Brace Yourselves, Here's Captain!!!

Grillust operative Tony Peart (33) and his family have recently been temporarily caring (we lost a family bet) for Captain, an African Grey Parrot of indeterminate age (although we do know he's definitely over 18).

It soon transpired that Captain can certainly be described as  'a character' and that most notable among his many, many 'idiosyncrasies' is his love of 6 Music's Evening Session (hosted by the parrot friendly Steve Lamacq).

Here's 14 minutes worth (yes, you can pity us) of Captain's 'vocal approval' recorded earlier this evening.

Enjoy...     (...if that's the right word):

Do You Think Anyone Will Notice?

We thought we'd better give the exhibition stand a 'dry run' before we take it to London.

It's a good job we did, as there seems to have been a 'slight' change of scale between it leaving Dwayne's desktop and arriving at the digital printers. 

In scenes vaguely reminiscent of Spinal Tap's 'Stonehenge Moment' accusations and insults were hurled – just who "doesn't know the difference between metres and millimetres" remains a moot point...

However, as Jim pointed out, it's only a little mistake and probably won't be noticed by the general public.

Here's Grillust operative Dwayne Bell (8' 5") towering above both the exhibition stand and Grillust's newest recruit, 'Dinky' David Robert (3' 6")

It's New Blood Time Again!

July is almost upon us so it's time for the Grillust Team and graduating students to pack their bags and travel down to London (a large city in the South-East of England) to exhibit at the D&AD New Blood graduate showcase.

This annual event allows our students to demonstrate their creativity, talent and employability to the capital's professional design community.

It's based in Old Spitalfields Market, right in the very heart of the London design community and is therefore very well attended.

Do come along and say hello, it will be lovely to see you – exhibition details can be found here.

Anyway, here's a sneaky peek of the exhibition stand banners that we will be taking with us...

YCN Commendation

The Grillustazzi congratulates 3rd Year students Josh Ford (21) on attaining a commendation in the 'Alphabites Cereal Packaging' brief in this year's YCN Student Awards.

Snask (Sweden's finest) come back to their old University to give a guest lecture

A few years ago two fresh-faced, modest and quiet Swedish students, Mr. Fredrick Ost and Mr. Magnus Berg, came to Carlisle to study Graphic Design at The University of Cumbria (or The Cumbria Institute of the Arts as it was then named).

The effect we had on them was quite dramatic as can be graphically demonstrated with these 'before and after' photos showing below:

 Before... (Freddie and Magnus as year 1 students)

 ...after (SNASK – as Sweden's top design, branding and film agency)

However, they also had quite an effect on us...

During their time in Carlisle Freddie and Magnus threw themselves into both their studies and the cultural life of the city, running a popular club night and designing for Carlisle's Motive Sounds record label. They had a lot of fun and worked hard. 

Grillust operative Tony Peart (33) has said of his former students:

 “Freddie is the most dapper, sartorially elegant student I ever taught. Magnus isn’t… Freddie and Magnus couldn’t be boring (even if you paid them). Snask was created as a vehicle to allow them to have fun once they’d graduated. Happily, this is exactly what they’ve gone on to do, producing work that always makes me smile.”

If you've not seen any of Snask's work you need to rectify that now by visiting their website.



Here's just a small sample of their hugely entertaining multimedia work:

MALMÖ FESTIVAL 2013

SWEDISH HANDICRAFT

MEATPACKAGING DISTRICT

SABO – Allmännyttans Energisparkampanj 2013 from SNASK on Vimeo.

SNASK even have their own book, Make Enemies & Gain Fans.

The Snask studio, Stockholm is where the multimedia magic happens.


Malmö Festival – Stop Motion Films from SNASK on Vimeo.

As you can imagine, the visit from Freddie and Magnus had been eagerly anticipated by all of us at Grillust Towers. We can now happily report that it more than lived up to expectation.

The visit was preceded by a Snask talk poster competition open to all students. Victory was claimed by Year 1 student Mr Vincent Walden (21) pictured below, grinning like a cat who has just got the cream:

The day commenced with a fully illustrated talk detailing the history of Snask from its foundation here in lovely Carlisle, through the difficult early days in Stockholm to their present position as Sweden's most innovative design, branding and film agency.

The name Snask in Swedish means all of the above...

Proactivity, ambition and attitude have been key to Snask's success. Freddie and Magnus have never been backward at coming forward and are masters of networking and making contact with the a wide range of influential people.

There's no such thing as luck in the world of design. All successful students 'make' their own luck – i.e. work incredibly hard, have great portfolios and most importantly, actively promote themselves!

No Snask presentation is complete without Magnus doing a little dancing...

A lively Q&A was held immediately after lunch...

It was during this session that the third partner in Snask, Eric arrived with his band VÄG.
That's right folks, Snask brought their very own three-piece rock group on tour with them! Now that's style...

Later that evening everyone reconvened at Carlisle's premier indie rock club, The Brickyard for a storming set by VÄG.



For the encores Freddie and Magnus joined the band on stage for some hot maraca/tambourine action. Yet another opportunity for Magnus (the true show-off in Snask) to strut his stuff.

A great day!

It's Nearly Exhibition Time. Bring your friends!

Firstly, let us apologise for the lack of posts over the last few weeks. It's the end of the academic year, a rather busy time for the Grillust academics (and students for that matter). There's work to be assessed, feedback to be given and tutorials to be held. Lastly, there's the not inconsequential matter of the end of year exhibition which coincidentally opens on Friday...

So, without further ado, please consider yourself invited. Here's your private view invitation (don't worry you don't need to show it on the door) and there will be free strawberries and cream for all*:

and here's the poster...

The theme for this year's show is 'student power'  – that's a bit like 'girl power' but with added blokes and less singing – as the third years have pretty much organised, designed and built everything themselves.

'Cometh the moment cometh the man' (or woman) and in our case Year 3 student Jasper Van Looveren-Baines who is a man (and yes, that it is his real name) has stepped up to the mark to lead his fellow students. 

A small but dedicated team has branded and designed the show and also put together an exhibition catalogue. 

This year the students have decided to go for an 'old school' show featuring work on exhibition boards, all hand painted and stencilled to tie in with the exhibition branding. It's been a lot of work but has been tackled with lots of energy and enthusiasm.

Anyway, here's a sneaky peek of the work in progress...

Here's Jasper stepping up to the mark in that perennially fashionable combo of deck shoes and 'pedal pushers'.

 Twenty four sheets of 18mm MDF needed to be painted.

 Strawberry red detailing carefully 'whacked' on by Luci Ormrod (21).

 Dom and Lee adopt that traditional male role of 'watching the women work'....

 Only one student is aware of the camera in this photo. Can you spot which one?

Jim Millington (33) comes down to direct the troops.

It's true that power corrupts and by extension a little power corrupts slightly. Here's a power crazed Jim addressing a massed rally (well Ricky actually) a little later in the day.

*Not necessarily all.

Cause and Effect I & II

Anstruther, Fife, Monday 14 April, 6.30PM

 

Carlisle, Cumbria, Friday 2 May, 6.30PM

Famous Artists (You've Probably Never Heard of) - No.2 'Painters of the Night'

The second in a very occasional series

In the world of classical music nocturnes are relatively common – good old 'Fred' Chopin alone composed 21 for solo piano...

These were originally pieces composed for evening soirées but have now come to be associated with music that represents the mood and 'feel' of the night.

It was the charismatic American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler who first applied the term nocturne to a painting.

Night is not the most obvious subject matter for a visual artist (what with there being little light and all that) but in the right hands, images of real intensity, magic and mystery can be created.

Here are just a few by five artists including Grillust's™ very own, 'Mr Tony' Peart (33).

No.1, Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847–1917)










No.2, John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836–1893)










No.3, Henri Le Sidaner (1862–1939)













No.4, Xavier Mellery (1845–1921)










No.5, Tony Peart (19 something – present)

Jill Calder pops in for the day

Bright colours, inky lines, painterly texture, playful attitude and bags of humour. All things present and correct in the work of illustrator, Jill Calder. As an ex-foundation student of The University of Cumbria (though known as Cumbria College of Art & Design in Jill's day) Jill positively leapt at the chance to pop in for a day to regale the students with tales of her career and experiences in the world of professional illustration.



A quick google search gives you an ideas of the scope of Jill's vast output


So what are Jill's secrets to success? Simple.
1 - Spell check and be polite.
2 - Understand what you know and learn what you don't.
3 - Draw.



A sneaky spy shot of some upcoming top secret work that Jill let us in on. Very exciting.


Some work from Jill's many many (many many many) sketchbooks

As well as an informative and entertaining talk and a Q&A session students (and staff) also got the chance to explore Jill's work in the flesh.


Jill Calder, Grillust salutes you. We were informed. We were entertained. We made a new friend.