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On Wednesday 18th June I was helping out fellow artist Vickie Wood at the graduate exhibition at Margaret Street. Several of you may have seen me look a little like this

I shan’t explain, but instead point you to the website to find out more

I was at Glastonbury Festival last week volunteering with Oxfam. When not on my shift watching as people got searched I saw these bands:

Thursday

King Blues

Friday

Ben Folds
Fun Lovin’ Criminals
A little bit of Fatboy Slim
Ozomatli

Saturday

A little bit of Massive Attack
Jay-Z

Sunday

John Mayer
Mark Ronson
A bit of Goldfrapp
A bit of Leonard Cohen
The Zutons
A bit of Solomon Burke
A bit of Manu Chao

As you can probably tell I had my Game Boy Camera with me too :-) There’ll be a few more pictures like that coming soon!

On Tuesday I was at the NGA event at the Q club. I could review the work, which was all very good, especially this work by Chris Hodson (who also has a blog about his work and is a member of B-VAC), but instead I’ll talk a little about the venue itself.

It sucks as a gallery/viewing space.

Hmm, maybe that might’ve been a big harsh, so I’ll rephrase: The building wasn’t used to its full potential and for me it distracted me from the artwork on show. Most of the time I was trying to find my way around and many of the rooms were off limits. This wouldn’t have been a problem, except that the many signs were confusing. I think the venue would’ve worked a lot better if all of the rooms were used, so that the exploration of the building actually had more of a reward. Instead we were given a map. I hate maps, mostly because I can’t follow them.

Thanks so very much to all that came to see the first B-VAC exhibition! It really was a great success.

I had a slight problem with hanging stuff up and we ran out of drinks, but for something that is funded entirely by us I think it was executed very well.

As this is my first exhibition ever (aside from the uni Degree Show) I felt really nervous about how well it’d be received, but my fears were put to rest once the event started. There’s a certain sense of satisfaction when you see someone looking at your artwork. Even if they don’t like it, just knowing that they’ve taken the time to form an opinion on it is more than satisfying.

Here’s a copy of the work I exhibited. (click to expand)
[tags=bvacexhibition1]
Check www.b-vac.com in the coming weeks for more info about the exhibition and future projects.

Last week myself and others were invited to talk to someone from Ofsted about the Flying Start course. For those who don’t already know what it is, here’s the blurb:

An accredited training scheme for artists – working in any art form – who want to gain workshop planning and delivery skills and experience of community arts and participatory arts work.

The inspector was very clear to note that whilst she was from Ofested that this wasn’t actually an inspection. In the five years the course had been running it was identified as an example of good practice* and she was here to get feedback for their website from people who were on the course.

Overall it was really great to talk to her, but I think the general consensus is that it’s a crime that this course wont be carrying on as there is nothing quite like it anywhere else. Sure, you could attend the MA in Community Arts at Staffs Uni, but there’s only so much studying you can do before being thrown into the workshop delivery world. In the three months of the course you really do learn not only how to deliver a workshop, but also a bit about finance, networking, project planning and self promotion, which is something I feel university doesn’t cover enough.

The course is obviously needed, so if anyone from Birmingham City Council is reading this, sort it out and get Flying Start back!

*I may have got the actual terminology wrong, but you get the idea.