The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator

We like this. A humorous way to sound like a professional art critic, without any effort or knowledge of art whatsoever.

The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator works on a simple numerical system - input any 5 numbers between 0 and  9, hit the button and voila, - instant art bol<*cks!!

Sample: 54308 produces this beautiful, ready-to-use specimen of Art Speak: "Although I am not a painter, I think that the reductive quality of the spatial relationships verges on codifying the substructure of critical thinking."

Harminder Judge - Latest Solo Show - Review in The Guardian

"Do What Thou Wilt" - the title of prominent Birmingham artist Harminder Judges' latest show, a performance piece at the biannual Spill festival, held at The Barbican London in April 2011, sees Judge meditating on themes of "desire, divinity and the power of magic."

From the Guardians' Lyn Gardner : "This show is a reminder of the role that ritual and ceremonial magic continue to play in popular culture, from the rock concert to Olympic ceremonies, and it makes much use of contemporary instruments of enchantment: dry ice and the laser. For its 21st-century audience, living with our coveted gadgets and gizmos in a largely secular society, it might bring to mind Arthur C Clarke's Third Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." We all 

yearn for a little black magic in our lives."

Read the rest of the Guardian review here

Harminder won the Arts Foundation Fellowship Award in Performance & Live Art 2011 with his solo show "The Modes of Al-Ikseer" ; "As a British born Sikh artist, Judge is fascinated by the enduring appeal of faith and spirituality and likes to question the power and relevance of timeless myths and rituals. He explores the space that faith inhabits, both physical and metaphorical, in a post modern and largely secular society."

As a well known face on the Birmingham arts scene and co-founder of Grand Union, the artist led gallery and studio in Eastside, Digbeth, Judge continues to delight and we wish him congratulations on his latest performance and look forward to his continued success.

Visit his website here.

Crowd6 at Trove Birmingham - 6th May 2011

Crowd6 will be exhibiting at Trove, kicking off with a Private View on 6th May between 18:00 - 20:00

More details about the show will be made as and when available. Meanwhile you can visit Trove here, Crowd6 here - and Troves' Facebook page here.

From Crowd6 website:  "Crowd6 are a Birmingham based contemporary art group, who have been organising exhibitions and events in Birmingham since April 2007.

Crowd6 was formed by Elizabeth Short, Steven Varndell, Naomi Randall and Jamie Randall, all of whom are creative practitioners based in the West Midlands. Crowd6 begain it’s life in a shop in Bearwood in Birmingham. During the 18 months in which the Crowd6 space was open, Crowd6 organised, exhibited and curated 13 events and exhibitions ranging from wall based work, spoken word nights, performance, video and installation. Crowd6 gallery space was also used in the national daytime television show Doctors where actors from the show walked around the space and talked about art. Elizabeth Short and Jamie Randall can be seen in this episode as special extras in the background!"

Paul Langford - New Website

Paul Langford is another 2010 V.A.N.S. (Visual Arts by Negotiated Study) graduate who has recently launched his own professional website.

Paul has become known for his multiple sculptures of leaping horses, which featured in his degree show at Bournville in June 2010. Prior to this body of work his practice was mainly focussed on painting. He currently occupies a studio space at The Works in Digbeth.

From his site: "For 2011 Paul will be experimenting with clay and exploring the possibilities of rendering the horse in clay with a view to casting in bronze and other metals. In addition to this project Paul is also working towards another body of paintings on canvas by observation of landsacpe."


Click here for pictures of Paul with his degree show work.

Index of Hope - Adventures in Blogging

Simon Hope graduated from Bournville School of Art in 2010 with a 1st class degree on the Visual Arts by Negotiated Study BA course.

During his time at University Si was a fairly prolific blogger, and indeed, still is. He has gathered his own personal blogosphere together under the title Index of Hope which I highly recommend for anyone interested in art blogs. The Index is an eclectic collection of blogs that range from actual supportive documentation and archive material for course modules, to purely indulgent insights into Si's interests and influences. Si also documents and photographs most of the shows that he attends, especially other students' work and degree shows.

Fizzy Cox & Phoebe Belle Pearce - Level 5 Collaboration

Fellow students Fizzy and Phoebe have launched an online showcase of their collaborative project for Level5 Professional Practice on the Bournville Art & Design BA course.

From their site : 


"BCH Photo was created and carried out by 2 Art & Design students (Fizzy and Phoebe) from Birmingham City university. BCH Photo offered a series of varied photography based projects to children in Birmingham Children’s hospital.

Our aim for the projects was to help the children to learn new techniques and/or experiment with creativity within photography. They were able to adapt the projects to their own artistic style and interests, and then see their photos displayed online."

School of Art Website

Bournville School of Art has its own website. In addition the School tutors are currently working on a catalogue of student art across all levels which should be published mid 2011 - more news on this as & when it happens.

Wooster Collective - The Online Authority for Street Art

For all fans of 'Urban Art' (of which I am quite the evangelist) I highly recommended 

Wooster Collective, THE online resource for all aspects of  sanctioned and un-sanctioned Street Art.

From the site: "The Wooster Collective was founded in 2001. This site is dedicated to showcasing and celebrating ephemeral art placed on streets in cities around the world."


Compiled and edited by Sara & Marc Schiller, the site has been a constant source of inspiration and delight to me for over a decade. It's not just about graffiti, in fact, far from it. Some of the most interesting art produced in our societies, goes un-noticed and unappreciated by the vast majority, primarily because of its ephemeral nature and the fact that it isn't concealed within the white walls of the conventional gallery system. 


Take a closer look and become a fan here

How To Excel at Art Crits

Normal student reaction at Art Crits

So we’ve all been there, Group Crit, Show and Don’t Tell Crit, Mediated Crit etc, but has anyone ever really shown you a formula for getting through a crit in one piece?

Well, surprise surprise, there is indeed a tried and tested process for ensuring that you don’t end up flummoxed, tongue tied or looking like a muppet when your tutors ask you to add your thoughts in a crit session.

It’s known as “The Feldman Method” developed by Edmund Feldman, Professor of Art at the University of Georgia and incorporates a simple, 4 stage process to assist in the successful critique of any artwork. The process is broken down into the following four steps; 

1. Description
2. Analaysis
3. Interperetation
4. Judgement

(A useful mnemonic for remembering the process is “Dem Apples Is Juicy”)

It may seem like an obvious process to some, but I am certain there are many students on art courses across the land who have no clue as to how best to handle a crit session.

Here is a link to a useful blog entry that should help even the most confused art student get through a crit and feel like they are in control and be able to de-code the work on show and assess whether it meets the artists’ intentions: Click here

And here’s a helpful, printable aide memoir that you might want to adopt or adapt to suit your requirements: 

Printable PDF

We hope you find this as useful as we did.

Art of Recycled Skateboard Decks

"Some of the freshest artwork we've recently seen involves taking something old and making it new again. In this case, artist Haroshi took old skateboard decks and carefully crafted them into fresh pieces of art."

I thought that these sculptures made from old skateboard decks were absolutely amazing, to get something that is broken and battered, and to turn it into something that looks like that is mind boggling!

If you want to read and see more images from where I found these click here!

Doublethink Design and more!

As a keen illustrator myself, I am always on the look out for new inspirations and illustrations that "wow" me.One of the main places I love to go to find new inspiration art (not just illustration!) is the tumblr directory.

Today I found a blog called "Doublethink Design" and I haven't found a piece of art on there I dislike (yet)! This blog consists of illustration, photography, design, motion and words! A few art blogs via Tumblr I have found that may be of interest to all of you art bunnies!:

Doublethink Design

Curioos Arts

Tiffant Smalley Blog

Cherry Wallis - New Publication

Hot on the heels of her last self published title 'LitterBob' comes the new offering from Cherry Wallis as part of her Negotiated Program work for her Level 5 Art & Design Ba(Hons) course at Bournville School of Art, where she is currently focusing her skills on illustration - specifically in the field of childrens' literature.

Published via the excellent website Blurb which specializes in short runs and one offs for the aspiring author, Cherry has once again managed to produce a convincing childrens' title that quite frankly makes it look like she's been doing this for years, rather than just since late 2010.

The charming characters of Mrs Hen & Mr Mouse, have great fun in the kitchen making Chocolate Cornflake nests. It has received a positive response from both children and adults and we look forward to her next publication.

Click here for a closer look.

Help Wanted!

HELP WANTED!

It has come to The Ministry of Arts attention that an exciting new production of the rock musical “Hedwig and The Angry Inch” is to be launched in Birmingham for the first time this May. 

ARTWORK NEEDED:

Some “childlike” drawings to be projected during the show. 
Not complicated or intricate.

Not expected to be too time consuming.

And it would suit CV or portfolio purposes!

Fantastic show.  Not your average musical!
Find more information on this musical HERE and a video trailer from the film HERE!

Please e-mail if interested!

darren72lee@gmail.com

Atelier - Bournville School of Art Undergrads launch new site

Level 5 students Uttsav Patel and David Swan celebrate the official launch of their corporate website 'Atelier' this week.

These ambitious young go-getters have joined forces to promote their own practices and showcase the vibrant world of multi-disciplinary arts within the Midlands.

From their site :

"Atelier - Visual Artists is an artist collective, based in the heart of Birmingham (UK). Devised with the goal of producing work in both material and digital, we provide concepts from a wide range of disciplines.

Photography, Film, Sculpture, Performance & Curatorship.

As practising artists, we are driven by our inquisitive nature to learn and develop, in order to offer the most innovative product. 
 We endeavour to generate a clientele that recognizes the valuable and ground-breaking dexterity that we offer. "

We wish them the very best of fortune and hope to have a video interview with the intrepid duo available shortly. 


http://www.atelierva.com/about.php

Arts Council Cuts in Birmingham

Just as The Ministry of Art gets off the ground, we learn of the impact of funding cuts on Birmingham Arts Organisations. Two notable organisations - Vivid and Capsule, have not been included in the Arts Concil portfolio of local business who will continue to receive funding. We hope that they will manage to weather this storm and continue to provide the vibrant and eclectic offering of art events for which they have become known.

The 'We Are Eastside' group, which includes these two organisations, released the following statement on April 5th 2011:



WE ARE EASTSIDE


A consortium leading independent arts in Birmingham
7 Inch Cinema / Capsule / Eastside Projects /
Fierce Festival / Grand Union / Ikon Gallery / VIVID

Statement in response to Arts Council England National Portfolio Announcements

After an amazing life-affirming week of Fierce Festival and Flatpack Festival taking place across
the city of Birmingham WE ARE EASTSIDE wishes to express our continued support and belief
in the growth of arts activity within our city.
THANKYOU TO OUR VITAL AND ADVENTUROUS AUDIENCES IN BIRMINGHAM AND
BEYOND. WE NEED YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT.
We move forward with positive minds but in a very different shape. The restructuring of the Arts Council National Portfolio has resulted in a fragmented scenario. Three members of WE ARE EASTSIDE (Eastside Projects in partnership with Birmingham City University, Fierce Festival and Ikon Gallery) have been given the continued backing of Arts Council England. We were saddened on Wednesday last week by the news that despite the past decade of outstanding work, VIVID will not be given continued support and that Capsule, despite a positive review, were not accepted into the portfolio. The future will be tough, but it is vital at this time that we carry forward the momentum and growth built up in recent years. All members of We Are Eastside are fully supporting each other to continue the momentum of arts activity in Eastside, Birmingham and the UK, through sharing, fundraising, and above all being innovative.

The cuts to the arts through Arts Council England and Birmingham City Council represent a shift in the arts ecology of the city but We Are Eastside has a strong position through a shared vision for Birmingham as an international exemplar of ambitious collaborations across artforms, combined expertise, resources and ideas and sustainable independent artistic activity, which altogether inspires the next generation of young people in our city. We continue to be genuinely local, national and international. We work with others to lead cultural development. We push things forward.

Notes:
The group has been working closely together throughout 2010, sharing ideas and resources, coordinating artistic events and increasing the visibility of our activity as a result of this collective thinking.

We Are Eastside combines –
• UKs most exciting and innovative film festival
• Research, production and commissioning
• Purpose built studios and project space
• Large scale artworks, video and events
• The gallery as an evolving artwork.
• The Home of Metal.
• Crafting extraordinary events for adventurous audiences
• Live Art. Collision. Hyperlocal. Supernow.

We are Eastside - Working together to create a visionary cultural programme for the city of Birmingham.
info@weareeastside.org
www.weareeastside.org

Vinyl - Andre De Jong's pop up gallery - 2011 events.

Andre is a fellow student at Bournville, who last year opened his very own art-space in Moseley by converting the lounge of his own house into the "pop-up' gallery Vinyl

From "Group Dreaming" by Gian-Paolo Cottino

Show's since last year included the likes of Dan Auluk, Gene-George Earle, Gian-Paolo Cottino, and Simon Hope. 2011 sees Andre with several shows planned already : 


May 25-29 Louise Adkins
June 8-12 Nicole Mortiboys
June 22-26 Anne Guest
July 6-17 Amanda Grist and Andre de Jong (Moseley Art Trail 9th and 10th of Jul and the 16th and 17th of July)
August
September (exact date tbc) Hilary Jack
October (late) - November (early) Matt Westbrook (alongside with The Event)


Having attended most of the shows so far I can heartily recommend this unique gallery. A warm welcome, friendly atmosphere and inspiring art-works, all within walking distance of Moseley pubs. Well worth a visit. 

Readers - The new alternative to essays for artists?

Late in 2010, Level 5 (2nd year) BA Students on the re-branded Art & Design course at Bournville School Of Art were notified of a fairly pivotal change within their Contemporary and Historical Context (CHC) module, notably that essays,  long-standing element of the course, were to be phased out and that students would now be expected to produce a "Reader" instead.

For the unfamiliar amongst us, a Reader can best be described as an elaborate bibliography or reference tool, designed to show the vast range of influences that most contemporary artists draw upon, in order to inform their practice.

Described by tutor Cathy Wade as "your artistic DNA", the concept of Readers was met with a mixed response.

The deadline for submission of these offerings was 4th April 2011. From conversations with tutors it appears that Bournville students will be the first in the UK to be tasked with producing a Reader as part of their academic studies. We are certain that the vast majority will be awaiting assessment results with bated breath, although it seems clear that it should be almost impossible to fail this module, given that they are a brand new concept, there are no stringent rules or guidelines, and no precedents when it comes to assessing a 'good' Reader over a 'bad' one.

We will report student reactions, post assessment, as and when they become available.

Welcome to The MoA

The Ministry of Art is a collaborative project between Cherry Wallis and Andy Brittain.

As BA students in contemporary art, studying at Bournville School of Art in Birmingham, they are both keen to establish a student-centric source of information that will focus on events and issues in the local art scene.

The MoA will be a one-stop shop where you will find information on what is happening locally, useful resources for students, and a showcase of local talent across a broad range of disciplines.

If you have upcoming events that you would like to promote, or would like your show or event reviewed, please get in touch via the Contact link in the navigation bar.