Lord Whitney

Some things that have made us happy this week:

2012-01-13T15:19:00.002Z

We can not wait for this!!!

Pretty much the best Star Wars costumes ever.

No Borders Mag...

2012-01-12T11:08:00.000Z

Happy New Year! We are back after a lovely break and what better way to start the year than this lovely feature about us in No Borders Magazine which you can now download for your ipad.

We have big plans for 2012, world domination being top of our list so watch this space...

Lord Whitney's Antarctic Expedition...

2011-12-22T16:50:00.000Z

Seasons Greetings from Lord Whitney

Fimbulvinter...

2011-12-20T17:05:00.001Z

A few photos from our stage design at the recent Fimbulvinter exhibition with The Dead Sea Mob.

Fimbulvinter...

2011-12-05T20:18:00.000Z

This winter we are setting sail with the Dead Sea Mob to bring you Fimbulvinter... the winter to end all winters. We will be adding our own little winter magic to the event which promises to be an awesome night.

'An evening of live art and stunning creation with The Dead Sea Mob and friends Eight Bit, Guy McKinley, Michael Shantz & Mr Gauky. This is our last show of the year and one last chance to light it up- so we've pulled out all the stops and called them in from all corners. Parliament of Feathers will be along to do what they do best and they'll be making prints on the night and our friends at Dirtyface will capturing the magic for all to see...
So Manchester, mark December 15th on your calendars and get yourselves down the Night & Day Cafe for pressies, prizes, exclusive merch and anything else we can think to throw atcha, check the Facebook event to let us know you're coming'

We hope to see you there!

No Culture Icons Film Lab...

2011-12-04T20:35:00.000Z

What can we say, we love working with film so what better news than to hear about No Culture Icons new film lab, if ever we needed an excuse to use more then this is just it!

They are currently running a competition to win a months free processing so quick get those films in the deadline is Jan 31st 2012-

'No Culture Icons are passionate about film based photography, by maintaining and expanding its fellowship. We are interested in supporting and introducing film enthusiasts. This competition is designed to support this ethos. By using our service, you have the option to select whether or not to enter the competition. When you use our service and receive your film back, the shots on that roll are entitled to be entered into the competition.'

See more information on the film service here or join the facebook group for more news.

Christmas is Coming.....

2011-12-02T20:52:00.000Z

This week we went on a epic adventure to shoot our annual Christmas card, we will say no more at the moment... but watch this space!

Duke Fever...

2011-11-09T22:54:00.000Z

A more noble look we are currently trying out!

Today we spent the day prancing round as a pair of French Dukes for an ongoing project with the rather fabulous Duke Studios in Leeds. Currently the founders of Duke are working their noble socks off to transform the first floor of Munro House in Leeds into a multi use creative space with mother frickin'lasers and everything... and we are doing what we do best and prancing about in costumes!

As part of this transformation we will be collaborating with the talents that are Laura Wellington & James Abbott Donnelly to style their very aptly named meeting room 'The Not Bored Room'. We will be creating a vision of wonder and curiosity alongside creating a full lineage of previous Duke owners charting their desmise and squandered millions along the way. All will be unveiled at their grand opening so sign up to their newsletter for more details at www.duke-studios.com.

Alice in Wonderland...

2011-11-09T22:31:00.000Z

Last weekend we created a Mad Hatters Tea Party to celebrate the opening of Alice in Wonderland exhibition at the Tate Liverpool. Our set was brought to life by the fabulous Curious Company and many tiny Alice's. The exhibition runs until 29th January at TATE Liverpool and is well worth a look with some fascinating photography and illustrations alongside more recent influences in contemporary art, we highly recommend a visit.

Nutcrack Night....

2011-11-08T20:41:00.000Z

Over Halloween weekend we spent our time creating a haunting atmosphere for Nut Crack Night a new arts event offering an antidote to the over commercialized ghoulfest that Halloween has become. Set in the stunning Astley Hall in Chorley the event offered a slice of the magical and macabre with an evening of theatrical performance, wild dancing, light spectaculars and masked mayhem.

See more images of the event on our Facebook Page

Down the Rabbit Hole...

2011-11-07T20:27:00.002Z

Image by Gerogia Naish

Last week we spent a day in Wonderland with the GCSE art students of Sandbach School. As part of a photography project exploring art direction and staged photography we spent a day with the students helping them find their surreal side and take a tumble down the rabbit hole! Here are a few of the results....

Tea Party at the Tate....

2011-11-03T22:30:00.002Z

This Saturday we are exremely excited to be creating a weird and wonderful Mad Hatters Tea Party at the Tate in Liverpool to celebrate the opening of the Alice in Wonderland Exhibition. The event will be brought to life by the fabulous Curious Company so come and speak to the caterpillars and play croquet with the queen!

'Alice in Wonderland will offer visitors a rare opportunity to view Carroll’s own drawings and photographs, alongside Victorian Alice memorabilia and John Tenniel’s preliminary drawings for the first edition of the novel.

Carroll’s stories were soon adopted by other artists. Surrealist artists from the 1930s onwards were drawn towards the fantastical world of Wonderland where natural laws were suspended. From the 1960s through the 1970s, Carroll’s Alice tales also prompted conceptual artists to explore language and its relationship to perception, and the stories inspired further responses in Pop and Psychedelic art. Expect to see works by artists ranging from Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, to Peter Blake and Yayoi Kusama.

Alice in Wonderland will also showcase an exciting selection of contemporary art, demonstrating the continuing artistic relevance of Carroll’s novels. Works by Anna Gaskell, Annelies Strba and Torsten Lauschmann will all appear, exploring ideas such as the journey from childhood to adulthood; language, meaning and nonsense; scale and perspective; and perception and reality.'

For more information please see http://www.tate.org.uk/families/liverpool/24895.htm

Spirit of the Animal....

2011-09-28T21:14:00.000+01:00

Inspired by the fantastic guys over at Spirit of the Animal we recently got in touch with our inner animal and with the help of a few miscellaneous objects brought them to life. No objects were harmed in the making of these animals.

Our Adventure in the Big Smoke...

2011-09-24T09:00:00.020+01:00

So last week we went on a mini adventure to see beautiful things in London town. We traveled south armed with several cheese and tomato sarnies, pork pies and donuts to have a ganders at some of the lovely sights the city had to offer.

Here are a few things we got up to and saw... The Museum of Everything in Selfridges, giant plant pots, Peter Blakes shell animals collection, lunch in Parliament courtesy of my super brother, Dennis Pennis, a gorilla made of coat hangers, got to use a secret passage, incredible stage costumes at the V&A, our lovely and very talented friend Sarah Parker, an incredible lightbulb shop, a mini bar and free slippers!

Just So Festival 2011

2011-09-06T23:02:00.000+01:00

Finally we have finished editing our photos from the wonderful Just So Festival that happened at the end of last month, here are a few of our favs to look through. To see everything we got up to and created at the festival have a ganders at our facebook page.

Now to finish unpacking and tidy our studio!!!

The Magical Just So Festival...

2011-09-06T13:09:00.001+01:00

So after a period of sleep, washing clothes and seeing friends and family we are back!

We've almost finished sorting through our many photos of Just So Festival and will be sharing them with you very shortly. We were at the beautiful Barnswood site in Staffordshire (where Just So was held) for just over a week art directing and dressing the area. It was a fantastic week and we really couldn't have done it without the help of our amazing Lord Whitney Art Mob, so a massive thank you to Adam (aka the Splighder), Jenny and Joe who were all absolutely incredible and remained so positive and creative throughout. They didn't even complain once at having to blow up 20 3ft balloons, Go team!

A lesson in packing...

2011-08-24T21:51:00.000+01:00

Whoa, we are back from a fabulous if what tiring week on site at Just So festival, we have never seen so many happy little faces in our life which makes it more than worthwhile! We had a few adventures packing vans and buggys in our traditionally shambolic Lord Whitney way and will be posting a lot more pictures soon after a well earned day off!

Giant Pencils & Tiny Houses...

2011-08-09T00:03:00.000+01:00

Wow, our studio seems incredibly full at the moment! We have been busy creating more weird and wonderful things for Just So Festival. This week we have the pleasure of working with some extremely talented folk, Hayley Smith, Simon Cheadle , Adam Bligh, Lauren Whiles-Shortall & Sarah Stapleton... we salute you!

Lord Whitney's Players with House of Fairytales....

2011-08-06T13:51:00.002+01:00

Last weekend we got lost in a field of fairytales, and what a weekend it was! Lord Whitney became part of the House of Fairytales Medieval world at Camp Bestival. We always love working with these wonderful folk and this year was the best yet, with magical caravans, victorian coconut shys and mountains of clay the House of Fairytales looked truly stunning and from the excited faces running around we think the kids liked it too!

We'd like to say a massive thankyou to team LW this year, Janita Aro, Mari Salmela & Jo Vallis, we could not have done it without you!!! Roll on next year...

See more photos on our facebook page

Just So....

2011-07-21T21:56:00.001+01:00

We have been busy in the studio recently creating many weird and wonderful things for Just So Festival which we are art directing this year. This week we have been lucky to have working with us the fabulous Anna & Mariel from Sacred Geometry who created magical cakes for an Alice in Wonderland inspired Tea Party. We have also been working with the very talented Sarah Stapleton, 1/3 of OWT Creative .Sarah has been building a very big surprise for the festival!

Lets Fly Away... or not!

2011-07-21T21:27:00.000+01:00

What better way to spend a Sunday than by watching amateur pilots throw themselves of a 6 meter platform into a lake! This weekend we were lucky enough to receive tickets to the Red Bull Flugtag event in Leeds. We were truly fascinated by the variety and creativity of the homemade flying machines and are seriously thinking about entering the next one! Lets hope this eccentric event comes back to Leeds in the future.

Red Bull Flugtag....

2011-07-14T22:47:00.001+01:00

We have a mission to complete!

On Wednesday we received a very intriguing parcel, a giant box containing a missing explorers hat. The hat needs reuniting with The Kanabal Kapers Flying Team as part of the Red Bull Flugtag in Leeds and it is our mission to do so. We are excited to have the chance to witness the wacky, weird and wonderful in amateur aviation throw themselves into a lake, sounds right up our street!

Chemical Elements... OWT #7 Science

2011-07-04T13:50:00.001+01:00

One large metal bowl, five packets of balloons, two cardboard tubes, twenty silicone cupcake cases, three pipe insulating tubes, five polystyrene cups, one roll of tinfoil and a lot of cardboard and gaffa tape were involved in creating our most recent series of photographs based on the periodic table created for the cover of OWT Issue #7 'SCIENCE'.

OWT is a 56 page zine containing several hand-screened inner pages and cover as well as one of our three poster covers. If you would like to purchase a copy you can do so from the OWT shop. All money received goes towards the printing of future OWT zines.

Elements Photoshoot...

2011-07-03T13:58:00.000+01:00

A few photos from behind the scenes at our recent photoshoot for OWT zine. The theme of the issue was Science so we decided to bring a few of the chemical elements to life for this one! Inspired by Bauhuas Theatre costumes we created these costumes to portray the properties of each element.

Dusting off our paintbrushes...

2011-07-02T16:38:00.000+01:00

We have been busy over the past couple of weeks sawing, drilling, painting and building for the fabulous Just So Festival. This summer we will art directing the beautiful and wonderous site and will be adding our little magical touch to this already fabulous festival.

Running Away with the Circus...

2011-07-01T16:53:00.001+01:00

This summer we will be running away with the The Travelling Art Circus that is the House of Fairytales. We will be art directing Lord Whitney's Puppet Theatre at the fabulous Camp Bestival and hosting an array of weird and wonderful workshops.... more details to follow soon!

Studio Days...

2011-06-28T22:09:00.000+01:00

Loop de Loop...

2011-06-23T17:49:00.000+01:00

This weekend we were busy installing artwork (and dancing) at the fabulous Loop Arts Fair. It was great to meet a whole host of other illustrators in real life rather than in the online world of the internet!

A massive well done to the organisers Laura Wellington, Jay Cover & TestSpace whose blood sweat and tears brought this event to life. We look forward to Loop2!

Loop Arts Fair...

2011-06-14T22:08:00.000+01:00

We are really excited to be exhibiting some of our work this weekend as part of the launch of LOOP Arts Fair, curated by Jay Cover alongside the talented TestSpace and Laura Wellington.

For one weekend LOOP Arts Fair will be showcasing some of the most exciting and original applied artists, graphic designers and illustrators currently working in the UK. There will be talks by exciting illustrators and designers including James Jarvis, TOY, Lizzy Stewart, Drew Millward and many more, it is sure to be an inspiring and eventful weekend!

Loop Arts Fair June 17th,18th & 19th Marshalls Mill, Leeds.
www.looparts.co.uk

Supermarket Sarah presents Lord Whitney....

2011-06-13T18:17:00.000+01:00

We have just created an online wall for the fabulous Supermarket Sarah where you can buy some of our props and oddities!

Sarah's "walls" started in her living room but have now spread into public spaces; galleries, shop fronts and bars and we are over the moon to be involved. Sarah also curates a live wall in Selfridges London on the ground floor selling an array of artists and designers work so if you're in London pop in and say hi!

The Magical Leeds Library...

2011-06-13T17:00:00.000+01:00

Today we were invited to visit a very magical world, the world of The Leeds Library, and it truly was the most enchanting and wonderful place Lord Whitney has been in recent adventures. The Library is tucked away just off Commercial Street in the bustling center of Leeds and houses a whole array of curious books and treasures. The building has an enthralling atmosphere of scholars and writers of days gone by and is an inspirational place to be.

We are very excited to have discovered this hidden gem in the heart of Leeds and look forward to working with the team there to make the most of this magical building and its incredible contents!

Supermarket Sarah & Tiny Elephants....

2011-06-03T21:31:00.000+01:00

This week we have been busy creating our wall for the fantastic Supermarket Sarah which will be online in the next week!

We have also aquired a new studio assistant, meet Leroy.... he is in charge of making the teas!

'Humbola' The Illustrated Tombola of Humanity...

2011-06-03T21:24:00.001+01:00

Here are a few photos of the recent Humbola exhibition at TestSpace in Leeds curated by the wonderful Hannah Jones. It was great to be exhibiting alongside such fabulous illustrators, some that we know and some who were new to us, the variety of work was excellent!

The photos above show the work of Becky Bruton, Hayley Wall, Drew Millward & Maisie Violet Rees.

From the Studio of Lord Whitney...

2011-06-03T10:50:00.000+01:00

A series of studio portraits inspired by the traditional carte de visite. We just want to say a massive thank you to our gracious subjects Drew Millward, Tommy Davidson, Lins Wilson and Tom Hudson. Keep your eyes peeled for the next installment....

Humbola Shoot...

2011-05-18T23:03:00.002+01:00

Well, we have been busy beavering away in the studio this week producing some new work for the upcoming Humbola exhibition. As the theme of the exhibition is human portraiture we thought it only fitting to exploit some of our nearest and dearest. Armed with a medium format camera, a black and white film, one MASSIVE light and some cardboard we took about creating some truly low tech portraiture! We look forward to showing you the results.

Humbola – The Illustrated Tombola of Humanity - Test Space Leeds

27th May- 2nd June
Opening night May 27th 6pm 'til late

Collecting Treasures...

2011-05-18T22:53:00.000+01:00

We spent most of last week making and collecting many treasures for an event styling job. Our favourite past time is finding junk and imagining living in a world of Chesterfields, so this job was pretty suiting!

'Humbola' The Illustrated Tombola of Humanity...

2011-05-16T23:29:00.000+01:00

We will be exhibiting work as part of the upcoming Humbola at Test Space in Leeds, 27th May- 2nd June. Opening night May 27th 6pm 'til late.

'Humbola is a celebration of the diverse culture in our world, an appreciation and exploration of human genres. It is a show off show, a chance to see a mass of talent in contemporary illustration and portraiture, as diverse as our culture.

Fridays opening show is a chance for people to come and feast their eyes, enjoy their evening and take something away if they get lucky, with a tombola of prizes up for grabs. Saturday will see the artists working in the space, and the public are invited so come and join in.'

Lord Whitney's Internship opportunity...

2011-05-03T15:49:00.001+01:00

This summer we have the opportunity to offer 3 work experience places starting from June. We are keen to offer an experience that is mutually beneficial, focusing on your development as an artist. The periods of time we are offering are negotiable and flexible.

If you are interested in working with us this summer please send through some examples of your work and a brief summary of what you would hope to gain from the experience.

The deadline for applications is Friday 20th May. Please email applications to interns@lordwhitney.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you.

CF Studio Launch 'The Blank Showcase'...

2011-04-28T13:01:00.002+01:00

Here are a few pictures from the launch of our new studio and the exhibition 'The Blank Showcase'.

We asked our guests to use their imagination and create or collect anything in response to the initials CF. During the evening the submissions were placed within the exhibition wall resulting in a spontaneous compendium of drawings, images, photographs and collected oddities! This was to be taken as seriously or as playfully as they liked. We wanted everyone who attended to be part of the exhibition and we had an amazing variety of submissions from a Carrot Fish to beautiful black and white print of a Collodian Flower, we were amazed by them all and would like to say a massive thanks to everyone who took part in the exhibition. To see all the submissions have a look at our album here.

For more information about the studio please visit http://cfstudios.co.uk/

Thanks to James Abbott - Donnelly for providing some of the photos of the night - http://www.jamesad.com/

Creating The Blank Showcase...

2011-04-28T12:42:00.000+01:00

Creating an exhibition without any work is a lot harder than it sounds!

CF Homonyms...

2011-04-26T16:08:00.000+01:00

'Homonym | Each of two words having the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spelling'

This was our submission for the 'The Blank Showcase' exhibition which was part of the CF Studios launch night. We had a great night and were amazed by everyones efforts.... more photos to follow!

'Crabby Fisherman'

'Compass Face'

CF Studio Launch...

2011-04-15T11:52:00.005+01:00

We are extremely proud to announce the launch of our new collaborative workspace CF studios. The studio is a collaborative project between us and designer Daniel Lancaster and together we aim for the studio to be an exciting space, somewhere people can come together to produce anything from an interactive event to a cardboard castle.

As part of the opening we will be curating an exhibition called The Blank Showcase. During the evening this will become a compendium of drawings, images, notes and collected oddities.To be part of this event we are asking guests to create or collect anything based around the initials CF. To read a little more about the studios and a little interview with ourselves check out The Culture Vulture Blog.

Come and play the game!

Date:Thursday 21st April
Time: 5-9pm

Please RSVP launch@cfstudios.co.uk to receive further details and a place on the guest list as places are limited.

Just So Festival...

2011-04-05T16:47:00.001+01:00

We're very excited to be art directing this fabulous little festival in a forest this summer!
Just So is the most fun we have ever seen children have, just like this little chap above, and this year we are planning to make it more magical than ever! Set in 65 acres of beautiful woodland in Staffordshire we plan to transform the site into a wonderland for all ages.

'The Just So Festival is a boutique, weekend-long festival of creativity aimed at children, young people and their families. The festival provides a magical experience where art, music and literature are embedded and entwined in a beautiful and wonderous landscape. We provide a broad range of musical, theatrical, visual and aural performances, workshops and installations within a safe, natural and magical setting. Every clearing and glade holds a new way to unleash creativity. Families discover and delight in the spectacular within the woodland environment during this spectacular weekend event'

For more information and tickets visit www.justsofestival.org.uk

Oh How Far We've Come...

2011-03-30T14:23:00.000+01:00

Welcome to CF Studios were we will now be working from. It's been a long old slog (as you can from the before and after pics) but we've finally got a studio to be proud of. We will be sharing the studio with designer Daniel Lancaster and will be having a little studio launch very shortly so keep your eyes peeled.

Lord Whitney get all 'Grand Designs'....

2011-03-29T16:56:00.000+01:00

Here's a few photos of what we've been up to so far. The studio's shaping up nicely thanks to some very generous friends and freecyclers, big thank you to everyone who has helped us so far!

Studio update...

2011-03-18T17:10:00.001Z

Here are a few more pics of our progress so far, just one more coat of floor paint and we're nearly there!

Let the cardboard creations commence forthwith!

Stu Stu Stu Studio...

2011-03-07T21:54:00.001Z

Well its been a very exciting few weeks here in LW HQ... we have some big news... we now have our very own beautiful studio!!!

Its in an old textile mill close to the city centre and was full of little treasures when we got the keys. We found five mirrors all ranging in size, many old poetry books, an amazing metal filing cabinet, a family of pigeons and a tiny bed!!!

Its in need of a good clean and sort out but we just love it and are already getting ourselves incredibly stuck in and grubby. We hope to have it all sorted within the next few weeks so everyone can come down for a good old nosey.

Here's some pics of hows its looking so far...

Over Them Hills...

2011-02-11T20:57:00.002Z

Here are a few images from the exhibition 'Over Them Hills' at the Common Bar in Manchester. The exhibition runs until the 12th May so pop down, you can see the work of Rabbit Portal (shown above), Kristyna Baczynski & The Pern, they serve pretty amazing lunches too!!!

The Common Bar Exhibition...

2011-02-04T11:16:00.000Z

It's been another busy week in Lord Whitney HQ. Here's a glimpse at the window installation we've been making for an exhibition at the Common Bar in Manchester entitled 'Over Them Hills'.

So far we've used 5 old books, 2 camping mats, 3 rolls of masking tape, a lot of cardboard and many cups of tea!

2011-01-28T20:15:00.001Z

We are currently beavering away updating our website and planning world domination as usual. We are feeling really positive about 2011 and have been steaming through exciting plans for the year so watch this space...

Today we took a welcome break from the glare of the laptop to create some typography Lord Whitney style.

Over Them Hills...

2011-01-28T19:55:00.002Z

We are currently creating a little piece of magic for a new exhibition opening at the Common bar in Manchester. Over Them Hills is an exhibition about a mythical and magical place called Yorkshire, where Dragons nest, monsters roar and giants roam. Featuring some of Leeds finest illustrators, designers and wizards. The beautiful poster was designed by the very talented Matt Saunders aka Rabbit Portal.

For more information on the illustrators involved click here...

‘Over Them Hills’ launches on Thursday 10th Feb / 6pm – 8pm

Free drinks and limited edition signed postcard to the first 100 people through the door / first come first served

2011 the tale so far...

2011-01-23T13:52:00.001Z

Well the new year has brought with it a hive of activity at Lord Whitney HQ. World domination continues, so does our love of trawling around scrap yards and charity shops. More excitingly a new quest has begun... to find a brand spanking, wonderfully magically new studio for us!

In the meantime Lord Whitney's been trying its hand at a spot of furniture restoration, world meet Johnson the foot stool! Oh and Audrey the cat.

We'll put another photo up next week of his full and glorious transformation!

We Wish You a Very Chirpy Christmas...

2010-12-20T10:15:00.000Z

We Wish You a Very Chirpy Christmas!

The year is almost over and what better way to celebrate than getting dressed up in a cushion and some cardboard!

Our little present for you...

2010-12-20T08:17:00.001Z

As Christmas is almost here we have a little present for you. Please click this link to download your very own Chirpy Little Robin.

Instructions:

Print the image onto heavyweight paper or card

Pierce the body and the wings on the white dots. Attach the wings to the body using the larger holes by tying string through and knotting.

Tie the wings together by threading another piece of string through the smaller holes and tying together, the string must be tight when the wings are down.

Attach a longer string to the string between the wings.

We hope you enjoy your new little friend! Merry Christmas from Lord Whitney

Christmas is Coming...

2010-12-13T14:30:00.000Z

Christmas is coming and we have just shot this years Christmas card, better late than never! If you want to make sure you are on the receiving end of our little festive creation just pop your email address below or say hello to us at hi@lordwhitney.co.uk

ENJOY Christmas Fair...

2010-12-13T14:18:00.000Z

Last weekend we had a little stall selling our wares at Enjoy art space in Leeds. All our limited edition books and screen printed posters are also available in our online shop! The last order date to receive before Christmas is Sunday 20th December.

Nation of Shopkeepers Window...

2010-12-07T22:55:00.001Z

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to the objects below

We have just finished our window installation at Nation of Shopkeepers in Leeds inspired by the line from the poem 'Twas The Night Before Christmas'. We hope it brings a little glow onto the cold winter street.

Installing a Wintery Window...

2010-12-07T00:03:00.001Z

We have almost finished installing our winter inspired window into the Window of Opportunities Gallery at Nation of Shopkeepers in Leeds. Here are a couple of sneaky pics of the installation so far...

A Lords Christmas Tree...

2010-12-06T10:00:00.000Z

Well, who would believe it, Lord Whitney have actually decorated Christmas Trees for a Lord!

Ta Dah! Our shop is now open...

2010-11-25T22:55:00.001Z

We have cut the red ribbon and our shiny new shop is now open! Here you can buy our limited edition books, screen printed posters and other delights. Lord Whitneys Shop.

Kill Lord Whitney...

2010-11-24T23:18:00.000Z

Our limited edition book and screen printed poster will be available to buy online tomorrow! Please contact us to reserve a copy hi@lordwhitney.co.uk.

Design and Art Direction by Daniel Lancaster

The Plot is Revealed....

2010-11-18T18:57:00.003Z

So now we know who did it!

Detective Kate Preece uncovered the dastardly plot, in a bitter twist Lobster Girl and Vladimir constructed the deadly plot as bitter revenge for the Lords tortuous treatment.... but the plot had an unexpected fatal end!

"Although she appears secret and serene on the surface, Lobster girl is harboring a dark secret, for it was she who tried to kill Lord Whitney. But she was not alone in her attempt.

Some fifteen years ago she met and fell in love with Vladimir, the only man to ever have accepted her. They had a child, or children Macha and Dacha, who due to their unusual genes, were born joined at the hip.

Lord Whitney did not prove of the relationship and wanting to take advantage of the twins and their potential for new paying ogglers, he cruelly separated the family and the twins never knew who their parents were.

As added vulgarity, he ordered Lobster girl to endless late night shows and he humiliated her by using her pincers as nutcrackers. The smell of Almonds would haunt her forever!

Vladamir and Lobster Girl, in a stolen moment, hatched their plan to poison Lord Whitney and flee with their twins to live the life they always dreamed of. In one last note to Lobster Girl they agreed to meet after the deed had been done, but Vladimir suspected the Lord had overheard their plan. And he had!

At the suspicious meeting Vladimir had asked 'to discuss pay' the Lord slyly swapped the two glasses set in front of them. He smelt the tell tale smell of Almond on the glass. The poison was odourless but the remnants of the nuts from Lobster Girls pincers was unmissable. So downing his drink the poison rushed into Vladimirs heart, beating with fear and anticipation, Lobster Girl had killed her one true love, and her cruel torturer lived to tell the tale..."

Signed Detective Kate Preece

A monumental thank you to all the amateur detectives that helped us solve this dastardly plot. We hope you all enjoyed the night we were truly astounded by all of your conspiracies and theories and enjoyed reading every one! Although we planned to reveal the winning plot on the night we had so many entries (some extended over 4 sheets of paper) that we thought it only fair to read each one carefully and considered.

Although there can be only one winning detective, it was such a close call between our three favourites we wanted to give them all a special mention...

A novel length plot of how the ringmaster whipped up all the freaks in his deathly plan...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, to the untrained eye this could be an open and shut case. The ribbon on the bottle clearly belongs to Cobra and the large jar left behind is the one she calls her home. But, the naturally gossipy (as their note about being overheard confessed) Macha and Dacha let slip one small detail while we were here. Cobra was Lord Whitneys mistress! Enraged by the favouritism and financial benefits she enjoyed in her privileged 'position' The Ringmaster whips the freaks into conspiring against them.

On the night of the full moon when Lord Whitneys ever loyal companion The Wolfman would be out hunting the dainty footed Borris stealthily stole Rodney Arthurs cymbal to distract him, knowing he was the only one perceptive enough to see through their plan. Boris Hides the cymbal in Tramps quarters knowing him to be oblivious in his depressed paralysis. Using a distillation of the almond oil Big Bertha used to soften her beard a deadly poison was collected in a bottler tied with a red ribbon Lobster Girl deftly snipped off Cobras sleeping wrist. Using his command over electricity Larry knocks out the lights surrounding Whitneys trailer and under the cover of darkness Eric sneaks the pickle jar and poison into the trailer under his oversized headwear. He lifts the minuscule Derek into the Liquor shelf where his dextrous fingers work the stopper from Whitneys favourite brandy where he applies the deadly concoction.

The Ringmasters deadly plan would have gone off without a hitch, Whitney dead and Cobra framed, had it not been for one flaw in their plan. Vladimir, know to enjoy a tipple since his days in the Gulag where he was rescued by Whitney from a Soviet labour camp, stopped by the trailer for a nightjar. Little did he know only minutes before Dereks tiny fingers were working the deadly poison into the liquor. Any mere mortal would have seen their life instantly extinguished by the elixir but Vladimir was more than a man and his extraordinary physiology was able to survive the deadly dose. and thus Ladies and Gentlemen began the unravelling of a freakish plot on the enigmatic Lord and Master of the creatures you see before you."

Signed Detective Monsieur Oliver Nelson and his Sidekick

A concise plot of how the Eric attempted murder due to his raging jealousy....

'I have deducted that Eric was in fact guilty of attempted murder most horrid!

Driven by jealousy over little Derek's success on stage and with the ladies, he plotted to capture his vertically challenged companion in a large jar then drown him in poisoned Cognac!

However, Rodney Arthur found out and ran to warn someone but tripped over Tramp the Clown, hitting his head and forgetting the whole affair!

Lord Whitney was not the intended target.'

Signed Detective Johnathan Gallagher

An Evening of Murder, Mystery and Merriment...

2010-11-12T17:40:00.006Z

Lord Whitney cordially invite you to an evening of Murder, Mystery and Merriment...

Please join us from 7pm onwards at the Victoria Hotel in Leeds. The evening will commence with a photographic exhibition of 'Lord Whitney's Curious Circus Sideshow' and the book launch of 'The Plot to Kill Lord Whitney'.

Also we invite you, the guests to become detectives for the night, speculating and disentangling the mystery of who tried to kill The Lord. After you have gathered your clues and come to a decision, we request you to divulge your theories to us. Upon the hour of nine o'clock we shall reveal the detective who has fathomed the most creative but yet believable murder plot theory and award them with a special prize.

So our question to you….. is who did it?

For further information or to RSVP please email hi@lordwhitney.co.uk
Location : Victoria Hotel, 28 Great George Street, Leeds - Map

Young Illustrators Awards 2010

2010-11-11T16:53:00.003Z

A few more photos from the Swatch Young Illustrators Awards held at the Direktorenhaus in Berlin.

It was a fabulous night, we met a lot of great people, saw a lot of amazing illustration and definitely drank a lot of wine! As you can see from the last photo even Lord Whitney himself graced the occasion with his presence.

Images shown include work from:
Husmann/Tschaeni
Apfel Zet
Hans Van Bentem

Young Illustrator's Award 2010

2010-11-08T23:03:00.001Z

What a weekend in Berlin! We had an amazing time at the Young Illustrators Awards and were honoured to have been nominated and able to attend such a great event. We just want to say thanks to everyone who has been so kind and supported us on our Lord Whitney journey so far, we're sure there are many more adventures to come!

Our other adventures in Berlin included, watching a dancer in a mirror ball catsuit, meeting the best German Yorkshire man in the world, visiting a grumpy polar bear, going to an underground party, forgetting our hotel room number, listening to a lot of 80's electro, eating too many Burger Kings and flyering the Hoff.

We will have all our photo's up here very soon... but now time to sleep!

Travel Tavern Terror...

2010-11-08T20:14:00.000Z

Too many hours in a Travelodge, at least we kept ourselves entertained!

Berlin Beckons...

2010-11-03T21:09:00.000Z

So, the suitcase is almost packed and our adventure is nearly upon us. Lets hope everything gets there in one piece... wish us luck!

Kill Lord Whitney...

2010-11-03T18:19:00.001Z

Lord Whitney cordially invites you to an evening of Murder, Mystery and Merriment.

Please join us on the 17th November from 6.30pm onwards at the Victoria Hotel in Leeds. More information to follow! Please RSVP to hi@lordwhitney.co.uk

Getting our hands dirty...

2010-11-03T16:22:00.003Z

This week we have been getting messy screen printing and loving every minute! We are printing posters for our upcoming exhibition designed as part of the project by the very talented Mr Daniel Lancaster - www.daniellancaster.co.uk

Young Illustrators Award 2010

2010-10-27T19:35:00.000+01:00

We have been nominated for the 2010 Young Illustrators Award.

'The Swatch Young Illustrators Award, the world’s most important prize for contemporary illustration, will be awarded on November 5th at Direktorenhaus, Berlin. The nominees and the guests from the international creative industries are being welcomed with a grand gala dinner. The jury, consisting of renowned publicists and art experts, will present prizes to the winners in the categories of illustration, animation and book art.

This unique event, initiated by Illustrative, invites exchange between artists, art directors, journalists and creatives allowing discussion and celebration of illustration in its widest sense. The night includes performances, the new exhibition and of course further surpri- ses that culminate in an afterparty. It promises to be a glittering night for the international illustration community. The Direktorenhaus, developed by Illustrative’s initiators Pascal Johanssen and Katja Kleiss as a space for contemporary applied arts and experimental design in Berlin, serves as the perfect setting.

The Illustrators Night is an alluring foretaste of what’s to come at Illustrative, the biggest festival for contemporary illustration and graphic arts, which will take place for the sixth time in May 2010, in Berlin.'

http://www.illustrative.de/?id=1512

Shocked, overwhelmed & honoured to be involved we will be exhibiting our work alongside some of the best up and coming illustrators in Europe. As soon as we work out how on earth to pack a giant sea creature into a suitcase we're off to Berlin! This is sure to be an adventure.

The Noble Lord Whitney

2010-10-12T19:28:00.000+01:00

With limited time, but a plethora of 'stuff', Noble Lord Whitney combined their madcap skills and took a series of portraits of each other. The images reflect what we can often come across in everyday life-how often has a cloud looked like a face? a puddle has formed to look like an animal? The images are a starting point for more fun collaborations.

Check out the fabulous work of the lovely Miss Noble here http://www.getawaysticks.blogspot.com/

The Toy Shop...

2010-10-03T10:09:00.004+01:00

'The Toy Shop'

Here are a few images of the exhibition in Manchester featuring the work of some great new illustrators. The exhibition is taking place at Manchester's Art Corner's gallery as part of the Free For Arts Festival. For more information please visit the Toy Shop blog.

Elroy The Elephant

2010-10-01T10:09:00.000+01:00

Meet Elroy. Our new little creation which will be exhibited in 'The Toy Shop' exhibition opening tonight in Manchester. The exhibition will run until Friday 7th October so come down and meet Elroy for real!

4 bags of newspaper, 15 rolls of masking tape, 1 bag of flour, 2 cabinet handles, 2 coathangers, some old red velvet, a desk top, 4 cotton reels and 2 pots of varnish are just some of the things that helped us to complete our little creation.

Here are a few pictures assembling him for the exhibition and a few insights into his creation.

Our new toy...

2010-09-20T11:43:00.000+01:00

A few of our friends photographed on our new passport polaroid camera, our favourtie new toy!

The Toy Shop...

2010-09-14T19:42:00.000+01:00

We are very excited to be taking part in The Toy Shop exhibition in Manchester. Currently we are up to our eyeballs in cardboard and newspaper creating something magical for the exhibition. The miniature toy shop is the promotional material for the show created by Laura Gee and we think it is bloody lovely!

"The Toy Shop is an exhibition opening October 2nd, as part of Free For Arts Festival in Manchester. The Art Corner's gallery space will be transformed into an amazing toy shop, showing a variety of toys, prints, objects,2d,3d illustrations, props, paper installation, created by some very talented illustrators and imagemakers" http://toyshop-exhibition.blogspot.com/

For more information or to be involved please contact laura.gee@live.com

Just So Festival...

2010-09-02T14:41:00.000+01:00

A few moments from the magical Just So Festival... a marvelous muddy time had. We want to say a big thank you to the illustrator Jo Payne for creating the wonderful characters on our signs, you can see more of her lovely work here - josephinepayne.tumblr.com/

Living in a Fairy Tale...

2010-08-11T12:37:00.000+01:00

We have now returned from our fabulous adventures with The House of Fairy Tales. We had an amazing time and met some fabulous people along the way. We have almost recovered and will be posting our images from Port Eliot and Camp Bestival soon. Here is a sneek peek of our adventures...

Craftsville...

2010-07-18T21:31:00.000+01:00

Our lovely friends over at Craftsville have featured us on their new fantastic website which is 'dedicated to showcasing and celebrating high quality yet quirky independent art, craft, design and creativity in the UK and beyond.' We are very honoured Ladies! http://craftsville.co.uk/

I Love West Leeds Art Festival...

2010-07-17T22:38:00.000+01:00

Lord Whitney's Petit Puppet Theatre made its debut in a small shed at West Leeds Art Festival today as part of the Shedopolis project. We hope all our puppets enjoyed it as much as we did.

Glastonbury with HOFT...

2010-07-05T19:21:00.002+01:00

So we have returned from Glastonbury, and what an amazing time we had chaps! I was a Glasto virgin so had no idea what to expect and well... it definitely proved itself to be one INCREDIBLE festival. We were very lucky to be working with the wonderful, talented, magical House Of Fairy Tales who were just brilliant and love, believe and feel passionate about everything we do. We spent the 4 days making animal masks and models with adults, children and families. Whilst HOFT camp entertained in many other magical ways. Dr Who even stopped by to see what was going on...

Big thanks to HOFT and to our wonderful, creative amazing pal Shell who helped us soooooooo much!

Check us out doing more workshops at Port Elliott and Camp Bestival this month! Wooooo haaaa!!!

Glastonbury 2010

2010-06-16T23:13:00.002+01:00

We are pleased to announce we will be joing the House of Fairy Tales on their magical adventures at Glastonbury 23rd to 27th June! If you are there come and say hello and witness Glastonbury from a child's perspective!

Inky Fingers

2010-06-16T22:47:00.001+01:00

Today we have been screenprinting at the fabulous Factory4 in Leeds. Here is a little peak at some tests we have been printing for posters for our upcoming exhibition.

BREAKING NEWS...

2010-05-14T13:18:00.004+01:00

Good day chaps and chapesses, we have some exciting news, Lord Whitney has been confirmed to work with the
amazing House of FairyTales this summer at Port Eliot Festival
and Camp Bestival!!! Yipeee do dar day!

If you go down to the woods today...

2010-05-05T21:07:00.007+01:00

You'll see Lord Whitney and students from Leeds Met Graphics course trying to put a 5ft cat
into a tree and many other oddities...

Mad Hatter and March Hare...

2010-04-25T19:17:00.001+01:00

Us missing out on the chance to get dressed up...NEVER

Dr Sketchy's In Wonderland...

2010-04-25T19:13:00.002+01:00

Wow after many weeks of planning and creating Lord Whitney last night completed a HUGE set for Dr Sketchy's at the Faversham. With help from Leeds Mets Graphic Art and Design students we turned the club into a Wonderland of Alice characters and weird and wacky installations and interactions. We had such a great time, it was ace working with such a talented bunch of people...we smell Lord Whitney collaborations!

Thanks to everyone involved we had a blast!

The Curiosities of Lord Whitneys Cabinet...

2010-04-08T23:32:00.001+01:00

Please see our Flickr account for the rest of the series of Lord Whitneys Cabinet of Curiosities...

Cabinet of Curiosities...

2010-04-08T22:34:00.002+01:00

We had a marvelous time photographing the many weird and wondrous curiosities that appeared in our magical cabinet at the Artsmix Awards last week. A big thank you to everyone who took part, we are currently editing the photos and we will post them up here as soon as they are finished so watch this space...

Cabinet of Curiosities...

2010-03-31T11:35:00.001+01:00

Lord Whitney has been beavering away recently making a magical cabinet of curiosities for the Artsmix Emerging Artists Awards ceremony will taking place TONIGHT!!! At The Loft, Leeds, 6-9pm. People will have the chance to become attractions in our minature cupboard sideshow so come down and get involved to RSVP click here!

Survive Exhibition

2010-03-13T23:00:00.000Z

Opening night of 'Survive' exhibition at Leeds Metropolitan University.

The Good Ship Endeavour....

2010-03-12T20:07:00.004Z

We have recently been exhibiting our work as part of the 'Survive' exhibition at Leeds Metropolitan University. The exhibition runs at until the 31st March and features work by some highly established illustrators and we are very proud to have been included. Here is our biography as included in the exhibition...

"Welcome to the curious, make believe world of Lord Whitney...

In a time before the lamps were lit in the land of the shire of York two strangers in search of the magical world of crafts and learning met in the hamlet of Leeds. There, in an old ruined tower which had once belonged to Lord Polytechnic they found themselves casting spells. Soon the magical world of Lord Whitney came into being. Years later, and now outside the tower, they discovered that wizards had stolen all the creative employments… and so the curious world of Lord Whitney took shape.

Creating life sized illustrations with everyday objects and a little imagination, the duchesses of all things make believe aim to create artwork that would inspire imagination in all. With A belief that their fellow Loiners and beyond should have some fun and be inspired!

With a playful approach to their work and just the right amount of eccentricity their illustrations have now begun to step off the paper and come alive… "

The Making Of...

2010-03-12T17:00:00.001Z

SURVIVE

2010-03-04T17:07:00.008Z

We have been asked to participate in 'Survive' an exhibition featuring work by Leeds Met Graphic Arts & Design alumni. The Exhibition is in conjunction with the Association Of Illustrators. We are delighted to be involved in the exhibition and have created a piece of new work based around the theme of survival. The exhibition will be open to the public so pop down and have a look at some great new work.

12th - 31st March 2010
11th March 5.30pm [Private View]

Leeds Metropolitan University

Broadcasting Place,

Woodhouse Lane,

Leeds. LS2 9EN

Participants include:
Rob Barber, Dwayne Bell, Jon Boam, Anthony Burrill, dust, Chris Garbutt, Dominique Golden, Jo Hassall, Matt Herring, Tez Humphreys, Matt Johnson, Andrew Kulman, Joel Lardner, Lord Whitney, Mick Marston, Russ Mills, Dave Needham, Martin O'Neil, Jon Owen, Matt Pattinson, Jackie Parsons, Anna Peaker, Mandy Sutcliffe, Tado, Andrew Wheatley, Alex Williamson, Joe Wilson, Oscar Wilson.

Survive poster design by Port + Starboard (click the image for a larger version)

Business cards for business people...

2010-02-21T18:29:00.000Z

Some lovely new screenprinted stationary for us designed by our good friend Dan Lancaster. The cards are printed on a range of materials our personal favourites are on the most magical material of all time the one and only corrugated cardboard!

Lord Whitney's been busy...

2010-02-21T16:46:00.001Z

As you can see we have been busy creating again, we don't want to give too much away just yet but will have the finished images soon!

8 Sleeping Bags, 40 Polystyrene Bowls, 2 Large Curtains, 1 Push Light, 2 Glass Bowls, 1 Fake Lobster, 4 Pints of Diet Coke, 15 Sheets of Cardboard, 3 Cadburys Creme Eggs, 1 Packet of Jaffa Cakes and 1 Heavy Duty Roll of Gaffa Tape helped us to complete our little creation!

We are busy at the moment and have lots of exciting things in the pipeline so don't worry we have not given up our plans for world domination just yet.

Big thankyous to everyone who helped us with our shoot and a massive thank you to our good friend and talented photographer Bart Pettman for staring in our photos (who we also spent a small amount of time throwing a fake lobster at! Jolly good sport!)

The Wolfman...

2010-02-18T14:45:00.000Z

In 2008 me and some pals worked set dressing for this spooky horror film www.thewolfmanmovie.com. Ched it out in cinema's now...

'Come on Talbot show us your wounds!'

Aaaaaarrrrroooooooooooooooooo!!!

Creative Boom...

2010-02-02T17:22:00.001Z

Creative Boom Leeds have run a lovely little feature on us check it out here!!!

Pulled Apart By Horses...

2010-01-26T10:48:00.001Z

We recently had lots of fun den building for a photoshoot with Pulled Apart By Horses. Here are a few of the finshed photos.

These Monsters... Call Me Dragon

2010-01-26T10:42:00.000Z

A few stills that we took on the shoot for Call Me Dragon by These Monsters

These Monsters 'Call Me Dragon' Video...

2010-01-19T12:29:00.001Z

Good morning fine chaps and chapesses, LW is very excited today as the video for These Monsters eagerly awaited first single 'call me dragon' is out!!!

We worked on this video with these lovely chaps last Autumn in bootiful Derbyshire. The shoot lasted two days and we got to work with some awesome people. We filmed in some pretty freaky places too, one being an old derelict cottage that use to belong to two hunch-back brothers...cripes!!!

Have a ganders, we LOVE it!...