Students got creative at the Guildhall last week when they took part in fashion workshops run by Ami Lowman. Fashion was an important element of punk’s Do-It-Yourself aesthetic, influencing trends for generations to come.
The students worked on creating fashion items influenced by punk for a pop-up shop, including print screened T-shorts featuring the Pompey Punks logo.
It’s the summer break and activity has slowed somewhat as everyone enjoys holidays at home or abroad. Plans for the exhibition are moving forward though with the space no cleared and most of the painting of the room completed in black and white. Thanks to everyone who helped out with the painting, especially Will, who devoted two days to cracking on with the work last week.
Students visited the new punk exhibition at the British Library in London today in order to get more inspiration for the permanent exhibition at the Guildhall.
Art students Jade, Wiktoria and Harriet, who are responsible for the aesthetic of the exhibition, were joined by Will and Joe, who are working on the research and film element, as well as three secondary school students from Bridgemary School in Gosport, who heard about the project in the media and have lent their services.
The exhibition at the British Library focused on the first wave of punk from 1976 to 1978 and featured a number of rare artefacts, including Glen Matlock’s letter of resignation from the Sex Pistols, a leather jacket owned by The Damned’s Rat Scabies and John Peel’s own battered copy of the The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks, a single he championed on his Radio 1 show. Also on display was a rare 7 inch single of the Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen, released on the A&M record label. A&M pressed 25,000 copies of the record but sacked the band before its release, resulting in the destruction of the single. A few copies escaped the cull and one sold for £6,000 last year!
The exhibition gave the girls’ creating the story of punk in Portsmouth a better understanding of how artefacts need supporting interpretation and they are now amending their plans and looking forward to getting started!
Students picked up the project again after their exams this week and met at the Portsmouth Guildhall to discuss plans for the exhibition.
As you can see from the pictures, pizza provided the fuel for discussions, which centred around a vision for an exhibition that will resemble a 1970s bedsit to fit in with the punk ethos.
Art students presented their preliminary ideas, including the sketch above, which will start to move forward later this summer.
A trip to the new punk exhibition at the British Library is scheduled for July 6th to allow the students to see a national exhibition and gain more inspiration.
We are just approaching the end of the exam season so most of our students have been out of action for a while revising and sitting their A levels.
But next week we have a big meeting at the Guildhall to re-start the project and work towards creating the exhibition and starting filming for the documentary.
Since our last visit to London, a new exhibition on punk has opened at the British Library so we hope to return to the capital with a number of students in early July to have a look at the materials.
Lots will be happening over the next few weeks so watch this space!!
More people have now taken part in audio interviews as part of our documentary film. These include Dr Russ Bestley, know as the Professor of Punk, and an expert on the scene, Chris Abbott, promoter and owner of the venue Basins, Dave Allen, a music historian and Ken Brown, who was the author of local punk fanzine, Safety In Numbers (pictured).
We are delighted that Ken has expressed an interest in producing one more edition of the fanzine using the traditional methods of the 1970s. Ken will work with some of our students who are looking at fanzines as part of their Foundation Art Degree course. He will show them how he produced SIN and there are plans for the students to produce their own version to use as a guide to the punk exhibition.
The Pompey Punk project will conclude with a celebration event to be held at the Guildhall on November 17th. The aim is to reform some punk bands from the era, hear some tracks played by a young punk band and enjoy a performance by Kojak’s Revenge, a popular Portsmouth band fronted by Havant Sixth Form College media lecturer Kev Smith. Although Kojak’s are not a punk band, Kev was part of the punk scene as a young boy in the 1970s and college students are keen to hear his band turn their attention to punk and play some classic punk numbers.
Students have been involved in a number of discussions with staff at Portsmouth Guildhall and are finalising plans for the gigs, which will be publicised and tickets put on sale. Profits from the gig will be donated to charity.
