This weekend we are are at Altrincham Market (Saturday and Sunday) and Treacle Market in Macclesfield (Sunday). Both absolute crackers, and I’ll be selling my recent Stockport Alphabet and Manc-hattan, along with Altrincham, Hale, Bowdon, Macclesfield, Bollington and Poynton (naturally). In the near future there are some very exciting developments coming up (can’t reveal what just yet), and new posters of Monton and Edgeley are on the drawing board. www.statementartworks.com
Read MoreVimto poster at Vimto HQ
Like all true Mancunians, I love Vimto - so much better than that Ribena stuff, which is only fit for Southern softies.
So imagine my delight when I got a commission from one of the Vimto family to paint a poster which reflects the company’s unique appeal not just in Manchester but across the world and especially in the Middle East.
The company was created by the Nichols family in Manchester, and remains in the family to this day, hence the headline Nichols and dimes to show how successful it has been.
Here is me presenting the framed poster to Vimto’s Commercial Controller James Nichols at the company’s headquarters in Newton-Le-Willows.
Such an honour!
Thanks to the lovely Mel in Pop Boutique on Oldham Street for being my model - another true Manc from Ancoats.
www.statementartworks.com
Back at Altrincham Market
I am back at Altrincham Market for the whole of this weekend, and I’ll have my new Cale Green, Davenport, Marple and blue ‘barth’ for sale. www.statementartworks.com
Start of the Great Northern Warehouse experience!
Christmas starts tomorrow (well it does for me) with the Great Northern Warehouse market just off Deansgate in Manchester. I’ll be there on Friday as well, then on Saturday and Sunday it’s off to Altrincham Market. I’ll have all my usual mounts, cards and magnets, plus my new Marple picture, along with a few blue versions of the ‘barth’ poster. See you there. www.statementartworks.com
Read MoreA Manchester Odyssey!
When Lawrence and Rebecca Cray came to buy some posters off me at Urmston market, they couldn’t make up their minds about which ones to buy. They had lived in Worsley and Eccles, and also close to the Mancunian Way. Now they were living in Urmston. I’d done posters of all those places, even one featuring the Mancunian Way, but they were torn.
So hey, bingo, they thought they would have all four in one! The Result is the Manchester Odyssey of the Crays, where I’ve melded all four posters into one with new typography.
The poster is now taking pride of place in their living room above the fireplace.
So now you know - if you want anything bespoke, just ask. I can’t change the background images but I can do anything with the words.
Just email me on statementartworks@gmail.com
Here is the finished result and all the original posters.
All this weekend we are at Altrincham Market.
Stockport, London, Rochdale - the holy trinity!
Local art for local people! Who needs fancy dan customers from the Cayman Islands when you can sell to lovely people on your doorstep? This week I supplied three framed A2 posters to Hatters Promotions who have just moved into new premises off Hillgate in Stockport, about half a mile from where I live. They now hang in the firm’s reception area. Hatters Promotions provide promotional merchandise for companies, from pens and mugs to hampers and bandanas (www.hatterspromotions.com). Two of my posters - London and Hats Off To Stockport - are pictured here along with the Teddy, who belongs to Jo Shippen, the boss of the company! Also, I’ve just finished my Rochdale poster, which, naturally, has to feature the town’s most famous export - the Co-operative movement! Those handsome people in the poster are my friends and neighbours, the Cook family!
Read MoreStatement Artworks on new Co-op website
Exciting news for Statement Artworks. I am one of the first artists in the country to be signed up to the Co-op's brand new local.co.uk website, which is now live (www.local.co.uk). Manchester is the pilot city but the site will soon be rolled out across the country. Watch me being interviewed by the Co-op (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9gVDiqd8VQyC8Q5HD7XlZ4H_ViTHMmEf). Most of my images are on the site, in A3 poster and A4 mount options, and you can buy directly through the Co-op. You can buy from me still at markets, and this weekend I am at Stockport and the Northern Quarter, while on Tuesday I have a stall at Victoria Station. My two latest images will be on sale, plus an adaped version of my Offerton poster, which now has Stockport as the banner. That, along with lots of other images, will soon be for sale at the Hat Works Museum in Stockport and at Staircase House.
Stockport poster
Map of the British Isles
Man City - bitter Blue?
Make a statement with your art!
This Sunday we are at the West Didsbury Makers Market and the Treacle Maket in Macclesfield. Can't find your way to those places? Well you'll be wasting your time consulting my map of the British Isles, but you can hang it on your wall. Yep, my new poster is now for sale in A4 size at the markets, and any size you like online. See you on Sunday! www.statementartworks.com
The essential, definitive map of the British Isles-ish...
OK, I confess. Some people have accused me of being a bit parochial, a bit too obsessed with my home town and its near neighbours. Guilty. In my defence, I was born in Manchester city centre, went to my first school in Manchester, supported Manchester City from the age of four and even went to watch United occasionally with my mate Rod Gibson. I was also the arts editor, TV critic, travel editor and deputy features editor on the Manchester Evening News, where I worked for nearly 20 years. I may live in Stockport, which I also love, now, but I’m still always going into town to meet friends, watch City or just to enjoy the buzz. But to address this ‘professional Mancunian’ thing, I’ve decided to go national with my new map of the British Isles. Now, surely, no one can accuse me of being too Manchester-centric. Surely. This will be available to buy in the regular formats from Wednesday, July 25. www.statementartworks.com
Read MoreHats off to Offerton
Although I'd driven through it a thousand times on the way to the amazing Vernon and Woodbank parks, I'd never noticed the old Battersby hat factory in Offerton, Stockport, just along from the Finger Post pub. It's got that striking water tower - but more importantly the giant letter B on two sides. What a godsend for an idea for a poster, which I think has a definite world war 2 look about it. While the tower was the inspiration, I have to thank the lovely Imogen Francesca Hart, one of my fellow traders, who was the model for the poster. Chorlton-based Imogen is the boss of The Sardinistas, which specialises in Portuguese products, especially those fabulous tinned sardines. The first prints of the Offerton poster will be produced next week, but I am also doing a limited edition of 20 specially marked A2 posters, which I am selling ready framed for £150. www.statementartworks.com
Read MoreCheadle Hulme, Bramhall, Hazel Grove and Pickmere Lake
The commission was to do three posters for a local estage agent without being boring or corporate, and getting in a little joke too. Well if you live in Bramhall, Cheadle Hulme or Hazel Grove you should appreciate these works - which will be used by Snapes estate agents in their summer promotional material.
I've also just finished a commission for Pickmere near Knutsford, which was once THE destination for working class families from Manchester looking for some Cheshire weekend fresh air in them there olden days. There used to be a funfair, pleasure cruiser and rowing boats on the picturesque lake, plus lots more. The poster sort of tells the story.
Now it's mostly returned to nature, but there's a great cafe and fun events from May to October. The poster, along with cards, magnets, mugs and mounts, is available to buy at the cafe, or directly from me.
www.statementartworks.com
Curve appeal of Cheadle Hulme.
Parklife, Bramhall style
The sun always shines in Hazel Grove.
Pickmere - charas came by the score.
Personalised poster for Urmston couple Neal and David
Two great lads who admitted to being 'economic refugees' from Hale and have bought a more affordable house in Urmston, commissioned me to do a special personalised poster.
And with a few tweaks of my Urmston poster, Neal and David got their very own bespoke framed version for their new home. If you fancy a personalied poster, based on any of my images (over 45 and counting) then just contact me on statementartworks@gmail.com. Check out the full range of my work at www.statementartworks.com. My posters are all about the people and places of the north, with a heavy dose of fun thrown in, and I just love adapting them to feature names, streets, whatever you like. Here are the two versions of the Urmston poster.
This Sunday we are doing the West Didsbury Makers Market and Treacle Market in Macclesfield. See you there.
Cheers - Eric
www.statementartworks.com
The original Urmston poster
...and the bespoke version
Cancer care fundraising event
Today I am doing a special event for Beechwood Cancer Care at their annual fundraiser at the Hilton hotel in Manchester, and on Saturday and Sunday I am at Altrincham Market. Check out www.beechwoodcancercare.co.uk
Good to be in central Manchester again, and two of my latest posters will definitely be on sale - the manifesto and the Mancunian Way.
Cheers - Eric
Stockport and Altrincham markets this weekend
This weekend I am at Stockport Market on Saturday and Altrincham Market on Sunday, and with the weather forecast being so good, there's no excuse for not coming to say hello and wishing me a happy birthday. Which reminds me, I've got a new set of birthday cards, adapted from my Mancunian Way poster (attached). Every birthday boy and girl should receive one!
Read MoreResist linguistic fascism!
BBC News - Northern and Midlands trainee teachers 'told to change their accents' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-43667635
Hat-trick of Manc posters!
One poster good, three posters better, to paraphrase George Orwell. Paul and Jackie Lomas came to my stall at Altrincham Market over the weekend and bought three of my posters - the Mancunian Way, Stretford and Altrincham. Look pretty good, I think, as a nice little triptych. Next weekend it's Urmston and the Northern Quarter, and I'm back at Altrincham the following Sunday. Happy Easter (if such a thing is possible in this foul weather). Cheers - Eric www.statementartworks.com
Stretford, Altrincham and the Mancunian Way...a hat-trick of cheeky posters!
Get your skates on...down to Altrincham market!
Ayup, Easter greetings from Statement Artworks. We're at Altrincham market today (Friday), Saturday and Sunday, and at Knutsford on Sunday, and while it may be brass monkeys, you'll get a warm welcome from me and my wife Jane. As usual I'll have all the local stuff (Altrincham, Urmston, Timperley etc) for sale, as well as newbies Wythenshawe and the Manchester Manifesto. Oh, and I've got a new range of birthday cards featuring my Mancunian Way poster! Hopefully see you there - Eric
www.statementartworks.com
Skating, in late March...quite possibly!
Making Manchester even more magnificent
Here is my Manchester Manifesto, contained in my latest poster (see below). Forget the left, the right or the centre, if we followed this path, everything in the world (well, south of Preston and north of Macclesfield) would be just dandy. So stick that in your London-centric pipes, Corbyn and May, and smoke it. The Manchester Manifesto is on sale, along with my newly-adapted Mancunian Way birthday card (also below), at Altrincham Market on Friday, Saturday and Sunday over Easter, and at Knutsford Market on Sunday. See you there.
EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION
Birmingham, England’s second city? You’ve got to be joking.
SCRAP HS2!
Half an hour off the train journey to London – who cares?
ZERO TOLERANCE!
Of lazy London-centric media folk who use ‘grim’ or ‘oop’ whenever they refer to the north.
LET US EAT CAKE!
Eccles or Chorley ones, please.
CROWN A MANC MONARCH!
It’s either King Colin of Bell or King Eric of Cantona.
ALL STAND FOR THE MANC ANTHEM!
Station Approach by Elbow, an ode to Piccadilly, the gateway to the best city in the world.
BUILD A WALL!
Those Yorkshire folk have got to be stopped migrating over the Pennines to civilisation somehow.
BETTER DEAD THAN RED!
No child shall be encouraged to support Liverpool. Ever! Same goes for Leeds United and Chelsea.
A NEW BANK HOLIDAY!
In honour of Tony Wilson, our late spiritual leader.
SELF-RULE FOR CHORLTON
Recognise the right of the trendy enclave to operate entirely according to its own liberal, yoghurt-knitting, vegan agenda. Build its new parliament as an extension to the Unicorn co-operative vegan superstore.
STRONG AND STABLE
Old Toms all round, on prescription! The beer, one of Greater Manchester’s strongest and produced by Robinsons Brewery, is laughing juice and after two you’re barely stable. So lovely though.
RISE UP, MANCUNIANS AND PARTY!
Nothing new there, but let’s not do any more of that 24-hour stuff.
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!
Let’s call a truce with our nice Scouse neighbours over in Liverpool. Don’t like that idea? Well just calm down, calm down.
There's the left, the right or the centre. Then there's bang on!
Happy birthday, Mancunian Way style
Mancunian Way birthday card
Coming soon - the Mancunian Way birthday card!
Mancunian Way birthday card
Manchester manifesto, by Eric Jackson, Statement Artworks
I got really angry with a feature in the Daily Mail recently about the Labour Party and the North. It used a picture of mills and chimneys belching smoke, probably taken 70 years ago. Anyway, that, and other similar southern-centric rubbish that depicts northerners as backwards cloggies living in squalor has inspired me to do my latest poster, the Manchester manifesto.
Manchester manifesto