Gallery Research

We welcome submissions from groups or individuals working in fine art, illustration and photography. Please do not turn up unannounced at the gallery with a portfolio, and expect us to look at it there and then. Our gallery is not available for hire.

We generally schedule exhibitions from 6 - 12 months in advance. The gallery has approximately 15m of useable wall space, we can supply more detailed dimensions and a floor plan if required, or contact us if you have any specific requirements.

Please submit a written proposal for consideration by post or email, including;
(1) Contact details
(2) A one-page summary describing your work, and the nature of the proposed exhibition.
(3) 6 - 10 images of your work, stating media and dimensions.


Due to the high volume of submissions received, only succesful applicants will be contacted. We do not enter into correspondence as to why an application is unsuccessful. There are many factors that we consider, and rejection is not necessarily a reflection on the quality of your work

 

Concrete Hermit is a creative label based that produces quality clothing, prints and published works centered around contemporary graphic art. Building upon years of working with prolific artists and designers, Concrete Hermit also curate three new online stores that offer the best in graphic art products.

Final Image... with T-shirt

Kids Corner

 As a side attraction and as a means to get people to come into our stall we all decided a 'kids corner' would be ideal for people to get involved. Through meetings before the festival we came to the decision that mole could have paper toy workshops, colouring pages and doodle board for everyone to have ago. The actual look of the tent was planned out by discussions at these meetings and the photo here shows the set up and how it looked....

 This is what it kids corner looked like after it had been completely covered, it was surprising to see that allot of the kids were very talented with what they were drawing.

 As a possible career path the idea of teaching has cropped up time and again, however never had i taken it seriously after i had so much fun creating and messing about with paints with a group of awesome people. Kids corner at first was thought out to have no structure but to just come and go as you please. However after just sitting down and getting out some pens the interaction and fun everyone was having was brilliant. I got a canvas out and just drew some doodle asking what there favourite thing to draw was. Got some spray paint out and just talked through what they thought was good and i played of that creativity by suggesting ideas alongside what they were saying. I had loads of fun and to me was the highlight of the festival.

The next couple of days continued whereby the same group came over and continued with the canvas, when others couldn't be involved there were plenty of blank wallas and colouring in books to play with. What i found was a great selling point for mole's book was that the children of the customers would come in and draw and then they would stand waiting for them to finish. In that time i saw the opportunity to place one of her books in their hands to flick through and for the kids to finish at home.

One day i lead a spray painting activity which was great fun for all those involved, at first i asked what should we draw and ideas came back. A totem pole was the best idea we just started sketching with pencil, while other discussed what else could happen. The idea of having the sun and the moon was suggested and i thought a great idea cause i could get separate people to do paint certain things. After some very messy paint covered hands and drippy paint this is the outcome...

I had some great feedback from the parents saying that all involved had a great time and was a fantastic way to have some fun at quite wet festival...

Live drawing at volksfest....

I thought it would be great idea to use one of my initial sketches as a starter for the live drawing at volksfest...The sketch i had drawn was originally facing the other way, but the way in which the board was positioned it thought it best to have it facing outwards. What i did was sketch out the shape with pencil and then fill in with some of the spray paint i had left over from constructing the 3D object. I loved this process and as a start to the piece it was perfect....






A photographer from the herald approached me and asked me if i could have a photo taken, straight away i thought the best source of promotion would be to have it in front of my work. Here is the photo that was taken and was printed in the Monday 30th of may edition

The final outcome ti me could have been a bit more developed, the black outline took away the shading i achieved with the spray paint. It does make it a great image and the addition of the decoration originally used for the stall makes it become a kind of mini installation. I reckon if i had more time and attention away from selling i would love to paint a massive tsunami scene in the background.

Also me and dodd collectively were asked to draw on top of New Era Hat, something neither of us has done before. Using Posca pens it was a challenge to create something with out sketches or pencils straight to something that was of value to a person. However between us we drew our usual style and was paid happily. Love to do this activity again!

VolksFest Up and Running...

After getting the shelter up and arranging all the art work it seemed there was no place for the trees and hills i had made...however we needed a wall for live drawing, so it was decided that i could create a sort of live mini 3D exhibition whereby i draw a character surrounded by these decorations... here is what the stall look from face value...

 My clouds came in handy for the decoration for the top of the tent giving an extra dimension to chris' flags and just the bare underside of the tent. They went unnoticed whilst people walked in but however when inside people looked up and found it surprising. Further to this people were saying to friends to go in and look up, great promotion to get people to come into the stall.

I had my t-shirt and prints for sale and a selection of artwork i had to sell...here is a closer look at what was in the stall...

Volksfest ideas....

 As part of the overall decoration i wanted to create a landscape to break up some of the corners and edges are stall might have...This is what i came up with... I though some psychedelic trees and rolling mountains would work really well to give a sense that our stall was massive in scale to the things i would create. Thinking maybe could cut these out with jigsaw also, give them a lick of paint with posca's and bob's your uncle. Instant decoration...I reckon really bright glowing colours would stand out and make the stall draw your eye. The drawings really came from my imagination from tree's i have drawn before in previous projects...

FINAL CONSTRUCTION!!!

 Can't believe its finished !!! At the moment its all just layered on top of each other not stuck together which is something i need to consider for the final exhibition. However i have succeeded in creating something that can be deconstructed  and put back together again.

Up and personal its epic i love the colours and the tints all looks wonderful and cant wait for it to be up in an exhibition space...The bark was a good idea not to go ahead  with and the head piece covers the worry i had with the top of the head tentacles. Although the frame has been covered completely you can still see it from the side. No that important specially with all that goodness on top...

Head Piece...

The stages from drawing (refer to sketch book) to Construction to painting...

Building onwards!!

i tried with the bark and to be honest the worries i had were confirmed by the craziness of the darkness of the colour. All the hints are to good to have a great contrast of dark brown, so really the next stage is to try and think of head piece to tie it in all together... Looking amazing so far!...

Tenticles and Tiles.....

Building up the colour here really like the way each colour compliments each other, dont think it is over powering as it is with the black outline....however i reckon i do need to outline the shading with a bit of white pens maybe fading inwards....

Stages of shading....

Colour!

 Here is the tiles with the colour i wanted. I chose to use a platte of three colours in including the natural colour of the wood. I bought the spray paint, the colour beige and an off white ivory. It really adds to the overal space and definalty brings definition to the piece... Also with the Brightness of the white head it compliments the colours...this has been challaginig but i reckon the colours suit the overal image.

I had ago at outlining the tenticles with black, i dont really find this very effective as the wood colour and black dont really suit. Something needs to change.... So i decided on using shading by masking tape and tints of the colours i have with  the tiles.

Creamic Ant head...

 I just got my head out from the kiln and it looks a pure white, might be a bit of a contrast between the wood but shall see... I have started to pen in some of the detail with a fine posca pen that pretty much writes on anything. It doesn't fade or smudge so i think this process works better than glazing.

So here is the final head, i have added some gold highlights just to give it a bit of difference in colour...with it filled in you don't really get to see the carvings, although up close you can feel where it has be carved into. Just really need to see what it would look like with the bark...

ALL things beginning with the letter T

Tiles, Tentacles Top of head and table head all together...Looking really good and near enough ready for painting. Bit worried about how that top curve can be attached the the table top. I Love the frame and i feel that to have a large quantity covering it would be unfortunate. However if i do cut to the top to the shape of the frame then it would be structurally weak.

spectacles tentacles wallet and watch

 After much sketching and rubbing out i managed to get the tenticles just how i wanted, making sure that they were mirrored on each side. I did this but just flipping over the shape i had cut out before and drawing round it...To also give it some depth i made some bigger tentacles to put behind the main bulk of them...

 It looks just like the initial sketch i made although is alittle bigger than i expected...all it needs now is a lick of paint and a outline...unsure yet whether i should outline with black or stencil and mask shadings with spray paint.

All together with both positioned i am a little worried as to the size and construction of the exhibition, but i think that will come with time...

Tiles and octagons...

I managed to get on the laser cutter and start to cut the tiles to fill the space in the middle of which i intend to paint different colours. However i found that with the time i had on the laser cutter and the amount of wood i could fit inside there was no way i could cut as many as i need. So would have to cut some by hand.... about 60 approx. They look amazing and cant wait to see them printed.

After much thought of how i can stencil the octagon shapes i decide to cut a 6 shapes and use them as a stencil, having to move the shapes as i moved along the board. Some bits have faded in to others but i could cover this with the tiles....also at this stage i have finished the top of the head. Looking beaut! need sanding and painting but looking ready for the top.

Table Top and Top Head

 Bought some wood and managed to cover the table top pretty easily, wood glued the edges and reinforced with blocks so it could take some weight...

Let the jigsawing begin!!.... drew out the swirly shape for the head board. This process was very time consuming and getting the right shapes was hard. However is worth it to create the main focus of the shape. Next stage is to start to think about the front and the tentacles...

And So construction Begins...

This is quick mock up of how i would like the head to look. After speaking to Martin about doing some wood Turning it was suggested that i made the head out of clay and carve into the bowl shape. I am so glad i did this as i was so easy and a skill i didn't have to learn. So from sketches i carved in the face. Using the same details i used on the jellyfish i and the eyes from the initial sketches i created this face. The next stage is to understand how i could fill in the lines...maybe i could glaze a thin layer of black that when fired would dissolve in the cracks. Will have to test......Please refer to my mock up for the outcome.....From looking at what happened i feel that iii needs to be a lot bigger and maybe another method of drawing in the lines would ideal.

This is the one...

I managed to acquire some bark from trees...and thought in keeping with the theme i have already was to use this as a head piece that covered the background behind the head...I reckon the tiles could be painted different colours....this however needs some tentacles?? maybe coming from the sides just so it doesn't look like shoe pill/shoe....










Here is my final mock up idea... think it works really well... the tentacles defiantly add to the overall image bit unsure how i would attach the bark to the wood but the tile would be easily made on the laser cutter and hand cut if necessary. Also to calm  mind that the head rooty bit is best i tried some mock ups below. However i think that i should stick with what i have drawn here. The head could be made out of wood turning? Or maybe ceramic

The Start of something Tony the tiger Grrreat

It don't look much now but i had an idea for the final exhibition...I thought maybe i could create a life size character using this table frame i have had found a long time ago. The triangles were a mock up for idea i had for volksfest. I want to build a tipi at first but after much thought it seem implausible to create such a weird object. Plus i would need public liability insurance....so using this shape a start i intend to create my final object.

This was the first idea that came to mind, as i like the idea that the sketches i had already been drawing could have a Deity. So this lotus leaf cloud swirly thingy came to mind. However didn't feel like it suited in with what i was drawing...however the concept is great and is something i wanna develop. Keeping in mind size and also the ability to be deconstructed for exhibitions. Weight would need to be factored as being too heavy would make it hard to stand on to the wall....

Awesome Merchandise, they have good price!!

Products
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1 x A3 Heavyweight Prints () = £60.00
 Board Type 300 gsm Matt Board
 Extra Designs 4 Designs
 Quantity 25
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Sub-Total: £60.00
Free Shipping (For orders of £0 or more.): £0.00
(includes UK VAT of): £10.00
Total: £60.00

Worked out that 60/25 = £2.40 per print 

The quality at being 300gsm matt board i feel

that £8 is a fair price

8x25= 200£--- making me a profit of £140