Protecting your creative work is important. How do you do this? And how would you protect just some of your work if you wanted it to be shared? This video tells you how. To find out more visit www.creativecommons.org.uk
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Fuse has announced some of the programme highlights for its fun-filled weekend of FREE outdoor arts – filling the streets of Medway with unexpected happenings between 15 and 17 June. Fuse will be presenting a huge array of theatre, dance and musical performances – from Indian circus, a medieval alchemist, 2 roving grannies through to nautical storytelling and even a floating festival choir! It’s a line-up for everyone to enjoy and which promises to bring people out onto the streets of Chatham, Rochester and Gillingham for fun and celebration.
Fuse kicks off with ‘Lighting the Fuse’ – a week of workshops and performances in schools and communities, including a rural tour of Whatever Floats Your Boat, a family show specially commissioned to the Central School of Speech & Drama. Then the river-themed Opening Parade on Gillingham High Street and site specific performances from the Central School of Speech and Drama and Tangled Feet lead into the main Festival.
Saturday 16th is Street Arts Day on Chatham High Street and the Riverside. The day culminates on the Great Lines (Gillingham) with Barricade, a circus extravaganza by No Fit State, co-commissioned by the festival. The Fuse Big Picnic rounds off the Festival on Sunday, with a day filled with family-oriented activities, workshops and performances at Rochester Castle Gardens.
A spectacular range of performers from the UK and around the world will be visiting this year’s Festival, making it one of the most exciting yet. These include Kawa Circus and the Jaipur Kawa Brass Band, all the way from India, No Fit State Circus with their exhilarating show Barricade, Dante or Die with their playful and enchanting promenade La Fille A la Mode and a new performance specially commissioned for the under-fives by Small Wonders– Little Universe, from Fevered Sleep. Two exciting river–themed performances come from local artists receiving Fuse’s Spark Commissions this year – Ri-zound, a floating festival choir project by renowned Jane Pitt and Changes in the Current, a celebration of the River Medwayand its history through dance, photography and the written word, presented by Sophie Fuller, Alix Godden and Rebecca Ashton.
FUSE Medway Festival is for everyone and will be making its presence felt across the weekend and in different locations with numerous opportunities to get involved, including dance, circus and theatre workshops and even a Dance flashmob on the Saturday.
The Festival is jointly funded by Medway Council and the National Lottery through the Arts Council England and runs from 15 – 17 June. For more information visit the website at www.fusefestival.org.uk, or join them on Facebook or Twitter.
Area – South East
You probably think you know what blues music sounds like. You’ve probably seen lots of bands in pubs with a blues-based sound. You know the sort of thing, tribute acts; white men with a love of the blues singing about what it’s like to be a poor black man in 1930’s America. You’re absolutely right. It sounds good but it’s not REAL blues, music of genuine pain, anguish and hardship. Happily, real blues does still exist. And not just with that Detroit genius Jack White. It’s right here in Medway too. And this being Medway, it’s rather unique and somewhat brilliant.
Sounding like a blues singer from the Deep South, Stuart Turner has one of the most distinctive voices in music. Straddling that fine line between Muddy Waters, Louis Armstrong, Tom Waits and out and out ‘man deranged’, Stuart brings new meaning to 21st Century Blues. And it’s the first time I have ever heard blues sound scary. Seriously, the combination of the man’s voice and the anguished lyrics take you to places you never thought blues could.
It has been said that to sing the blues you need to have suffered. Well in that case Stuart qualifies. That voice is not just an impassioned howl of feeling. Stuart recalls, “I was diagnosed with cancer in my throat and had fairly extensive surgery leaving me with an interesting singing voice and a lot of things to write about.” Many people would have given up. Turner used this misfortune to his advantage.
After finding his voice again and working how he could use it he began gigging and met with Kris Dollimore (ex Godfathers, Dammed, Del Amitri). They became friends and Stuart went on to produce Dollimores first blues solo album (’02/01/1978′) and helped him set up his own Sun Pier label. In return he offered to put out an album of Stuarts ‘A Gallon Of Water Makes A Mile Of Fog’. Stuart now sees the album as “too long, too odd, too sweary, it got some great reviews, but sold badly” A second solo album, (File Under Carnal Knowledge’) sold better, and he was getting known around Medway as well as gigging all around the country. Stuart met Robbie Wilkinson from Medway band Theatre Royal who became his live lead guitarist, then writing collaborator, then half of the ‘Stuart Turner and the Flat Earth Society’. Robbie and Stuart wrote and arranged a set of songs and produced ‘Gin and Bitters’ the first STFES album. Released by Medway based Brigadier Records, they then recruited Ray Hunt and Dave Sawicki and gigged the album, recording half a follow up as they went. “It sold modestly” said Stuart “but we got some radio and a good live reputation.”
Photo taken by Phil Dillon – www.phildillon.co.uk
Stuart Turner and the Flat Earth Society are not just a blues band though. Their repertoire covers rock-a-billy, indie and pop. Not to mention the sax on their last album ‘Gin and Bitters’ sounding a little like the soul of Dexys Midnight Runners. Oh, and did I mention he plays ukulele live too? But it’s the bluesy chug that works best for them, especially when mixed with indie-inspired pop dynamics. Listen to ‘Essex’ from ‘Gin and Bitters’, simply the best 3 minutes Stuart has committed to record so far; it’ cocky, it’s raw, it’s bouncy, it’s all you need from a song.
of the band and his replacement Jez, while a good player, never gelled as well and there was a personality clash with Ray” Problems over? Stuart wishes. “Then there were a series of Jez-drunk-and-incapable gigs, Ray quit, just after we finished recording the as-yet-unreleased album ‘On the Brink of Misadventure’ and just after we were really getting a strong live following. At the very next band gig Jez had to be carried from the building during the support act and I was forced to fire him.”
Bad luck indeed, but thankfully Stuart and band are raring to go and ready to put their new superb album out. It will be out in April and if this album does not sell by the bucket load then there’s something wrong with the world. The usual combination of urban distress, bouncy blues and indie attitude makes this a great record. Listen to a sneak preview of the track ‘To The Nighthouse’ here:
http://soundcloud.com/stfes/to-the-nighthouse
With gigs lined up, Stuart says “this is a point of flux and anything might happen, it really is worth fighting to get this album heard” Perhaps, and most remarkably of all, Stuart accepts that this is what he HAS to do. It’s that Medway Vision again, that desire to create. There’s no giving up for an artist like Stuart, the music is in his blood and if fame comes then that’s a bonus “if I only ever play the Man of Kent a few times a year, but those gigs continue to be rammed, then in some way I have an ongoing achievement. Hopefully though we can go on to do more than that.”
I’m a big fan of Jack White and when I saw Stuart Turner for the first time I had that similar feeling of wonder, that feeling you get when you know you’re seeing something special, someone who means it, someone who is singing from the soul. Jack White is, famously, a fan of Billy Childish and his raw rock and roll. One suspects that if Jack had the pleasure of hearing Stuart Turner and the Flat Earth Society he would have another favourite Medway band. This is not karaoke tribute blues as witnessed in so many bars up and down the land. This is as real as it comes. Stuart Turner has lived a life, he’s seen the bottom and because of that he’s breathing new life into the blues. Once again we’re seeing a Medway Vision, an artist who makes the music because he has too. His bad news is good news for the rest of us.
Stuart Turner and the Flat Earth Society release their new album ‘On the Brink of Misadventure’ on Brigadier Records later this month.
Mr Young
Independent Filmmaker
www.facebook.com/themoontheeye
Area – South East
Every now and then you hear of someone who should be more well-known than they are. Medway painter and poet Bill Lewis is one of them. I’m not talking about seeing some ones work and thinking, ‘oh that’s quite good’ rather, I’m talking about someone who, once you realise what he has done, you realise he is a legend.
Bill Lewis is one of the founding members of both The Medway Poets and The Stuckist Movement of painting. The Medway Poets were founded in 1979 by Lewis along with those other Medway legends Billy Childish and Sexton Ming.
Stuckism was founded in the 1990’s by Bill and 12 others (again Billy Childish) in response to the post-modern ‘event’ art of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. In fact, the name ‘Stuckism’ comes from a conversation Emin had with Childish. During a phone call, Emin mocked Childish and his painting friends for being ‘stuck, stuck, stuck’ in the past. And the name, well, stuck. Bill Lewis and the other original Stuckists, or ReModernists, decided that this new art lacked authenticity.
When asked if he still considers himself a Stuckist, there is little doubt he knows that he will always be one of the founding members of that group, “but I’m more interested these days in the wider aims of the ReModernist experiment. The integration of spirituality into art and the attempt to avoid slipping back into post-modernism”.
I have always made pictures but I did not start writing until I was at school. I used to draw on everything as a kid and after covering the wall next to my bed my parents bought me sketch books to stop me drawing on the rest of the walls. But poetry and fiction are my main artistic outpouring.
For me, his paintings are fascinating. One in particular reminded me of the Inuit art I had seen from the Canadian Arctic when I was making my first feature film, East 3. However, it’s his writing that appeals most of all. It seems that this is where his true voice is. Looking at some of the poetry on his website www.billlewis.co.uk it strikes me as very honest. It carries that element of all great poetry in that it seems to speak to you personally without ever knowing who you are. It carries a beat to it that is often missing from modern poetry, Bill notes “we have lost the music in our poetry. Poems should sound good to the ear as well as work on the page” This is probably why his work sounds so good when performed as his YouTube clips testify.
If there is indeed, a Medway Vision, a new spirit of independence and artistry then Bill Lewis, quite simply, is one of its godfathers.
A new book of poetry “In The House Of Ladders” by Bill Lewis is out now and published by Greenheart press (an imprint of WOW Medway magazine). Price £10.
Mr Young
Independent Filmmaker
www.facebook.com/themoontheeye
Myth and folktales are the subject of a talk by Chatham-based author, poet and storyteller Philip Kane at Chatham Library on the 24th May.
The talk entitled “A Road of Marvels” will argue for the continuing importance of myth and folktale to our imaginations and to our everyday lives.
Philip, who is the author of The Wildwood King, and a founding member of the London Surrealist Group, will give an engaging talk, interspersed with retellings of several traditional stories.
The talk is on Thursday, 24 May at 7.30pm at Chatham Library.
Places are free, but booking is essential.
Phone 01634 337799 or email chatham.library@medway.gov.uk
Medway libraries in Kent are hosting an exhibition about forgotten artists of the Medway area during May and June. The exhibition covers the work of artists between 1850 and 1950 including Richard Dadd, Henry Hopper, Charles Spencelayh, Donald Maxwell, Frank Algernon Stewart, Henry Hill and Evelyn Dunbar.
Their lives were as event-filled as they were varied, as two of the artists worked during war time and produced war inspired by their experiences. If you were thinking that there were no artists in the Medway until the 1970s, this exhibition proves otherwise! The exhibition will be at Strood library during May and will move onto Wigmore library at the beginning of June where it will stay until mid-July.
If you are interested in exhibiting your own work, Strood library is one of three libraries in Medway that holds an exhibition space that is available for use by local artists for free. These are Strood, Wigmore and Rainham libraries. If you have any questions about this exhibition or the exhibition space, please call Strood library on 01634 335890
Without a shadow of a doubt the jobs section on the arts council website should be your first point of call when looking for jobs and artist commissions. http://www.artsjobs.org.uk/
Another place to look is on the Guardian website – http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/jobs/arts-and-heritage/
The Stage Newspaper and Online is not just for actors and actresses – http://www.thestage.co.uk/recruitment/
Creative Boom have a jobs section – http://www.creativeboom.co.uk/jobs/
A smaller site – http://www.periscopeuk.com/
For film and production – http://www.filmcrewpro.com/uk/jobs.php
This is an open article – please add where you also find is useful in the comments box below.
Blackbird Blackbird (formerly Bye Bye Blackbird) is the moniker/musical outlet of San Francisco, California guy Mikey Maramag.
His reverb-laden musical collages tend to lean towards anthemic, inspirational, and dream-driven themes. Maramag’s influences range from various ends of the musical spectrum. Blackbird Blackbird often tweaks nature-samples and mixes electronic textures with organic instrumentation (guitar, drums, synths, vocal-harmonies). Ghostly female vocals are chopped and screwed, spun around a paint-splattered collage of sound.
Maramag’s deep, textured, and hypnotic pop songs pay homage to the psychedelic pop that the Beatles could have imagined but cannot make today. Blackbird Blackbird’s music is made with the warmth of analogue instrumentation spliced with digital bells and twinkles.
Blackbird Blackbird’s debut album Summer Heart was self-released by Maramag in July 2010, and was really just a collection of his past EPs: Happy High and Let’s Move on Together. His standout singles “Pure” and “Hawaii” received the most attention, and his single “Ups and Downs” helped Mikey capture the ears of Pitchfork, Transparent, Prefix Magazine, The Fader, Brooklyn Vegan, and other musical tastemakers.
Support from Us Baby Bear Bones and English Bore.
15th May 2012 – 7.30PM – At Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, 9-12 Middle Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 1AL // Map
£7 advance // £8 door
TICKETS // WeGotTickets // See Tickets
Source – Tea Concerts
This year, Coventry and WarwickshireSociety of Artists (CWSA) will be celebrating the organisations one-hundredth anniversary.
Founded in February 1912, by the Mayor of Coventry, Colonel William Wyley, CWSA’s history has been studded with many successes, as well as many frustrating trials and tribulations. Disheartened by the fact that so little was being done for the visual arts in Coventry and the surrounding area, Wyley proposed to expose the wealth of talent in the region by founding a society and an art gallery and museum for Coventry and North Warwickshire.
The beginning of this initiative was marked by CWSA’s debut exhibition at the Corn Exchange (no longer in existence), where a good 354 works were displayed. The then President Solomon J. Solomon RA, sent a large painting entitled ‘Eve’ which had to be delivered by carriage as he was unable to attend.
The society worked hard to secure an art gallery in Coventry and was eventually rewarded when Sir Alfred Herbert, a philanthropist and local manufacturer, offered to fund the project. However, despite enormous efforts, together with the advent of World War II, this dream was not fulfilled until 1960, sadly after the death of Sir Herbert. But, this fortune was to be relatively short lived, and, despite a lengthy campaign to save their hard-earned exhibition space, the society were forced to seek alternative exhibition spaces.
Today, the Herbert Art Gallery’s permanent collection still contains a significant number of works donated by members, patrons and other people who were involved with the CWSA, and the actual existence of the gallery is certainly thanks to the early endeavours of the society’s members.
A number of highly distinguished artists have supported CWSA over the years, including the first woman President Dame Laura Knight, David Shepherd, Sir William Orpen, William Roseblade, and the watercolourist Herbert Edward Cox, whose paintings of old Coventry (1930s) can be seen in the Herbert Art Gallery.
In more recent times, a number of CWSA members have received awards, including Sheila Fitzgerald who received The Chancellors Medal for her outstanding service to Warwick University and Vivienne Robinson, who won the Warwick Business School Logo Competition in 2011.
Initially, CWSA was an extremely selective organisation, open only to artists, but over the years the organisation has adapted to the ever-changing times, collaborating with a variety of arts organisations, museums and galleries on a national and European scale, opening its doors to artists and art lovers alike. Today, the original spirit and objectives of the organisation continue to live on, and, to mark their centenary, CWSA will be holding a variety of exhibitions and events in the local area.
The celebrations will commence this summer, when the society will be exhibiting in the MOSAIC Art Trail, in May, Art on the Edge2 in June, and “The Tiltyard” in August, under the umbrella of BRINK, where the society will be presenting a special anniversary showcase. But, the most exciting event will occur in October, when the CWSA will hold their centenary exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery.
“This is a very important and exceptional year for us. We are absolutely delighted that we will be able to hold our Centenary Exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery in October and it will be an incredible opportunity to showcase the wealth of local talent that exists in Coventry and Warwickshire today. To date the CWSA has 93 members, many of whom will be exhibiting at the Herbert in October. The artists and our committee are working very hard in preparation for this event, which will be feature painting and sculpture by both past and current members” states CWSA President Jane Powell.
You can find out more about the events that will be happening this year at www.covwarsocart.co.uk
By Musing On Spines
Information On Images –
Area – West Midlands
Since my first article I have been absolutely overwhelmed by people recommending talented creative people to me, or people agreeing with me about the Medway independent scene. It does indeed seem that I’m onto something here. Medway is on the march. So let’s continue with our list of its artistic generals.
This week I have been introduced to the sound work of a band known as Hand of Stabs. A band? Like a rock band? No. Not at all. Imagine a soundtrack to a surreal film. Or a soundscape to an evening walk in the woods where you THINK you’re alone but you’re not sure. Hand of Stabs are avant-garde, yes, but don’t let that put you off by thinking that the music is impenetrable. It has a beat, but it’s the beat of nature, the beat of darkness, the beat of Medway. For that reason alone, this is essential listening.
Mind you, they probably won’t thank me for calling them a band. They call themselves a ‘sound art collective’. Hailing from Rochester their site-specific improvised work is recorded at points of significance around Kent and the South East providing a connection to sacred history and landscape. Inspired by regular, often night-time explorations through these spaces, they are creating a series of ‘aleatorical’ soundworks. In other words, much of their work is left to chance. Spontaneous. Improvised. Directly from the soul if you like.
Hand of Stabs are called, intriguingly, Captain R. Standish, Jocelyn von Bergdorff and James Worse. Standish and Worse have both been active in a number in bands and von Bergdorff was active in the cassette underground during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. The idea of playing together came together around year ago. Their work is influenced by the writings of the historian naturalist and engineer, William Coles Finch (1864-1944), Resident Engineer of the Brompton, Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester Water Company and his vivid descriptions of Edwardian Kent in his books ”In Kentish Pilgrim Land” and ”The Medway River & Valley”. Their sound is a reflection of the significance we place upon our surroundings.
One recent performance at the Hulkes Lane Brewery came about because their friend’s great-great-grandfather a storeman at the Brewery in 1863, hanged himself there. He had been barred from the Brewery’s social club over some minor infraction and the ignominy was too much to bear. His death meant that his wife and nine children, who lived in a two-roomed tied-cottage on Hulkes Lane, were made homeless and sent to the workhouse. The feelings that these stories evoke allow Hand of Stabs to create their soundscapes. Less story-tellers, more mood-tellers.
Other performances so far have included, the open air at Kits Coty and at the studios of Turner Prize nominated artist Yinka Shonibare as part of an installation by Luke Otteridge. Hand of Stabs are continually looking for opportunities to play in interesting spaces to interested audiences and are very receptive to suggestions. Think about your favourite places and now imagine it with the emotions of the location played out in sounds. Like a dream. Or a nightmare. Powerful stuff.
With two CDs already out “The Geometry of Dust” and “Aktion #2: Hulkes Lane Brewery”, this year has just seen the release of a lathe-cut vinyl LP featuring Hand of Stabs and a collaboration with Medway legend Sexton Ming in his alter-ego of Jude Hagg entitled ‘Old Bluster saw the Beauty’.
Two weeks in and we have discussed two new groups, both creating dark sounds. Is this a theme of Medway? Exploring the dark side of life? It certainly appeals to me as a filmmaker. But as I’m finding out, that’s the great thing about the Medway Vision. It’s diverse. The dark side of life is there for sure, but as we shall see in the coming weeks there is also a lighter side. Keep listening because darkness needs light.
“The Geometry of Dust” and “Aktion #2: Hulkes Lane Brewery” are out now priced £10. For more information on Hand of Stabs contact: spoon-unit@blueyonder.co.uk
Mr Young
Independent Filmmaker
www.facebook.com/themoontheeye
Area – South East
Let me explain myself. I’m an independent filmmaker living in Rochester. Over the course of, well, however long they allow me to write these articles, I’m going to highlight one of Medway best kept secrets. One at a time I will focus on a local artistic talent within the Medway towns.
There seems to me something brewing around here. Whisper it, but it might even become a ‘Medway Scene’. Filmmakers like me, poets, musicians, visual artists, photographers, writers are busy creating. That, taken on its own, is nothing new. But there is a buzz, a real sense of artistic change in the air. The Fuse Festival is fun but this is something else.
I have lived in a few places, big places like London and Birmingham and for a little while now I have felt something unique about Medway. The art that is being made around here feels raw, exciting. It’s an independence of spirit and a DIY ethic. The NEED to create. It feels like Medway means it. It feels like Medway has something to say. A Medway Vision. Over the coming weeks I hope to prove that…
First off, let me introduce a group of beat poets I have been working with. There are three of them, they call themselves, perversely, a trinity. I can’t tell you their names. They work in secret. Determined to only write poetry and discuss nothing else, they asked me to produce their first CD of poetry. The go by the moniker of 7th Adventure Recordings and mix a surreal and dark set of words to an even more surreal and darker set of beats and noises.
I have worked with one of them before, secretive even then, he went only by the name of Polarghosts. He provided soundtracks to three of my short films. I liked his style, dark and dream-like, nightmarish really. When he told me about his interest in beat poetry my ears pricked up. He had grouped up with two others who shared a passion for beat poetry and together they wanted to redefine what poetry and beat poetry was. Beat poetry came out of the post-war USA in the 1950’s. Using music, often jazz, as a backdrop the poets usually performed stream of consciousness writing to a hip crowd. The legacy lived on but transformed and the melding of music and spoken word paved the way for rap music in the 1970’s.
Beat poetry in its own right kind of fizzled out. But the works of Kerouac and Ginsberg are still revered. 7th Adventure Recordings are presenting, what they call, beat poetry for the 21st Century. The music is still sometimes jazz in form, but it’s all electronic minimalism and has more in common with techno music. The words are not about 50’s America and the post-war lost ’beat’ generation but do share the stream of consciousness feel that those earlier poets had. Even the sub-title of the new CD ‘Poetry for the Blank Generation’ conjures images of the original beat poets but repackages it, Generation X-style, for a new generation of misfits.
Their new CD is something of an ‘EP’. 8 short poems with distinct identities, 9 minutes running time. Their words strike to your very soul. It’s like listening to a character in a dream. You can hear them and understand but you are never quite sure what they mean. Partly scary, partly uplifting, the CD is unusual in that it looks and feels like a new EP from a band including cool artwork. But it’s poetry. This really is poetry with a difference.
I have seen poetry performed a few times. It was ok but pretty dull and bourgeois. I was always attracted to beat poetry as it contained a raw energy. And who can resist the romantic image of the beat poets from 50’s America, travelling, drinking, free to create and thereby define a generation. Ok, I’m guessing that this bunch of Medway beat poets won’t be defining a generation, but if you want to explore a dark and surreal underbelly rather than listen to poems about funny people on a train or how the pretty the countryside is then this group might just become your favourite new poets.
7th Adventure Recordings seem destined to remain secretive and have no plans to perform their work live. That seems a pity, but, as with so many Medway artists currently at work, their vision is what makes them tick. Their vision is what makes them vital. Their vision is what is making Medway bubble with ideas and passion. And we wouldn’t want that to change.
Their new CD by 7th Adventure Recordings, ‘Curious Fascinations – Poetry for the Blank Generation’, has just been released and is available from www.themoontheeye.co.uk or www.7thadventurerecordings.tumblr.com priced £3.
Mr Young
Independent Filmmaker
www.themoontheeye.co.uk
www.twitter.com/Mr_Young
www.facebook.com/themoontheeye
If you know me well, you will know I love abandoned places, I love urban exploration and I love photography of anything linked with either. That is why I was really excited when I stumbled across some small images by photographer Rebecca Crosbie in Wow Kent magazine. I had to find out more so got in touch with Rebecca and asked her some questions to find out why this subject also appealed to her, as well as finding out more about her creative background…
Hi Rebecca, tell us more about your creative background and how you got into photography…
I have grown up in a creative environment from a very young age, with a father who specialises is scale drawing and design and a mother who started as a dress-maker and upholster and now practices as a potter and porcelain jewellery maker. My mother was always a keen photographer and from a young age I became interested in photographing my surroundings. Having grown up on a farm I became an avid explorer recording my every discovery.
Throughout my school life my interests seemed to revolve around fine art and resistant materials, and in my spare time I was fascinated by philosophy, Foucault in particular. I went to Kent Institute of Art and Design, Maidstone (now UCCA) for six years, studying a Foundation in Art and Design, NCFE Creative Craft and then followed on to complete a BA Hons Photography and Media Arts and was awarded a scholarship for MA Artists’ Film, Video and Photography which I completed in January 2011.
What other career paths have you taken?
Despite the fact I am only 25 I have had many jobs. I like to keep busy and learn new things. I am particularly interested in people and have had lots of jobs working with people. On and off I work as an in house photographer for the metropolitan police and have done work for various charities, and for some time was a carer for the elderly. I then spent a year living in Belgium photographing various locations and making a living being a nanny for a new born baby. I now reside in my local 400 year old pub (Drakes Cork and Cask, Maidstone) where I live and work part time whilst writing my book (philosophy based about peoples perception of space) and collating my photographic works.
Who inspires you both locally and universally?
Much of my inspiration has come from French philosopher Gaston Bachelard in his writings ‘The Poetics of Space’ and the memorising photographic work of Francesca Woodman.
If you could explore and photograph any building what would it be? Past and present?
If I could explore anywhere it would be North Brother Island a 13 acre forgotten island on the north river in New York. The island is home to a hospital which opened in 1886 to treat contagious illnesses becoming famous in the 1900’s for being home to Typhoid Mary. The clocks were stopped on brother island in 1962 when the city pulled the plug on the island.
What is it about urban exploration and photographing abandoned places that you love?
The thing I love about urban exploration is being able to watch and record the way nature takes hold of what we have forgotten and is always more powerful than the man made structures it takes hold of. The decay of the structures I find endlessly picturesque, so many new textures are born through the weathering and neglect. I am also curious to see what it is that man has left behind and the impact they have had on the architecture over time.
What is the most unusual or bizarre things you have found whilst on a photography expedition?
Not necessarily bizarre to the location but unusual for me to find at this time of modern medicine was a straight jacket in one of the asylums I visited. To see such an object which used to be used to frequently opened a new reality to me regarding the practices which took place in the hospitals in the past.
What would you like to achieve in the future?
My aim for the future is to keep exploring and recording these places. I would like to, in the future, create a series of publications sharing the beauty of these buildings.
Can you recommend a creative website you love?
My favourite website which I love to keep up to date with is a local blog. It looks at everything from fashion, furniture and art, to food and lifestyle. http://lot316.blogspot.co.uk/
I am also very fond of the site HypeBeast
Thank you so much for telling me more about yourself Rebecca, I really look forward to seeing more of your work and will probably be investing in some of your work one day to display on my walls! If only I lived in a abandoned theme park…
You can find out more about Rebecca at www.rebeccacrosbie.com
If you to love urban exploration then the website 28 days later is a MUST.
All images belong to Rebecca Crosbie – permission must be asked for use.
Area – South East and Nationwide
Ben Cameron has a competition running to win his illustration “Bugsy Alone” drawn in black ink on 230gm acrylic paper.
We think it is a lovely piece of art and anyone would be lucky to own him.
All you have to do is Tweet about the competition and make sure you include a couple of things.
1. Ben’s Twitter name @ben_cameron needs to be in the tweet, not right at the beginning though.
2. A link to website strangepaul.com
He will accept RT’s as entries too. They’re sometimes a bit tricky to monitor but he said he will do his best!
If you are not on Twitter then email your details to bencameron@me.com
He will pick a winner at random from a hat/bowl/human skull on Bank Holiday Monday, the 7th May.
The prize will be posted (or hand delivering if you’re local to Medway) in a nice tube, 1st class the day after the comp ends.
If enough people enter he will try to sort something out for a runner-up(s) too.
Any questions or feedback, please get in touch.
If you’re not in UK but still want to enter, please feel free to do so if you’re happy to pay for the postage.
Find out more about Ben Cameron at http://strangepaul.com/
We like to include all types of creatives in Creatabot which is why we are really pleased to have Jack working with us. Jack is a game designer from Rainham in Kent. We wanted to know more about how and why Jack got into game design so ran a few questions by him…
So Jack, have you always been creative?
Well, my Mum always said I was born with a pencil in my hand so I guess it started from there, although to be fair it was probably a few years later before I actually picked up that pencil and did useful stuff with it. I’m pretty sure she’s still kept a load of my old drawings, that’s embarrassing. I sort of pottered around until I left school, not knowing what path to take.
How did you end up working in game design?
I studied Art and Design at GCSE and enjoyed it, but it felt more restricting than creative. Its more luck than anything that I fell into games. There was a course in Games Development just starting that year at Canterbury College, so I did that instead of going to Sixth form. This just naturally led onto Games design at degree level. I won a design competition at university that allowed me to work on and publish a game, so in five years or so, I went from no experience just leaving school to being a published game designer.
What other career paths have you taken?
I had a brief stint where I wanted to be a teacher abroad, but apart from that, I’m pretty focused on becoming a Game Designer. It’s a competitive industry, so I think I’ll have to put my all into it to really succeed. I’ve toyed with things relating to game design, animation, computer art and 3d modelling. I think I would be happy doing anything creative really, but I suppose my dream is to design games that are fun to play and carry a message of some sort.
Who inspires you both locally and universally?
It’s cliché to say, but you can get a good idea from anything if you think hard enough about it. For example there are a load of pieces of paper in front of me, you could take the properties of paper (foldable, light, stackable, you can draw on it) and apply this to something completely un-paperlike like, a man, and hey presto, you’ve got the basic idea for some sort of origami warrior videogame. You can couple this with any combination of other objects for interesting results. It makes the world a lot less boring when there are potential characters and game mechanics everywhere!
Locally, I think Medway is good because it is varied. In ten minutes I can be sitting by a river or be in the middle of a busy town. It’s certainly a good place to get a change of scenery fast!
What would you like to achieve in the future?
I’m working on a game right now with a team spread around the world. I’d like to see this project to completion and release it for free in the near future. My dream is to own my own game development studio and create games that are fun. I think the best work comes through collaboration, so I’m always looking for people to work with!
Can you recommend a creative website you love?
I have two! Polycount is the first one, it’s a forum for game art, mainly. Specifically if you want to begin creating game art and have no idea what to do, it’s a great starting point. I think just being exposed to it has passively improved my skills. They run competitions and tutorials so you can improve yourself, and the whole site is forum based so it’s designed for you to post a piece of work and ask for critique.
DeviantArt is another favourite. It’s really popular, if you haven’t heard of it, it’s basically an online gallery where anyone can upload anything. You can sort by category, so if you need some inspiration, it’s perfect.
We really look forward to reading articles by Jack and seeing how his work progresses.
You can keep up to date with Jack through Twitter.
Area – South East and Nationwide
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Creatabot 