Inspiration – is what drives an artist or designer to create, stimulating the mind into action, through teaching, learning and looking at – great art, design, images, objects, life and the world, we discover our own tastes. By looking at artists work you can see how they have used influences to inspire, a mixture of the conscious and subconscious.
RESOURCE IMAGERY
As an Artist and Designer I have always been a hoarder, I collect and keep as much art, design and imagery around as possible which inspires me or which I can use within my work. I file a lot of art & design that I cut out of magazines or pick up when I travel, I take inspiration from things I have collected or that I am interested in from books, magazines, vinyl, flyers, newspaper cuttings. Above is a file that I have which contains everything from early Joe Magee illustrations from newspaper supplements to articles on musical legends like Bob Marley and memories such as Tom & Jerry cartoons.
NIC-NAC’s
I have collected, found and hoarded a shoe box full of stuff from my childhood and still to this day save strange, colourful and interesting toys, objects and Nic-Nac’s. Whether they have a emotional attachment or are aesthetically pleasing I save them, I love retro things and the memories they trigger. I think I was first aware of the use of retro, colourful objects used within art from people such as Central Station on the cover of a 7″ record I bought of the Happy Mondays or when I first saw Peter Blake’s work.
MUSIC
Music possibly has as much influence on my work as art, I have had a passion for music since an early age, from recording radio on cassette tape to collecting vinyl which has been a lifelong interest. I remember watching The Beatles – Yellow Submarine animated film on television as a child and it leaving a lasting impression on me, family parties would always be Soul & Motown, whilst my parents listened to Country music (which I have only learned to appreciate of late). But it was the mix tape’s that I would compile from the radio and from my Brother & Sister’s collection that got me interested in Acid House & Indie music, with my first 12″ being LFO – LFO (Warp Records), then on hearing the Stone Roses for the first time I remember feeling that I was hearing my generation’s Beatles. This lead to a lifelong interest in music, album artwork and music culture that comes with new and exciting forms of music. Recently music has moved more toward MP3, which after some cautiousness has opened up a world of music that I would never have listened to in the past, I feel to have this amount of music and technology at our finger tips will create some amazing new artists and music genres. Although my performing days with the band The Northway are behind me, I still occasionally DJ with CMYK, I aim to use my love of music within my work on future projects, whether it is music production for online films or a soundtrack to accompaniment exhibitions.
Free MP3 Download: The Northway – Starin At The Sun (Edit)
TRAVEL
