Hasta La Ideas

¡Viva!, Southampton Solent University‘s Illustration degree show is on until Saturday at the Conningsby Gallery in London. I popped along and took some photos of some of the choicest bits…

Solent have got themselves a lovely spot here on Tottenham Street and have filled the gallery with the work of the 38 students on the BA Illustration course (painted window illustration, above, by Benjamin Evenett). In the catalogue accompanying the show, course leader Peter Lloyd commends the students for their “tenacity and verve” when it came to organising an additional show outside of Southampton. They’ve clearly put in some effort with the show’s identity as well, which was designed by Jon Clark:

Here’s some of the work I liked, starting with Johnny Ace:

Bears go urban in this piece from Debbie Avery (great postcards too):

And Polly Horne‘s book cover for Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat gets the Thamesian theme across very nicely (apologies to Polly for the colours in this one, it’s dark down in that corner):

Edward Brown‘s poster, possibly for a fantasy hairdressers, has some nice characterisation in it:

This one is (I think) by Carla Bromhead:

This James’ Giant Peach Stone poster is by Katie Allen:

I also really liked this slightly sleazy print by Ryan Ward (below, top) and the huge Chief Seattle piece by Richard Stuart (below, bottom, and detail) but I couldn’t find an artist’s name for either – or I’ve lost the postcard. If you’re reading this and it’s your work below, let me know in the comments and I’ll amend!:

Here’s a detail of the top:

This illustrated feast scene, apparently from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis, is by Sarah Jane Souster:

Close-up:

And I think this final one shows some work by Polly Horne (on the far right), Laura Jane Wells and Simon Abbott:

¡Viva! is on until Saturday – there’s plenty of prints for sale, too.