Here is a message from our Chairman, Liz Ashurst
It was encouraging to see so many members at our AGM with everyone fitting snugly into our relatively new, upstairs room at the Art Workers’ Guild. Our guest Michael Brennand-Wood spoke simply and eloquently about his work and whether or not you are attracted to his style you must admire his original and single-minded approach. I think all of us appreciate that the acumen, determination and creative energy required to be successful in this highly competitive and international art world, are considerable. Michael was remarkably honest about his life: he made it quite clear that although there is enormous satisfaction in the making and interaction with many people, it can also be quite a lonely existence. For this reason, it was a delight to share his thoughts on his ideas and design processes which evolved in an interestingly logical manner.
Of course creativity comes in many forms and the name of Brian Wildsmith prompted Kate Davis and me to make a visit, en route to the Russian exhibition at the Royal Academy, to the ‘Illustration Cupboard’ at 22 Bury Street. As a contemporary of Jan Pienkowski, Quentin Blake and Raymond Briggs, many of you will remember him as an innovator in his approach to illustrating and later writing childrens’ books in the 1960s and 70s. His use of rich colours and textures often combined with collage, and his sensitive pen and ink drawings, attracted readers of all ages for their artistic merit. Whilst embroiderers were beginning to experiment with new materials and machine embroidery, Brian was using washes of acrylic paint and gouache then scraping away the surface with a razor blade to get patterning on his birds, animals and leaves. Such effects combined with striking page layouts were rich and intriguing and had not been seen in earlier childrens books.
Brought up in a mining family in a village in Sheffield, Brian studied at Barnsley Art School and later won a scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art. He was also a talented musician and spent his National Service teaching music at the Royal Military School of Music. However, he later gave it up to devote his time to painting. Shortly afterwards, a lucky meeting with Mabel George, an editor at the Oxford University Press, was the starting point to his successful career and with her encouragement he went on to write stories for his illustrations. As an inveterate gatherer of information, I picked up in the gallery a leaflet of an interview with Brian by Madelyn Travis quoting from www.writeaway.org.uk. I found his comments about his work fascinating and would like to share them with you. He says:-
‘Picture books give an opportunity for a marriage between painting and illustrating, and the challenge of designing each page is very stimulating. I believe that beautiful picture books of the right kind are vitally important in subconsciously forming a child’s visual appreciation, which will bear fruit in later life.
Our children are our inheritance and our immortality. They are the building blocks of our civilisation, but we are sometimes inclined to forget this important and crucial fact. A child’s soul is like an empty book on which anything may be written. It is capable of all things but contains nothing. We must write in that empty book about love, humour, compassion, truth, understanding and justice.’
He also makes the point that:-
‘The one thing they never ask you at art school is; how you are going to make a living. It never comes into it. You can’t teach art, anyway: you can teach technical things like mixing paint, but the essence of a painting or an image comes from the inside. The purpose of a teacher is to be perceptive and encouraging.’
Wildsmith now lives in the South of France, somewhat disillusioned it would seem by the British Art world’s attitude to picture books which he feels are totally undervalued as an art form. He mentions that he has never been invited up until now to exhibit his work in the UK or give talks, despite many international lecture tours and a museum devoted to his work in Japan.
( Fortunately the director of the Illustration Cupboard is trying to remedy the situation. He says in an interview with Time Out, London:-
‘The whole point of these illustrations is that they are charming. They are not abstract or conceptual, so people feel comfortable around them and they are in a range that many people might be able to afford for a special occasion.’)
In recent years embroiderers have become particularly interested in the art of book making and in many ways I think it makes much sense. A book is compact and can function on many levels: it can be a record of a personal journey and it can also combine sketches, photographs, stitch and text whilst employing a range of different media. In many textile art shows, I’ve observed that it’s the notebooks and sketchbooks which often get the most attention from the public who seem to be more interested in the thought processes than the finished work. With all this in mind, maybe a focus on the book could be the theme of a future NEG exhibition? It would be interesting to hear members’ views on this. Please write in with your comments.
