James Charnley – författare

A celebration and meticulously researched history of the early days of the Leeds College of Art and its radically creative approach to art education.Creative License' describes what happened next and the continuum leading up to this moment. In this ground-breaking study, James Charnley reveals the personalities and events that ignited an explosion of radical creativity such that a contemporary observer, Patrick Heron, could describe Leeds College of Art as "an unprecedented inventive powerhouse on the national scene". Between 1963 and 1973, Leeds College of Art and Leeds Polytechnic were at the forefront of an experiment in art and education where "all that was forbidden was to be dull". With Jeff Nuttall, Robin Page, George Brecht, Patrick Hughes and John Fox on the staff, students pushed the freedom and facilities offered further than anything before or since.'Creative License' captures the rebellious trajectory of the 1960s, the emergence of the counter-culture, dissent and later disillusionment. This is a case study of an era when art colleges were well funded and well free and, at Leeds, had a mission to progress the avant-garde project to the next level. Perhaps only now can the consequences of this experiment be assessed and its achievements recognised, and James Charnley sets out to do just that.

Anything But Dull: the Life and Art of Jeff Nuttall reveals the life lived and the art created by a visionary polymath whose generosity of spirit defined his character. From childhood traumas to revolutionary acts, through triumphs, defeats and resurrections Jeff Nuttall’s story is told here for the first time in all its richness and singularity. Based on over eighty interviews and meticulous archive research Anything But Dull shows just what made Jeff Nuttall such pivotal, provocative and important figure in twentieth century life and culture.Performer, poet, artist, writer, musician, teacher, film actor, bon vivant and hell raiser. Throughout his life Jeff Nuttall was always getting into scrapes, provoking outrage, drinking, fighting, falling in and out of love. Those intense experiences became the inspiration for his art. Almost no form of creative expression was foreign to him and within these nothing was forbidden – except, of course, to be dull.