University News Last updated 15 May 2015
Illustration students from the School of Visual Communication recently took a trip down to London for the Secret 7” Festival and the Pick Me Up: Graphics Arts Festival in Somerset House.
At the Secret 7” Festival, which combined music and art for charity, seven tracks from seven musicians were pressed 100 times into 7” vinyl. Creatives from around the world were then invited to interpret the tracks in their own way. These 700 sleeves were exhibited and sold for £50 each.
This year, four Birmingham City University students were chosen to interpret tracks and design their own sleeves. Liam Anslow, Josh Patterson, Michelle Bowden and Theo ‘Chunxx’ Ellis had their work on display among greats such as Yoko Ono, Paul Smith, Sir Peter Blake, Julian Opie and David Shringley.
The record sleeves went up for auction on Monday 4 May, with the money raised going to the Nordoff Robbins charity, which works alongside children with autism, dementia, depression and other learning and physical disabilities. Since it began, Secret 7” has raised £105,000 for various charities.
A selection of 98 students from all three years were also invited to graphic arts festival Pick Me Up, giving them the chance to experience the best of new illustration and inspiring graphic design. A whole host of different working practices and techniques were on display, from screen printing, animation, and paper craft to risograph printing.
Throughout the 12 days of the festival, artists and experts from each element of graphic design set up interactive workspaces so the audience could see the work in action, get hands-on experience and purchase one of a kind works. The ‘Pick Me Up Platform’ was another insightful element, where talks and debates were held as well as live DJ sets and demonstrations. Platform hosts included publishers, Nobrow and Thames and Hudson, artists Bob and Roberta Smith and magCulture who gave an in depth talk on indie magazines.