Co:Lab

Heart Your Head opening night

2011-05-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

Last night Co:lab revealed their latest prints at the Peerie Shop Cafe in Lerwick where they can be seen for the next two weeks.
Having worked in a rather ad hoc manner for most of our first year and a half we entered 2011 with a plan to make plans. This project is the first such plan to see fruition and it stemmed from a desire to contribute to and interact with a local charity. We all agreed that Mind Your Head were the folk to approach. Discussions were had, method and timescales were agreed, aspirations soared and a shared enthusiasm was apparent.
The subject and content of the prints was left entirely to the artists' discretion and yet, clearly engaged with the nature of the charity and the idea of mental health, each co:labber, with their own unique approach, has produced prints exploring head on what is often considered a sensitive subject. From the pattern of thought in both dream state and waking life to the public perception of mental ill health and how each of us make sense of the world around us.
As something that affect us all to some degree or other co:lab believe that understanding mental health is a cause worth supporting and that Mind your Head are a charity who, with a refreshing and positive outlook on fund raising, make a important contribution to people throughout the isles.

We are extremely pleased with how the evening went and would like to extend our thanks to Emma and James at the Peerie Shop Cafe for their help in making the night such a success. Thanks also goes to Jacqui Clark at Mind Your Head who had faith in our ideas and made the whole process very easy.
The prints are all editions of 20, 297mm x 420mm and yours for only £20 each.
Purchase forms are available at the Peerie Shop Cafe. Alternatively you can buy direct from the artists or visit our Heart Your Head etsy page to buy online.

Kathy Hubbard buys the first print of the night.

Co:lab heart your head

2011-05-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Doodle week two: February

2011-02-14T13:41:00.000-08:00

So here we are again with another doodle week. We're toying with the idea of doing this every month. It seems to be a productive exercise and you can rest assured there are a number of prints developing from the last set of doodles. We're hoping the same will be true of this batch. Here are some details of the work and you can see the complete images on our flickr pages. From left to right are Beto, Jono and Andrew.

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Doodle week

2011-01-15T04:48:00.000-08:00

Over the past month or so co:lab have been busying themselves with the development and consideration of their own personal projects. These have of late found both Jono and Andrew missing the liberation and immediate satisfaction of simple, cold, hard drawing. As such, and with Beto off visiting the homeland, the pair challenged themselves to a doodle week. Here are the results (Jono left, Andrew right).

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Both unexpected and with seams of promise, the week appears to have been fruitful. Prints deriving from some of these scribbles will almost certainly be forthcoming and doodle week may well become a regular event.

North Rock YULE prints online

2010-12-11T06:29:00.001-08:00

North Rock Gallery has got the Yule exhibition prints from the CO:LAB Boys (Andrew, Beto and Jono) available to buy online (links below)...get yourself some Shetland artists work now before it goes :)

Buy Andrew Morrison - Tanngnjostur og Tanngrisnir screenprint on North Rock Gallery
Buy Beto - Lego Snowflake screenprint on North Rock Gallery
Buy Jono Sandilands - Ganzie screenprint on North Rock Gallery

Photos by Mark Sinclair Phatsheep Photography.

North Rock Gallery YULE Exhibition

2010-10-26T01:54:00.000-07:00

Co:Lab have been busy over the past month preparing for two exhibitions over the festive season. The first of which kicks off on the 5 November at North Rock Gallery in Lerwick town centre. More info coming soon.

North Rock Gallery Blog

S is for square

2010-07-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

Produced over the course of a month for exhibition at this year's VunkFest Music and Arts extravaganza, co:lab's latest project is a six colour, cross pollinated, geometric delight.

Recalling the overprint collaboration of co:lab's debut outing, each of the three final pieces in the SC&T project bare the creative stamp of all three co:lab members.

The prints are built up from a simple geometric template – a triangle within a circle within a square. In week one we each tackled the square (leaving a space for a subsequent circle to occupy). At this point Jono, Beto and Andrew all chose two colour as a signature to carry through the project and ensure some kind of continuity through the set.

At the end of the first week we came together with the fruit of our labour and left with each other's as a stimulus for week two – the circle. Both this and the triangular element of the project differ slightly from step one in that we each, from that point on, had the freedom to bleed one of our chosen colours out into the preceding shape and through the artwork of our fellow co:labbers.

We moved up a print size with this project and following week three's triangle we were faced with finding a new source for acetates. Up until now we have been printing these out on Jono's A4 printer but with SC&T's maximum working size of 350mm x 350mm we had to look for outside assistance. Fortunately Beto happened upon a recommendation for www.copyexpress.co.uk who were extremely helpful and provided A3 acetate we could patch together with amazing next day deliverly!

Jono cunningly managed to bypass the acetate stage by producing his contribution in cut paper which could be placed straight onto the coated screen when exposing.

Printing went fairly smoothly and it's been rather pleasant washing out the screens in the summer sun even though we've had issues with the hose and managed to burn out the motor on one of our pressure washers.

SC&T was hanging in The Shetland Museum's Learning Room between the 9th and the 11th July alongside many other artists contributing to this year's VunkFest. The museum also played host to a series of short films on the Sunday and of course you can read about all the great bands playing that fantastic weekend here. For more information on all the going on check out www.myspace.com/vunkventures

Red & Blue

2010-05-31T12:16:00.000-07:00

The Red & Blue set of prints was produced during the two week residency of the pop-up shop down at the Toll Clock shopping centre. The theme this time around was red and blue with the criteria being that we use red and blue only and the artwork fits to A6. Below you can see each Co:Labbers response:

Andrew Morrison:

Beto:

Jono Sandilands:

Red & Blue - Pictures Leaked!

2010-05-12T16:59:00.000-07:00

During the two weeks of the temporary Vunk Fest Pop-Up Shop being open at The Toll Clock Centre, Lerwick; Co:Lab have been busy working on a new brief: Red & Blue.

They have produced a set of miniature, affordable prints using only the colours Red & Blue to do so.

The picture above is just a teaser, but the artwork for this project will be unveiled at the Vunk Fest Pop-Up Shop this Saturday, 15th May, on what is the very last day of the shop - so be sure to pop down and pick up a fresh print!

Day one at the Vunk Fest Pop-up Shop

2010-05-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

The Vunk Fest Pop-up Shop is now open for business!
Thanks to everyone who came along on the opening day and an extra special thanks to all those who bought prints!
Among those on sale are the results of three unique projects produced in the first third of this year, previously seen only on this blog and until now unavailable for purchase. Many of the runs are extremely limited and as each of these prints are selling for just £12 (with £2 from each going towards funding the Vunk Fest) we're hoping to see more than a few sell out by the end of the fortnight. If you've not already made it along come find us in the Toll Clock shopping centre down by the back entrance. We'll be there until 15th May!

Easy as 1,2,3...

2010-04-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

Do you know your ABC? We do!
Us co:labbers have once again been at the printing ink. Our latest project is 3-fold and explores the rich seam of interpretation inherent in our alphabet. 26 individual characters being reproduced in countless variations the world over.
In presenting our take on our favourite graphemes we not only show the alphabet in its natural order but also put them to practical use in the context of 3 very different pangrams. Additionally each co:labber has chosen their favourite letter to BIG up.
Here is a sneaky-peak from each of us...

Reading from left to right in the great tradition of our written language we have Andrew's Alphabet, Beto's Pangram and Jono's Giant A. To see the rest of this series (and buy prints) be sure to stop by the Vunk Fest Pop-Up Shop open for two weeks at the Toll Clock Shopping Centre from noon this Saturday (1st May 2010)! Over the fortnight the shop will also be selling ticket deals and band merchandise for the upcoming Vunk Fest. We'll be in and about as regularly as we can and hope to see you all there!

Vunk Fest Pop-Up Shop!

2010-04-26T02:46:00.001-07:00

This Saturday Co:Lab will be exhibiting and selling new prints at the Vunk Fest Pop-Up Shop. Co:Lab will also be running a special project during the two weeks the shop is open so watch this space!

For two weeks only, a sale of works for the not for profit festival.
Available: Festival Ticket Deals, Photography, Artwork, Merch, New prints by Co:Lab + more.

At Toll Clock Shopping Centre, Lerwick.
Opening 12pm on Sat 1 May
Mon-Sat 10am-5pm Until 15 May!

http://www.myspace.com/vunkventures

Check out the event on Facebook for more details: http://bit.ly/VunkFest

Shetland Life

2010-04-06T03:57:00.000-07:00

Co:Lab are proud to be featured in this months Shetland Life magazine with Jono's interpretation of the Adverts brief.
See previous posts for each of the Co:Lab team's process of the brief:
Andrew's Advert Process Blog,
Beto's Advert Process Blog ,
Jono's Advert Process Blog.

To see the final prints of the Co:Lab Adverts brief prints see here.

Snow:Lab: Washout

2010-02-28T15:40:00.000-08:00

Its been snowy here in Shetland recently, but that doesn't stop the Co:Lab team, even with our washout facilities out in the raw, freezing cold, elements...

The snow also came in handy for quickly washing off the squeegee. Never eat yellow snow, or red, or blue...

Monster MASH-UP

2010-02-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

The co:lab studio this week had to contend with more than it's usual share of hairy beasts as we prepared ourselves to mash up some monsters.
Flash back two weeks, before civilization crumbled beneath our new monster regime…
Sitting around a Skippy table with a single sheet of A4, we set ourselves a brand new task. Our goal - to create three interchangeable monsters, creatures that we could butcher and reassemble into horrifying and ghastly abominations. Much like that beloved childhood card game where you would swap heads, torsos and legs resulting in hilarious combinations of body parts.
Taking our sheet of A4 and dividing it into thirds we marked the position and width of both the neck and the waist. Using these as our constraints - the points through which our monster must pass - we allowed our creations to evolve, safe in the certainty they would splice and graft together in hideous harmony.
The results, as you can see, are monstrous!

Co:Lab - Monsters

2010-02-17T02:44:00.000-08:00

The Co:Lab team was hijacked last night, during the printing of our next project: Monsters. View the video below to see the carnage and view the latest set of prints from the team.

Co:Lab - Monsters from Co:Lab on Vimeo.

CoLab - Adverts

2010-02-13T05:18:00.000-08:00

Co:Lab have been busy during the last week printing the second Co:Lab project, Adverts. The brief - Each member should create an A4 advert suitable for two colour printing in the given timescale of one week. The product, concept, ideal or whatever we set out to promote was entirely ours to choose.

The outcomes with links to in depth blog about process:

(above) Andrew - Philip Eight - A Fragrance for Men - Process Blog by Andrew.

(above) Jono - Ad Revamps - Finding existing ads for second hand goods & redesigning them - Process Blog by Jono.

(above) Beto - Bubblewrap Sandwich - With an extra loud bite - Process Blog by Beto.

A loud bite to close a busy week

2010-02-12T16:33:00.000-08:00

Thursday night was Beto's print night, closing off the second Co:Lab assignment, and with Andrew and Jono's prints already blogged and shining on Flickr, the pressure was on!

Following the guidelines provided - create a two colour advert in a week - Beto's idea was to promote a fictious food product, in a slightly old fashioned way...

The original idea evolved somehow from this: glass onion (White Album; Beatles) - glass sandwich (an unpublished book by Robert Smith; The Cure) - glass/food - any material/food = Bubblewrap Sandwich!

Once the idea was executed on paper (pencil and ink), Beto used Illustrator to clean it up and pass it into Manga Studio, a software he is familiarising himself with. "I like how easy traditional halftones can be applied and tweaked in Manga Studio. I wanted to use halftone for two reasons; One is that it gives an instant old fashion mechanical print look. The other reason was to achieve the type of effect you see in money". While playing in Photoshop testing colors for the print, Beto encountered the green/blue combination, giving the print the look of an old note or very old postal stamps.

The session went smoothly, and between work and jokes, we had a look at two books - Print Liberation and Meet Mr Product - both recommendable and available for just over a fiver. The later containing a picture of the Bazzoka bubble gum logo that brought memories to the older members of the team and illustrated that play with colors, halftones and off register layers that Beto was looking for from his print.

Colour variants:

Test prints:

Overall a fun session with some visitors, some of Jono's best ever cups of tea and some very satisfying prints to close a busy week that should see the Co:Lab team ready for thee monstrous task ahead.

Let Co:Lab help turn your spare cash into trash

2010-02-10T17:00:00.000-08:00

After the dramatic set backs from our first print session last night, Co:Lab had a more relaxing print session tonight, continuing with the second Co:Lab project, Adverts. With 500w bulbs for our lamps, of course.

In the set timescale of one flexible week, each Co:Lab member was to create a two colour advert with the freedom to advertise absolutely anything we wanted.

We got quickly set to print the second of the set, Jono's reply to the brief - "Ad Revamps":
The concept was to take existing adverts and classifieds found in newspapers/shop windows/signs, which are selling second hand goods, and redesign them.

Jono discovered a few ads he felt fit the bill, such as one selling a "Geto Blaster" (spelling as original ad) also a car costing only "15£" (again direct quote from original ad) but quickly got inspired with an advert for a "Gas Cooker" with "Four Hobs", which became the final print. With extra time from the early burst of inspiration Jono decided to take on the other two ads as well, with scope for an ongoing ad revamp project. (Geto Blaster + Car below - Digital versions)

The printing of Jono's final advert went relatively without a hitch, taking on board some Co:Lab colour theory learnt from the previous night - namely the orange shown below, which we realised from some of Andrew's test prints.

Again, we took some time to experiment with some other variants and even learning to not get too excited about mixing colours to forget to dry screen before printing.

And finally a one off - a possible colour choice for a scary Co:Lab project coming soon.

And after that, another screen coated and ready for Beto's tasty submission tomorrow!

New Prints – Co:lab sell out to the man

2010-02-10T08:51:00.000-08:00

It was a heavy night of printing last night as we set about the second of our co:lab team tasks. The brief we set ourselves this time was to create, within the space of a week (give or take allowances for general real life shenanigans), an A4 advert suitable for two colour printing. Those were our only spec. The product, concept, ideal or whatever we set out to promote was entirely ours to choose.
The eagle-eyed among you will see from the accompanying images that we only finished one of the three prints. We'd set out to complete two with the third planned for this evening (together with the beginnings of co:lab 3). Problems plagued us however, succeeding in blowing the bulbs in both of our halogen lamps. The first one (jono's) flickered and died 11 minutes into the 17 minute exposure of our first screen. A quick spin out to Scalloway to pick up Andrew's lamp allowed us to bundle on those last six minutes and to our relief the screen washed out perfectly and was good to use.
The second screen was less fortunate as, during exposure, the second lamp suffered a similar fate to the first... this time after only four minutes! Having no third lamp to fall back on Beto and Andrew spun off on a fruitless search for bulbs and returned empty handed. Fortunately Papa Sandilands came to the rescue with both 300w and 200w bulbs and game was back in play. To no avail however as, come washout time, all the emulsion bled from the screen leaving no trace of a template to print with.
Left with just the one workable screen we set about making the most of the evening.
Philip Eight – A Fragrance for Men is Andrew's contribution to the Advertisement task. Although originally conceived as an initial yellow layer plastered over with a second black layer inspiration kicked in and Andrew decided to try out the florescent pink, caking it in a second coat of raw umber. The pink was magnificent and when shining through the raw umber the colours joined in a deep regal red.
As this was the only print we had to work on we decided to plough on and try a variant on the initial yellow idea... unwittingly treading on the same error we'd made first time around with the screw picture from co:lab 1b. Yellow, it appears, is a remarkably difficult colour to work with when overlapping colours. It seems to lack punch and struggles to hold definition. We printed 21 sheets with a base colour yellow and proceed to work through 4 alternatives (many of which delivered oddly hazy results) before getting excited about the blend of the yellow with the florescent pink which we had stumbled upon earlier in the process while fooling around.
It was a late finish but we got some great prints in the end and have tucked away a fine catalogue of colour theory which should prove useful in future.
We're planning to attack Jono's piece tonight so check back in with us soon for the further adventures of co:lab!

Addendum: Having seen the workings for these prints Philip Eight has ask Andrew to become his official biographer and over the coming months his life will be documented in pictures at philipeight.blogspot.com.

Co:Lab - Sideways (BBC Radio Shetland) feature

2010-02-04T11:14:00.000-08:00

Hear us speaking about our exhibition and work @ Bonhoga cafe on BBC Radio Shetland's 'Sideways' programme from Thursday 4 February. Big thanks to the Sideways team for letting us on their show! Click the link to listen to the show - we're on around 10 mins in - available for a week...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/scotland_aod.shtml?scotland/shetland_thu

Amy mentioned a video of us at work which can be found here...
How we print timelapse.

Co:Lab feature on the Shetland News

2010-01-26T01:04:00.000-08:00

There's a new Co:Lab article over at the Shetland News website. Thanks to Charlene Storey for her interest in our efforts and taking the time to chat with us.
Charlene has her own blog A Sketching Storey – we recommend you check it out.

Co:Lab - Cafe Exhibition

2010-01-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

The first series of Co:Lab prints are on display at The Mill Cafe @ Bonhoga Gallery, Shetland!
You can see and buy them there until 7 Feb, so if your up for Up Helly Aa, go and have a look!
The Co:Lab team met Mark Inchley of BBC Radio Shetland's Sideways radio show for a feature about our exhibit on the next show. The show goes to air on Thursday 4th February at 6.10pm and will be available online via the BBC's "listen again" function for the following week (we'll post a link to this as soon as we have it). Be sure to check it out, we guarantee it will be... interesting...

The Prints

2010-01-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

Beto + Jono

Andrew + Jono

Jono + Beto

Jono + Andrew

Andrew + Beto

Beto + Andrew

co:lab
Jono Sandliands • Beto • Andrew Morrison

These six prints are the results of a collaborative experiment spanning a total of six weeks. Basic rules were set and the time restriction put in place – one week for each step.

STEP 1 – Each produce an A4 illustration to be printed one colour. These, upon completion, are passed to one of the other co:lab members.
STEP 2 – The challenge here in the second week is to take the piece created and entrusted to you by your co:lab colleague and produce a second illustration to be printed one colour directly on top of the prints of the artwork they have been allocated.
STEP 3 – Take the six illustrations and print them together with their other halves producing three final pieces.

These three weeks three steps were then repeated. However this time in step 2 we each worked from the illustration by whomever they hadn't first time around. For example in the first round Jono created a second layer for Beto's piece. In the second round he did likewise for Andrew's piece.

The experiment was to challenge and inspire us in unexpected ways. Individually we have learned different things from the experience but together we have found ourselves varying our approach, adapting our styles to meet the challenges of another's, seeing how colours complement and which combinations best support the merging illustrative approaches.

We are happy to announce the prints are on display for a month from 12 January @ Bonhoga Gallery Cafe, Weisdale Mill, Shetland.

Unique Presence – Thanks for coming along!

2009-12-07T09:46:00.000-08:00

Big thanks to everyone who came along to Unique Presence to witness the Co:Lab live debut on Saturday 5th December. We were all extremely please with how it went and greatly appreciate the enthusiasm shown. It was a long day starting at 2pm in the Islesburgh Community Centre and the first half was especially busy. We're glad however to have been able to keep the show open until 9pm, welcome the folk keeping less regular hours and sell them prints! Hopefully all the prints sold will settle happily into their new homes and earn a quizzical look or a toothy smile from time to time.

Thanks must also be extended to Karen Bruce of Vunk Photography and Mootie House Design for organising the event and inviting us to participate. The Drama Room at the community centre was a great space in which to exhibit and looked particularly vibrant when filled with the textiles, jewellery, photography (and prints) of independent local artists and designers (Vunk Photography, Mootie House Designs Ltd, K J Originals, Jane Naish Jewellery ...)

For anyone who couldn't make it along, never fear, we're hoping to give you another chance to pick up a print very soon. Watch this space for details!

How we print timelapse

2009-12-06T09:34:00.001-08:00

Co:Lab Print Session from Jono Sandilands on Vimeo.

Timelapse of a Co:Lab screenprint session in HD.
Printing for exhibition on the 5th Dec - Unique Presence @ Islesburgh Community Centre, Lerwick, Shetland

Unique Presence

2009-12-02T14:12:00.000-08:00

On the 5th December - Andrew Morrison of New Dead Language, Beto and Jono Sandilands will be launching a set of screenprints they have been busy producing over these cold dark months under the name of Co:Lab.

The idea is that for the first week they each created an A4 image which was passed to another member of the trio who would then for the second week create another A4 image to overprint this with. And then week 3, Print!

Have a look over at the Unique Presence event page on Facebook, for more info.