17th September 2021
A group of the city’s finest young artists will come together this weekend as the second phase of Nova’s digital and creative skills project in collaboration with the Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City project begins.
Over the next year, the programme will see Nova work with some of Hull’s leading creative names to provide an opportunity for an emerging generation of Hullensians to define and celebrate their city’s maritime identity and launch their own careers.
Selected on the strength of their artistic portfolios, the illustration group will be made up of four 16–25-year-olds and led by Hull-based illustrator Alice Beasley.
Alice, the human behind the brilliant Human Kind illustrations, has loads of experience working with both big name brands and young people in schools.
Looking ahead to the first session, she said: “Projects like this are important because they give people an opportunity to connect with each other, to discover shared histories and have the chance to be creative and push boundaries.
“These projects spark ideas and friendships, giving creatives the space to bounce ideas off each other and culminating in a beautiful end product. I can’t wait to see the outcome.”
The group will spend three sessions looking at the evolving dimensions of the city’s landscape and creating line drawings depicting Hull through its maritime history.
“We will spend some time exploring Hull and seeing it with fresh eyes, taking photos and making sketches,” explained Alice.
“Later, we will come together and share our images and experiences and start to create illustrative work based around our discoveries. People will be encouraged to create some images of Hull which will be later used in a final animation.”
The illustrations created by the group will be combined with the work of later cohorts, who will focus on painting and sound scaping, and culminate in a film depicting Hull’s historical development which will be exhibited as part of the maritime project.
“The project is giving me the opportunity explore a different illustrative style to my usual methods and I’ve loved researching and collating images to inspire my work which has been both interesting and a challenge,” said Alice.
“I’m feeling excited to see how it all comes together when all the different elements are added to the mix.”
This creative programme is part of the £30.3m Hull Maritime project, funded by Hull City Council and The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Elements involve the refurbishment of the Hull Maritime Museum, restoration of the Spurn Lightship and the Arctic Corsair and regenerating the North End Shipyard, a hidden gem along the River Hull.
