017_SOTN_Contemporary.qxp_Art & Design LSB 01/05/2018 16:59 Page 17
State Of The Nation: Contemporary Art
Modern marvels From new techniques being applied to traditional and classic areas, through to technology being used to highlight art in fresh ways, contemporary design has been interpreted in a number of ways recently. Nancy Moore bags licensing deal Represented by Suzan Lind Art Licensing and Design, Nancy Moore is celebrating 20 years as a professional artist, with her introduction to the licensing world being showcased at Surtex in May. Nancy’s contemporary, figurative watercolours are highly sought after by galleries and museums, and now SZL has secured FLOMO, a national brand specialising in gift accessories to help grow awareness of her work even further. Nancy’s artwork will grace the surfaces of gift bags, with visitors to the SZL booth (2622) at the Above: Nancy Moore is marking 20 show being able to check them out. years as a professional artist.
Harbouring good thoughts
New duo join MHS MHS Licensing will be showcasing the talents of art brands Jen Montgomery and Jetty Home during Surtex (2626), alongside its existing artist brands. Jetty Home creator Emily Wood saw a need to bring a modern twist to recognised icons in the home décor world, starting with art prints. Her art focuses on simple yet classic handpainted watercolour and acrylic designs, with her painterly style lending itself well to categories including wall décor, home textiles, stationery and gift items among others. Emily has also recently added new hand lettering techniques, making collections of typography prints that will bring a little whimsy to home décor. Meanwhile, inspired by kitsch, botanicals and happy mid-century colour palettes, Jen Montgomery’s range covers hand lettered sentiment, seasonal icons and celebration themes, which are appropriate across multiple categories of consumer products. Above: Jetty Home and Jen Montgomery will both be on display at Surtex.
Artist Ailsa Black has spent the winter months developing a number of new images for her portfolio. The latest collection is set around Ailsa’s love of harbours. The colourful scenes showcase a number of well known harbours through the seasons. The news follows a successful 2017 for Ailsa – who is represented by This is Iris – which saw Apples To Pears launch a range of new home lines including storage tins, placemats, trays, chopping boards and a variety of decorative mugs. In addition, One Button has launch a new accessory line (including brooches, keyrings, tote bags and purses), while Samuel Lamont & Sons is rolling out tea towels, aprons, oven gloves and shopper bags this summer. Below: Ailsa Black’s latest work is set around her love of harbours.
Above: The Creative Block range uses a hand printing process called block printing to inspire a repeat pattern
Hello sailor Port and Lemon’s quirky retroinspired imagery combined with a smattering of seaside humour and hand lettering is looking to make the move into licensing. The move follows success with a witty range of cards which were snapped up by independent gift shops at coastal towns and villages across the country. The company was also commissioned to translate the style into unique designs for the RNLI, The Mary Rose Charity and Toe in the Water charity. Now, the duo behind Port and Lemon - Kate Cooke and Tracy Evans have grown and diversified their portfolio incorporating more colour and land-based themes, but always maintaining the humour and quirky winks to the past produced in a fresh and contemporary style. Additional styles include graphic, water colour, naïve art, block print and collage and every one of their designs starts life as a hand painted original. The newest range - Creative Block - draws on their textile design background and uses a hand printing process called block printing to inspire the repeat pattern. Kate said: “We are really happy with Creative Block as it has given us the chance to play with more colour and create a bold and simple inspired geometric look and we look forward to creating a broad consumer product range from our prints. We think it will work really well on homeware.” Art&Design Licensing Source Book 17