I Love this City | Collection

My new project I Love this City | Collection which celebrates individual cities across the globe will launch on 6th June at the iconic The Strawberry, Newcastle.  The collection features my city-inspired Biro drawings and includes a range of high quality eco-friendly t-shirts, posters and limited edition prints.  Ceramic designs will join the collection in the not too distant future.  Products from the collection will be available to purchase from my online store soon.

Kick-starting the project in my adopted backyard of North East England, I have produced original drawings which celebrate the cities of Newcastle and Sunderland. Sourcing some of the best manufacturers and artisans in the UK to make the products, luxurious 100% organic brushed cotton t-shirts, ethically sourced, digitally printed using eco-friendly inks are available in men’s, women’s and children's fits.  Posters are printed on 200gsm satin paper and limited edition prints are crafted by one of the best print makers in the UK.

Newcastle 2018 original Biro drawing

Every city I visit, no matter how small or big has beauty, accomplishment and always spirit in abundance. I extract personal and empathetic perspectives from my city experiences, which are inclusive of both citizens and visitors, and aim to create artworks that represent each city's individual spirit.

Newcastle Women's Organic Cotton t-shirt

City drawings are inspired by heraldic coats of arms and woven with imagery depicting treasured landmarks, references to football or sports clubs where appropriate, associated animal mascots, as well as references to heritage industries and exciting facts I uncover. Making each artwork involves weeks of research and several months to create each drawing. Using Biro as a medium is painstaking as there is little room for error! 

Staying true to my art practice which explores loss generated by human destruction, I Love this City | Collection also communicates, through the inclusion of animal imagery, that humanity is entwined with the animal kingdom. With the growing global realisation that we need our wildlife, I hope this project will also raise environmental awareness at a local and global level.

Sunderland 2018 original red Bic Biro drawing

PROJECT INSPIRATION

Being dual hearted, I'm both a townie and a country girl with an appreciation for metropoles and wildernesses! Having lived in and explored many cities taking in the good, the bad and the awe-inspiring, I forever find myself throwing back my arms in my mind (or in an empty street - I'm shy!) and saying "I love this city!". I got a job in London several years back as a Guard / Emergency Tube Driver to fund my art practice. More specifically, I chose to be a tube driver because I wanted to experience being at the beating heart of London. In my mind London is an entity. I saw life at its best and at its most desperate. I was in awe of London, its history, its community, its beauty and its innovation and I was proud to be a small cog in its wheel. Likewise with great pride I love my hometown Edinburgh, my new home city, Newcastle and the North East.  

Sunderland Men's organic cotton t-shirt 

There's so much more I want to achieve with this project.  By producing city artworks that celebrate the positive achievements of civilisation, as well as highlighting the importance of the environment, I aim to support environmental organisations associated with each city, region or country through online limited edition print sales, as well as taking this project to schools in my local area.

The Wolf Conservation Center NY 2018

THE COLLECTION

Newcastle and Sunderland t-shirts, posters and limited edition prints will be in store soon and are also available for retail. Travel plans are afoot to make artwork for the next city that will join the collection, so watch this space. With so much to celebrate in any city, no city is exempt. 

I LOVE THIS CITY | COLLECTION launch night at The Strawberry, 7-8 Strawberry Place, Newcastle upon Tyne on 6th June from 6.30pm onwards, is an open event.  Check out the event at facebook.com/JaneLeeMcCracken

For more information about the event or for retail orders please contact jane@janeleemccracken.co.uk