The Red Door Gallery presents the future of Illustration! This is a collection of works from Edinburgh College of Art Illustrators who will graduate in May 2018, AKA ECA Illustrators 2018. Our Creative Manager Nicky Brooks set the final year students a project brief towards the end of last year, We hope you enjoy the results of their hard work as much as we do.
In Nicky’s lecture at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) titled “Value Your Values”, the student group were asked to consider 5 elements they would like to keep at the heart of their professional practice. These values could one day transcribe into mission statements for their future businesses as freelance illustrators, as members of a design team or in further education. Here at The Red Door Gallery, one of our founding values was to support recent graduates and local talent. 14 years on, this value lies at the heart of what we do.
The works and window was installed by 4 representatives of the student group. Savannah Storm illustrated a collection of icons on the front of the window, under the watchful guidance of Ellie Atkinson and Miranda Smith. The well considered illustration captures an icon from each piece shown in the window, so there is a good game of snap to play, perhaps on a warmer day!
Cups of Tea were well needed as Edinburgh has been freezing cold! This apt print comes from Isabel Shauna Laws and is available here.
With the illustration and hand written text in place, the team returned the following day with further support from student Poppy Calypso. For the afternoon we had three working spaces, one in the shop, one in the window and one on the street! It was a busy hive of activity and productivity.
From this photograph, you can see the diverse sense of style and aesthetic adopted by each individual student. The A3 prints down the side wall are by Michael Black, Ellie Atkinson and a beautiful Edinburgh Screenprint by Terri Po.
Terri has, like a number of the exhibition contributors, sent through more than one piece. We are really enjoying having new, affordable screen prints in stock along with a great selection of Lino Cuts.
Lino Cut Prints start life just as they sound, by cutting shapes into a sheet of special lino then taking prints from this. An incredibly labour intensive process, but the resulting prints are worth it as each one in the edition will have it’s own, unique details. Have a look at Laura Spence’s collection here.
There is a lot of inspiration to be found in this collection, as you might expect!
FI IV’s print is part of an ambitious, personal project to quantify personality types. This print titled The Mandala of 9 is a visual introduction to her theory and comes with a text by the artist. Katie Louise Powell is channelling her beliefs as animal rights activist into her work, inspiring us all to look at our habits with a fresh eye. Rosie Hawtin has a collection of anatomically correct loved themed prints which will take your breath away – ahem 🙂 See her full collection folio here. Drawing inspiration from the feminist Icon that is Joan Of Arc, Heweston Smith has captured her image and strength in this print.
Edinburgh is well represented too: with Miranda Smith’s Trig Points of Edinburgh taking an abstract look at views of the city from the famous surrounding 5 hills; Kathy Allnutt capturing the Royal Botanic Garden’s in striking monochrome and Poppy Calypso’s intricate line drawing portraying the Castle from a lesser known view. Poppy has also illustrated Tokyo in the same style and at A6 in size, they are tiny treasures.
With Galentine’s Day coming up, we are delighted to see this card in stock by Felicity Hamilton available here for February 13th celebrations with your fave gall palls.
A further romantic twist is this Astronaut who is collecting the stars from the skies, perhaps a Valentine’s print for someone special? By Fiona CB
Here’s a quick look at our happy faces after a few days of graft! From ECA Illustrators 2018 we have Ellie Atkinson, Miranda Smith, Savannah Storm, Poppy Calypso and our Creative Manager Nicky Brooks. Huge thanks go to Eilidh Muldoon, for her incredible passion and energy and of course for suggesting the collaboration. Thanks also to Ryan Hammill who also lent his valuable technical expertise, support… and darning needle! Eilidh & Ryan are both ECA graduates and have some new works in our shop, more to come online soon.
Hope we’ve inspired your weekend, even if your just doing the dishes, Savannah Storm can help brighten your day 🙂
Hermit Crabs Card by Madeline Pinkerton, one of two new designs!
Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about the project, nicky@edinburghart.com
Shop the full exhibition and read more, here.
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