Created in Birmingham

• Clarendon.
  An occasionally Birmingham-ish photo Tumblr
• CMYKern v2
  New look for the design/print/illustration blog
• All new hippo show
  From Chu: “It documents the beginnings of Walsall Youth Arts, who I ended up working for during the start of my painting career”. You’ve got to watch this
• Construction Manager – Here’s the twist
  “The huge concrete structure that forms Birmingham’s new library, with its spectacular internal atrium, challenged the very rules governing frame design”. Truth be told, I don’t understand much of this article but it’s pretty fascinating all the same
• TMA Regional Networking Meeting « mid * point
  The TMA is holding a free networking event for those involved in professional theatre and the performing arts in the Midlands.

We Grow Cherries is:

a talent pool of graduates from the BA (Hons) Visual Communication course at BIAD, BCU. Our Visual Communication graduates span Graphic Communication, Illustration, Photography and Moving Image

Over at CMYKern James has been picking out his highlights.

• Vote again for CiB – last few days
  Thanks to some fantastic support CiB has a slim lead in the voting. Polls close on Tuesday 13th at 10pm. Please vote daily (and encourage others) until then
• Screen WM – Birmingham filmmaker shortlisted for the Auteur Award
  “Birmingham filmmaker Steven Rainbow’s short film ‘A Small Silent Film About Death’ has been selected for screening at the 6th London Short Film Festival (9th – 18th January 2009) and been shortlisted for the Auteur Award”
• D’log – Henry Reed
  D’log has found “a huge website in memory of Birmingham poet and dramatist Henry Reed”
• CMYKern » Clusta
  James has a peek at some new bits and pieces from Clusta
• Capsule Blog » Home Of Metal at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
  The next Home Of Metal open day will be at Waterhall at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery on Saturday 7th of Feb, from 11am to 4pm. It’ll be hosted by none other than Brummie of the Year, Johnny Doom
• Creative Industries – the slowdown begins? | daveharte.com
  “The latest figures on the Creative Industries (CI) are out” and Dave Harte picks through the highlights
• Photographic Exhibition Black Dance in Britain 1930’s -1990’s – Moments « West Midlands Dance
  “This exhibition features important moments in the history of Black dance in Britain over the last sixty years” At The Drum until 20 Jan
• début » Local shorts – Film Club
  début has a reminder that the dates for the Local Shorts Film Club in 09 are 28 Jan (theme is Art and Politics) and 29 April (Super Eclectic Mix Special)
• 11 Things about promotional packs « Andy Derrick – Musician
  Local musician Andy Derrick is blogging regular bits of advice for musicians

• Brummie of the Year 2008 – Nominations open
  BiNS are asking for your suggestions. The early frontrunner seems to be the (semi-anonymous) TWMDriver
• D’log – Flogging Brum
  “An overseas student recounts his first-time experience of visiting Birmingham”. There’s a 2nd post too. BMAG fares well, Think Tank less so.
• How to promote your night/gig/event online | Chris Unitt
  My notes from a short talk I did last week. This might be of use to someone. It’s not quite comprehensive and all suggestions for improvements would be welcome
• Quiet time
  BiNS provides an update on the previously mentioned ‘The Eye of the Storm’ project. “One hundred and fifty people from around Brum (including Clare Short) were interviewed to discover each’s individual attempts to “manage the stresses of modern living and find calm within the storm”.” The outdoor installation part will be in Birmingham next year
• Exhibition Now Open! | Heard And Not Seen
  The exhibition launched last week and the show runs daily (including Sundays) until the 28th of November. Looks like an interesting one this
• Digbeth is Good – Blank canvas once more
  Nicky spots a wall that’s ripe for a mural
• Prime Objective Blog :: Special People Screening
  Chris “shot stills for a feature film called Special People” back in March. The film is now touring and coming to the Electric Cinema on 24 Nov
• Eye blog » Type, tart cards, T-shirts and crosses
  The piece on the Plus+ International Design Festival I wrote for Eye Magazine’s blog
• CMYKern – Giveaway
  James collected some stuff from Clusta, 4Talent and BIAD at Plus+ the other day
• Art and public transport – commuter survey
  “part of Transitions – my action research commissioned by Longhouse (www.longhouse.com.uk) that concerns the possibilities for creating and disseminating art in a public transport context” Please do it if you’ve got a sec

James Griffin is a 22 year old graphic designer working out of this fair city.  He’s running a great blog called CMYKern picking up on bits of design that catch his eye, just the sort of blog I have a large soft spot for (they’re great for adding colour to your RSS reader).

The scope of his posts aren’t limited geographically but he does seem to profile some local things every now and again, including this post on Jibbering Art’s recent Shambala exhibition where he makes an excellent point:

Being the second largest city in Britain we need to make the most of this type of event and embrace the cities creativity. I didn’t realize how much stuff there was going on in Birmingham until I moved back here after my studies. Birmingham doesn’t lack creativity, or public space, as is apparent by this exhibition, what it does lack is a medium in which to reach out to people. A medium to let people know what is going on. I stumbled across this exhibition by chance and it saddens me to think that I might not have caught up with this exhibition had it not been for a chance encounter.

Yes!  Excellently said.  As much as I’d like to trumpet CiB’s efforts in this area, I spend much more time meeting people who don’t read this blog than people who do.  There’s much more to be done in making people aware of what’s going on.