of those big borders round the edges of pages for a start? Ill figure it out eventually I expect after tearing my hair out and ranting at the PC screen for hours!

I proposed the idea of a mini mail art show on an 8 foot long pinboard for the Whitechapel Open back in 1984 and to my amazement I was accepted and the board with help from my old chum Dick Turpin was duly installed in the warehouse the Whitechapel was using that year to show the work as the main gallery was closed for some reason. I didn't have a grant of any kind to had to bare the expense of materials and postage myself which wasn't easy on the dole!
The invites sent out I waited for all the mail on the theme of war and peace (or 1984 ) to come rolling in - which it did and during the exhibition , which was about a month long, I religiously took the daily mail along to the exhibition space to pin the participants work up onto the board. You can read inside the catalogue just how many and from which countries etc.

Dick's cousin or Uncle , I forget which, kindly donated the catalogue, which was litho printed in the East End of London or Barking? Anyway, totally over ambitious and a big headache at the time but I look back with fond memories of putting it all together and as I leaf through this slim volume I wonder what happened to all these people I used to correspond with?

Dad's Army Art School

Had a strange dream last night which centred around the old Southend Art School but all the tutors places were taken by the cast of Dad's Army! Arthur Lowe was teaching lithography and a squirted water in his face squeezing a sponge as I mopped the litho plate ( this did actually happen! ) and hilarity ensued. Captain Mainwairing called me a "Stupid boy!"
Leo Hardy's ( the principal) was played by Godfrey. he just stayed in his office all the time and poked his head out of the door occasionally to say "O dear!" and pop back in again.
Pike was teaching life class and getting very embarrassed and calling for Uncle Arthur who was the ceramics tutor I think. It all gets a bit confused and fuzzy.

The collage above is the card I made for Archie to celebrate the confirmation of his dyslexia. He's been having an ongoing test at college and at last he's found out what we all knew all along but his High School and 6th Form college failed to spot or even acknowledge! Thankfully the folks at Mid Cheshire take it more seriously. Its good to know he'll get some extra help whilst at Uni. and a free laptop and printer!