I thoroughly enjoyed my day, it was ab fab. I loved whizzing around some of Dundee’s finest “arty farty” landmarks, sometimes on foot (hardly) but mostly being driven around in the luxury of a well heated mini bus. What a joy it was to be greeted with chocolate & crisps by Genny, just what was needed to sustain the fast pace of the day.

It all kicked off @ DJCAD where we were greeted by those fine folk from Central Station. The blank looks were a bit disconcerting when introductions were made, but that changed to squeals of delight when instead of using your “Sunday” name, you mentioned your profile user name then recognition set in. So there we were – Sooper Double D, htothep, tartanbaffies & a few others with strange sounding profile names that I didn’t catch getting to know one another. As mentioned later on in the evening, it won’t be long before our passports will ask for such details & you will only be recognised from your choice of avatar.

Introductions over, we were split up into our appropriate groups & off we ventured. My day began with the DJCAD Graduate Showcase, easing me into the tour gently, listening to 3 different & excellent talks while lounging around on the big leather settees. A big thankyou & mention must go out to Jeanette Ginslov, Catt Lee Marr & Jo Hodge (who I have linked here, so go visit their work). Their enthusiasm shone through as they talked about their work & ideas despite the early morning start.

The next stage of my tour took me to Meadow Mills Studios, better known as the WASPS Studios, housed in a former jute mill in Dundee’s industrial heartland. Once more we were kindly greeted & promptly split into manageable groups. It was great to to see into this artistic community where artists, designers, painters, jewellery makers & illustrators all work alongside each other in what is truly a magnificent space. It had that bohemian touch, where each individual personalised their own working space giving a little bit of insight into their personalities. My gratitude goes out to Genna Delaney & Nicola Morrison (jewellery designers) & especially to Lindsey Gardiner (illustrator) who’s work I really admire. Thanks for letting a group of nosey parkers quiz & pry into your working lives & environment.

For the next stage, I had missed the chance to book the exclusive McManus Gallery Tour (fully booked), but to my delight I was told to tag along & see what happens. When my name was added to the list I could have jumped for joy, 4 years this magnificent venue has been closed to us Dundee folk & visiting it on that day was like greeting an old friend. Having that sneak peek was one of my highlights & I can’t wait for the reopening on the 28th February. Please check Gillian Easson’s blog spot for a more in depth account of the tour. Kerri McGowan, our tour guide for the day, was the most perfect person for showing us around as you could feel the love & passion she had for this fantastic building & almost had us running late (which I’m sure some of us wouldn’t have minded).

So from the old to the new, next stop the DCA Print Studios (check out Jon Gill’s blog spot for more info of tour). Being a lapsed member, it was good to be back in familiar surroundings. Scott Hudson, our guide was as enthusiastic on the day as he was a year & a half ago when I was last in the print studios. He explained all the print processes the studio had to offer & was full of encouragement – I think he had an excited group queueing up for membership as I decided it was time to take the weight of my feet & head for The Rep for a nice relaxing pint – (well I had to get myself ready for the evening events laid on later!!)

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To find out what Dundee Popup was all about or to read more reviews & blogs  from the day, click here.

Jon Gill has, by his own admission, a bit of an obsession. Fly Posters. Those little bits of information design normally posted illegally on any available city centre space before being removed and disposed of by the council.

It was during a trip through the centre of town when Jon came across some building work where partitions were erected to filter the shoppers into a bottleneck that led him to his idea. Wouldn’t it be great to use this space as a free gallery for art and design that the whole public could appreciate.

This was a few years ago and at that time Jon used his idea as the basis of a project but never took it any further. It wasn’t until last year when he heard about the NEoN Digital Arts festival in Dundee that Jon resurrected the idea and did some exploration.

He discovered that in Dundee fly postering is legal, sort of. There are designated permanent fly postering spaces and when ever there is building work being carried out there are temporary spaces erected on the protective partitions put up by the builders. These spaces are run by a small company, Street Advertising Services, who rent them out at affordable prices to people that have something to say.

Jon got in touch with the company and presented them a simple proposition. They have spaces for rent that sometimes sit empty. He would run a competition to have artists submit designs and Street Advertising would sponsor the print and allow him to use the spaces. That way they get advertising and he gets his public gallery that he would use to showcase emerging creative talent.

So, thats what happened, last year in October/November the first Superfly exhibition that contained artwork from 7 artists from all corners of the UK went up around the streets of Dundee and was by all accounts a rather good success. Jon even made it onto the news.

Now with Central Station in Dundee Jon has had a chance to use more of the artwork he was sent and create a new set of posters that have brightened up the streets of Dundee again in the run up to yesterdays event. This time he has created some miniature packs containing each of the designs which people can buy to brighten up there own walls.

You can find out more about the designs that Jon chose for Superfly and for the Central Station Dundee Pop-up over at his website.

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To find out what Dundee Popup was all about or to read more reviews & blogs  from the day, click here.

Lyall Bruce and Johanna Basford have worked together over the last year on a couple of projects. Closest to home is the poster for Central Station Dundee Popup, which allowed them to develop on from a previous collaboration for NEoN (North East if North) in 2009.

They created both of the  works by passing the design between the two of them. Lyall, who is a graphic designer and sooperdd entity, always works digitally (he said he had attempted to include a pencil sketch he had made at the start of the project but was too embarrassed!). For the NEoN piece he started with the image of a wee guy in a hat slumped over and holding up a placard reading ‘The Future is Coming’ in the vector based imaging programme Illustrator, adding in tonal colour by ‘painting into the image in Photoshop’ using a graphics tablet.

Johanna is completely opposite in her process where she always works in a lo-fi and hand made way. Her artwork is characterised by intricate and decorative hand drawn patterns. Johanna showed the audience her drawings for both the projects which were drawn in black ink on thin white paper. She said that part of her process with Lyall had included balancing a pyrex dish on her knee with a lamp angled under it to make a d.i.y. light box so she could trace through parts of Lyall’s design to work around. Having said that, Johanna does use Photoshop to scan and clean up her drawings to use in different formats.

Lyall was in charge of combining the two images. Lyall was nervous about adding colour, (he had coveted amending Johanna’s drawing with marker pen for a while) but bravely went ahead and  brought a few points of colour into Johanna’s monochromatic design to tie it with his Photoshopped character.

For the Central Station leaflet they also included photographs of Dundee scenes and buildings, which Lyall overlaid with artworks, design and logos from the artists and organisers involved in the tour. Central station – photos from Dundee, then with members artwork hidden into the buildings. Yuck N Yum logo was on the train station, there was an illustrators artwork on the façade of the DCA. Kind of bringing what is going on behind closed doors out into the open… so fits well with the Popup tour idea!

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To find out what Dundee Popup was all about or to read more reviews & blogs  from the day, click here.