Saturday 11 December 2010

North Rock YULE print online


North Rock Gallery has got the Yule exhibition prints from the CO:LAB Boys (Andrew, Beto and myself) available to buy online...get yourself some Shetland artists work now before it goes :)

Ganzie on North Rock Gallery

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Co:Lab - A Good Shot?/A Real Meal?


Here is a look at my two screenprints set side by side for the second of the two Co:Lab Christmas 2010 projects currently showing at Sprickle an' Peester exhibition (which I also did exhibition design - see previous process blog) at Bonhoga Gallery, Weisdale Mill, Shetland until 23 December. We are showing work alongside makers and artists from Shetland and across the UK.

Each screenprint is Four colour
Size: A3
Edition: 3

Saturday 13 November 2010

Buy Jono Sandilands screenprints online


You can now buy a selection of my screenprints online - just click to browse Jono Sandilands Etsy shop. Perfect gifts for Christmas, including the 'Socks' cards shown above (especially for Uncles!).
Enjoy!

Wednesday 10 November 2010

Sprickle an' Peester


Today I realised I haven't posted any projects done while on my placement @ Shetland Arts for a while - so here is a recent one to share. I have been working on the exhibition design for Bonhoga Gallery's Christmas exhibition which is titled "Sprickle an' Peester" (Yup, another Shetland Dialect project - (see my recent "Ganzie" print) - Sprickle an' Peester translates to 'Wriggle and Squeal'!?)

The gallery team asked me to do a typographic treatment paper cut which would be used on the poster and invites for the exhibition. The first thing I did was a really rough sketch of the layout and style on paper. I wanted the type to be quite crisp so this sketch was scanned and used as a base guide to work on top of in Illustrator with a font which was similar to what I had in mind. I then set about manipulating the type and adding the extra glyphs to make the vector guide marks. This process animated below:

The next step was to cut the design from paper - to get the delicate handmade qualities desired for the final artwork. This was an awesome Friday afternoon project!

The cut out paper was placed on top of red card and scanned before setting out the poster design in InDesign, adding appropriate information and logos.


Now time to go and put finishing touches to my Co:Lab submission for the Exhibition...

Saturday 6 November 2010

Co:Lab - Ganzie


The Co:Lab trio were recently asked to submit prints to this years "Yule" themed exhibition at North Rock Gallery in Lerwick. We all approached the theme in very different ways and you can see the results at the North Rock Gallery until the 24 December. You can see the other Co:Labbers posts about their work on their blogs - Andrew Morrison & Beto.
Below is a bit of insight into my print - "Ganzie".

Ganzie:
It comes to a time of year when your shorts sink down your drawer and huge ganzies (ganzie=sweater/jersey - Shetland Dialect) with amazing patterns, start to emerge from the dark dusty depths of your wardrobe.

I started spotting some of these ganzies with interesting patterns in August and kept my eye peeled for more including lots of reindeers and even one with a giraffe. This became quite addictive and I got quite obsessed. For my print I wanted to combine some of these patterns with 'knitted typography'.

The message in the print comes from some of the research. A trend called Ugly Christmas Sweater Party (www.uglychristmassweaterparty.com) where you can get tips and also buy ugly ganzies to wear at your party.


In September I spent some time working in London where I thought it would be funny to 'Facebook' my finds to share with others - Ganzie Watch.


Co:Lab work to tight deadlines - especially when working towards an exhibition - so during any free time in London I had to complete the artwork for ganzie. I had to make use of the hotel's mini fridge as a makeshift lightbox to make sure my second layer matched the first.

Some more research...



Socks:

I also produced a christmas card to match ganzie in the form of socks. The idea originates from my Uncle - whom I often receive a lovely pair of socks as a christmas gift - these come in useful in these cold months.

Socks available on etsy - http://etsy.me/b3VXgI

More prints by Co:Lab on the blog at - www.colabproject.blogspot.com/

Thursday 28 October 2010

North Rock YULE Exhibition


Co:Lab have been busy over the past month preparing for two exhibitions over the festive season. The first of which kicks off on the 5 November at North Rock Gallery in Lerwick town centre. More info coming soon.

Co:Lab Blog
North Rock Gallery Blog

Friday 20 August 2010

Graphic Design Nightclass


I am pleased to announce I will be delivering a Graphic Design night class through Adult learning in Shetland this semester. The course is dead cheap, runs for six weeks and is aimed at the beginner and intermediate level also anyone who is interested! We will learn the creative process from research, idea generating, development through to final concept. The course is supported by Shetland Arts.

If you would like more information please email me at work: jono.sandilands@shetlandarts.org

And to book follow this link to the Learn Shetland Website: www.learnshetland.com/graphic-design

Monday 9 August 2010

Portage: Finger Symbols

Portage: Finger Symbols from Shetland Arts on Vimeo.

Recently I was commissioned to produce a film for Portage: Finger Symbols, a Shetland Arts exhibition at Bonhoga Gallery, Shetland. I worked alongside fellow artist Chloe Garrick who was commissioned as photographer for the exhibition and also More info below.

Portage: Finger Symbols, an exhibition exploring rings and finger ornaments, curated by Mary Smith can be seen at Bonhoga Gallery, Weisdale, Shetland from 7 August to 5 September. The exhibition shows contemporary work created by emerging and established international makers and also features photography by Chloe Garrick and a film by Jono Sandilands. The film can also be viewed online as Shetland Arts’ first online exhibition.

Sunday 8 August 2010

Co:Lab - Geometric

Co:Lab's latest project description from Co:Lab blog (www.colabproject.blogspot.com/)
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Produced over the course of a month for exhibition at this year's VunkFest Music and Arts extravaganza, co:lab's latest project is a six colour, cross pollinated, geometric delight.

Recalling the overprint collaboration of co:lab's debut outing, each of the three final pieces in the SC&T project bare the creative stamp of all three co:lab members.

The prints are built up from a simple geometric template – a triangle within a circle within a square. In week one we each tackled the square (leaving a space for a subsequent circle to occupy). At this point Jono, Beto and Andrew all chose two colour as a signature to carry through the project and ensure some kind of continuity through the set.

At the end of the first week we came together with the fruit of our labour and left with each other's as a stimulus for week two – the circle. Both this and the triangular element of the project differ slightly from step one in that we each, from that point on, had the freedom to bleed one of our chosen colours out into the preceding shape and through the artwork of our fellow co:labbers.

We moved up a print size with this project and following week three's triangle we were faced with finding a new source for acetates. Up until now we have been printing these out on Jono's A4 printer but with SC&T's maximum working size of 350mm x 350mm we had to look for outside assistance. Fortunately Beto happened upon a recommendation for www.copyexpress.co.uk who were extremely helpful and provided A3 acetate we could patch together with amazing next day deliverly!

Jono cunningly managed to bypass the acetate stage by producing his contribution in cut paper which could be placed straight onto the coated screen when exposing.

Printing went fairly smoothly and it's been rather pleasant washing out the screens in the summer sun even though we've had issues with the hose and managed to burn out the motor on one of our pressure washers.

SC&T was hanging in The Shetland Museum's Learning Room between the 9th and the 11th July alongside many other artists contributing to this year's VunkFest. The museum also played host to a series of short films on the Sunday and of course you can read about all the great bands playing that fantastic weekend here. For more information on all the going on check out www.myspace.com/vunkventures

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A few pictures of my paper cut positives which were used in place of acetate/film to expose stencil to screen:



And the final prints:


Summer Update & Vunk Fest 2010

First of all, for those who have stopped by recently - you may have noticed the lack of updates on latest projects. It has been a busy old summer of projects amongst other things including moving into a new flat and trips away to London through my placement at Shetland Arts - to work on an exciting project, involving the branding of Shetland Art's new venue, Mareel. More about this in future posts, I'm sure.

So to begin the update, I will start with Vunk Fest.
Vunk Fest is an alternative music and art festival in Shetland. This year I was involved with the Vunk Fest Visual Arts Collective which was a group brought together to create work as a collective. We chose to involve the musicians as a greater part of the visual arts side of the festival and break down preconceived barriers between the artforms of the festival. We also arranged a pop-up shop in the run up to the festival which I briefly blogged about in May here. Wow summer has gone by fast!

My main focus over the build up to Vunk for the collective was on "The Drum Splattering". Murray Arthur of Shetland Drums kindly agreed to sponsor himself and a drum kit for the idea, which was to film a completely white drum kit splattered in paint while someone played along to a backing track, the film would be used as a promo to the festival and the drum kit would be used on stage at the gigs.


First I had to figure out a way to splatter paint on the drums, a test film with an old cymbal and house paint was set up back in March, this concluded that the simplest way to fling the paint would be most successful, this method was plastic cups.

Next step was preparing the drums. The sponsored drums were Murray's practice kit, which were coloured red. This meant a few days of full on sanding action to take the existing lacquer and paint off and back to bare wood.



The drums were then sprayed white over the next week. Another point to add was the metal hardware had to be numbered and documented to make sure everything fitted back together seamlessly and fast!

This preparation process took some time to do but was a great feeling to get the drums looking so good at the end. They look brilliant just white, but they were missing that something Vunk.


Moving on now, we arranged to commit the splattering during the following week but the spray paint dried faster than anticipated and with a beautiful looking Sunday night we pushed the filming forward. Thankfully everyone managed to get there on short notice to help out. At this point I must thank Karen & Kirsty Bruce, My Dad for transport to location, Murray Arthur and the splatterers Chris Storey, Birdy, John, Elaine and Jamie.





I really couldn't be more happy with how the drums turned out in the end they look and sound brilliant! There was always a slight element of worry that the sound quality would be effected but after getting Murray along for a quick tune up we realised they sound good! Phew!

So now please enjoy the final film with music by kind permission of Poison Popcorn and El Pedro. Thanks for looking!

Vunk Fest - Its Gunna Be Messy! from Jono Sandilands on Vimeo.

Wednesday 23 June 2010

Hillswick Youth

Logo design commissioned by Shetland Youth Services for Hillswick Youth Club.

My brief from the young people was to create a crest / coat of arms, with four sections showing icons/pictures relating to friendship, being active and arts/crafts, with the banner Hillswick Youth Club underneath.




Monday 31 May 2010

Co:Lab - Alphabet

Co:Lab's most ambitious project to date, Alphabet, where each member is asked to produce a custom typeface and produce three prints each with two colours showcasing their alphabet in different ways: Complete Alphabet, Pangram and Big Up a letter of your choice. Below is my alphabet process:

My plan here was to use existing typefaces, some standard, novelty, overused etc, cut them up and reconstruct them to make something new and exciting out of the original letters. Legibility is not an issue here, I want to destroy these typefaces!

The points were traced onto paper and I began the dissection process joining up the points, then cutting. This was also an experiment with papercut screenprinting separations (as opposed to printed acetates, which has always been a problem for me):


I kept the insides of the letters intact with the notion to use these to print too, but when it came to printing time I opted for acetate for the pangram and big letter print due to the time constraints of the project.


The final screenprints:

The Full Alphabet - which used the papercut to expose to screen.

Full Alphabet Close Up:

Big Letter:

Big Letter Close Up:

Pangram: