Cotten Exchange / Old Cinema Background 2

i have found out more background history about my amazing building.
i went to Blackburn library an searched in the local history section and came across only a few books about my building but they were treasures. i found out soo much i didn't know it was soo interesting and insightful.this building never ceases to amaze me, it just keeps giving.

Blackburn had an important part to play in the trade of cotton yarn and as a centre of the weaving branch of the calico manufacture, and Manchester and other towns in which spinning was popular.  In 1851 a competition for the design of a cotton exchange was set up. The site were this building would be built was the old market cross, where Messrs, Cunliffe brooks & Co’s Bank now stands. However on the opening of the town hall the idea was scrapped and a new idea was thought. In 1860 a company was formed with the sole purpose of building a new exchange facing the Town Hall.  So in 1865 the edifice, based on a prize winning design by Mr. Brakspear, a Manchester architect, was opened.

It was originally designed to consist of two separate blocks, one connected to the tower at the angle of the frontage, but one wing was never completed. The architecture is 14^th century Gothic, made up of a large hall, two storeys of an octagonal tower, forming the main entrance, having two outside doorways formed by pointed arches, recesses and gables, with tracery heads, and a flights of steps. The exterior of the main structure presents a series of projecting bays, the dividing walls buttresses and the front is lighted with the large, mullioned, transomed and tracery-headed windows. The cost was about £9000, a lot of money in those days.

I found in Blackburn Public Library, Chronological notes on the Blackburn exchanges timeline and events that occurs. Some of which are very interesting.

·         1860 August 8^th, premiums for the best designs for the new exchange awarded:-

                1^st. £50 Mr. Brakespear, Manchester.

                2^nd. £30 Messrs. Taylor & Foggett, Blackburn.

                3^rd. £20 Mr. J. Bentley, Kendal.

·         1863 March 10^th. Foundation stone was laid by the mayor, J.B.S Sturdy, Esq.

·         1865 April 26^th. Opening of the Exchange.

·         1866 November 26^th and 27^th. Performance by Christy’s Minstrels.

·         1869 April 19^th. Mr. Charles Dickens gave a reading in the Blackburn Exchange - the last he gave in the provinces.

·         1870 July 2^nd and 4^t. Queens’s minstrels, the Royal Original Christy’s, at the Exchange Assembly Rooms.

·         1878 November 9^th. Lecture by H. M. Stanley, the explorer.

·         1879 October 21^st. Liberal Meeting in the Exchange.

·         1879 November 6^th. Lecture by Mr. Archibald Forbes, the war correspondent.

·         1880 March 17^th. Conservative meeting

·         1880 October 16^th Conservative meeting addressed by the Hon. E. Stanhope, M.P., and Sir H.D. Wolff, M.P.

·         1881 April 18^th. Irish Land Leaguers’ meeting in the Exchange – the platformed stormed.

·         1881 December 17^th Conservative meeting in the Exchange; speech by Sir Robert Peel.

·         1883 December 1^st. Mr. W. E. Briggs, M.P. addresses his constitutes in the Exchange.

·         1896 December 11^th. John Dillon, M.P. leader of the Irish Party at the exchange Hall.

·         1898 July 2^nd. Fire at the Exchange Hall.

·         1899 March 2^nd. M. Louis de Rougemont appeared at the Exchange Hall.

·         1899 October 25^th. Ex-priest Ruthven’s meeting at the Exchange Hall broken up by the Roman Catholics.

·         1900 December 12^th. Mr. Alfred Nuttal, brewer, Purchased Exchange Hall, Exchange Hotel and Adjoining Property for £20,000.

·         1901 June 24^th. Mass meeting of the weavers in Exchange Hall to protest against “driving”.

·         1903 March 10^th. Sousa’s band at the Exchange.

·         1904 April 13^th. Wealeyan Methodist circuit four days bazaar opened in Exchange Hall. Total receipts £2,150.

·         1904 November 15^th. The Kilties Band gave two performances in the Exchange Hall.

·         1904 November 21^st. Madame Albani sang at the Exchange Hall.

·         1910 December 2^nd. Lord Morley addresses Liberal meetings.

·         1919 November. The Exchange hall block of property purchased by a Blackburn syndicate for £35,000 from the trustees of the Nuttall estate.

·         1919 November. The Exchange hall block sold for £70,000 by Blackburn syndicate.

·         1924 March 31^st. New Majestic Cinema formerly the Exchange Hall Grand re-opening.

·         1954 June 7^th. Blackburn’s new Majestic Cinema the first in East Lancashire to turn over exclusively to the showing of the cinemascope. The cost of the installation of the special equipment was about £5,000.

·         1955 December 21^st. the New Majestic Cinema was acquired by a new owner.

After learning all this i appreciated my building more an was soo happy i found the architect, who i will definitely be researching him its the least i could do after his building design inspired me to create my final piece. i was amazed to learn that he won a competition an isn't even from Blackburn but Manchester. you can never beat a good book. and the fact that Charles Darwen came to Blackburn to lecture, that's just amazing.it was also interesting to hear about the fire i shall try an research about that more.

at one point i was wanting to get inside of the building but i couldn't see a sign an i went to the town hall but the women at the desk was no help, and she didn't even try. then i saw recently saw a real estate sign an decided to ring them but the only appointments i could get to see my building from the inside were for after the my exhibition so there wasn't a point. and some of the building was off limits because of the age of it; at least i tried and its the thought that counts. even tho it would have been amazing to go see inside. i have actually watched a few films in that cinema when i was primary school. i went with my classmates to watch Harry Potter and Nanny Mcphee.

FMP Week 8/9

since the exhibition building blocks were up all that had to be done was to get the work up!
since mine was being framed i had to weight so i continued to work in my book and blog and go in and an find out were my work would be going up in the exhibit.

i actually was pleasantly surprised to be given a good spot (well in my eyes) and i decided to just clean it up by fixing the gum strip and painting the bits that needed to be filled in and covered up.
 and then when that was done all that needed to be done was to put up my work when it came. so since i didn't need to be in college i didn't go in until i was called in.

i got called in on Thursday because the framer needed my help in working our which way up my pieces of work were ment to be in the frames. so i went down to the shop in the rain and cleared a few things up and then went in Friday because the frames were said to be done.

went in Friday morning and helped the framer unload his van and carried a couple frames to the exhibit space. only 3 of my four frames had come so i unwrapped them and tried to work out were i wanted them but i had no idea. i was then told i needed to wait till 3pm for the framer to drop off the second load and my final frame. so i spent the day sorting, cleaning a bit and finding more artist research from the books in class.i was watching everyone freak out an run around and helping then.peoples work going up knowing i had to wait for mine to come was annoying but the exhibit started looking amazing and my class mates have produced some great work and work so hard so im really proud of my exhibition and piers.

i had 6 hours to kill and it was tedious but then my final frame came and by half 3 my work was up and looking awesome! i didn't have a say in how my frames would be hung which was slightly annoying but the tutors did a great job in the placement of the frames so i wasn't to fussed when  i saw the final installment.

personally i was really impressed by how good all the work looked in frames; it looked really professional and the white frames worked really well with the white walls. when my work was finally up after a long day i could relax a bit knowing my work was nearly done an all i had to do was sort my blog out an ma practical book. i know i have an exhibit now and it was nearly over, (sigh if relief!).

one thing i didn't like about the framing was the gab around my work i was expecting the frame to be close to the work and encapsulate it completely around. but it wasn't and it was abut weird to get use to at first because the frames were bigger than expected but then it looked ok, once i got use to it. however the framer didn't really neaten up the sides of my work he should have cut it straight because some of the lines are a bit off. but i suppose he didn't want to ruin my work or take any of it off.

im not upset anymore about having less frames because my exhibit looks really professional and less is more even tho it would have been nice for my other work to be exhibited. but the less pieces up the more people will look at them closely.
on final inspection of my spot i noticed it was really close to Becky's and it would be hard for people to stand and look at it comfortably because there is a bored closing the gap which is annoying but hey its up its done and lets crack on. but because Becky's work is soo beautiful it will make my work look good so im not too fussed. its just annoying being a perfectionist.

Roger Adrian Williams

during February there was an exhibition at the Blackburn Museum it was the Kart exhibition and was a collection of art from some students from my course and African artists. that's were i found Roger Adrian Williams, and i loved his work. on first glance i thought the artist was a women for some reason but to my surprise it was a man.
these the pieces i loved! at the exhibition in Blackburn Museum:

i have chosen research this artist becuase i love the use of colour and how he has placed his illustrations. i feel it is similar to my work and the flowing movement his work portrays is what i try my work to achieve also.

Roger Adrian Williams is an artist from Cape Town, South Africa and has won many awards for his amazing work.by day he works as a illustrator in advertising, and at night works as a visual artist in the entertainment; Rogers clients come from Europe to the Far East.
After he successfully completed a Graphic Design studies at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in 2004, his advertising career kicked off, quickly making him quite famous, as one of South Africa’s leading young illustrator. he was presented international awards and accolades and did really well for him self for such a young man.

he is equally comfortable with paint, pencils, and technology, he moves between the digital and traditional illustration techniques and manages to combines both methods of image making.
he draws inspiration from music, fashion, street art and traveling, as well as the world of martial arts. He exhibits his work frequently, and has shared his knowledge lecturing at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the Century Film School in Cape Town. In addition to his achievements as an illustrator, he is also an accomplished martial artist (cool!), and trades the studio for the dojo in his spare time.

this man is an amazing inspiration and i love illustration and feel my work has come from a fine art background an has become illustrative. i love this new development in my work and i feel my work is similar to his. in the sense of similar movement and colour use. 

Hunter Wasser

i was told to look at Hundert Wasser by Joe because of his weird and wonderful architecture so i decided to take a look.

Wasser is a dutch artist, architect and general art person. despite not liking his paintings very much and actually thinking they are quite vulgar and child like and the use of colour is not too appreciated. i don't like the shapes the colour the actual technique and style of painting. i don't feel a connection with his art, which is really important for me, not one little bit and was quite disappointed.

but after the initial disappointment i was actually taken back by his buildings, i actually do really like some of his organically shaped buildings. which was a nice surprise after a shock horror moment!

looking at his buildings i appreciated the quirkiness and odd nature. i love how he was inspired by nature and humans and really loved the movement in his work. his buildings were fun and decorative and some what mind boggling. i didn't like the use of colour to much and the nature of the contrast of tones was just wrong for me but i did like the shape. my final piece has organic shapes due to the symbols and i understand the resemblance my tutor saw in my work. im glad i saw his work and appreciate his imagination in an architectural aspect. it was interesting to say the least.

Since the early 50s Hundert Wasser was connected to architecture, and for the rest of his life he had a interest in architecture that was inspired by nature and humans.
He began his new found passion with manifestos, essays and demonstrations, which led on to creating Architectural models that he used to describe his unique ideas of roofs, tree-tenants, and the window right, as well as by architectural shapes, such as eye-slit houses, the high-rise meadow house, the spiral house or the pit house.
As an architecture doctor (what i want to become) he created what was called "non-regulated irregularities and barriers of beauty", and this concept allowed him to create amazing architectural projects where the window right and the tree-tenants exist, as well as the uneven floors, forests on the roofs and spontaneous vegetation.

his ideas of random vegetation and weirdly shaped doors makes my building inspired by symbols look normal. he is a good role model to have as an architect because he shows you how there are no boundaries to art and that anything can be created no matter how mad and you should always create new and wonderful things no matter how weird and wacky. which is a great way to think!.

In his architectural work Hundertwasser replaced monotony with variety, and the grid system with the organic and non-regulated irregularities. this is the way forward!

Final Idea

the idea for my final project came from the experiments in my book and the research i did and the knowledge i gained and insight about the building i had chosen to restore in a round about way. i didn't know what my final piece was going to be but  i knew it was going to be incorporating symbols and my building. trying to restore this building was scarier than expected i had no idea nor did i know were to start but im glad i started by researching my building. if i was going to use the old cotton exchange design then i should know about its history. whilst researching i came across its original plans and realised the building was had done because of lack of funds. this was really exciting immediately it opened doors to ideas.

but still i didn't know weather i wanted to use symbols to make the buildings or use the building and add symbols but when i looked at the original plans i made a decision. i felt awful that it wasn't completed and to commemorate its plans and the architect to designed it i decided to use it as a bases for my final piece.

this was a good idea because then i didn't need to start from scratch an make a new building because restoration is about using what you have instead of adding new stuff and changing it, (well to me it is). i still didn't know weather my final piece would be a drawing, a print, a mixture of both. or would i add ink and outline or would i take a whole new stance to it.

but then i realised i would create my final piece like my symbol pieces it was obvious!
i was going to draw the building iv created and ink and outline, perfect, i just had to do it now.
because the framer was going to be coming to collect the work prior to the hand in date i had to get my final piece done earlier.

i started by projecting my pieces onto the an A1 sheet and drawing the outline of the original design to save time and then i filled it in with symbols cleverly placed (in my opinion) and then i shaded, inked and outlined and it was done. then its was handed in  with three other pieces to be  framed and all i have to do is hang it up when the time comes.

on my final exhibit i will be hanging up my final building design and two square outline and inked pieces to show my colour contrast and sorting ability and my dream catcher symbol piece, so i shall have 4 frames. because when showing my work to Joe to ask what i should exhibit she stated how the colours and shapes of these 4 pieces works well together and that it will look professional in the exhibition. this helped me not be as upset i was about the lack of my work being framed because anyone can just frame everything an over do it and not think about how the pieces work together. so im glad i was able to make the mature decision an let go of the fact that not everything i want will be framed but my work will still look good.

FMP Week 7 (half term)

we started the build!

the time had come to put aside the sketchbook and pencils an pick up the screws, boards and paint and begin to build the exhibit space. there was excitement in the air as well as accomplishment and the realization it was not long now till it will end and the pressure hit to get things done!

i went in on Wednesday and i began with cleaning the sinks and sides of the room, we managed to get paint in every nook and cranny over the year so we had a big job on our hands. however not to worry we managed to use all out elbow grease and the girls conquered the sink and paint situation.

i went on to sand and scrap nastiness (well blue tack and stickers) off the wall and then filled holes and crevices in the islands that were being built buy the strong men. in no time at all the men had an island up an rareing to be buffed and painted. despite there being only 3 rollers between 20 people we managed to slit jobs and get to work. after filling holes and cracks in the walls we used gum strip to cover the cracks and corners of the boards. to be honest at first it looked horrific but as we began painting hundreds of coats of paint it looked better.

going home covered in paint an dust i had a great sleep and went in Thursday to continue the great work. our FAD class and tutors had accomplish greatness these past two days. by the end of Thursday all the islands were up and gum striped and ready to paint. we managed to borrow two more rollers so we were up to 5!we painted the first island fully, buffed, sanded and scrapped to perfection and to an inch of its life.then we went on to the others at this point i had more paint on me than the actual boards but it was worth the sacrifice we had to get this done and looking immaculate and bad exhibit space makes work look bad, and that was not the ideas an never the option.

im really proud of my FAD class working soo hard and getting soo much done in a short while; now we have plenty of time to work on our FMP project and get the best grades possible.

i have continued to work on my blog and sketchbook and im just smoothing out the edges and still finding inspiration and ideas to create.