Hats off to award-winning Hatters

My Stockport poster takes cover design of the year

One of my works has helped a Stockport firm win a national award.

Hatters, a leading North West promotional merchandise company based in Heaviley, won the  cover design of the  year at the Advantage Group brochure launch event with an adaptation of my Hats off to Stockport poster. 

The finishing touches were done by Future Design, another Stockport-based company.

Hosted at the 4-star Georgian country house hotel Sopwell House, the Advantage Group brochure launch takes place annually, bringing together merchandise distributors from across the country.

Hatters has just celebrated its 25th anniversary, and it seemed fitting that it should be marked by an image of the iconic Battersby Hat Works in Offerton - a symbol of Stockport’s industrial heritage.

Founded in 1994 by Managing Director Jo Shippen, Hatters has grown year on year and has worked with scores of national and blue-chip brands.

It specialises in promotional merchandise, print management and product fulfilment – including ordering of stock, storage and delivery.

Jo Shippen said: “I’m delighted that Hatters has been recognised for the brochure cover this year.”

 “It means a lot to me – and the team, that it has coincided with our 25th anniversary and I couldn’t be prouder to be celebrating our milestone achievement in this way.”

 “We couldn’t have done this without Eric Jackson from Statement Artworks and the team at Future Design for pulling it all together for us. It’s truly been a team effort.”

The winning cover design, and right, the original.

The winning cover design, and right, the original.

White Lion and Blossoms feature my framed Statement Artworks posters

Make mine a double! 

My work has just gone into another two fine pubs, on opposite sides of Manchester. The newly extended White Lion in Wrightington, close to Wigan, has put up five of my framed A3s posters - Lancashire, Northern Powerhouse, Wigan, Worsley and Eccles - while south of the city, in Stockport, the Blossoms pubs has put up my Stockport Alphabet A3 framed.

And as a lover of great beer and great pubs, that makes me very happy indeed!

www.statementartworks.com

My pictures in the new White Lion extension

My pictures in the new White Lion extension

The Stockport Alphabet in the Blossoms

The Stockport Alphabet in the Blossoms




Altrincham weekend

We are at Altrincham all this weekend. Well, I say ‘we’, that should be Jane, my wife, as I’m swanning off to London to see a certain football match on Saturday, and staying over. Slacker! Anyway, there will be all my usual posters, cards and magnets, plus the new Edgeley, Monton and Manc-hattan ones. Go and say hello to Jane. www.statementartworks.com

Edgeley poster by Statement Artworks


Monton poster by Statement Artworks
Manc-hattan poster by Statement Artworks

Start of the Great Northern Warehouse experience!

Christmas starts tomorrow (well it does for me) with the Great Northern Warehouse market just off Deansgate in Manchester. I’ll be there on Friday as well, then on Saturday and Sunday it’s off to Altrincham Market. I’ll have all my usual mounts, cards and magnets, plus my new Marple picture, along with a few blue versions of the ‘barth’ poster. See you there. www.statementartworks.com

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Make a statement with your art!

This Sunday we are at the West Didsbury Makers Market and the Treacle Maket in Macclesfield. Can't find your way to those places? Well you'll be wasting your time consulting my map of the British Isles, but you can hang it on your wall. Yep, my new poster is now for sale in A4 size at the markets, and any size you like online. See you on Sunday! www.statementartworks.com

Map of the British Isles

Cheadle Hulme, Bramhall, Hazel Grove and Pickmere Lake

The commission was to do three posters for a local estage agent without being boring or corporate, and getting in a little joke too. Well if you live in Bramhall, Cheadle Hulme or Hazel Grove you should appreciate these works - which will be used by Snapes estate agents in their summer promotional material.

I've also just finished a commission for Pickmere near Knutsford, which was once THE destination for working class families from Manchester looking for some Cheshire weekend fresh air in them there olden days. There used to be a funfair, pleasure cruiser and rowing boats on the picturesque lake, plus lots more. The poster sort of tells the story.

Now it's mostly returned to nature, but there's a great cafe and fun events from May to October. The poster, along with cards, magnets, mugs and mounts, is available to buy at the cafe, or directly from me.

www.statementartworks.com

Curve appeal of Cheadle Hulme.

Curve appeal of Cheadle Hulme.

Parklife, Bramhall style

Parklife, Bramhall style

The sun always shines in Hazel Grove.

The sun always shines in Hazel Grove.

Pickmere - charas came by the score.

Pickmere - charas came by the score.

Personalised poster for Urmston couple Neal and David

Two great lads who admitted to being 'economic refugees' from Hale and have bought a more affordable house in Urmston, commissioned me to do a special personalised poster.
And with a few tweaks of my Urmston poster, Neal and David got their very own bespoke framed version for their new home. If you fancy a personalied poster, based on any of my images (over 45 and counting) then just contact me on statementartworks@gmail.com. Check out the full range of my work at www.statementartworks.com. My posters are all about the people and places of the north, with a heavy dose of fun thrown in, and I just love adapting them to feature names, streets, whatever you like. Here are the two versions of the Urmston poster.

This Sunday we are doing the West Didsbury Makers Market and Treacle Market in Macclesfield. See you there.

Cheers - Eric

www.statementartworks.com

 

 

The original Urmston poster

The original Urmston poster

...and the bespoke version

...and the bespoke version

Hat-trick of Manc posters!

One poster good, three posters better, to paraphrase George Orwell. Paul and Jackie Lomas came to my stall at Altrincham Market over the weekend and bought three of my posters - the Mancunian Way, Stretford and Altrincham. Look pretty good, I think, as a nice little triptych. Next weekend it's Urmston and the Northern Quarter, and I'm back at Altrincham the following Sunday. Happy Easter (if such a thing is possible in this foul weather). Cheers - Eric www.statementartworks.com

Stretford, Altrincham and the Mancunian Way...a hat-trick of cheeky posters!

Stretford, Altrincham and the Mancunian Way...a hat-trick of cheeky posters!

Markets this weekend. Yes, really!

Statement Artworks markets

I'm now officially bonkers. This Saturday I'm at Urmston market and on Sunday it's Knutsford. Hopefully the mercury will rise just a tad to stop my fingers and toes dropping off. I'll have all my usual stuff for sale, plus the newbies shown here. See you at the weekend (huskies optional).

Cheers - Eric

Oldham poster, Statement Artworks
Wythenshawe for web.jpg
Bowdon poster, Statement Artworks
Mancunian Way, Statement Artworks

Mancunian Way, Statement Artworks

Bespoke Manchester Alphabet from Statement Artworks

Put your loved one's name in

the Manchester hall of fame!

The original Manchester Alphabet

The original Manchester Alphabet

And the bespoke version...

And the bespoke version...

I started doing them as presents for friends, but now they are taking off with the public - my bespoke Manchester Alphabet posters. So in this example, I've changed the original P is for....to P is for Phil Jones, who is my mate over the road. I've added some other details and used his name in the headline too. All I charge for the work is an extra tenner on top of the framed and poster prices. Just contact me on statementartworks@gmail.com if you fancy having one done for you, a friend or relative. And if you live in Sale, check out my Sale poster on www.statementartworks.com - the strap line at the bottom could easily carry your name or street or both!

 

MANCUNIAN WAY, by Eric Jackson, Statement artworks

The Mancunian way is not to be confused with the Mancunian Way. The former - the mindset and spirit of the city's people - is very special indeed. However, the road of that name, with a capital W, is about as horrible as it gets. Has anyone ever travelled on it and not be gripped by terror at where to come off and what lane to use, or indeed where the bloody hell they are? My Gran used to have a flat right next to it in All Saints, and she'd say, " Eric, i love it here, because the lights at night are fabulous, what with all the different colours and the speed. Champion." She said champion - a sadly dying northernism - quite a lot, but on the subject of the Mancunian Way I had to disagree with her. Not champion, Gran! So you're not likely to see a smiling couple on a Vespa any time soon on the Mancunian Way, buy hey, I love Vespas, and I quite like couples who smile while motorbiking (see the film Priceless), and I love Manchester, in spite of the Mancunian Way! Great Ancoats Street - now there's a road - and being transformed into something amazing. Go to the Port Street Beer House, and then go for a wander. My Gran and I did that years ago when it was the heart of the textile industry, and it still sends a tingle down my spine.

 

 

The MANCUNIAN WAY, by Eric Jackson, www.statementartworks.com

The MANCUNIAN WAY, by Eric Jackson, www.statementartworks.com

Whalley Range poster by Eric Jackson, Statement Artworks

Whalley Range. Just the name sounds Wild West. Well, it was wild once, in the sense that drugs and prostitution were its main industries. But now the 'prozzies' have been replaced, slowly, by professionals, and it's becoming so gentrified that the term 'ChoBo' has been coined, by estate agents, to indicate it's the 'Chorlton borders.' Sick, obviously, but let's not forget the fact that Whalley Range possesses some of the finest buildings and streets in the whole of Manchester. It's real, old Manchester. Gritty and gorgeous in equal amounts, rich and poor, trendy and trackies cheek by jowl. And to cap it all there's the Carlton Club, as old school as you can get, but more wonderful and special than any arsey posers' club in the city centre. You'd have to be a real wally not to love Whalley Range. Love goes out to Laurence Hopkins, a mate and one-time resident of the Range, who helped me with the research. www.statementartworks.com

 

Whalley Range poster

Framed A2 Sale poster by Statement Artworks

It's a strong and stable composition...or is it a composition of chaos? Hey, who cares about cheap slogans, it's just a picture painted by me about Sale in Greater Manchester, or is that Cheshire, or should we just say Trafford? Goddamit, why can't things be clear-cut in life? One thing I do know, though, is that this is my first framed A2 print of my new Sale picture (it's signed accordingly), and it's going on sale (more confusion) this Saturday and Sunday at Altrincham market, for £50, or you can reserve it, by emailing on statementartworks@gmail.com. First come first serve, first past the post, that sort of thing, just to labour the political metaphor. Anybody would think some kind of strange, weird election had taken place! Of course I'll have lots of smaller framed and mounted versions, too. We are also at the Northern Quarter market on Sunday.

And just one last thing. Went to London on Monday and Tuesday, and my London poster (also attached) never seemed more appropriate. Had a great time in Twickenham (very nice) with our lovely mates, and then it went downhill in the city itself. Southwark, home of Tate Modern, used to be our favourite bit, but now it looks like an even worse Dubai - crap apartment blocks creating wind tunnels, noice, congestion and a dystopian cityscape straight out of Orwell. Vile, and then we paid over £10 for two pints in a bog-standard pub. How do people cope with that? Ah, that train to Piccadilly...

Anyway, hope to bump into you in wonderful Altrincham and theNorthern Quarter over the weekend.

A2 framed Sale poster
London poster

 

 

Worsley, deliciously rich Tomato Soupville!

No, it's not polluted - it's the iron oxide, or something like that, that seeps into the water, which gives the Bridgewater Canal in Worsley its distinctive orange colour, an almost identical hue to that of tomato soup, in fact (many thanks to my old mate Simon Donohue for coming up with that comparison). And that, along with the classy Arts and Crafts homes and buildings, makes Worsley one of the most sought-after districts north of the Irwell. The jewel in Salford's crown. Deliciously rich! So cool is it, in fact, that it was recently featured in the The Great British Interior Design Challenge. Now that's trendy. This poster, by Eric Jackson, is available from A4 size all the way up to A1, through statementartworks.com and at the usual markets and selected shops/galleries.

Worsley, good enough to drink!

Worsley, good enough to drink!

Stretford poster by Eric Jackson, Statement Artworks

Stretford is famous for its association with football and cricket, with United and Lancashire County Cricket Club on its borders in Old Trafford, but it was once celebrated for having one of the finest cinemas in Britain.

A few years before the outbreak of the second world war, the Longford Cinema opened its doors for the first time, and its revolutionary design and state of the art interior and acoustics were hailed as 'the future' of wide-screen entertainment.

Sadly, the once-grand building has changed hands, closed, re-opened, been neglected and finally abandoned to rot. Admittedly it's on the unlovely Chester Road, but it remains a scandal that nothing has been done to use this masterpiece in some way. Instead, it has been daubed various shades of blue and pink over the years and stands as a testimony to council inertia.

Myposter features it in steam-punk mode and the Hopkins family of Old Trafford on the tandem. As for the geezer on the flying machine? That was instead of a flying pig, which is about as likely to happen as something being done about the great Longford Cinema.

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Eccles poster by Eric Jackson, Statement Artworks

Do you know Eccles has one of the finest restaurants in the north west? Put it this way, if Smiths was in London, Giles Coren would think it was the best thing since sliced Prosciutto. It's not all good, though - the one-way system is like entering the third circle of hell. It's a pity, because within it there's the Church Street area, which would not be out of place in a quaint market town or village. Of course, Eccles is famous for its cakes, which are beyond wonderful. Just don't mention Chorley...

This poster is available through www.statementartworks.com

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The Heatons of Stockport poster by Eric Jackson, Statement Artworks

Go on, you've heard it so many times, haven't you? Strike up a conversation with anyone from the Heatons, especially Heaton Moor, and you'll get: "It's just like Didsbury, with so many great shops, bars and restaurants, and the houses are amazing, but so much more affordable." And then you'll hear the 'added value' bit. "And it's so much easier to get into the countryside and the Peak District here, yet we can still get into town in 15 minutes on the train. And we've even got the 192 bus every minute."

Now they've got the revamped, Art Deco style Savoy cinema to boast about too, and who can blame them? It's a stonker of a place. See the latest movie then pop over to Damson, one of the hippest restaurants in the north west.

The four Heatons - Moor, Mersey, Chapel and Norris - form the trendiest corner of Stockport, giving the town a much-neeed cachet. If that gold dust could be sprinkled over the regeneration projects currently sweeping Stockport, then the town will once again be able to lure in the visitors from the affluent suburbs.

This poster is available through www.statementartworks.com

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