HUGH JART 2007 DIARY

We started early last year, in January, with a series of meetings about our futuristic train project with the National Railway Museum, York.

February saw us fully involved in train research, preparing for extensive design workshops with Lakeside Primary School Year 6 children which took place throughout March.

The children made 3D models from their designs, from which Hugh Jartists took inspiration to create a printed fabric for use on the actual train.

April found us taking the best features from the childrens models and amalgamating them into the final designs.

In May we delivered 2 painting screen projects at opposite ends of the specrum. In conjunction with Eureka! and White Rose we set up a 4 day 20ft painting canvas at the Leeds shopping centre for the general public to add their pictures and thoughts on saving the world. We ran the activity on the 1st day while training the Eureka! staff to continue for the duration of the event.

The other painting we put together was for a large alcoholic beverage company in Luton. It was all a bit hush hush & corporate. We were given the product's new advertising campaign image before it was released which we divided and transferred onto 40 small individual canvases. It was a glorious sunny day and company staff relaxed at their easels, painting & chatting. We displayed the painting,re-assembled, on a specially designed easel in the foyer at the end of the day for the launch.

It was looking promising as we started the month of June still in glorious sunshine at the Challenge Swindon event, where the public rose to the challenge to create a fantastic painting, as bright as any of the dragon-boats which raced past.         

So thinking we were in for a cracking summer [we queued in a sweltering shoe shop full of sandal shoppers who looked at us curiously as we all lined up with our new wellies] we loaded our Golden Pig onto a trailer and set off for Glastonbury.

With the rest of the country now under water and the M1 closed, we didn't do too badly at Glasto. No amount of rain could dampen spirits as LOVE was surrounded by a Japanese water garden, the Golden Pig flew onto a maypole, and two painting screens gave peas a chance! LOVE & PEACE.

ARIAL SHOT OF THE KIDZ FIELD ON EVENTUALITY'S WEBSITE

www.kidzfield.com/photos/283

Still full of the spirit [and mud] of Glastonbury, we continued to spread the LOVE to a hill-top in Semley, Dorset, for Lily's Summer of Love, a memorial event.

With the mud still wet on our wellies, we had less than a week to move all Hugh Jart's precious belongings to a new workshop.

With no room for discussion as the bull-dozers had already moved in!

Fortunately we had somewhere to go! All hands on deck!

With the packing and moving still going on, we had the BEATHERDER festival to get to. Some people had to get towed ON to this site. Things were not looking promising. Rain stopped painting, but not play! Some graffiti artists managed a quick spray in between deluges.

The rain still poured through July, especially at the Chester Fun Day in Grosvenor Park.

We were invited to EUREKA!'s 15th birthday party, at their interactive Museum of Children, in Halifax.

EUREKA! PIC

With our New Age train neatly packed into the back of our transit, we set off for the launch in York Railway Museum.

After only 4 months from conception, VELOCITY is born. With the help from the poet, Ian McMillan, the children of Lakeside Primary created a poem about the train and helped uncover it infront of the Press.

Nice to work in our home town for a change. 8ft high bright pink letters appeared outside Bradford town hall for the start of the STIR festival.

BRADFORD moved about the city ending up in Infirmary fields.

Despite the continuing bad weather it was good to catch up with familiar faces and to meet a few new Folk at Coldhams Common, the happening camp-site at Cambridge Folk Festival.

Our recently rescued Gorilla certainly enjoyed the attention!

This was a top-secret, no cameras or mobile phones, uniformed corporate do! The client gave us the artwork, a giant colouring book theme, and the poshest porta-loos ever! Not to forget the fantastic staff canteen!

Harbourside Children's festival, Bristol, was going great until the council decided that they were going to cancel because of...yes, you got it... bad weather! Rain stopped play!

HARBOURSIDE PIC

August saw us setting up our screen for Northern Green Gathering volunteers to run in the Children's Area of the festival.

More rain at this corporate event. Painters not put off. Runny effects. Fantastic food!

CORP EVENT PIC

Happiness went down well in Liverpool, obviously.

SEPTEMBER - BESTIVAL yeah yeah yeah! Love this festival. Glad they've got 2 in 2008! Public painting over stencilled 8ft letters, then enjoying them. Not too messy.

Another corporate event in London with no pictures allowed.

CORP EVENT PIC

The Tour of Britain came to Bradford! I'm sure the cyclists were too busy taking their last bend before the finish line to appreciate our fine pink letters.

FINFEST in Finsbury Park was a great finale to Peace Week in London. Some heart-wrenching messages were added to our PEACE screen.

We drove all the way from Bradford to Brighton, towing the words CAR FREE DAY. This caused some attention. Not exactly ecologically sound, but for a good cause! We then paraded the words through the streets of Brighton alongside jazz bands and dancing ladies with ducks on their heads!

At the same time, two Hugh Jartists were transposing two winning photos from a local competition onto canvas with some help from the public.

OCTOBER saw Hugh Jartists dressed in decorated suits, along with accomplices dressed in an array of pink clothing, pushing the pink BRADFORD letters around the city centre to celebrate 100 years of having a Lord Mayor in the city.

LMP PIC

LOVE continued on its journey to end its days with Lily's mum in Newbury.

The National Media Museum asked us to re-create a sea-monster, nick-named "Dolly", that was starring in the launch of their latest 3D film. Children visiting the museum helped us to build a model of Dolly using cardboard and material in 4 hours.

This was then displayed in the museum.