Exmouth Festival Commission: Reinterpreting Railway Posters

“Visit Exmouth”
Reinterpreting railway promotion posters for 2015: A visual arts commission for Exmouth Festival.

Exmouth Festival is now in its 19th year. Growing from a celebration of local music to a multi art form platform for new, emerging and national talent the festival is looking to commission a visual artist to create a set of artworks for Exmouth.

This commission is being delivered in partnership with the Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Daisi, The Avocet Line Rail Users Group and Exmouth Library and is supported by funds from Exmouth Town Council and the Community Rail Fund.

Proposal:

We are seeking an artist to reflect upon the classic ‘Visit Exmouth’ railway posters of the early 20th century and create modern versions promoting Exmouth as a tourist destination.

You will be commissioned to create a set of railway posters that will be displayed in partnership with the Avocet Line Rail Users Group at stations between Exeter St David’s and Exmouth.

Your work will be displayed at the centre of an exhibition at Exmouth Library during the festival along with the original railway posters.

We would like proposals that will create a range of at least three exciting and invigorating new visual art pieces and:

1: Find new ways to interpret, react and respond to the original posters supplied by collectors and collections (including the National Railway Museum).
2: Promote Exmouth and Exmouth Festival to rail users and audiences that may not traditionally engage with the visual arts
3: Will document the creative process and production of the posters on an Exmouth Festival microsite.

4: Will work with local primary schools either through workshops delivered by yourself in partnership with arts education organisation Daisi, or by an education proposal designed by yourself and delivered by a Daisi artist (at a cost from the commission fee) to work with children and young people to create their own posters inspired by your own.

What are we offering:

A commission fee of £4600, to include travel and materials.
Print costs will be paid for by Exmouth Festival.

Timescale:

Interviews and appointment to be carried out week commencing 30th March.
Sign off of work to be completed by 4th May for production and distribution by Exmouth Festival.
Education workshops to be delivered week commencing 11th May or 18th May.

How to apply:

Please write a proposal of no more than 1000 words and no more than three images of how you would plan to create the posters.

This should include:

The themes and ideas you would like to include
Resources and materials you would require
How your plan links with the source material
Your ideas for the education element of this commission

Please include a CV and information about related projects you have carried out.

The decision process:

All applications will be considered by a panel of arts and railway professionals

Angela Blackwell, curator of the Thelma Hulbert Gallery
Liz Hill, director of Daisi – the arts education organisation for Devon and Torbay
Chris Launder, Senior Supervisor at Exmouth Library
Don Mildenhall, Vice Chairman of the Avocet Line Rail Users Group

Please send completed applications to artsmanager@exmouth.gov.uk

Deadline: Midday Monday 23rd March 2015.

This commission is made possible thanks to Grants for the Arts funding from Arts Council England.

Exmouth Festival is committed to a policy of Equality and Inclusivity.