This month I've been privileged to be asked to illustrate the cover and be featured in my local village read, the Hasland Magazine, hope you enjoy the read!
The fantastic and vibrant cover artwork on this issue of the magazine is by talented artist and illustrator Matt Cockayne of Goo Design. Originally from Mosborough, Matt has lived in Chesterfield for ten years with his wife Lynsey. The couple recently moved to Hasland from Holmewood and are enjoying local life. I asked Matt why they chose Hasland, he said "Our wedding was at Heath Church with a reception in Eastwood Hall. We often visit Hasland shops and really like the area so decided it was the place for us to settle."
Matt started his journey as an artist over ten years ago when he wanted artwork to fill his own home. He found that the art that he liked was out of his budget so had a try at creating his own. He eventually made his work available to buy and the business has flown from there. He has now sold over 15000 prints of his artwork. When I asked about his love for art he said "I love drawing and always have. I go through stages of productivity where I'm prolific and in the zone, then take a break. I don't often take commissions however I have been approached in the past to do things like album covers. I recently created a piece of art which is being produced on a huge scale to surround a building site in Ponds Forge. I love working for myself and creating what I want to create."
Formerly a graphic designer in the print industry, Matt now works from a custom created home studio, complete with large scale printer to produce his prints. Although he occasionally works in pencil the majority of his work is created using Adobe design suite. Prints can be ordered in A4, A3 and A2 sizes so that they can easily be framed.
Matt's wife Lynsey, a Graphic Designer has now joined him in business, working from home full time to keep up with the popularity of the products. As well as Goo Design the couple run a second online business called Kick Off Store, producing unique stylised football gifts and art illustrated by Matt.
Much of Matt's initial artwork focused on iconic buildings in Sheffield including a series of popular pub prints based on the 'Sheffield Ale Trail' as well as Sheffield musicians, including of course Jarvis Cocker. Having relocated to Chesterfield he has created a series of art of our area, including 'Another rainy day in Chesterfield' as featured on our cover. His work also includes the fabulous 'Chesterfield Skyline' featured above. I asked Matt if we can expect to see any Hasland based work: "I'd like to draw Hasland Park as it's a very special place to me, having had our wedding reception there. I often take my son Luca there to play football. I also plan to draw the High Street in some way as the buildings are lovely."
Matt's current project is a series of works based on the Peak District. This already includes Boots Folly in Sheffield, Magpie Mill near Bakewell, Derwent Reservoir and Monsall Head. He told me "The new Peak District project is really exciting. They are mostly of places we have been that have had an impact on me. We love walking and being outside and have completed various walking challenges including the 3 Peaks. Lynsey recently completed a 25k run to Tideswell from Bakewell. I was meant to be taking part in a 100km walk over two days but unfortunately in January I broke my ankle very badly. I was stuck in bed for 3 months and needed extensive surgery and am still recovering."
I was amazed to discover that Matt has an incredible history of fundraising for charity. In 2018 he came up with the idea for 'Bangers and Cash' fundraising car rally. Along with a group of friends, he planned a route from Sheffield to Monte Carlo. They pitched their idea to the local council and then brought in Rebecca Staden, the creator of the Herd Elephant project in Sheffield and a friend of Malts who helped them with all of the planning. "Eventually the rally became a reality and 27 teams signed up, all sponsored by businesses. Each team was allocated an artist as a theme to decorate the bonnet of their car. These included Sheffield artists Jo Peel and Rob Lee who actually created their themed bonnets. The rally visited Brussels, Lucerne, Strasbourg, Milan, Lake Como and Luxembourg en route to Monte Carlo. The event raised an astounding £115000 which was donated to Roundabout youth homelessness charity in Sheffield. The money eradicated the youth homelessness problem in Sheffield at that time. We planned to repeat the project with a different rally route in 2020 but had to postpone until 2022. It will happen though!"