Erdington, Perry Barr, Hodge Hill and Ladywood are among the areas that don’t get enough of a look-in on this blog so it was nice to pick up some blurb about a project called In Our Backyard which put artists in those areas over a year. The work produced will be at The Community gallery at BMAG from 10 April (not that I can find any info on their website, but that’s nothing new).
The artists who took part were Mohsen Keiany – an internationally-recognised painter and illustrator; video and film makers Reel Access (George Fleming and Laura Breakwell); Eleanor Hoad – a cultural eco-artist with a keen interest in permaculture and issues of sustainability and storytellers Annamation (Anna Conomos and Susanna Willetts).
Works produced by the artists and local communities include a large scale mosaic based on by Islamic calligraphy, created by family groups in Ladywood; a filming and photography project made by under 5s and their parents showing community perspectives of Hodge Hill; the planting of fruit trees in Erdington High Street town centre arcade and creation of a map of fruit trees in the area – and a story telling project in Perry Barr, which worked with community elders to hear their tales and then helped young people to learn and re-tell them.
It’s been a while since I heard anything about the mooted Birmingham Museum of Contemporary Art, but then I spotted this:
With a £1million grant from the Art Fund, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and partners New Art Gallery Walsall and Ikon Gallery have been creating a major collection of international contemporary art.
Which is interesting but I think I’d heard about that before. Still, new news is that this collection will be shown off later in the year (from 13 November) at BMAG’s Waterhall.
This is the first chance to see some of the newly acquired works by artists from India, China, Africa, and Western Europe. In painting, photography, and video installations they explore the theme of the “modern metropolis” – the social and physical landscapes of city life.
These international works will be shown alongside examples from the Museum’s Contemporary British Art Collection including paintings by Tony Bevan, Fiona Rae, George Shaw and many others.
Jon over at BiNS ponders whether the art/culture/creative crowd should blow their own trumpet or let others do it for them. I’d say both, please, but then I would. However, he also suspects that parts of that community:
just want to impress the art scene, get a few quizzical looks from passers-by and be able to moan that “people from round here don’t care”?
Which is probably true in some cases, extremely unfair in others and missing the point completely elsewhere. Thoughts welcomed on BiNS.
A simple idea, nicely done by Karen Strunks who’s managed to turn a personal photography project into something a little further-reaching. This’ll be the third outing for the 4am Project.
The aim of the 4amproject is to gather a collection of photos from around the world at the magical time of 4am. Everyone can take part and join in! All you need is a camera. We want to see what you see at that moment in time on that one day. What’s your view at 4am?
Here’s what to do if you want to get involved. There’ll be a photowalk somewhere around Birmingham at 4am on 4 April too – details about that TBC.
