Brighton Rock Artist Group
In May 2006 Chuck Sperry (Firehouse) and Mike King visited Brighton and taught a 2 day materclass in screen-printing and poster art. I chose to take the Chuck Sperry class (hosted at BDI Screen-printing) because I really loved the Firehouse collection and all the bands they have worked for. The workshop was in adjacent with Sub-Screen Sonic, an exhibition of gig posters brought over from the Flatstock festival in Texas. The exhibition and workshops was organised by the Basement Arts Production in Brighton.
It was an incredible 2 days, there was about 10 of us in the class and we all bonded really well. Chuck had so many great stories to tell and he really fired us up about poster making. The scene here in the UK is really small and back then it was even smaller. After the workshop we all got together and decided we would make waves within the UK poster scene and form our own collective called BRAG (Brighton Rock Artist Group), although back then it was “British” instead of “Brighton”.
Since then our group has flourished and we have been making posters for bands and tours internationally whilst doing poster shows all around the UK and aboard.
Visit our website to find out more at -
Jamie McGreggor (left) & Myself talking about gig posters in the studio for the You Like We Like Website
BRAG & FIREHOUSE POSTER USA
In September 2007, I was lucky enough to work at the Firehouse studio in San Francisco. Invited by Chuck Sperry and Ron Donovan to undertake a two-week internship in Rock poster making and a chance to design and print a poster for the 40th Anniversary Summer of Love festival. Firehouse has been leading the international poster industry for over 20 years, designing for massive bands and labels. It was a great experience that propelled my enthusiasm for the gig poster scene. The visit was jammed packed with meetings from artists such as Alan Forbes (Tower Records) and guided tours of Art Rock and the Fillmore venue, both renowed for their rock art collection.
Here is a video of the trip broadcasted on NBC Californian news.
An article is on Creative Review’s Blog with an in-depth account and photos of the trip.
BRAG & FIREHOUSE - SAN FRANCISCO
FIREHOUSE RETURN TO THE UK
In June 2008 Firehouse retuned to the UK for a poster tour. We had organised an exhibition and workshop to repay the favour for all their generosity they have given BRAG (although I think I still owe you guys for all you’ve done). We had a huge gig poster exhibition that lasted 3 days hosted at the Basement Arts Production in Brighton. This was a fitting venue as they had organised the Sub-Screen Sonic Exhibition that started BRAG. There was an incredible reaction and nearly 1000 people had viewed the exhibition. On the Saturday night we had free Beer kindly sponsored by the Windmill Pub and then an after party at BDI screen printers. (Photos below)
BRAG win Open-House
We had a BRAG show at Output Studio, where myself and the team built a temporary gallery in the corridors leading up to the print workshop. We had an exhibition throughout May 2007 for the Open House season which we won an award for.
BRAG & FIREHOUSE - UK
BRAG OPENHOUSE
RHYS WOOTTON - MOTHERSHIP PRINTHOUSE
all images displayed - copyright to Rhys Wootton 2008
