Blog

A History of Hull Minster 1086 – 2022

With near on a thousand years of events and happenings, it was a pleasure to create this timeline for Hull Minster. 

Hand drawn, digitised then printed the piece stretches over 8 metres in the newly refurbished entrance and welcomes visitors with many quirky doodles representing the many goings on of this magnificent space.  

Here is an image file of the whole timeline.  

Image of the Hull Minster timeline

Find out more about Hull Minster here –  https://hullminster.org

How Educational Systems respond to Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice.

Here is a three minute audio visual summary – ‘How educational systems respond to diversity, inclusion and social justice: Disability, power, discipline, territoriality and deterritorialization’. By Navin Kikabhai, and published in The British Journal of Sociology, 73 (4), July 2022.

Original article – https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12969 for the original article. 

Plus see here a one page doodle summary created from the clip.

We Are Pathology

…Looking within, to look out for folk, from a hidden corner…’

Celebrating all the very hard work of Scarborough Hull York Pathology Service (SHYPS), with this huge doodled wall art recently installed in York and Scarborough Hospitals. Plus also, 200 #letterpress prints for the staff based on this piece were created as part of this work. 

Following a visit to SHYPS service I doodled a shared spoken word piece based on what staff said to me about their work, wellbeing and generally how they go proudly about their business to get stuff done together.

I then set this in letterpress type, sent it for review, did some edits, then with digital magic created the wall art piece using both the doodles and letterpress text forms.

Then, visiting SHYPS again I created 200 letterpress versions of the piece on an vintage #adana8x5 machine on handmade lokta paper. One for each of the staff.

How you BEAN?

Some old neighbours names carved on bricks –  Stephen Lee Hodgkins, 2022.

Just behind York’s ‘Bile Bean’ Ghost sign on Lord Mayors walk is Monk Bar car park. These bricks were recovered in late 2021 from a hole being dug there.

The hole was dug to install some electrical car charging points. The bricks were revealed as if once part of the foundations of a house wall.  Previously, this area was not a car park, but the many terraced homes of Newbiggin Street and Groves Lane. 

‘Cook’s York Directory of 1922’, published by the Yorkshire Gazette Newspaper held at Explore York Library and Archive, list some of the names of people living in those streets at that time.

Brayshaw, Christina ANNE.  20 Groves Lane.

BEAN, William. 17 Newbiggin Street.

TATE, Sarah Elizabeth. 19 Groves Lane.

WARD, Tom. 24 Groves Lane. 

I have walked along Groves Lane many times not really thinking about it as a street of homes where families and folk lived, worked and played some 100 years ago. But these bricks possibly were part of the homes, or their neighbours’ homes that these people and their families lived in.

I wonder who these people were, what they were like and what life was like for them. What made them laugh, what made them cry? Did they know each other and what they might have said to one another when going about their everyday lives. Did they ask how each other, how they had been? And what were their replies? 

I am now wondering about who might, in 2122, 100 years from now, be walking down Groves Lane, what they will be like, how might they live and where they might be going?

Loneliness

Some #visual minutes and a report summary from a workshop on Loneliness held in early 2022.

A Big Draw to Remember

In October 2021, to coincide with the Big Draw festival, and in the run up to Remembrance Day 2021, I worked with York Army Museum to facilitate ‘A Big Draw to Remember’. Within the Museum, alongside military memorabilia and human stories from service and war, we stretched out a 7 metre paper canvas upon the officers mess table and around an elaborate silver centre piece.

Over the week of 23rd to 30th October people were invited to come along and add poppies and doodles and statements to the piece. We provided a ‘how to guide to doodling a poppy’.

This included contributions from York Normandy Veterans, Sid and Ken, the relatives of John Cunningham VC, a great great grandson of Captain Oats, friends and families of loved ones that have served, those in active service from a variety of regiments and units, and even the Lord and Lady Mayor of York.

The result is a multiple of poppies, reflections and statements that honour the efforts of those that have, and do serve. Remembrance Day marks when  World War One ended in 1918 and is an important event, not to glorify war, but to highlight the value of freedom and peace,  and to acknowledge the sacrifices made by all those have taken steps to defend it for others.

A selection of contributions from the week have been framed and hung in the entrance to the museum.

The World Turned Upside Down 2020 – A Covid 19 Chapbook.

During lockdown I taught myself to use an old Adana 8×5 desktop printing machine using metal letterpress type.  While looking for ‘how to letterpress print’ manuals I discovered an old chapbook, printed by J Kendrew, in his workshop now the site of the wonderful ‘Barnitts’ superwares store. This chapbook,  ‘The World Turned Upside Down or No News, and Strange News’ is a collection of nonsense rhymes adorned with woodcut prints that gives a bit of a quirky insight into life back then.  

So inspired by this title, in the heat of lockdown, I made a number of linocuts and some rhymes, and this is the result.  Click here to open a pdf.

Open page of the chapbook.

From doing this I then worked with Explore York to create a community led ‘participatory’ version #Haiflu Edition. See here.

If you would like a copy, ‘The World Turned Upside Down 2020 – A Covid 19 Chapbook’ get in touch.  I’ll ask you to donate something to a good cause, and then I’ll post you one. 

The World Turned Upside Down 2020 #haiflu edition

This is a modern take on an old chapbook, first printed in York 200 years ago, documents some of the experiences of lockdown from people in York.  Working with Explore York, poets Penny Boxall and Janet Dean and inspired by Liv’s Torc’s Project Haiflu, we got people to share haiku poems and doodles about life during lockdown in York.  Which I then hand printed a limited edition with letterpress type on a reclaimed Adana 8×5 desktop printing machine.  

Read a digital copy of the chapbook here.

Cover page of the chapbook

Further information about the project can be seen on the Explore York website here.

Disability Equality North West – A Covid 2020 Journey.

Here’s a creative Covid19 Journey by Disability Equality North West. 

Disability Equality North West is a deaf and disabled peoples organisation in Preston.  Despite the difficulties this year they’ve kept going.  I really enjoyed working with them all to make this audio visual poem piece to capture their powerful community spirit.