Events

6 Week course

18th March- 29th April

6-8pm, Every Monday (will not include 22nd April Easter Monday)

More about the course-

Course Price- £130

This 6 week course will introduce you to several printmaking techniques, teaching you the basic skills with the aim that you will then feel confident enough to continue your printmaking practice afterwards. The techniques you will be learning are:

Monoprinting – Using relief printing inks on Perspex you will produce one-off multicolour prints working with found materials, pens, cotton buds and barens/burnishers.

Drypoint – Working directly onto a Perspex printing plate you will use mark-making tools to create an etching. Using relief inks you will then print using an etching press.

Linocut – Using specialist cutting tools you will be shown how to safely cut lino. You will create a single colour print using relief inks, rollers, barens/burnishers.

Collograph – You will carve out your image using craft knives, you can also use found materials to create images/textures that will be printed using an etching press.

You will learn all the processes in a supportive environment . All equipment and materials provided as well as tea/coffee and biscuits.

What experience do I need?

The course is for 18+ year olds.

This course is suitable for complete beginners or people who have done some printmaking before but want a refresher. You don’t need to have any previous experience as I will guide you through each process step-by-step. All the processes lend themselves well to simple image making using representational images and patterns so do not be put off if you lack confidence when it comes to drawing.

Who is my tutor?

Holly O’Meara is a practising printmaker, photographer and film-maker from Birmingham. She uses her photography to inspire her designs and prints, taking her main inspiration from nature, architecture and the world around her. She is the owner of CraftyBun Studio and sells her prints at craft markets, online as well as doing workshops. She has experience working with people of all ages from 8-60+ years old.

Class size: 6 (maximum)

Materials: All materials are provided.

Complimentary hot and cold drinks, biscuits/cakes are available to keep you going.

If I can’t attend can I get a refund?

We will refund you in full if you cancel no less than 30 days before the start of the course, after which no refunds will be issued. Once booked, you cannot transfer to another course.

What if the course is cancelled?

We reserve the right to cancel the course for any reason (for example, insufficient bookings). We will endeavour to give at least 7 days notice if the course is cancelled and in the event of cancellation we will, of course, issue you a full refund.

Colin Wilson is a British photographer based in Derby. His practice is rooted in the still life and his long term projects focus on ‘rhopography’, the depiction of that which is considered insignificant. The simplicity of his compositions allows for a meticulous and expressive examination of carefully selected objects whose forms have immense force. Working on large format film and hand printing each print, his process mirrors the contemplative quality of the images.

His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including Belgium, Germany, Hungary and Poland and is held in the corporate collections of Deutsche Leasing AG (European Photography collection) Germany and the Mag Collection (Late C20th Contemporary Art).

Free to attend, more information here https://argenteagallery.com/exhibitions/memory-of-touch/

Opening times: Tuesday – Saturday: 12:00noon – 6:00pm

Six months on from our 2018 Next Wave exhibition, sponsored by Galliard Homes and Apsley House Capital, the next wave curators and associates have come together for this group exhibition. This display provides an update on each of the artists and their interesting work.

The Next Wave project began in 2014 as an exciting new venture for the RBSA. The project aimed to stage an exhibition of work by emerging and early-career artists that would add to the variety of the RBSA Gallery’s exhibition programme. It also aimed to support and promote the exhibitors to help them develop their career in the arts sector. Following the success of Next Wave 2014, the RBSA made it a biennial project so that the aims could be developed and continued.

RBSA Gallery open Monday to Saturday 10.30am-5.00pm, Sunday 1.00-5.00pm

An exhibition of ceramics and glass by Mel Mars RBSA that includes stoneware, raku fired pots, sui pots and glass pieces. These techniques create interesting textures and colours on the surface of the pots.

I concentrate on ceramics in my studio in Broseley, Shropshire, England. This is what I did for twenty years in Bala, Wales after leaving college, and then going to work eventually as a Principal Lecturer in Wolverhampton University. Please feel free to touch my pots! Pick them up, see how the light changes them when held at different angles and feel the textures when you stroke them.

The pots in this exhibition are of three types:

Raku – a Japanese style of glazing where the glazed pot is pulled red hot from the kiln and plunged into organic material, giving the individual patterning and colours to the pot.
Stoneware – a hard-fired ceramic, particularly used for creating pottery which as well as having sculptural forms, can be used every day, to cook in and serve and eat food.
Sui (several coloured layers) – a Japanese method of colouring ceramic, where coloured clay runs through the thickness of the pot, not just on the surface. I am using this depth of colour by carving and cutting into the clay, both before and after firing.

The glass pieces were made in Kaunas (Lithuania). Solo Show

RBSA Gallery open Monday to Saturday 10.30am-5.00pm, Sunday 1.00-5.00pm

Stellar vocal harmony is blended with excellent musicianship to make Up 4 The Downstroke the UKs premier band playing RnB faves from the likes of Beyonce, Timberlake, Rhianna and more

Support is provided boogie-woogie style by our resident piano & drum duo.

Bars, Restaurant & Buffet Dining from 6pm.

Admission: Free before 8pm / £5 before 10pm / £8 after.

Dress code: Smart dress – no trainers or sportswear – NO FANCY DRESS

Join us for a tour about the work undertaken by women from the late 1800’s until the 1980’s and the many vitally important jobs that women worked, from working in the office to manual work such as press work, polishing and enamelling.

These women were instrumental in not only making the jewellery quarter the world’s largest jewellery manufacturing area, but also making Birmingham the work shop of the world, city of a thousand trades.

These women are the often neglected heroines of the metal working trade. Working long hours in dirty, noisy, dangerous conditions, for very little pay. This tour celebrates their hard work and fortitude.

A city reveals its secrets to those on foot. Join us for an urban ramble through one of Birmingham’s most historic neighbourhoods in search of signs, lettering and numbers to see what they reveal about this unique part of the city.

The walk takes you on a slow ramble through some of the streets that make up the main centre of the Jewellery Quarter.  Perfect for those interested in local history, street photography and typography or for those that just fancy an urban stroll.

The walk will be led by Tracey Thorne, who also runs ghost signs and street art walks in Birmingham.

Special Offer! Do the Sign of the Times walk and JQ Lettering workshop for a combined price of £6

• Buy your JQ Lettering workshop ticket here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jewellery-quarter-lettering-workshop-tickets-57415710937 
• Select ‘Sign of the Times discount’ when purchasing JQ Lettering ticket 

An introduction to traditional sign writing in the Jewellery Quarter and beyond with Jim Kerr from Seven 9 Signs. Find out about Jim’s work and sign writing practice, explore the basics of drafting letter forms using tools of the trade and have a go at painting letters. All materials provided. Over 18s only.

Special Offer – Do the JQ Lettering workshop and the JQ Sign of the Times walk for a combined price of £6:

• Select ‘Sign of the Times discount’ when purchasing JQ Lettering ticket (£3)
• Buy your Sign of the Times walk ticket here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sign-of-the-times-walk-tickets-57415413046

Stellar vocal harmony is blended with excellent musicianship to make Up 4 The Downstroke the UKs premier band playing RnB faves from the likes of Beyonce, Timberlake, Rhianna and more

Support is provided boogie-woogie style by our resident piano & drum duo.

Bars, Restaurant & Buffet Dining from 6pm.

Admission: Free on the door before 8pm / £5 before 9pm / £8 before 11pm / £10 after.

Dress code: Smart dress – no trainers or sportswear – NO FANCY DRESS

The Future is our Jewel

The Future is our Jewel brings together an exhibition of pieces selected as part of the Erasmus programme. Students from the British Academy of Jewellery, along with those from six additional schools around Europe are taking part in the travelling exhibition, which travels to each school in the programme throughout the academic year.

The brief was to create a piece of jewellery using the topic of water as inspiration. Students were also required to incorporate British values into their piece. Those who were interested in taking part submitted their pieces for judging and those selected were sent to initially to Madrid to be included in the travelling exhibition.

The exhibition will visit our Birmingham and our London campuses and will be available for external visitors, BAJ staff, students and alumni to visit.

Schools taking part include:

• GREECE – THESSALONIKI
• MOKUME
• GREECE – VOLOS
• KEKPA-DIEK
• SPAIN – MADRID
• ESCUELA DE ARTE 3
• UNITED KINGDOM – LONDON
• BRITISH ACADEMY OF JEWELLERY
• PORTUGAL – PORTO
• ESCOLA ARTISTICA SOARES DOS REIS
• ITALY – VALENZA
• SCUOLA ORAFA VINCENZO MELCHIORRE
• FOR.al

Birmingham

Date: 30th April 2019 to 8th May 2019 (Please note the exhibition is not open on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th May 2019)

Opening Times: 9am to 5pm

The exhibition will be located in the lobby of Birmingham Assay Office, 1 Moreton Street, Birmingham B1 3AX

About the British Academy of Jewellery

The British Academy of Jewellery aims to be a jewellery school where technical training is not an afterthought. Where technical skills are not seen as a hindrance to creativity, but where knowledge acquired by the hands provides inspiration.

BAJ’s headquarter is based in the heart of the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter. The academy offers a unique opportunity to be fully immersed in the jewellery world.

Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

HERE’S ANOTHER SALON STYLE EVENT, I’m delighted to announce the next “In conversation with”.

The theme for our next April In Conversation With… is mental health as it was in March with Nathan Dennis.  Nathan gave us lots to think about in relation to the nuanced support that we need to give young people so that they feel safe to talk about their feelings.  In particular the creation of “culturally informed and psychologically safe spaces” – and that’s more straightforward than it sounds.

As mentioned last time – it seems that this issue in particular has a higher profile than ever.  Whether it’s young royals highlighting that they have had therapy to deal with grief, alarming statistics about the growth in numbers of (young people in particular) seeking medication for anxiety and depression or just a more general awareness of the need to safeguard our mental health.

We’ll be tackling the knottier issues of mental illness caused by brain damage or genetic conditions with Dr Hugh Rickards.  Hugh Rickards is programme lead for the MSc in Clinical Neuropsychiatry. He is also a consultant in neuropsychiatry at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation NHS Trust. He studied medicine at Birmingham University and obtained MMedSci and MD degrees studying the neurochemistry of Tourette syndrome. He is the outgoing chair of the European Society for the Study of Tourette syndrome and a director of the British Neuropsychiatry Association. Dr Rickards leads a multi-disciplinary service for people with Huntingdon’s Disease (HD), HD gene-carriers and their families. This team currently provides care and advice for around 300 people.

Hugh and I went to University at the same time – his Twitter biography says “Has mental illness.  Not flippin’ “mental health issues” ffs.”  When I knew him back in the mid 80’s his illness was never mentioned or discussed.  We will consider the changing attitudes to talking about mental health, the advantages and dangers of giving something a label and the Cinderella areas of mental health care provision.  It’s going to be a fascinating discussion.

I created this bi-monthly event in a desire to encourage more of a “salon culture” in Birmingham.  And our first events showed me that it really is possible to create a space for considered conversation and insight.  I’ll be interviewing people from the world of business, culture, policy and government – and we’ll be in conversation about a specific theme or question of importance.  Rather than the soundbites you get in a panel discussion,  we’ll converse:  teasing out a topic in more depth.  The aim is that the conversation will leave all of us in the room challenged, enlightened and energised.  Click here for a lovely account of our November event, there’s a growing number of people who are interested to find out more.

Helga Henry “In conversation with…Hugh Rickards” is on Tuesday 30th April from 6pm – 8pm at 1000 Trades Bar, Frederick Street, Birmingham,  B1 3HE, in the upstairs room. Admission is free (there’s a pay bar) but spaces are limited so please register as soon as possible.

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