Crystal Palace Dinosaur Cushions

August 26, 2015 Matt Bannister

Back from extinction, my Crystal Palace dinosaur cushions have emerged once again from the railway tunnel.

A while ago, I had some for sale as part of a design competition through OhhDeer.com. That was only ever going to be a short term thing, so after the comp ended I thought that I should get some made myself. The cushions are inspired by my (almost) famous print Crystal Palace Monsters, that featured in that Londonist exhibition all those months ago.

It's a one-sided digital print on 100% cotton cover, with just black fabric on the reverse. Size is 18"x18" or 46x46cm, with an inner cushion pad (100% Polypropylene casing, 100% Polyester Hollow Fibre filling).

The price is £40 plus postage, with £5 from every sale going to the lovely team at Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs to help them preserve and celebrate the Victorian prehistoric sculptures in Crystal Palace Park, south London. On sale via my online store.

In addition to the cushions, if you buy any A3 print of the dinosaurs or the extinct creatures from my site, they also create a £5 donation to FCPD.

Volunteers Needed for Crystal Palace Festival

May 13, 2015 Matt Bannister

I was commissioned by the Crystal Palace Overground Festival charity to create a recruitment poster for them. The 2015 event in SE19 is fast approaching, and they needed an image to go on flyers, A4 and A3 posters that would attract people. Most of the effort for the festival is provided by volunteers, so there is always a need to get more people involved. Of course, I returned to some familiar characters but gave them a kick up the bottom in terms of colour. Now all I need to do is get my hands on a poster for my archives!

Something For Everyone

April 22, 2015 Matt Bannister

Seeing as I've been slack on posting here, recently, here's a jumble of bits and bobs. There's no particular way of grouping these finds and images: it's just a digital pile of goodies to rummage through. In an effort to garner some more viewers, though, this will be arranged into Buzzfeed-esque numbered list.

Mermaid Court, London SE1. Inspired by a photo I took on my phone, I created a little birthday card for someone. She liked it, but was desperate to find a meaning in the arrangement of people, bollards and road markings. Any interpretations welcome.

The Past on Glass (i). I've recently started doing some volunteer work with the archives department at Sutton Library, to help digitise their collection of glass negatives. Here are four images of Edwardian ladies that I thought looked intriguing (and quite modern).

Expression Through Drawing. In an effort to show what is inside my head, and how drawing helps it come out, here's a new illustration. Oil, pencil and photoshop.

A Return To Life Drawing. I found a new untutored session in Croydon at Matthews Yard. I've only been once, but it's good to be back.

Balham High Road. I started this image last summer, but have only managed to complete it recently. I think the day that I shared it on Twitter, I was asked by Mimi's Artworks (81 Balham High Road, London SW12 9AP) if they could sell it in their gallery as prints. The lesson I've learnt is: finish every piece of work. You never know.

Look what's just arrived signed prints by #Mattbannister next stage framing and displaying @magbanno @MrsCarlieWelch pic.twitter.com/Rff9EZZbNH
— Mimi's Artworks (@mimivanger) April 17, 2015

Here it is again pride of place in the front of the window @magbanno @NPBalham @balhamdotcom @Balham_Life #art pic.twitter.com/Yw4w4MwIai — Mimi's Artworks (@mimivanger) April 21, 2015

Gallery with a drawbridge

October 9, 2014 Matt Bannister

It's been a while between posts, reader. I know that. However, that little part of south London known as Crystal Palace is back on these pages again. I can't ignore the place (but I'm not becoming obsessed, I assure you). This time, I'm writing about a weekend's art exhibition I was part of called 'Inspired by the Subway'. Regular readers know my artist associations with the place, and during Open House Weekend, I was asked to join in with the display in Crystal Palace Park.

The venue was once a concert platform for open air gigs and shows but thanks to a few leaky design errors, it's now unused and derelict. On arriving to set up, I was thrilled to see that I had to cross a drawbridge to get in. The whole venue is surrounded by water! It's known to some as The Rusty Laptop.

To coincide with the exhibition, I created three new works (inspired by the subway, like it says on the tin). These were oil on watercolour paper, with watercolour red added afterwards. Alongside, I showed some of the old favourites too.

Art work showing the Crystal Palace Victorian subway

As well as the art exhibition, other areas of the venue were transformed into a recording studio, a screening room, an immersive piece of sound art and a giant model replica of what the railway, that used the subway, used to look like.

Also, to help with the smooth running of the event and to help any lost stragglers in the park, I did some little illustrations of Crystal Palace landmarks to add to their map:

If you'd like to read more about the design of the venue itself, and see some far better photographs, James Balston has a great post on his blog about the weekend. http://thetrianglese19.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/the-concert-platform.html

Comedy at the Cafe

July 21, 2014 Matt Bannister

Whilst flicking through some recent images of the Crystal Palace Overground Festival 2014 on Facebook, I came across these great pics. A bizarre selection of faces smiling and gurning at the audience, from the recent "Comedy in the Cafe" evening of stand up at Brown and Green Cafe, Crystal Palace station. I then noticed that the temporary stage for the evening had featured my framed prints as a little backdrop. The jaunty angles the pictures have ended up at, suit comedy I think! The images were taken by Ally at Stonelock Photography, and has kindly let me reproduce them here. Unfortunately I did not attend the event, but Ally assured me that some of the photos that didn't make her final edit were a bit blurred, as she was laughing so much. For more info and clips of the comedians, their homepages are here: John Kearns, Jenny Collier, Dan Green, Beasts.

If you fancy getting your hands on your own print to tell jokes in front of at home, click here.