Galleries Night (Mince Pies and Wine)

Dean Kelland - Performance still 2011

Five of us met up at the IKON to partake of a FREE Art Bus, Guided tours, mulled wine and mince pies. The latter were brilliant but we only managed a tour of the RBSA and The Ikon as time ran out getting from one venue to the next. We decided the Barber Institute would have to wait for another day and also the pub, never did get there.

Travelling from the IKON to the RBSA it was decided that that would be our starting point. Once there and having indulged ourselves of the food and drink available we realised if we were to try and get to the rest of the venues it would take longer than getting the last bus back to the centre of town.

Scrambling on the bus at the RBSA we saw the outside of Eastside , The MAC and the Barber Institute and then returned to the IKON.
The RBSA is exhibiting Pat Landon’s work on the cafe wall until 10^th December 2011 and Open all Media in the two upper galleries until 24^th December 2011.

The Ikon exhibitions we visited were Dean Kelland’s  Living Room Series (Episode 2): The Desperate Hours which is on until the 5th February 2012
“Dean Kelland works with performance, photography, film and appropriation to explore portraiture, producing engaging observations of our collective cultural identities”
and then John Myers’s exhibition Middle England on until 5th February 2012
"This is the first major exhibition by Midlands-based artist John Myers. Comprising black and white photographs made in the 1970s, Ikon’s selection includes Middle England (1970–1974), a number of portraits of individuals and families living in and around Stourbridge and the Black Country”.
View John Myers video about his work on Vimeo

The last exhibition we visited was Stuart Whipps - Why Contribute to the Spread of Ugliness? on until 5^th February 2012
“Ikon presents an exhibition of new works by Birmingham-based artist Stuart Whipps, a selection of photography and video reflecting on the changing nature of cultural value.
A new two channel video installation, England and the Octopus, Britain and the Beast (2011), focuses on the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog in North Wales, a former quarry town at the geographical centre of Snowdonia National Park. When the Park’s borders were created in 1951 the grey slate waste tips that surround Blaenau Ffestiniog prevented its inclusion, a decision made in part by the eccentric architect of Portmeirion, Clough Williams-Ellis. Whipps shows new film footage of the town teamed with a Welsh-language script sourced from texts written or edited by Williams-Ellis”.

Time to catch the train which was delayed, so arrived home at 10.45pm pub visit was abandoned.

Maureen Toomey 

Degas at the Royal Academy

The Dance Class (La Classe de Danse),1873–1876, oil on canvas, by Edgar Degas

On Tuesday I travelled to London to visit the exhibition at The Royal Academy of Edgar Degas (known in his lifetime as the painter of dancers). Despite the cancellation of all trains to London from Solihull and the pronunciation of Degas on the audio description being very different to the familiar use of the name the visit was really enjoyable.

Having never seen any of Degas work in reality I so was surprised at how faded the colours were. The sculptures were my favourite, particularly the little dancer, standing no more than 98.4cm it is a painted bronze with muslin and silk. The sketches made of the different poses were remarkable, mainly drawn whilst the dancers were practising or waiting to dance. These sketches were shown alongside photographs taken at the time. Very interesting exhibition. Maureen Toomey

Watercolour, Stone and Glass Exhibition

Last week we made a trip to the Art Barn at Preston Bagot to see the work of Graham and Ian Blaine and the stone carving of Nick Bragg a cathedral trained stonemason. Graham had filled the walls with his watercolours which sit well on the old stone walls and Nick had his ’Glasses Krew’ set up in a group on the mezzanine area of the barn. We thought the Krew looked like some characters from the Muppet Show. Both Ian and Nick were demonstrating their working methods outside in the glorious sunshine. We then adjourned to the Crabmill for lunch and critique with Avril blending very nicely in her lime green attire with the grape vine behind her. Maureen Toomey

Jammers do the Saatchi

Folkert de Jong - The Dance

Today the jammers went to London and back for £2 on Chiltern Railways. We began our art jaunt at the Whitechapel Gallery where Cornelia Parker had made a selection of over 70 works from the Government Art Collection. The place is laid out like a rabbit warren and we had to ask twice in order to find the café.  It was an eclectic mix, grouped in colour ways, with my personal favourite being the very funny Print for a Politician by Grayson Perry – it showed civil servants being hung.

We were mesmerised on the tube journey over to the Saatchi Gallery by a man on his laptop concentrating so hard his tongue had taken on a life of its own. The exhibition here was The Shape of Things to Come – a selection of work from 20 international artists. It is playful, witty and colourful with the emphasis on the traditional sculptural concerns of form, expression and how we interpret the human body - great to see this as a move away from the piousness of some latter-day conceptual work. Coffee and critique (with much people watching) followed in the Duke of York Square, Kensington. Jackie Mackay

Oundle Exhibition

Last Friday evening I went to the opening of an exhibition of two midland artists Taz Lovejoy  and Mark Biddulph.  The title of the show Colour meets Monochrome, held at The Yarrow Gallery, Oundle. A fantastic space which the two artists filled with different bodies of work: Taz who is concerned with colour and how it affects and changes our environment, and Mark who is concerned with creating visual environments.

At the end of the evening they sold about 7 pieces of work and had a commission for another which was fantastic, especially for contemporary work which seems harder to sell. 

The Yarrow Gallery is part of the Oundle Public School, and if any one wants to book this space they are taking proposals for 2013. Avril Elward

Groundwork on the Birmingham Canal

Today we battled against gale force winds for our inspiration day on the canals in central Birmingham. We took photos because it was not a day conducive to sketching, and there was much discussion over lunch at the Malt House. We agreed the date in a few weeks to show each other work/ideas developed from today's meet.

We also called in at a couple of galleries. The Castle Gallery in the ICC was showing work by Daisy Boman which got a thumbs up - unlike the work by ex art forger John Myatt whose 'Monets' looked decidedly crude. By the way pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard are in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery until December if you haven't seen any of it yet. Jackie Mackay