WINTER WARMERS / PART ONE

Festive 'hits' playing in the supermarkets, trampolining boxer dogs… Yep, silly season has arrived. However, there is a silver lining to this cloud of commercialism as artists and designers prepare to showcase their wares at a cornucopia of open studios and Xmas fairs. Here's what our featured artists are up to over the next few weeks.

If you go down to the woods tomorrow – well, Forest Hill – you'll find Supermundane and his neighbours enjoying their open studio weekend. A hop and a skip from Forest Hill station, Havelock Walk is bursting with artists' studios; even if you're not on a spending spree it's well worth a visit. Wander around the picturesque mews, chat to the artists, sip a mulled wine or two… There are worse ways to spend a November weekend. Havelock Walk Winter Weekend is open 12–6pm Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th of November – this weekend! There's more info here; if you'd like to see Supermundane's Look Up editions, click here.



It's Havelock Walk Winter Weekend 2016 – this weekend!


Next weekend we'll be in Bradford 'enjoying' a Tina Turner tribute act, but if you're in London we highly recommend a visit to The ICA's Garage Sale. Organised by The Poundshop, this festive pop-up presents a curated collection of products by artists and designers from across the UK, including Look Up superstar Kate Gibb alongside the likes of Lisa Jones Studio, Wrap, One We Made Earlier, APFEL and more. It all takes place in the ICA Theatre on Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd of December (11am – 6pm) with a launch event on Thursday 1st. Everything costs between £1 and £100, so get there early and you might find a real bargain and keep an eye out for Kate's work. Find out more about The Garage Sale here, and to check out Kate Gibb's Look Up editions here.




Next weekend's Garage Sale at The ICA – don't miss it


We've got a few seasonal showcases coming up but we'll tell you more about them in part two of our Winter Warmers feature – which will also include news on new artists and new editions. I know, exciting isn't it! In the meantime, the artists featured in our launch collection have been busy with all sorts recently, so here's a quick update… First, William Luz – the artist formerly known as William Edmonds – has a new website to go with his new surname. It's packed with fantastic images and links to his online store and you can find it here. You can check out Will's Look Up editions here.




William Luz (nee Edmonds) has a new look website


Following a busy year of residencies, exhibitions and more, Fiona Grady has found some time to get back to writing. You can read her review of Hauser & Wirth's Lygia Pape show on the Saturation Point site, here. Fiona has some fantastic prints available exclusively though Look Up – which you can see here – but you can also find her work in Well Hung Gallery's Christmas Bizarre (which opened last night and runs 'til 23rd December). Frea Buckler also features in the Well Hung show and has been busy creating new work for Frank, the art and design store in Whitstable. Here are Frea's Look Up editions. Mark McClure also has work in Well Hung's Christmas Bizarre and what's more, he's been on telly! He was invited to talk about his work on a new show, Cultural Hangover, which you can see here – Mark's spot starts around 6 minutes in and winds up around 4 minutes later. Fancy a gander at Mark's first edition for Look Up? Click here.




'Daylight Shuffle' by Fiona Grady (left) and 'Fruit Study 2' by Charlie Patterson – available exclusively from Look Up


Josie Molloy's been busy creating new editions for Print Club London and updating her website, which you can see here. It's great to see Josie getting some love from other print galleries following her debut on Look Up – see her 'Swoosh' series here. Charlie Patterson's made some new editions for The Conran Shop (based on the LDF mural he did at Selfridges) – you can see them here. If you're suffering with the winter lurgy we're prescribing Charlie's 'Fruit Study' prints. They're packed with vitamins and cheery goodness, and you can see them here. Meanwhile, Sophie Smallhorn has released some spectacular new editions on Eyestorm. 'Layer 1' and 'Layer 2' are exquisite, with their overlapping rectilinear forms and engaging colour play: see them here. Sophie's reputation continues to grow; if you'd like to buy an affordable slice of her colourful oeuvre, check out her Look Up editions here.




Lost Oddities brooches by Nounua 


On the subject of colour, we posted a feature a few months back all about Nounua's Lost Oddities project, which you can read here. She's since made 24 unique Lost Oddities brooches, which is great news on its own, but even better is that fact that she's donating half of the price of each brooch to homeless charity Focus Ireland. Homeless figures in Ireland are worse than ever before with 6,709 people on the streets – 2,426 of them children – and at this time of year they're extremely vulnerable. If you're looking for stocking fillers, buy a brooch or two and you'll be lending a helping hand to the people who need it most. You can buy Nounua's brooches here.


We'll be back next week with part two of our Winter Warmers feature. 'Til then, happy hunting and have a great weekend.