Crystal Palace Subway - Open House Weekend

October 26, 2015 Matt Bannister

The arches and pavements of the Crystal Palace Subway were made available to the public on 20th and 21st September 2015, as part of the annual Open House Weekend that ran across the whole UK.

For the second year running, I helped staff the art stall/shop/display alongside. Last year we were in the 'Rusty Laptop' alongside a heritage exhibition, but this time it was the edge of the park for us.

Luckily the weather was very kind. To celebrate, I produced a new print of the Subway that seemed to be pretty popular.

Some of the other artists had also created new items to buy from the pop-up gift shop.

#crystalpalacepark coasters for sale this weekend @cpsubway stall! pic.twitter.com/2TECOXvrrZ
— James Balston (@jamesbalston) September 19, 2015

Our three wise artists pic.twitter.com/esAiiIWVmz — CrystalPalace subway (@cpsubway) September 21, 2015

screen shot of Crystal Palace Subway fundraising site

The team (of volunteers) behind the Subway have launched a fundraising campaign to secure the £11000 needed to install a gate and make the structure accessible on a regular basis. To make a donation, please visit https://www.gofundme.com/cpsubway

Crystal Palace Dinosaur Cushions

August 26, 2015 Matt Bannister

Back from extinction, my Crystal Palace dinosaur cushions have emerged once again from the railway tunnel.

A while ago, I had some for sale as part of a design competition through OhhDeer.com. That was only ever going to be a short term thing, so after the comp ended I thought that I should get some made myself. The cushions are inspired by my (almost) famous print Crystal Palace Monsters, that featured in that Londonist exhibition all those months ago.

It's a one-sided digital print on 100% cotton cover, with just black fabric on the reverse. Size is 18"x18" or 46x46cm, with an inner cushion pad (100% Polypropylene casing, 100% Polyester Hollow Fibre filling).

The price is £40 plus postage, with £5 from every sale going to the lovely team at Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs to help them preserve and celebrate the Victorian prehistoric sculptures in Crystal Palace Park, south London. On sale via my online store.

In addition to the cushions, if you buy any A3 print of the dinosaurs or the extinct creatures from my site, they also create a £5 donation to FCPD.

Phone covers and other merchandise

February 2, 2015 Matt Bannister

I'm happy to announce that you can now buy all sorts of merchandise featuring my designs, via the Art Rookie website. T-shirts, mobile phone covers, ceramic plates, bags and more. New products will be added as the days go by, but to begin with there is (mostly) a Crystal Palace theme with the current releases.

Comedy at the Cafe

July 21, 2014 Matt Bannister

Whilst flicking through some recent images of the Crystal Palace Overground Festival 2014 on Facebook, I came across these great pics. A bizarre selection of faces smiling and gurning at the audience, from the recent "Comedy in the Cafe" evening of stand up at Brown and Green Cafe, Crystal Palace station. I then noticed that the temporary stage for the evening had featured my framed prints as a little backdrop. The jaunty angles the pictures have ended up at, suit comedy I think! The images were taken by Ally at Stonelock Photography, and has kindly let me reproduce them here. Unfortunately I did not attend the event, but Ally assured me that some of the photos that didn't make her final edit were a bit blurred, as she was laughing so much. For more info and clips of the comedians, their homepages are here: John Kearns, Jenny Collier, Dan Green, Beasts.

If you fancy getting your hands on your own print to tell jokes in front of at home, click here.

Pick and Mix People

July 1, 2014 Matt Bannister

A combined post, methinks: incorporating a couple of different but both figure-based images.

Tattoo 123

illustration of the backs of three nude women

I felt that I should do something with the life drawings I've been producing in the last year. This was one of my favourites - the back of a woman drawn with a charcoal pencil. To liven things up, and to create interest, I've added scans of some old textured paper and experimented with colour. So many people have tattoos these days, so I tried to think of unlikely subjects for a back 'stencil'. There are a few hints of consumerism, London life, ageing, and the labelling/branding of people within this if you look.

Regent's Park Sketch

I had a Saturday afternoon to myself the other day, so on a scorching June day I headed up to Regent's Park, north London for some people watching. I found a friendly bench, plugged into a BBC Radio 4 Ray Bradbury drama, and relaxed. Actually, it was a bit too warm for concerted drawing, so I only managed this page of my sketchbook. The main problem was that except for the woman sitting on the floor, everyone else was moving. I had a few seconds to choose them, take a mental photo and start drawing. The little dog with the ball was definitely the hardest of all! At one point, a little group of rowdy 11 year olds bounded over asking what I was drawing. Comments ranged from "Are you an artist??", "How do you do that? Are you just looking and drawing it?" to a chorus of "That is sick!": sick being the current word for cool / good / well bad / ace / top / skill depending on how old you are, reader.