t.rex: the killer question

Omg, dinosaurs. New exhibition at BMAG including animatronics, life size skeleton casts and real fossils.

speaker's corner at the hubb

Last night was the first Speaker's Corner at The Hubb Arts Centre (no website yet but you can find them on facebook). Hosted by Mohammed 'Aerosol Arabic' Ali and with input from spoken word artist Aeon and Raymond Douglas who delivered the evening's lecture on street gangs.

Anybody can suggest a topic, performance, lecture etc. It's a totally open forum for discussion, social action and community engagement. It'll be happening every last Friday of the month so look out for flyers.

Although it's only just coming into it's own there is a real sense of excitement and aspiration about the place. And there were cupcakes.

new custard factory site

This is exciting. The Custard Factory has a new website. I work there and I didn't even know. Luckily I came across it on Birmingham: It's Not Shit before it had been up for an embarrassing amount of time ( I also borrowed their screen capture.)

for the young ones

Craftspace Collective have a few events coming up. On Saturday 29th May they will be meeting at Pigeon Park for felting/gaming/music - just email them if you'd like to go along. It's free!

Craftspace Collective is a project is for 16-19 year olds from inner city Birmingham who have an interest in guerilla craft, craftivism and DIY crafts. I would have loved this when I was that age.

Earth|Atmosphere

I recently went to Earth|Atmosphere at the Bilston Craft Gallery, which is part of The Shape of Things. The geolinear ceramics by Halima Cassell were each made of clay from a different country and set up so that each connected to the next through a series of holes and gaps built into the piece. I thought this was a really elegant way of evoking the ideas of belonging and home soil, but also the interconnectedness and diversity of our communities. They were incredibly beautifully crafted and she had constructed a mirrored plinth so that the bottom of each piece was visible which was a lovely touch.

The "Atmosphere" element was provided by Seiko Kinoshita whose woven textiles evoked days of rain and sunshine. These installations were a witty reference to the obsession we Brits have with the weather, expressed using traditional and distinctive Japanese methods. They were really striking pieces that you wanted to run your hands through or stand in the middle of. She provided a few samples of her yarns and woven pieces for handling, and I don't think there was anybody who could resist them. They were hand dyed paper-based yarns that really made me want to go to her workshop but alas, I couldn't make it. ( I also couldn't find a good picture of Seiko's work at the gallery so I chose a different one from her website...)

The exhibition is on until July 10th.