Month: February 2022

The theme for this year is Falmouth Illustration Festival is Passages, and we are delighted to be welcoming an outstanding line-up of illustrators, artists and rebels, each of whom will speak to this most timely of themes. Our 2022 guests offer fascinating and divergent perspectives on how we might turn, as artists and citizens, to find safe passage or passages to negotiate uneasy times both within our illustration practice as students and emerging creative practitioners​.

Throughout the week we have an incredible selection of campus based and online events, from artists, illustrators, writers, academics and Falmouth alumni. The festival offers a unique chance to meet your peers from the entire illustration department, exchange ideas and work collaboratively.

Passages, launches on Monday 7^th February 10am online followed by our first talk from Internationally renowned North American Graphic novelist Ben Passmore with cold takes on politics, riots, anarchism, and police brutality in the USA, joined by collaborator; illustrator and writer Ezra Clayton Daniels to talk about their 2019 Graphic novel BTTMFDRS, described as ‘Gentrification horror at its finest’.

Sessions throughout the week include the innovative Life Drawing Lab, from our tech team a variety of exciting and unique printing workshops including screen, mono, riso and litho based print. Louise Lockhart talks about her illustration business Printed Peanut and Ocean Rebellion founder Sophie Miller expands on their art and performance-based approach to activism reflecting on campaigns that have received national press coverage. Hot topics such as Corporate Memphis and ethics within illustration will be brought to life by illustrator Julien Posture.

We are also fortunate to have staff contributions including Linda Scott’s seminar; promising to open up a feminist and colonial critique on the relationship between science fiction and illustration. Barnaby Lickens-Richards will be giving a lecture on ‘Interest in copying: what is means to continually draw the same thing, looking at Russian icon painting, Native American Art and contemporary comics. Shefali Wardell is delivering communal drawing workshop inspired by devotional practices.  Georgie Bennet is giving an online talk and workshop inspired by the #streedraw online drawing series. Nigel Owen is delivering a lecture on his own work over the last two years; ‘Slab Serif City’. Nick Mott, will present an improvised talk around the themes, visuals and sounds of his latest solo album and book of traditional collages: The Fall of the Human Empire. Merlin Evans, is giving a live performance centred on the theme of drawing as a ‘radical listening’. Natalie Hayes is giving a presentation on ‘plant-based’ choices to initiate discussion and collaboration within illustrative practice. Mat Osmond invites you to a workshop about the ecological crisis and asks what it might mean to get good at imagining the sorts of culture (and sorts of people) which might emerge from the processes of large-scale change we now refer to as ‘ecological crisis, runaway global heating, -and mass extinction. Carlos Garde-Martin will be opening up discussion with our MA Illustration Online Alumni focussing on ILL750 the Final Major Project.  Rose Forshall is delivering a collaborative monoprint workshop on ‘Map Making’ using the theme Passages as a starting point. Keryn Bibby, founder of an award winning design business,  will be giving tips for launching a successful creative business. Cally Gibson, Becky Haughton and Katie are delivering a print-making workshop throughout the week. To wrap it all up, Hugh Frost is organising a Zine Fair throughout the week with a drop off, show and sell on the Thursday and a staff exhibition.

There may well be more, they just keep coming, all incredibly exciting and a wonderful celebration of the talents and interests our course team have to offer.

We also have portfolio review workshops with celebrated illustrator Owen Davey, Found poetry workshop with Antonia Glücksman and an amazing collaborative workshop bridging traditional and digital media, culminating in a screen printing or riso print session form the fabulous Falmouth tech team.

Placed throughout the week we have alumni at various stages of their careers, from all three illustration courses for you to find pathways you identify with or feel inspired by.

We look forward to all our students joining us for Falmouth Illustration Festival 2022 and will post up photographs and film or the events over the next month

Best wishes, Keryn Bibby, Head of Illustration.