Ash to Art

Background

In May 2014 the world-famous Mackintosh Building, at the heart of The Glasgow School of Art's Garnethill campus, suffered a fire that caused significant damage to the west wing including the loss of the celebrated Mackintosh Library.

The Mackintosh Campus Appeal was launched to raise £32m to help restore the Mackintosh Building and return the library its original 1910 design.

Idea

Soon after seeing the news of the fire, Bill Hartley and Giles Hepworth, the J. Walter Thompson creatives behind the campaign, had the idea of using actual materials damaged in the fire to help raise money for the restoration.

They approached the Glasgow School of Art, who embraced the concept.

The agency and the school worked together to approach some of the biggest names in contemporary British art.

Each artist was sent a piece of debris specifically chosen for them with a note telling them what it was, where it was from and explaining the concept.

The brief was left open for each artist to interpret what they received and create their own new piece of art.

Their pieces are to be shown at Christie's in London from March 3rd to 7th before being auctioned on March 8th.

Results

25 leading British artists responded to their individual mailings by creating artworks.

Grayson Perry said, "I really like the idea of using the charcoal from the fire.

I thought it was very clever. It's also fresh – it's not something that has come up before. We've all been asked to do t-shirts, knickers and mugs – endless charity rounds. I get about two a week."

Our Thoughts

I love the fact this started with a young creative team having a simple idea. But an idea which fascinated and inspired some of the greatest creative talents in the UK.

The metaphor of the phoenix rising, the idea of life after death, this was the brief and what artist could fail to respond?

Well, not Grayson Perry, Sir Antony Gormley, Rachel Whiteread, Anish Kapoor, Tacita Dean, Conrad Shawcross, The Chapman Brothers nor Sir Peter Blake.

What this campaign does is demonstrate the unique quality of mail – to make things tangible. You get sent a piece of the old library, charred, black and you turn it over in your hands. And you are touched by the idea, literally.