Guest Blog at the John Gray Centre - September

I am half way through my time at exploring the John Gray Centre Archive and continue to be fascinated by the broad range of interesting artifacts safely cared for by the diligent archivists. As the cartoons inspired by the ‘Haddington Criminal Register’ gain momentum and appear fortnightly on the website, they are beginning to build up a picture of an intriguing criminal underworld in Haddington. Characters reoccur and interact with their neighbours, and although the incidents remain largely humourous, there is a melancholy beginning to immerge in later cartoons. I will let you form your own ideas on that though. 

Off Exploring

This month I took a journey around East Lothian, exploring its nooks and crannies and digging around for stories. On a very bright and extremely blustery day, I made a series of drawings that took me from the fisherman repairing fishing lines in Dunbar Harbour, past the old outdoor swimming pool in North Berwick, I met some chickens on a hard working farm outside East Linton, paused at an isolated and quiet Yellowcraig beach, and after a few more stops I ended up at the impressive, and at the same time, foreboding Cockensie Power Station. Woven into my own drawings of present day East Lothian are memories of beach huts at Dunbar, market gardeners and Fisherrow fishwives. This journey forms the starting point of a book of documentary illustrations of a beautiful county, and broad range of industries that have formed its story over the last few centuries.

Of those stories, the Fisherrow wives have particularly caught my attention. They were hardy women, well respected for being honest and hardworking. They are distinctive in their costume of white and blue stripped dresses, worn proudly, even by one woman on her wedding day! Whilst their men were out of the fishing boats there would prepare their fishing lines and sell their wares. Cleaning and baiting the lines was known as ‘redding’, and was no small job as each line contained up to 1300 hooks, and each man took 1 or even 2 lines each. As well as this work the women would bring up the children often undertake charity work. The newspaper stories Lindsay dug out of the archive reveal that the women were certainly not only known for their hard work, there are countless stories of galas, processions and games.

Works in progress

As well as telling you about my most interesting discoveries in the archive this month, I decided to give a little taste of what happens with the drawings back in the studio. The images this month give a peek at the working drawings from my exploration, research, ideas and also how the Haddington cartoons are created….

Guest blog for the John Gray Centre

The Illustrated Archive in August

My second month at the John Gray Centre has flown by as I started to explore the archive and museum collections. At the start of the month the archivists invited me to contribute to the exhibition they were currently curating, a celebration of ‘Sport in East Lothian’ to coincide with the Olympics. I was told the story of the ‘Musselburgh Silver Arrow’ – the oldest Sporting Trophy in the world and created an artwork in response to the story.

A record from the ‘Baillie Court Book’ in 1647 describes the annual event where archers take it in turns to shoot two arrows at a target, then walk to the opposite end of the field and do the same in the opposite direction. The archer with the highest score after ten rounds is declared the winner and takes the silver arrow home. Tradition has evolved it seems that winners no longer take the arrow home with them, but add a medallion to the silver arrow claiming their victory, and return it to the safe keeping of The Royal Company of Archers.

In response to this account I created a sculptural book, a quiet scene where a lone archer takes aim. The ‘Baillie Court Book’ is a fascinating artifact in itself so I decided to reference it within the artwork. The figure is collaged from reproductions of pages of handwritten text on worn and discoloured paper, this provided a beautiful surface to work with.

The exhibition ‘Sport in East Lothian’ can be seen at the John Gray Centre until the end of October.

Over the last few weeks I have also been out and about exploring the county of East Lothian with a sketchbook, partly in an effort to see where the archive material came from, and also to see where the shadows of the past can still be discovered. Through observational drawings I have been exploring some well-known places like the ‘Prestongrange Museum’, which explains the industrial history of the area, and the historic ‘St Mary’s Church’ in Haddington.

I have also been seeking out places that might be more often overlooked, such as the graceful ‘St Mary’s Pleasance’, Haddington a beautiful and well cared for garden in the heart of Haddington. As I visit different locations I have discovered characters or events from those places, which I can bring back into the archive to research further. This research will build up into a broader project about the communities of East Lothian.

Project Artist at the John Gray Centre, Haddington

When the John Gray Centre invited me to join them as a Project Artist for six months I readily accepted, eager to discover a new source of inspiration for my work and take the opportunity to dive into some new research. As an Illustrator based next door in Edinburgh for the last few years, I knew only a little about the county of East Lothian, however after only a few hours with the team of archivists at the Centre I had discovered a wealth of stories, characters and history.

Over the next few months I will work closely with the team to explore the museum and archive collections and create a series of illustrations and sculptural artworks that begin to bring the collections to life. Alongside this I will lead some creative workshops at the Centre that are also rooted in the collection. Throughout the project we plan to have a few studio days at the Centre where visitors can ‘meet the artist’, find out more about the project and see me at work. My creative practice has always been inspired by travel, stories and places, so I look forward to travelling around East Lothian drawing and hearing many more stories from the archivists.

One of the first artifacts the team showed me inspired the first piece of creative work for the project. Lindsey introduced me to the fascinating Haddington Criminal Register. A beautiful object in itself, the handwritten ledger documents the exploits of criminals in Haddington between around 1894 and 1901. It details the offender, offence, time, place and the punishment given; however interestingly it also offers a detailed physical description of each individual, obviously no mug shots were available back then. In addition to a few comedy errors in judgment, the ledger reveals some very young criminals, repeat offenders, the mischiefs of those from a much higher class and also surprisingly very little pattern or regularity to the punishments given.

 

In response to this interesting book I have decided to create a series of short cartoons illustrating the crimes and characters described, capturing their humour and hopefully some poignancy too. So in addition to a monthly Blog post about my latest finds in the collection and the development of the project, a new cartoon will be released on the John Gray Centre Blog each week so keep an eye out! 

New Books

It is my pleasure to launch two new Artist’s Books busily printed and folded over the last few weeks in preparation for this week’s Artist Bookmarket at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh.

The Secret Garden Party

This is a playful silkscreen printed concertina book exploring a journey through an intriguing garden full of surprises.

14.8 x 10.5 cm

Unlimited edition

William & Rose

Following a series of commissions celebrating weddings and wedding anniversaries, I was inspired to create this small book of humourous proverbs about marriage.

Silkscreen print

14.8 x 14 cm

Unlimited edition

Both books will be on display and for sale along with my other publications under The Book Tree Press at the fair this Saturday, do come and say hello if you make it along. There will also be a whole series of fascinating talks to compliment the stalls which represent the best in artist’s book work in Scotland, and a few from beyond.

See the flyer below for more details or the gallery Website

Happy Easter!

Lucy

Upcoming event....

I live and work just around the corner from Out of The Blue Drill Hall so when the invite to take part in this came along, I thought I would finally make the effort to get a little more involved in my community....

Life is Good Workshops

For the Spring, I have been working with Jill to provide a series of creative bookbinding workshops at her lovely shop 'Life is Good' in Morningside, Edinburgh.

It is a great chance to meet some other creative folk and pass on some skills, and of course have a good natter along the way. Last month we focused on beginner skills, introducing a pamphlet stitch and step stitch in addition to some simple and useful flutter books. This month we are stepping it up a gear, making a hardbound photograph album using a traditional Japanese stab binding. I am really excited about this workshop as it is always great to see amazed students go away with a finished book at the end of the evening.

In April we have shedding the rules slightly and making a slightly sculptural hand bound journal, one for those who don’t like straight lines and gluey pages!

Details for the two evenings are below, to book on either workshop please ring Jill at ‘Life is Good’ on 07903585682 to pay a deposit. Thank you!

Not Tonight Darling........i'm making a Hardbound Photograph Album using a Japanese Stab Binding technique. Tuesday March 13th at 6.30pm. Cost £18 includes all materials and glass of wine/cup of tea! The ideal Mothers Day gift.

Not Tonight Darling…. I’m making a Beautiful handbound journal. During this evening up will create a sculptural and seductive journal to collect your thoughts and ideas. Add some new bookbinding skills to your bow, whilst playfully bringing together beautiful papers and materials into a unique book. Tuesday 17 April at 6.30 pm. Cost £12 includes all materials and glass of wine/cup of tea!

‘Life is Good’

384 Morningside Road, Edinburgh EH10 5HX

March mailers

Employment as an illustrator is a funny business. When new friends ask what I do, the answer is often met with the response, so what is that then? I suppose this is a great conversation starter, however sometimes it might be less frustrating to simply answer with ‘I’m a postman’, less confusing! Having said that, I was asked a few weeks ago what my ideal job would be, and after a moments thought I could only answer with, an Illustrator, an enlightening and reassuring moment.

It is easy to use a blog simply as a notice board, and I am certainly guilty of this. However then I started this enterprise I wanted to use this space to show you what happened day to day and behind the scenes in a creative industry. This should demonstrate my inspirations, discoveries, exhibitions seen and places visited, as well as work in progress, what happens between the point a brief is commissioned, and the time it goes to print. Every project is of course different though, so this should actually be a very busy space.

The role of an illustrator is a freelance career, therefore by nature the job description changes and morphs from month to month. There is also much more to the role than drawing, unfortunately perhaps! In any week I spend hours undertaking admin, planning workshops (and yes maintaining an online presence.) Students often ask how they will ever get any work when they leave the safety of university, it would be nice to direct them to a website full of invitations to put their skills into practice. In reality there is no formula, however there are actions an illustrator must take to draw in clients, and ultimately work.

I used to love designing and making mailers to send out to existing and new clients, showing new work and ideas, and inspiring them to employ me. The last year left me slightly discouraged, despite the opportunity to work on some really interesting commissions. In a new year though I have picked myself up, and this week I am striving to rediscover that love sending out work to designers and agencies. The result is a small selection of portfolio pieces printed and packaged up intriguingly winging their way through the good old Royal Mail, a small sample at first, but a bigger mail out is quickly forming in my head as I type. It shows off my loves of packaging, paper, inky lines, lettering and printmaking. I hope it brings a smile to the recipient when it lands on their desk this week.

If you are a commissioner of illustration and would like to request a portfolio please email me at lucy@thebooktreepress.co.uk or give me a ring on 077 969 20533.