‘THE FRUITS OF ENTHUSIASM’: JAMES SELLARS 1927 – 2000

 

Sorting through some of my sketchbooks today I came across a booklet printed to accompany an exhibition of James Sellars  life and work.  James Sellars  taught at the Hereford and Southampton Colleges of Art.  He developed a range of painting styles  suited  to the medium he was using. He worked in pastel, tempera, gouache, etching, aquatint, and lithograph.

There is a link to ‘The Brotherhood of Ruralists’ website which has an illustrated page about him. http://ruralists.com/features/sellars/index.html

Collage also was a significant feature of his creative output – a technique which was adopted enthusiastically by his students. The cover design was produced by one of them. It’s a lovely arrangement of decorative shapes which also uses strong colour to good effect.  The balanced placing of the printed title works well and the use of a sans serif font is entirely appropriate.

I wish that designs for our Ludlow Art Society Exhibitions were conceived in a similar direct way. There is a valuable lesson to be learned from a study of collage for designing publicity material. The following is another link which gives more information about the artist.
http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/council_gov_democracy/news/25793.asp