If you’ve seen any of my artworks before, you’ll know just how much I enjoy my building studies. Architecture is a passion, or rather a fascination, as well a focus for many professional projects. But if you were to join me in the studio one afternoon you might be surprised to hear that I also love a good musical. There’s often a good soundtrack keeping me company as i’m painting! So it’s truly a delight to share a project that brings those two things together. This new artwork is a paper-cut/diorama of the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London.
Standing at the Sky’s Edge
The theatre is hosting ‘Standing at the Sky’s Edge’ which has transferred to the West End. It follows sold-out runs at the National and Sheffield Theatres. Originally written as a love letter to Sheffield; Chris Bush’s novel is directed for the stage by Robert Hastie (Artistic Director for Sheffield Theatre). It features songs by legendary singer-songwriter Richard Hawley. The show has won a number of awards including an Olivier for Best New Musical.
‘Standing at the Sky’s Edge reveals the history of modern Britain through the stories of the landmark housing estate – a heartfelt exploration of the power of community and what it is we all call home.’
https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/standing-at-the-skys-edge/
I was tasked with creating a hand made illustration to be given as an opening night gift to a member of the production team. It needed to celebrate the Gillian Lynne Theatre, but also highlight the show’s promotional artwork and billboards.
Cut and Repeat!
What made this one slightly different was that after exploring the initial composition it was decided that we would needed a small number of reproductions made. I find scanning and creating prints from my hand-made work a straightforward process. But cutting and raising the printed artwork was something new. Hand-made; to digital; back to hand-made. Kind of a fun circle to play with and the results were amazingly consistent. In the photos above you can see some of those duplicated layers lined up together. And below you can see the finished picture, set within the black box-frame.
Hopefully the result is quite theatrical and relatively unique as a gift! But artistically it was a good one to push at the boundaries of what can be done with this style of presentation.
I would like to thank Emma at LW Theatres for commissioning. Particularly for trusting me to meet that opening night deadline! And I want wish everyone involved with ‘Standing at The Sky’s Edge’ the best of luck for their West End run.
If you’d like to work with me on a similar commercial project, you can contact me here. And if you’d like to see more of my paper-cut style artworks i’ll be posting my latest examples here. Now I need to go and follow up with some studies of Sheffield high rises! Where I understand the original story is set.