Topps Tiles are pleased to announce the winners

for details and images of the winning designs, link to: http://megamosaicmakers.org.uk/

Look out for further details coming soon…..

I didn’t expect to like Mark Leckey’s work, although to be honest I wasn’t especially familiar with any of it before his talk last week. I haven’t been taking as much notice of Turner Prize winners in recent years. At first, when the event was such a breakthrough in terms of making contemporary art part of popular culture, I enjoyed the controversy and spectacle of it all. These days, however, I tend to see it as one of many television money-spinners that take advantage of people competing for celebrity status. I had read some reviews that seemed to suggest, on the whole, that there were more worthy contenders than Mark Leckey who should have received the 2008 trophy.

It was difficult to find the building, due to so much construction work going on around it, but I managed to arrive at Hope University’s Great Hall just in time. The lecture hall was more than half full with a combination of mainly students and a good proportion of staff from both the Tate and the university – a roughly equal mix of men and women, I’d say. I found a seat on a fairly empty row, directly behind some students and wondered what opinions they might have and how they would respond to the celebrity artist addressing them.

Mark took the audience on a candid and insightful journey. Setting off from his early days of ‘yearning to belong’, growing up on the Wirral and aspiring to be part of the action amongst the bright lights of Liverpool (“over there”), we travelled with him through some of the ideas and aspirations that have shaped his life and his work.

Mark’s lecture reminded me of the third year lectures that we used to attend (and eventually each have to deliver) during my fine art degree course. Every Friday afternoon in the Art Faculty lecture theatre, a third year student would be sacrificed, having to stand in ‘the dock’ to explain their efforts to the rest of us with the aid of the slide projector. During the interrogation process that ensued, we questioned anything and everything about the work presented: its execution, its relevance and validity….…little ground was left uncovered. Whilst some students viewed this rite of passage as ritual humiliation, I think it was a worthwhile process. Engaging works of art will inevitably provoke questions. Mark Leckey, however, did not offer us the opportunity to ask any questions and I was disappointed.

“Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore” was the first piece of work we saw. Mark had spent a long time collecting grainy old video footage showing the music and trends of times that some of us in the audience remembered. He had intended to create a documentary but, he explained, became so absorbed and immersed in the process of ‘collaging’ these clips that it took on a new direction altogether.

This was interesting. Allowing the nature of the material to impose itself on the artist and becoming lost into the process is something I can identify with.

From here, we moved on to see some of his second work in film, ‘We Are (Untitled)’. This was filmed in his London flat using a mix of actors and mates and attempted to capture his disillusionment with the youth/clubbing scene and its artifice. It was deliberately quite staged and self-conscious, as a reflection of the culture it represented and Mark’s changing attitude towards it. Moving on, Mark was beginning to make comparisons between Casuals and fin de siecle Dandys- narcissistic young men obsessed with their own image and style. He explored this further with his third film, ‘Parade’. The silhouette figure of an eighties’ new romantic, complete with trademark bouffant hair and cigarette passively observes a parade of passing images: desirable goods, billboards and magazine beauties – the fantasy life. Through this work, Mark told us, he was recognising and trying to come to terms with the trappings and associations of his batchelor life style.

The work I liked the most was ‘Big Box Statue Action’. These were Mark’s ‘Donatella’ years, exploring the sculptural qualities of sound systems, unlikely equivalents, opposite pairs and imagined narratives between them. We saw pieces exhibited at the ICA and an installation addressing a carved marble Jacob Epstein sculpture in the foyer of Tate Britain. Later there was the Jeff Koons Rabbit animation film and his piece based on Viz characters the Drunken Bakers. The rabbit piece was the (virtual) realisation of his desire to house this iconic work of art in his own home so that it would reflect the four walls of his studio flat. I preferred the Drunken Bakers soundtrack that he had created and set against the sequence of stills directly from the Viz comic strip drawings. The lecture ended with Mark’s most recent work: talks. During these talks he has been expressing his ideas and theories more directly to audiences and we heard a brief summary of his “Long Tail Theory”.

I liked Mark Leckey’s work. His ideas were interesting and they were expressed and explored in novel and imaginative ways. At the beginning of the talk, Mark explained that he had started a fine art degree course at Newcastle but left early because he thought that fine art was “up its own arse”. I found this comment quite intriguing in the light of the relationship he has since enjoyed with institutions like the ICA, the Tate and the Turner Prize and the work that he has produced. Of all the questions that I would like to have asked, it was this comment generated the most!

In just two workshop sessions, the whole class had completed their work and it was ready to grout. With help from Tracey and a couple of parent volunteers, each child then had the opportunity to grout their masterpiece themself.

If your school would like to run a project like this, have a look at some of the mosaic kit packages available, especially designed and produced for schools:

http://www.traceycartledge.co.uk/products?tags=schools

Here are the finished results………….

And a few close ups:

Well done Year Three!!!!

the mosaics being cast at Tracey's studio

The flags will take a few weeks to fully cure. We will keep them in the formwork just until the edges and corners are stronger and then they will be delivered back to Prospect House ready for installation in the front garden.

All together, there are 16 mosaic flags at different sizes and an extra two circular features that can be incorporated into the new patio area. Thanks to all the great contributions from the four groups involved, this is going to be a garden that everybody can enjoy and feel truly proud of.

The Beautiful Butterfly Design

Sixteen designs have now been produced ready for casting into square and rectangular concrete flags at the studio. The finished patio is going to look resplendant with these very colourful highlights. Amongst the designs we have a number of flowers: snowdrops, poppy, thistle, sunflower; one or two creatures and minibeasts: ladybird, caterpillar, wasp, butterfly; a rainbow and various other cheery creations that will suit the garden a treat.

Three more groups that use the centre will be contributing to the design during further workshops on Saturday and next week. By then we should have mosaic designs for a total of 16 paving flags.

Stockport is where its at! We’re also working with students at Stockport College to make three mosaic wall panels that will adorn the walls of a quadrangle within the labyrinth of college buildings.

The outdoor space has been beautifully re-vamped so that the students can enjoy using it for exercise and recreation and the scheme has been possible through assistance from The Groundwork Trust. Today was the first session of working towards the design for the mosaic. The students used wax crayons and watercolours; flower petals and sticky-back paper to produce flower designs that will be incorporated into the overall design for the mosaic panels.

Watch this space for updates and images as the projects develop……

The Ark is one of our new retailers, stocking both the wall plaque kits and the stepping stone mosaic kits. Joanna Georgiou, the proprietor, has a wonderful selection of contemporary and eco friendly gifts on offer. My children were delighted with the wind up character torches and funky insulated lunch bags that I found for them here. You could easily do all the Christmas shopping in one go at this shop and delight the family with exciting and inspired gifts that they’ll love and treasure…….