The first PINS Workshop of the year kicked off at Charlton School, a Group 7 Community Special (ages 11–19) School for students with low incidence special educational needs. They asked me to come down and deliver some creative therapy sessions which would allow the young people to express themselves through t-shirt/cap/canvas design and then all come together at the end to create an Olympic inspired mural.

The first session normally kicks off with some ‘Free thinking’ exercises, essential for the generation and flow of ideas, progressing onto idea development and then final outcomes…similar to how most Designers do their thing, literally breakdown the process.

I’ve always enjoyed running these workshops from way back in the days…the feeling of inspiring others, them inspiring you with crazy ideas, and having nuff jokes…can’t beat that…almost feels therapeutic at times, I know, random, but hey, that’s me!

A toast (ginger beer in hand), to plenty more PINS Workshops across the land!

Ps. For more info or if you’d like some creative therapy at your school / youth centre / community event / cooperate sectors, feel free to get in touch with Vanessa Moon at info@pinspired.com

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Thought I’d get Blue Peter-ish n make up some random xmas cards for 27 lucky individuals and number them, so hopefully they’d keep them as works of art instead of binning them like people normally do…

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I went to Berlin for the Art, streetwear and kicks…and boi did it deliver with a cherry on top!

Each morning started off with Museli and Nutella Latte’s…

I knew the Street Art scene was big out there, but was mad overwhelmed at the sheer scale of it, im talking near enough every surface was covered in either artwork, posters, stickers or cool installations…was practically hard to spot a clean, untouched surface…the posters were layered over the old ones, so imagine how thick they’d appear after several coverings, so thick you could use them as a punchbag…the East Side Gallery was quite a sight too…

The transport via the S-Bahn / U-Bahn was kinda easy to use and whipped around the city with ease, thought it would have been more complex…

Pit-stops…

If you didn’t already know, Dali is one of my fav artists of all time and imagine my surprise when I found out that he had a permanent exhibit which showed several of his original works from sketches, paintings, sculpture and video…I was all over it! From viewing his works, it showcased Dali’s mad skill as a painter, illustrator and branding genius…I was in the exhibit for near enough 3 hours!

My fav craft shop…

Went to the world’s first sticker art museum, yep, they have a museum for stickers, called Hatch, put together by owner Oli Baudach…defo something different and pretty cool to see stickers represented on an art type platform…

Dunkin Donuts was big out there as Krispy Kreme’s is over here, but after scoffing down a box full, have to say KKreme’s wins on taste and overall flavour, but Dunkin wins on the coloured icing…

Aint really a pork man, so didnt touch the famous Curry Wurst etc, but did find a boom Chicken spot called Huhnerhaus, where you get a roasted half chicken with chips for 3.75 Euros…when I tell you, this was quite possibly the best chicken I’ve ever had in my young adult life…crispy, tasty and kinda healthy, what more can you ask for in a munch…hit this up almost everyday…they even had their own wet wipes which were larger than the one’s in KFC, so weren’t a thing getting stuck in n messy!

I was on the lookout for some fresh AM1′s and was looking to go to Dusseldorf for a day n hit up Afew store (glow in the dark sneaker store) but cos of the last minute dot com flex, the train ticket costs were at some bump prices and thought i’d allow it, and reach there a next time…

The amount of streetwear and sneaker stores they have over there is ALOT! Overkill was my fav store which incorporated both Graffiti and Sneaker culture by selling an insane amount spray paint/markers/books, fresh kicks, deadstocks, streetwear from the likes of Stussy, Carhartt, Adidas, plus more and these really cool miniature models of kicks which I HAD to buy…this place was practically heaven minus the hot chicks…

Other cool stores included Big Brobot (Cool Toys, Arty books, Streetwear) Titus (Streetwear), Solebox (Footwear), STAB (Streetwear, Sneakers), Seleceted Store (Streetwear, Sneakers), Sneakerspot (Snekers)

Clever use of post-it notes…

The overall vibe was chilled, arty farty and random…

There were cycles all over the gaff, and you can hire one for around 10 euro’s a day n whip it around…they take cycling so seriously that half the pavement is a cycle lane, nearly got knocked down by cyclist’s on several occasions, so thought i’d step it up n get one…

Carrying a beer bottle in broad daylight is the norm, whereas if you do that here in London, your considered a ‘WASTEMAN’!

Some goodies…

Couldn’t leave without adding some donuttyness…

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DECA, a movement that celebrates the past 10 Years of Underground Culture in London, is putting on an exhibition in Shoreditch, from the 15th-21st October, showcasing 10 years of RWD Magazine.

Now if it wasn’t for RWD mag, I’d no doubt get very bored on the numerous train rides around LDN without it…its current, has dope content, fits in your pocket and represents LDN on that street level…big up Hattie Collins (Editor) and Dacre Bracey (Creative Director) for putting in the work and for the hook ups in the past…

I’ll defo be reaching down and supporting…the music line-up alone looks kinda DONUTS!…Oxide & Neutrino hopefully gonna reach too, now thats some old skool ish right there…whatever did happen to them??

Entry to the FREE launch event can only be obtained by requesting tickets HERE but the rest of the exhibition is free.

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Love my trips to Brighton! Went down today on an arty farty vibe to catch up with my mateys Kate n Rachel, and visit the Brighton Art Fair where fellow artist and friend Jeremy Houghton was exhibiting his work…

Brighton Art Fair is an opportunity for the public to buy art from the best local and national artists and for artists to sell direct to the public, to make contacts and to build a relationship with buyers and potential buyers.

It is now the largest art exhibition on the South Coast and brings together about 130 of the most talented national painters, printmakers, photographers and sculptors along with artist groups and Sussex based galleries.

The fair was filled with proper diverse artwork and was kinda dope talking to the artist’s themselves about their work and influences.

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Jeremy Houghtonand them flamingoes…

Them pink sweets are mad addictive!

Steve Mcphearsonfinds multi coloured fragments of unaltered beach plastic collected over 15 years from the beaches of the North Kent Coast, UK…

Sophie Abbottloves colour and having fun…

Waller Hewettbrings that something different you want to touch and play with…

Emily Kirbyexplores her Zambian influence…

Jason Keeleyexplores an edgy aesthetic…

Dinah Duftonbrings a feminine touch to War…

Oliver Kayis a cheeky chappy…

Some naughty but nice dopeness by Erik Ravelo.

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Artist Liu Bolin is known for taking photographs of himself, painted in order to blend in with the background…camouflage on some next level…

Via: JoshSpear

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When you see images like this, how does it make you feel? For me, these kind of images are the reason why I do what I do…you take something and absolutely flip the script! What better way to create something original by inducing your hallucinations as Salvador Dali did…he called them “hand-painted dream photographs”…a reflection of his own subconscious desires on a totally warped level, although he wasn’t warped himself (hard to believe, but he cool), he simply managed to stimulate that side of his brain to think as if he was, nice!

I personally feel in an overly saturated clothing/art market where people are jumping onto similar bandwagons and watering down unoriginal designs, I do feel there is a need for people to tap into something deeper, something more meaningful to create a sense of purpose and ‘differentness’ to whats currently out there…For me, my imagination is my schiieett, it keeps me up at night and gives me that freshness when I need it, but only because I keep it open to absorb everything around it and am constantly seeing how far I can take it…my things is this…if your gonna do it, do it different, or else whats the point, but at the same time, dont try be too different, for the sake of being different, do it cos you genuinely believe thats the shiieettt and it just so happens to be different…simply put, its a mindset, so start thinking differently, and you will start to produce ‘different’ kinds of results in anything you do!

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Its not all about money…yeah right! If Art is money, then this is most definitely Money Art…German conceptual artist Hans-Peter Feldmann’s new installation at the Guggenheim is made up of used 1 dollar bills, 100,000 of them…these are infact Feldmann’s bills…he won the $100,000 and his own solo show by claiming the eighth Biennal Hugo Boss Prize, an award bestowed by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for significant achievement in contemporary art.

The money walls are on display now till November 2, 2011. This is something I mos def need to check out when I go back to NY in September, gonna be crazy!

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OUTSIDE IN movie trailer from Levi's Film Workshop on Vimeo.

Outside In trailer produced by Trailer Park…A must see!

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