​On the record – art school inspirations on show in Bury

Famous record sleeves designed by artists from across the North West will be on display at Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre.

The exhibition, titled “The North West Art School Record Machine”, is on show from 12 October 2019 to 25 January 2020.

Part of the Design Manchester DM19 Festival, it celebrates the art schools of the North West and the records that emerged from them.

Musicians and designers featured include The Beatles, 10cc, Deaf School, Ultravox, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Marc Almond, KLF, Inspiral Carpets, Stealing Sheep, Peter Saville, Linder Sterling and Brian Cannon.

There is also a display featuring unique mock-ups and material from renowned North West-trained designers Malcolm Garrett and Swifty, including designs for Buzzcocks and Duran Duran.

The North West Art School Record Machine has been developed from John Beck and Matthew Cornford’s exhibition, The Art Schools of North West England, shown at Bluecoat in Liverpool, 2018-19.

For this new exhibition, Bluecoat’s artistic director Bryan Biggs has gathered an astonishing range of more than 100 record sleeves, produced by designers and musicians who all, in one capacity or another, emerged from the art schools of the North West. Their graphic art gives visual form to what lies within the sleeves - from Merseybeat to prog rock, punk to indie and dance.

There are three events related to this exhibition:

Saturday 16 November (2–4pm): John Beck and Matthew Cornford. Introduction to The North West Art School Record Machine.

Wednesday 20 November (7–9pm): Bryan Biggs: Record Machine. Collecting records and the phenomenon of record sleeve design.

Saturday 23 November (4–6pm): Malcolm Garrett and Swifty: Designing Records. Two influential designers talk about designing for the music industry.

Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre is in Moss Street, Bury. It is open Tuesday to Friday (10am–5pm) and Saturday (10am–4.30pm). Admission is free.

ENDS

Press release issued: 27 September 2019.