One of the highlights for the young people who attend the National Saturday Art & Design Club is the
opportunity to participate in a masterclass with a professional artist or
designer. This year, we were delighted when the Sorrell Foundation announced
that Zack Mclaughlin from Paper &
Wood would be leading a workshop for the next generation of creative talent
at NTU. You only have to look at his
work to understand why we were so pleased; his awe inspiring birds are breathtakingly
real.
Work by Zack Mclaughlin, a kingfisher and a barn owl |
Zack Mclaughlin is a London based illustrator who is
inspired by nature and creates these beautiful birds out of paper and wood
(hence the company name!). His
impressive work has been featured across the globe in window displays for
fashion brands such as Ralph Lauren, Paris and Anthropologie.
It takes Zack more than 70 hours to create some of his
birds, this includes the time to painstakingly cut more than a thousand paper
feathers by hand with a pair of scissors, before taking great care to paint all
the realistic details on to each one. His Instagram account shows the
breadth of his very detailed work.
Before the practical workshop began, Zack kindly gave a
brief talk to the Saturday Art & Design Club about his portfolio and his experience of
being an illustrator. As a freelancer,
Zack’s work has evolved from illustrating children’s books to creating the bird
sculptures. The inspiration for this
change of direction came from experimenting when he created a model of an owl
that appeared in one of his children’s books.
Since then he has created numerous sculptures that have caught the
media’s attention.
Zack’s talk highlighted that working for yourself in the
arts involves resilience and a lot of creative thinking to spot opportunities. Currently Paper & Wood sells the birds as
artworks to private and commercial buyers, runs workshops on wire model making
and showcases Zack’s portfolio of illustrations. As a freelancer, Zack not only has to create
artwork but also promote himself widely to his potential customers on social
media as well as doing all the admin to keep the business running. This insightful talk highlighted to Saturday Art & Design Club that being a working artist requires a lot of hard work and
determination but its worth it if you love what you do.
Saturday Art & Design Club hard at work during the masterclass |
To gain a greater understanding of Zack’s work, Saturday Art & Design Club participants had the opportunity to create their own birds out of
wire. Each of our budding artists were
asked to bring along a selection of images to the workshop of their favourite
bird. The participants were then asked
to deconstruct the shapes of their chosen bird and use these simplified shapes
to create a 3D wire sculpture. The
results were fantastic! Everyone’s bird
was a different shape or size. We’re
looking forward to showcasing them at the Saturday Art & Design Club exhibitions next
month.
·
National Saturday Art & Design Club exhibition, Somerset House, London is open to the public 22 June to 26 June.
·
Nottingham Trent University,
Bonington building is open to the public 27 June to 1 July.
Saturday Art & Design Club had a great time on Saturday and we like
to say a HUGE thank you to Zack for taking the time to come and visit us.
For more information about Saturday Art & Design Club at NTU, please
contact Sarah Barkley: sarah.barkley@ntu.ac.uk.
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