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DIY Art – Pester & Rossi

Here is the latest activity pack that I have designed for the Community Engagement team at Edinburgh Art Festival, this time with Nadia Rossi. Nadia is an artist based in Glasgow, and she collaborates with artist Ruby Pester under the collaborative artist name Pester & Rossi. As Pester & Rossi, their practice derives from visual art, and leads to creating live art, sculpture, installation and public interventions, in response to people and places. DIY Art is a series of activity packs from EAF and selected artists, inviting people to get creative at home. The instructional creativity kits give insights into an artist’s practice, showing how to use their processes and techniques to create unique artworks. The other packs that I have designed were created by artist Alexa Hare, artist and illustrator Sofia Niazi, artist and educator Naomi Garriock, and artist Peter Liversidge. The packs can be downloaded here.

 
For this edition of DIY art, I have designed an envelope to house and protect the activity pack, printed with the DIY Art logo. Printed by the Edinburgh Copyshop, I had originally specified a white envelope but I was surprised and delighted to see that the finished packs were returned with a buff manilla envelope which somehow feels far more appropriate, carrying stronger connotations of the DIY office printing technologies that I love.


Bill Scott Book Cover

I am delighted to have designed this book about the work of the Scottish sculptor and past President of the Royal Scottish Academy, Bill Scott (1935-2012). Scott was a prominent and much respected Scottish sculptor who established and developed his practice in Edinburgh, whilst creating work for public spaces and exhibiting nationally and internationally. The book accompanies a major retrospective of Scott’s work at the Royal Scottish Academy, 1 August to 5 September 2021, that re-presents Scott’s work for contemporary audiences and explores its key themes and influences. Importantly, the exhibition is also an opportunity to fully explore Scott’s role as an educator, mentor and influence on the many artists he taught and supported. 

The bulk of the book was designed last year when the exhibition was originally scheduled for August 2020 but, because of the pandemic, the exhibition was postponed, and the book mothballed, which makes it even more of a pleasure to finally see finished copies of the book, beautifully printed by Gomer in Wales. I have been working on the book with Bill’s daughter, the arts consultant and Clore Fellow, Jeanie Scott. It has been a pleasure to work with Jeanie and fascinating to find out more about Bill’s practice and his legacy. Many of the photographs in the book are new images, taken by the brilliant John McKenzie, www.johnmckenziephotography.co.uk, that reveal Bill’s work in all its intricate detail. 

The cover image is a detail of Exploration / Mapping, 2010 and the title text is Scott’s own lettering, drawn and modelled by the artist for his 1986 memorial to the football player and manager, Jock Stein, commissioned by Dunfermline Athletic Football Club. Bill’s family were very keen to have this hand-drawn text on the cover as it carries much of the warmth and character of this much-loved Scottish artist. The inside cover (below) is a detail from an untitled collage from 1999, a nice contrast to the weightiness of the bronze sculpture on the outside.



Edinburgh Art Festival Commissions Programme 2021


Edinburgh Art Festival Commissions Programme 

Designed by James Brook for Edinburgh Art Festival, 2021

3 leaflets | 210 x 165 mm – flat size 210 x 492 mm | 6 pages roll folded
1 booklet | 210 x 165 mm | 24 pages plus cover
Printed by Allander, Edinburgh, on Edixion Offset 160gsm

Printed matter that I designed for the Edinburgh Art Festival Commissions Programme 2021 interpretation material. Each year Edinburgh Art Festival invites Scottish and international artists to make and present new projects specifically for the festival. in 2021, EAF collaborated with a range of partners to support and present a programme of new commissions and UK premieres by artists working in Scotland, UK and internationally. The programme featured the UK premiere of Isaac Julien’s Lessons of Hour, in partnership with National Galleries Scotland; a new project, Tak Tent O’ Time Ere Time Be Tint, by Sean Lynch, co-commissioned with Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop; a sound installation, Song of the Union by Emeka Ogboh, co-commissioned with Talbot Rice Gallery; and What happens to desire…, curated by EAF associate artist, Tako Taal. 

The printed matter consists of one booklet and three leaflets, and was designed to present a cohesive identity for the commissions programme that is distinct from the main EAF identity and also highlights the contributions of the partner organisations. Unlike previous EAF commissions, there is no over-riding theme to this year’s programme so my design does not reflect a theme, instead it presents a common typographic stye and layout that is adaptable to the different content of each piece of print. Different logos from each partnership organisation (Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Talbot Rice Gallery and National Galleries Scotland) had to sit well with the new EAF logo and other typographic information – a balancing act, often with three different typefaces in play. 

I selected Proxima Nova as the typeface for this series as it has some similarities to the typeface that appears in the new EAF logo, but is sufficiently different that the designs are not solely linked to EAF but give equal weight to the partner commissioning organisations. I used a pared back palette of colour and type and suggested a new commissioning credit line that helps brings the partner organisation to the fore. Different weights of Proxima Nova were used to create a hierarchy of information and full bleed images from each commission have been used to create impact. The leaflets (for Isaac Julien, Sean Lynch, and Emeka Ogboh) are 8 page double-gatefolds, folded to 165mm x 210mm while the What happens to desire… booklet is 24 pages plus cover, trimmed to the same size – this is the size of the books, booklets, and leaflets that I have designed for EAF in previous years, building a connected set of print that documents the Edinburgh Art Festival’s growing series of artists’ commissions.



Emeka Ogboh: Song of the Union
 

Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour

Sean Lynch: Tak Tent O' Time Ere Time Be Tint

What happens to desire…

Platform: 2021

Platform: 2021 

Designed by James Brook for Edinburgh Art Festival, 2021 

Booklet  | 210 x 165 mm | 16 pages 
Printed by Allander, Edinburgh, on Edixion Offset 170 gsm 

A booklet that I designed for Platform, Edinburgh Art Festival’s showcase for Scotland based artists at the beginning of their careers. The 2021 edition, selected by Sorcha Carey, Mason Leaver-Yap and Ciara Phillips, and curated by Colm Guo-Lin Peare, brought together new work by Jessica Higgins, Danny Pagarini, Kirsty Russell and Isabella Widger. The exhibition ran from 29 July – 29 August and was held at the Institut français d’Ecosse West Parliament Square Edinburgh EH1 1RF  

The cover design includes circles taken from the colon that appears in the Platform: 2021 logo with imagery selected from one of the four artists, in this instance, the work of Isabella Widger. I used two typefaces, Freight Sans Pro and Adelle Sans, selected for their character and readability, and used different weights of Adelle Sans to create a new logo that echoes the previous logo, which was set in Akzidenz Grotesk. Inside, the layout follows the design of the previous four iterations but the wider page size gives a feeling of space and gives images priority and allows them to breathe.  


 

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