Cheap Affair February

Artists for Cheap Affair February

Victoria Ashworth I am an artist based at Woodend Mill in Mossley and I will be selling a mixture of paintings, monoprints, wood sculptures and textile pieces. All the work is created by artists at the mill and will be beautifully presented on the stall.

email: victoriaashworth@yahoo.co.uk
web: www.victoriaashworth.com

www.loveartbuyart.co.uk

Tracey Aspinwall My company name is Love Letters and I make pictures, bags, mugs, notebooks, cards and much more with letters on.

Toyah Blackburn

www.artbytoyah.weebly.com

Kate Buffton I am a third year student at Salford University and I am a book artist, I transform old unwanted books into a new and innovative designs. I cut into the pages and also fold them to create sculptures from the books. Each sculpture is similar yet diffierent to the one before. I have been working with old books for the past few years and have produced a variety of pieces.

Cheap started as an independent zine run by artists Tommy Eugene Higson and Nikki Marie Jackson showcasing emerging and established talents in art, illustration, design, photography, literature and other creative and visual practices. Cheap has been involved and represented in various events and exhibitions internationally and is distributed internationally.
As artists we work and exhibit both individually and collaboratively and our work addresses various subjects and themes with several constants; accessibility, relevance and aesthetics. Cheap is a reflection of these abiding concerns and an ongoing project to describe and detail developments in regards to the broader visual and creative

cultural landscape in the form of products, exhibitions and events and critical writing.

Email: cheap-magazine@live.com
Web:cheapzine.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com/cheap_magazine

Amelia's Anthology of Illustration Review and Amelia Gregory Interview

Thereza Rowe

Leona Clarke

Abi Daker

Lesley Barnes

By Tommy Eugene Higson

I won't beat around the bush; this is the illustration book I have been waiting for. If you're an illustrator, hell, if you're and artist, image maker or image enthusiast you need to own this book. And this is why.

For a start it breaches the all-to-familiar format of so many illustration compilations of late which simply buzz: how playful, how creative, how pretty of illustration. That is not to say there isn't some fantastic and diverse makers. Some of my favourites are Barbara Ann Gomez's vibrant images with their vivid colours, intricacy and a real feel of the handmade, as similarly I enjoyed Hannah Warren but with more of a delicacy. I poured over Jess Wilson's works, filled to bursting point with characters, animals, icons, contraptions, text and countless pop and cultural references. My mind boggled at the complex creation process in Kerry Lemon's images that combine detailed drawing (in various media), watercolour and digital manipulation. I loved the magic in the images of Yoko Furusho, the muted palette and the J-pop feel made digitally crisp. And the ultra clean, pattern-filled, colour intelligent compositions of Karolin Schnoor are particularly impressive. The list really does go on and words are no good but check out some of their blogs. Amelia wanted the best from her artists; so she got it.

What makes this best though is that Amelia set a brief for the project tackling a very current global political issue. Now I did have some initial concerns when I read the sub-title 'featuring renewable technologies to prevent catastrophic climate change', as this could so easily have become an overly-romanticised rant condemning the world unless; we the people, take charge, and love our planet, and yader, yader, yader. But the fact of the matter is that there is no overbearing moral agenda forced onto you, just truly informative articles about alternative energy sources that we could consider for the future, and it's delivered in a thoroughly entertaining way. I genuinely came out of the experience feeling more knowledgeable and dare I say: optimistic! I felt I saw real potential in the technology developed by Sky WindPower and thought the inner city car park vegetable farms, circuit board cities and quarried landscapes reformed with greenhouses were really quirky, innovative, intelligent ideas.

The Amelia's Anthology of Illustration project has been a great idea from the word go and I've not even mentioned how well the illustrations and text compliment each other, giving you such a mental picture of how these technologies work and how things may look in the future. Not to mention the fact that it acts as a great reference to some fantastic illustrators- emerging and established- and really gives you insight into working practices, experiences and of course much talk about self-promotion and motivation! This is the illustration book we've been waiting for.

Interview

What made you decide to do this project, did you decide that you wanted to make an illustration book first or did you get the idea for the brief first? (It really worked, I feel much wiser for it!)

I suppose the idea all came together at once; I've worked with illustrators a lot and knew I wanted to make a book that featured illustration, but I also knew that I didn't want it to be like any other illustration book, ie a banal 'best of' collection that said nothing about the context of illustration now. I am interested in the power of illustration to harness the imagination so somewhere along the line I thought it might be possible to combine my plans for a book with a way to show us how a possible alternative future might look. I knew I wanted to make a book that would educate at the same time as inspire, so when I found all these crazy, inventive but perfectly feasible alternative energy plans that aren't really being talked about anywhere they seemed like the perfect subject matter. And then the idea just grew organically from there.

Is there any of the renewable technologies that particularly gripped you? Sky WindPower's Flying Electric Generator sounds like a winner to me!

Well, no bias obviously, but I am sure my dad's Loose Cannon Wavepower idea is brilliant (even though he still won't tell me precisely how it works for fear of losing his right to a patent). I love the Sky WindPower technology too, probably because it just seems so fabulously insane. I think that all the flying kite technologies really grab the imagination- for instance I particularly like the KiteGen idea too- the concept of kites filling the sky to produce power just seems so very out there and unlikely that it might just happen. We never know how the future will look, and that is why it holds such an allure for artists and visionaries. There is the opportunity to be so very creative in the interpretation of the subject matter.

I know it's hard to choose but do you have any favourites amongst the illustrators you've chosen for this book?

The successful partnerships that I have formed with some of the illustrators featured in the Anthology of Illustration would definitely mark them out as my favourites, because it's really important to be able to work with art direction in a successful manner. Of course you'd have to ask the individual illustrators but I feel fairly certain that most of the ones I worked most closely with would agree that the work that we produced collaboratively was that much stronger. I am particularly pleased with the cover of the book, which was produced with Scottish student Louise McLennan, who is an absolute natural and a complete original, despite never having trained as an illustrator. She is going to be very successful. I also worked closely with another Scottish girl, Lesley Barnes, who I think it is fair to say I pushed beyond her comfort boundaries by asking her to work with lots of colour for the endpapers (it took quite a long time to get those right) and I think that she's brilliantly talented, particularly as a typographer. Mia Marie Overgaard has been an absolute diamond to work with over the past year, helping me to produce iconographic artwork for Climate Camp and capable of producing such amazing beautiful delicate illustrations. Others that stand out are Leona Clarke, again for her ability to produce fantastic work under tight art direction, Justin Wallis for the sheer genius of his vision, Thereza Rowe for her quirky papercutting and cheery disposition, Abi Daker for her truly original style and again her willingness to work to a tight schedule and art direction. There are many others - Japanese illustrators Sachiko and Yoko Furusho produce very different work that is just so immensely imaginative in it's interpretation of subject matter, and Liv Bargman has a fabulously creative way of looking at things. I am sure I could go on.... in fact I've thought of several others already, but I'll stop there!

You had an exhibition to coincide with the release of the book at Concrete Hermit with several artists from the book collaborating, is this something you would like to do more of, more curating?

In an ideal world yes, but it takes a lot of time and energy for me to do extracurricular projects, and the major limiting factor on what I can achieve is how much I can actually do on my own. Most of my time is spent dealing with the very unglamourous aspects of running a small business: coping with admin for the website and book, managing interns, and sorting out production and distribution. I don't want to give myself more than I can cope with as I have enough of a tendency to do this as it is! For now I want to concentrate on what I know I need to do to keep all my current projects afloat and viable, and also hopefully give myself a bit of space to breathe as I feel as though I have worked myself into the ground over the past few years.

So what's next for you now, what's the next project?

Well, it's January, which means it's sort-out-my-tax time; boooooring, but that's the nature of running your own business. It will probably take me several weeks to collate and sort out my paperwork even though every year I swear to myself that I will be more organised. It never happens. I also need to concentrate on getting the book distributed abroad, finding PR opportunities, checking up on sales in the UK, and chasing up unpaid invoices dating back to the magazine... lots of fun stuff like that. After that I am going to try and concentrate on making the blog as good as it can be, which will mean addressing ways in which I can make it more sustainable so that is can continue into the future successfully (as it makes no income at present) and writing for it a lot more myself. Sadly, I also need to sort out the mess in my house - 6 years of running a magazine has accumulated into toppling piles of back issues, lookbooks, postcards, boxes, cd promos and so on, so it looks more like a junk shop/warehouse than the lovely home it used to be. Then I might tackle my next book idea.... which could involve looking at how successful sustainable communities come about, but the idea is yet an unformulated plan. Tempted though I am to jump right in at the deep end again I very much need to sort out the basics of my life first! I'll post something on my website as soon as I've decided what I'm going to do so watch this space...

http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/

http://www.therezarowe.com/
http://www.leonaclarke.co.uk/
http://abidaker.com/

http://www.lesleybarnes.co.uk/

http://www.karolinschnoor.com/

http://www.hannahwarren.com/

http://yokofurusho.com/

http://www.jesswilson.co.uk/

http://www.kerrylemon.co.uk/

http://www.barbarana.es/

http://lemclennan.com/

http://www.miaovergaard.com/

Sachiko - http://www.loveandhatesati.com/

http://www.skywindpower.com/ww/index.htm

http://www.kitegen.com/en/

15.1.10 bulletin

Hello friends

This week we have a review of Amelia's Anthology of Illustration on the myspace and blog so please read it, it's a fantastic book and we also have an interview with Amelia Gregory herself to accompany it.

Next week we will have a creative writing piece on the experience of one-timing Bioshock in anticipation of Bioshock 2.

Also we want people for the next fair still so drop us an email at:

cheap-affair@live.com

Have a fun active week and watch Gary Oldman's new film, I'll be quizzing you next week.

Tommy and Nikki

Interview with Lisa Hassell from inkygoodness

by Tommy Eugene Higson

Tommy- Right then, first question, will start with an easy one. How would you describe what you are doing with inkygoodness and what are your aims?

Lisa- Inkygoodness started life as a small art show in Bristol back in 2008. Michelle and I were both keen to do something creative together and a show felt like a great idea. We were lucky to sell a bit of work and enjoyed the experience so a group show felt like a natural progression. We were excited about showcasing our work alongside established artists and organising a show was the quickest and easiest way to get our name out there. Inkygoodness 2 showcased artwork by 15 illustrators and we were very lucky to get talented local artists on board such as Andy Council which really helped elevate what we were doing. Following our success in Bristol we hosted 'Wonderland' in our home town of Birmingham last September; exhibiting work by over 25 artists each with their own unique style. We learned that working as a professional illustrator can be very isolating, especially for newcomers who may not know many others in the profession and so inkygoodness has evolved to meet this need by creating group shows where everyone can get involved in curating, selling and promoting their artwork in a professional art show; essential skills to survive as an illustrator.

Tommy- Yeah, that's great, I think that is one of the good things about what you do too, that you do get emerging artists together with more established artists so there's more exposure for the newer artists and that in turn a new audience turns out. And the more established artists see what new makers are doing (and what the competition is!). So next question is there anything else you would like to do with the project, do you have plans to work in any new directions or anything you want to experiment or play around with? I know you'd mentioned the possibility of a print show for instance.

Lisa- Yes! There are lots of things we would like to do with inkygoodness... continue to build on the foundations of our exhibitions, organise more events - maybe a smaller touring show. We'd love to take inkygoodness abroad to Berlin or L.A and involve more overseas artists, but for now our focus is very much UK based talent. We're currently looking for a suitable venue for a show in London next year, tossing ideas about for a theme and the format it may take - we're interested in creating a 3D 'walk through' installation, possibly involving animators. 

We’d love to do a print project in the future, inviting submissions and cherry picking the strongest entries for a printed book. We're keen to showcase creative talent and continue to support our creative friends as they embark on their freelance careers; self-promotion is very important in that respect. We have a strong name and brand identity and are fortunate to be in the strong position of steadily gaining a name for ourselves - its a very exciting time for us, the only difficult bit is deciding which direction to take next!

Tommy- That all sounds cool and I suppose part of the fun is having all that choice! I got particularly excited at the prospect of a walk though installation, I think it would work well with the artists and be something real magical and kinda worlds which you can explore and properly get involved in are always big fun! A book/catalogue would be super nice too, I think when people go to image shows they tend to want to take them all back with them and especially with some of the artists you've exhibited so far!

So what kinds of artists/makers (or anyone else for that matter) inspire you and are you interested in? Obviously there's the people who you've worked and exhibited with so far; Steve Rack, Simon Corry, Gemma Correll Felt Mistress for instance but is there anyone else you're liking at the moment?

Lisa- On a personal level painters such as Kelly Tunstall, Gary Baseman and Souther Salazar inspire me, their work is part illustration, part character art; creating beautifully weird wonderlands, strange landscapes and odd characters who occupy them. I love the idea of creating a narrative through a series of paintings or objects as part of a large installation, and this is the kind of work I aspire towards.

I have huge respect for illustrators too, and I recently attended an exhibition by Croatian artist Yellena James which was fantastic. Adam Hancher and Jack Hudson are incredibly talented illustrators & animators, and have recently executed a music video for Tigers That Talked. Remarkably, they are both still studying and I am really looking forward to seeing how their work develops!

Tommy- It is daunting isn’t it, I remember when we were studying and started Cheap we thought we were doing dead good, then started coming across loads of college kids putting out their own publications, exhibiting and even starting their own clothes brands! It’s good though, I admire people like that, and I suppose it kicks us up the arse a bit too!

So yeah I think that gives us a good idea of what informs you and what you are doing with inkygoodness but I’ve just one more question. I suppose it’s not really a question as to ask quite broadly if you had any other thoughts about image making you wanted to share; any positive or negative comments? Any issues you think people should be conscious of when making? Anything you and Michelle would like to see for inkygoodness?

Lisa- I think it's incredibly important to research, and gather ideas before creating artwork, and it's great to look at other artists for inspiration. However, it's essential to look at a variety of areas for ideas; nature, architecture, music, theatre, literature, to really think about the context of your work. Its no good to just look at other illustrators; if you want to give your work weight and depth, research is imperative. Artists who like to experiment and mix things up, work with different materials and let their ideas evolve and mature, often produce very engaging work and we strive to work with artists whose style is constantly evolving.

1st New Year Blog

Hello

First bulletin of the new year so hope everyone's had a good festive period and it's good to be back getting into things.

Unfortunately we have to start with some bad news: the first fair of the year which was to take place this Sunday has had to be cancelled due to the intense weather and we are very sorry for this. The next fair will now be Sunday 7th February and we hope to see all your faces there as it will be a double cracker!

So first things first; the interview with Lisa Hassell from inkygoodness will be up by the time you are reading this, just check the blog or myspace. New content for next week will be a review of Amelia's Anthology of Illustration featuring renewable technologies to prevent catastrophic climate change together with an interview with Amelia Gregory herself!

Finally we have word that Michael Dhillion's nano-fiction project Marmalade Elephants is well under way and he is looking for lots and lots of illustrators to collaborate on what promises to be a very exciting project! Head on over to the web link if you are interested in reading more:

http://marmaladeelephants.wordpress.com/

and that's all.

Tommy and Nikki

Photos from Christmas Cheap Affair

Issue 9 out now!

Click here to go to our shop

Artists for Januarys Cheap Affair

Tracey Aspinwall My company name is Love Letters and I make pictures, bags, mugs, notebooks, cards and much more with letters on.

Toyah Blackburn

Kate Bufton I am a third year student at Salford University and I am a book artist, I transform old unwanted books into a new and innovative designs. I cut into the pages and also fold them to create sculptures from the books. Each sculpture is similar yet diffierent to the one before. I have been working with old books for the past few years and have produced a variety of pieces.


Cheap started as an independent zine run by artists Tommy Eugene Higson and Nikki Marie Jackson showcasing emerging and established talents in art, illustration, design, photography, literature and other creative and visual practices. Cheap has been involved and represented in various events and exhibitions internationally and is distributed internationally.
As artists we work and exhibit both individually and collaboratively and our work addresses various subjects and themes with several constants; accessibility, relevance and aesthetics. Cheap is a reflection of these abiding concerns and an ongoing project to describe and detail developments in regards to the broader visual and creative cultural landscape in the form of products, exhibitions and events and critical writing.

Email: cheap-magazine@live.com
Web:cheapzine.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com/cheap_magazine

Liam Dobson My vector work is a very minimalist type of artwork, based on outlines and cellshaded objects, the imagery withing these pictures helps to portray many problems within our society whilst also providing comical subject matter which is appealing to the eye in a way in which may other forms of art are not.

My photography is based around what I enjoy looking at, the beauty of the world around us defines the picture rather than the photographer.

Email:liamdobson114@hotmail.co.uk

Dolly Cool Jewellery (Clare Dutton) Cool Jewels for rockin' Gals. A range of hand drawn, hand crafted tattoo and rockabilly inspired jewellery by Clare Dutton.

Web: www.dollycool.moonfruit.com
www.getinthepink.moonfruit.com

Ashley Foguel I will be making a series of cards mainly based around pugs and wolves two of the best animals obviously! I will also be making a few fun handmade bags and purses! Along with some illustrative prints framed or otherwise.

Will Gisby is a freelance Illustrator and Graphic Designer who uses humor as an integral part of his work. After being in higher education for 5 long years, Will is eager to undertake real work for real clients. Specialising in editorials for kids and adults magazines Will has also recently begun work on animation and web projects.

Email: mrmagictrousers@hotmail.com
Web: super-awesome-blog.blogspot.com

Hussaindeyn are an artistic duo from Manchester who dabble in everything from fashion to conceptual art, currently based in New York and Manchester Hussaindeyn continue to work transatlantically currently focusing on a new t-shirt range as well as new photography work. On the day we will be selling Handmade and recycled vintage fashion items and jewellery, also prints and drawings.

Nayna Lad I’ve always been interested in the human form which is clearly depicted in many of my paintings. I attempt to create movement and emotions through an expressive and abstract technique. My work has gone through circles of change that has occurred to assist me to develop a particular style that I feel confident and comfortable working with.

Web: www.buy-and-sell-art.com/nayna

Not for Ponies (Beckie Andrews) sells recycled, re-worked vintage and hand made clothes at affordable prices. Visit our ebay shop to find gorgeous dresses, tops, t shirts and handbags that will be sure to get you noticed.

Web: ebay.co.uk/not-for-ponies-boutique
facebook.com/notforponies

ONE MANS TRASH (Nel Boxall) Vintage, recycled and Handmade clothing and textiles.

shesgotmedals & TangerinieAndPurpleHippos Shesgotmedals sells handmade, unique dress brooches and apparel pins made from vintage and reclaimed fabrics. Pretty things for your favourite outfits, lovingly created with Liberty prints, silks and florals. All pieces are original designs with custom creations on request. Tangerinie and Purple hippos sells beautiful handmade silver jewellery amongst a treasure trove of knitted scarves, pillowcases and unique metal work pieces.

Web: www.facebook.com/shesgotmedals

www.folksy.com/shops/TangerinieAndPurpleHippos


Ryan Robinson

Nicola Rowlands I am an illustrator/graphic designer/creative person based in Didsbury, Manchester. I shall be selling greeting cards and decorative bird pillows at A Cheap Affair, and will most likely be found drawing dogs or fish or something on the day as well!

Francesca Smalley

Laura Skillbeck will be selling lots of top quality illustrated things like t-shirts, zines, mugs and screen prints, as well as possibly poems written there and then on the spot, fortunes told, kisses sold, and many other one off special things!

Kate Thornton as a designer/maker based in Nottingham, I work primarily in collage incorporating a range of materials into my work such as antique postcards and maps, images from old books, coloured and printed papers. My interests in natural history, birds in particular often influence the content and recognisable imagery that is present in my work. All of my work is sold complete with frame and you can also buy printed cards and beautiful handmade corsages from me. So not only can you decorate your walls you can decorate yourself!

web: http://www.katethorntondesign.blogspot.com

email: katethornton44@hotmail.com

We love Retro offers an affordable comprehensive range of 70s&80s Retro Airlines, Vespa, other Retro Flight/Shoulder bags, Retro T-Shirts and other unique designed accessories.

Web: www.weloveretro.net

http://www.facebook.com/weloveretro

Emma Whetham The vintage fashion items that we are going to sell includes mostly women’s and some examples of men’s items such as t-shirts, jumpers, blouses, dresses, skirts, shoes and accessories including scarves, belts and jewellery. The homeware items that we are going to sell include vintage ceramics, trinkets and jewellery boxes, some electronic items such as radios and possibly a 1970’s bicycle. These are items of a good quality that are authentically vintage and things that we have collected over the years.

Email:emmawhetham@hotmail.co.uk