Reversing the Spectator – Alban Low, Kevin Acott and Bill Mudge

Alban Low, Bill Mudge and Kevin Acott spent a week together in the South Of France during the June heatwave of 2017. They didn’t have a plan about what they wanted to do, what they might create together. Alban slowly filled his sketchbook with vignettes of village life. Bill, suffering under the relentless sun, retreated to the night-time streets of Limoux and Cambieure, photographing the midnight cats and silent buildings. While Kevin worked on a set of short stories that had been inspired by his travels through the USA, Greenland and now France.

On the 14th June 2017 they walked from the Petite Rue du Palais to the cemetery in Rue Saint-François in Limoux. It was a pilgrimage to visit the grave of Madame Mongin, a neighbour who had died the previous year. Starting at Madame Mongin’s former home they wandered through the largely deserted streets of Limoux. Slowly Alban, Bill and Kevin were separated along the sun-bleached route, eventually meeting once again at the cemetery.

Kevin Acott and Alban Low. Saint-Francois Cemetery, Limoux

Although each of their experiences were different and very personal they have come together in two publications, the chapbook Reversing the Spectator and a paperbook Limoux (ISBN 978-1910578582). The chapbook features the brush and ink sketches of Alban Low and the words of Kevin Acott.

This chapbook is dedicated to Madame Germaine Mongin (1929-2016)

Reversing the Spectator
Alban Low, Kevin Acott and Bill Mudge
Published August 2017
ISBN 9781910578575
A6 Size
16 printed pages
Colour cover/ B&W interior
Rare Detail Chapbook
SLB066
Print run 0f 100
Price – £2.60
BUY Reversing The Spectator (£2.60 + £1.20 P&P)

(This chapbook contains adult themes)

Claudio’s Garden: An Eco-Community Beside the River Wandle Created by Claudio Funari – Bill Mudge

Over the past 19 months you may have seen the positive change made to a previously overlooked public space. If you haven’t seen it yet why not pay a visit to the Hack Bridge where it crosses the River Wandle in Carshalton. Here you’ll find a beautiful garden created by artist Claudio Funari. Through the photographs of Bill Mudge this chapbook reveals the hidden depths of its creator and place itself.

Find out more about Claudio Funari here – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100018051214453

Claudio’s Garden:
An Eco-Community Beside the River Wandle Created by Claudio Funari
Bill Mudge
Photography: Bill Mudge
Series Editor: Bill Mudge

Published July 2017
ISBN  978-1-910578-53-7
A6 Size,
16 printed pages,
Colour
Wandling Chapbook 1
SLB062
Price – £2
BUY Claudio’s Garden (£2 + £1.20 P&P to UK Address)

20 in 15: The Lives of Artists – Bill Mudge

20in15 Book-04720 in 15 is a behind the scenes look at the lives of twenty different artists, their creative processes and working environments. The project evolved from the thriving arts community in Carshalton but ultimately expanded to locations around the UK and France. Observing artists as they work, Bills documentary approach gives an insight into what it takes to live and work as a creative person.

20in15 Book doc3-02420 in 15 includes photographs of Peter S Smith (Painter Printmaker), Alex Foster (Illustrator), Abel Kesteven (Artist), Aga Cowling (Amber & Glass Designer), Jeremy Clark (Ceramic Sculptor), Luci Metcalfe (Artist), Dan Redding (Videographer), Kathryn Sherriff (Ceramicist), Glow (Design Agency), Guy Meredith (Composer), Emma Capron (Interior Designer), Wayne Sleeth (Artist), Kendra Haste (Sculptor), Alban Low (Illustrator), Lucy Furlong (Poet), Karin Andrews Jashapara (Shadow Puppetry), Emily Hall (Weaver and Ceramicist), Andrew Candy (Gallery Owner & Graphic Designer), Art Language Location (Contemporary Arts Festival), Association Amitiés Tsiganes (Community Art / ‘Un mur d’expression pour en faire tomber d’autres’)

20in15 Book doc3-02120 in 15: The Lives of Artists
Published March 2016
ISBN 978-1910578254
44 pages
Book Dimensions: 17 x 0.5 x 24 cm
Author – Bill Mudge
Graphic Design – Sean Chilvers
Poetry – Kevin Acott 
Printer – Seacourt
BUY 20 in 15: The Lives of Artists – £15 + £1.80 P&P to UK Address

A Life of Endings

9781910578131Today we launch a fantastic new 16 page colour book, A Life of Endings. This book is an insight into the hidden worlds of the Dissecting Room and the Gordon Museum of Pathology at King’s College London. It includes poetry by Kevin Acott and art from Alban Low, with featured sections by Dr Adam Wahba (Demonstrator), Jodie Acott (Medical Student) and Harvey Wells (Medical Educator). The book also includes a download code so that readers can listen to the music and poetry by Kevin Acott and Bill Mudge. Listen to the poetry at A Life of Endings Bandcamp page.

A Life of Endings: An Insight into the Hidden World of the Dissecting Room and Gordon Museum of Pathology at King’s College London 
ISBN  978-1910578131
16 pages A5 Softback
Authors – Kevin Acott, Alban Low and Harvey Wells
Contributors – Dr Adam Wahba, Jodie Acott and Bill Mudge
SLB0022
BUY A Life of Endings – £3 + £1.20 P&P to UK Address

Authors and Contributors
Dr Adam Wahba graduated from Brighton and Sussex Medical School in 2012, having completed an Intercalated BSc in Anatomy and Human Sciences at King’s College London in 2010.  After completing Foundation Training in the East of England, he returned to King’s College to work as an Anatomy Demonstrator in 2014, during which time he passed the exams to become a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS).  He started an eight-year run-through training programme as a trainee Neurosurgeon in
August 2015 in Sheffield.

Jodie Acott is a fourth-year medical student at King’s College London, with a particular interest in psychiatry and women’s health. She completed an Intercalated BSc last year in Psychology – for which she won the John Weinman Prize – and is seeking eventually to work in General Practice. Jodie loves music and literature and was cursed at a very young age with a need to support Spurs.

Bill Mudge released his debut album, Skylight, in 2011 and the same year played alongside Kit Downes, Lewis Wright, Paul Booth, Tom White and Piers Green on Paul Jordanous’ debut album ‘And now I know’.“My main intention is to convey an emotion through each piece of music. When writing I’m generally inspired by books, films or people, using them as the subject matter to develop the idea, whilst considering how the group might play and interpret the music.“ Bill is an accomplished photographer as well as musician. See his work at mudgephoto.wordpress.com

Alban Low is the founder/director of the artists’ collective CollectConnect, who have exhibited more than 4000 images on streets worldwide. He is a familiar presence on the jazz circuit in London, where he sketches live and writes reviews. He exhibits widely from London to New York and has shown his work in over 100 exhibitions. His experimental films have been screened at festivals around the world, including the BFI London, Hamburg short film festival, and most recently the Morphos dome in Los Angeles, USA. He is a director at Sampson Low Ltd, who have been publishing books since 1793. He is Artist-in-Residence at the School of Nursing, Kingston University and St George’s, University of London.

Kevin Acott is a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health at Kingston University and St George’s, University of London. He writes poetry, short stories and film and album reviews at http://www.somethingaboutengland.co.uk. Kevin has had poems published at Ink, Sweat and Tears and short stories at The Londonist and Smoke: A London Peculiar. His first poetry collection was Put Your Lips Together (2014). His Great Unpublished Novel is both great and unpublished.

Harvey Wells is a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health at Kingston University and St George’s, University of London, and a Visiting Lecturer in Medical Education at King’s College London. Harvey identified the potential of this project during his teaching observations of demonstrators in the Dissection Room and his work with Alban on the Mental Health Simulations at Kingston University.

BUY A Life of Endings book

Wandling: A Photographic Walk Along the River Wandle

9781910578018Wandling
A Photographic Walk Along the River Wandle

Published April 2015
ISBN 978-1-910578-01-8
A3 fold out map
Author – Bill Mudge
Editor – Gina Mudge & Alban Low
SLB0009

BUY  Wandling – £2 (+£1.20 P&P to UK address)

A map and photographic trail by Bill Mudge. This is a 5 page map that folds out into one large A3 size map with route and description. Start your walk at Mitcham Junction Station. Finish at Wandle Park and take the tram back to Mitcham Junction. The route takes 2 hours and is 6 hours long. Add extra time for dawdlers, island exploration and clingwell slice consumption. Take a camera. Enjoy!

Bill Mudge's Wandling Map

Bill Mudge’s Wandling Map

Bill Mudge is one of the quieter members of London‘s Jazz circuit but he hasn’t gone unnoticed by fans and critics alike. He released his debut album, Skylight, in 2011 and the same year played alongside Kit Downes, Lewis Wright, Paul Booth, Tom White and Piers Green on Paul Jordanous’ debut ‘And now I know’.

He was raised in the beautiful town of Lymington, near the New Forest in Hampshire, and his compositions reflect this close relationship with nature. He now lives in London but remains true to his roots and has established a plentiful kitchen garden adjacent to his property. He is truly a renaissance man and regularly draw upon his time as an arts student in Bath, UK for his inspiration. Bill Mudge continues to work as a photographer alongside his music career.

To see more of Bill work visit his website at
https://mudgephoto.wordpress.com/

This map was first exhibited at the ‘On the map’ exhibition at the Sunbury Embroidery Gallery, Sunbury-on-Thames in 2015.

On The Map exhibition

50%_poster_map_6 copyWelcome to the On The Map exhibition from CollectConnect artists. Earlier this year publisher we commissioned 12 new maps from a group of exciting contemporary artists. Each map was designed to be printed as an A3 fold out sheet with 4 supporting pages on it’s reverse side.

There is an inherent beauty in maps, like the Dwell book that proceeded this exhibition maps are a 2 dimensional rendering of a 3 dimensional form. They are often interpretations of the real world in a graphic light with motifs and lines that help us find anything from roads to windmills.

Artists are natural observers and organisers who like categorise through visual means. This map exhibition gives us the chance to see the world around us through the eyes of 14 artists from around the UK.

The Sunbury dice game by Alban Low and Harvey Wells

The Sunbury dice game by Alban Low and Harvey Wells

The artists were asked to consider 3 criteria.

Their map should be set in the real world, somewhere in the UK.

That it should include a route which could be walked.

The walking of the map shouldn’t cost more than £10 (train fares, entrance to museums, lunch)

Sampson Low Ltd have printed them all in colour at an A5 (21×14.8cm) size with an A3 fold out map incorporated. They will be selling the maps at an affordable £2 (+ Postage and Packing) so that anyone can try one of these artist’s walks or frame them on their wall.

The artists are –

Bill Mudge
Melanie Ezra and Rose Davies
Bryan Benge
Robert Good
Peter S Smith
Dean Reddick
Tahira Mandarino
Alban Low and Harvey Wells
Phillip Cribb
Stuart Simler
Jill Hedges
Glyn Walton

The exhibition runs from 14th April to 10th May 2015
Private View – 23rd April, 6.30-8.30pm
at
The Sunbury Embroidery Gallery
The Walled Garden, Thames Street
Sunbury-on-Thames, TW16 6AB
http://www.sunburyembroidery.co.uk/index.htm

All welcome. We hope you can find your way there.
If not, I’ll draw you a map!

AL.

We would especially like to thank Robert Shaw, Barbara Robertson, Tahira Mandarino at the Sunbury Embroidery Gallery. Also Spelthorne Borough Council for their support of the exhibition.

News – Bill Mudge’s The Plot

Bill Mudge - The Plot

Bill Mudge – The Plot

Here at Sampson Low Ltd we’re pleased to announce that we are working with photographer Bill Mudge on a new book. His project documents the stories, characters, plots and diversity of Spencer Road allotments in Hackbridge. Mudge is well known as creative force on London’s jazz circuit but has always kept a keen eye on the visual language of life too. Over the next 6 months we will get to know the allotmenteers of this vibrant community through Bill Mudge’s revealing photos. The thread of Nature’s narrative runs alongside the gardeners who work the land. Bill Mudge and Sampson Low Ltd are excited to be sharing those stories with you.

The book will be published with the ISBN 9780953471294

AL.

Art Jazzed Up CD

Art Jazzed Up CD

Art Jazzed Up CD

Art Jazzed Up
Published May 2014
ISBN 978-0-9534712-7-0,
8 page A5 booklet and CD
Mike DiRubbo (alto Saxophone), Duncan Eagles (Tenor Saxophone), Max Luthert (Bass), Bill Mudge (Piano), Dave Storey (Drums), Alban Low (Art)
Running time 43.03 minutes
SLM0001

BUY Art Jazzed Up – £8 + £1.80 to UK address

Track listing –
1. Skip’s Blues (DiRubbo) 6:17
2. Folk Song (Eagles) 6:21
3. Banrock Station (Luthert) 8:19
4. The Decision (Mudge) 7:05
5. Midnight Mass (Eagles) 4:06
6. Lunar (DiRubbo) 10:55

Art Jazzed Up exhibition

Art Jazzed Up exhibition

The CD was recorded on the 11th November 2013 by Nick Pugh at The Art Jazzed Up exhibition, The Shaw Gallery, Croydon.

Initially 8 short pieces of music were released for the artists to listen to. These were by musicians Mike DiRubbo, Bill Mudge, Duncan Eagles, Max Luthert and Peter Ibbetson. The artists then sent their responses to the exhibition committee. 250 artworks were selected, 24 were shortlisted by the musicians themselves and a winner, Chris Holley, was chosen by curator Alan Carlyon Smith. All the artworks were displayed in jewel cases at the Shaw Gallery.

Art Jazzed Up and CD

Art Jazzed Up and CD

On the 11th November 2013 the exhibition was opened to the public along with a unique performance that combined live art and music. The audience sat facing 3 blank paper canvases while Mike DiRubbo (alto saxophone), Duncan Eagles (tenor/soprano saxophone), Bill Mudge (piano), Max Luthert (Bass) and Dave Storey (drums) were hidden behind the white screens. Alongside the musicians was artist Alban Low, also hidden to the audience. As Low drew in spirit ink on the canvases his lines slowly seeped through to the audience’s side and images started to magically appear.

The exhibition is part of an ongoing project that is exploring the relationship between Art and Music. The Murder Minutes project has screened its films all over the world and collected a few awards along the way. Check out the website here – MURDER MINUTES

If you would like to see what it all looked like on film then check out this video by Dan Redding – Banrock Station on Youtube