"Pushing The Envelope" Illustration Workshop!

This year marks the 175 anniversary of the first ever postage stamp, the “Penny Black”. Introduced in 1840, the Penny Black stamp helped revolutionise the postal service by creating a globally recognised pre-paid standard that has been accepted throughout the world!

More interestingly though, as stamp usage increased, so too did the number of fantastically inventive and colourful illustrated designs. From ships navigating wild oceans to Kings, Queens and exotic animals in far flung places- it was often more exciting to receive the stamp than the letter!

We are proudly exhibiting work commissioned exclusively from an international group of renowned illustrators. Each practitioner has also been asked personally respond to this landmark anniversary by decorating and embellishing an envelope. This unique collection of new work will celebrate the art of postal communication.

Over the last year our Illustration students have been involved in a wide variety of postage themed projects including designing their own hand drawn envelopes. The envelopes were then processed by Royal Mail, although they were far too nice to send and therefore we have decided to exhibit them instead! In fact, we have also invited a number of internationally recognised professional illustrators to contribute to the project and we would love you and your students to join in too!

So if you have a group of budding illustrators that would love the chance to spend a few hours honing their skills and contributing to this milestone please don’t hesitate to get in touch! You’ll also get free admission to the exhibition, free lunch and a fantastic opportunity to visit the home of our degree courses!