Chapter 3: Grid Forty Five Exhibition at The Turner House
The next chapter
It's been a while since we focussed on Grid Forty Five here at John&Jane. The first chapter was back in 2017 when Gareth realised how much he loved experimenting with grids and photographs of architecture and landscapes. It became something we would do after visiting somewhere new, seeing how many patterns we could come up with after we'd noticed a really striking building, bridge or anything that lent itself to a Grid Forty Five image. It got to the point where if we went anywhere we'd spend the whole time looking up, checking out any cool roofs, turrets or shafts of light and photographing anything that caught our eye. It definitely changed the way we looked at the world.
A couple more opportunities have come up since to have some fun with Grid Forty Five, one was putting together an accompanying brand, book and website for the project, we've been lucky enough to sell some prints along the way. Another was our first exhibition celebrating the 2019 Cardiff Design Festival in our local KIN+ILK coffee shops. It was lovely to see the images up in a public space and hopefully providing a nice environment for those taking a break and enjoying a coffee.
The next chapter came along after we were invited by Lewis from The Turner House to come to Penarth Town Council and discuss the reopening and rebrand of a local art gallery. It was lovely working with Lewis and Nick on a project looking to engage and inspire through art and collaboration whilst honouring the rich history of the gallery itself. Once the branding was all set, Lewis asked us if we'd like to exhibit and before we knew it Grid Forty Five had its second outing lined up.
Exhibition and workshop
We loved the process of setting up the exhibition and asked our frequent collaborator and talented sign painter Adrian to come along and create some wall vinyls to add the finishing touches and some context for the visitors. Grid Forty Five is up for another week and we will be finishing up with a workshop next weekend. It's going to be a pretty small affair thanks to covid but we are really looking forward to getting our hands dirty and having some laughs whilst experimenting with photography, pattern, colour and collaborating on a final collage piece. If you fancy doing something a bit different with your Saturday you can sign up here and drop in Thursday or Friday afternoons or during the day at the weekend to see the exhibition.
The Turner House is a beautiful building and well worth a visit to learn about its history which is showcased on the walls during the walk up its ornate staircase. Lewis has some brilliant exhibitions and events lined up, next is Matisse: Drawing with Scissors which is incredible to have on our doorstep and a perfect opportunity for a dose of inspiration over the summer.
Looking ahead and looking up
Grid Forty Five is a side project and one that there has been no plan for, apart from the fact we'll be keeping it that way, with no plans, no timescales and no briefs. It's nice to have a creative project that has no objectives other than to encourage you to keep looking for the beauty in the hidden details that are always around us if you look hard enough. It feels like that is more important than ever in these restrictive times so we'll keep looking up and see what happens next.
