Friday, 26 September 2008

Balena @ The Mailbox



Claudia's beautiful and inspiring sculpture of a whales brain,
the childrens toy whales on show and a view of the gallery.

Balena @ The Mailbox


Paul tells the tale of his "Erdeaux tapestry"

Balena @ The Mailbox



Heather with her 3D story book.
Claudia gets a closer look.

Balena @ The Mailbox


Angela with her paintings.

Balena @ The Mailbox


Joan tells us how she made her whale.

Balena @ The Mailbox



Aurora meets the whale and Claudia & Jess compare pics.

EAF @ Artsfest 08

Well it was all a bit of a last minute rush but we managed to get our stall up and running in time for the opening of Artsfest on Friday 12th Sept and we had a really interesting weekend talking to people and showing our work.

Heather, Ev, Joan and Ron, Patrick and myself chatted with our visitors about what EAF does and there was a lot of interest in the Balena project with people stopping to look at our display of photos and newspaper cuttings from the tailors shop.

This was of course our first time at Artsfest and I think we were all pleased to have taken part and look forward to getting involved next year and with more time to prepare we can have a show that represents the wider interests of the Forum more fully.

So thanks to everyone who came and here's to Artsfest 09.

Simon.

EAF @ Artsfest 08





EAF @ Artsfest 08

























Tuesday, 23 September 2008

All Saints Players latest production.

- A S P E C T -
All Saints Players (Erdington) Community Theatre Presents

Hello... Is there Anybody there?


A Farce by IAN HORNBY
7:30 pm
2nd – 4th October 2008
All Saints Church, George Road
(Slade Rd End)
Erdington, Birmingham
Entrance to car park at rear of Broomfield Road

Adults £5 – Child/O.A.P. £3

Refreshments Included
For Bookings and Information
Contact Tina George : 0121-373-1933

Saturday, 6 September 2008

EAF @ Artsfest '08

We'll be there Sat - Sun in the Artspace at the Council House.

Come along if you can.

For more infomation see the Artsfest homepage here.
























Wednesday, 20 August 2008

Erdington Tapestries now on permanent display at the library.

ERDINGTON COMMUNITY TAPESTRY

The tapestries on show in the library were made in the early 1990's inspired by an original idea by Geoff Bateson then Adult Education Co-ordinator for Erdington.

To begin with the idea was to use the skills of local people to create a single large panel which would trace the transformation of an almost forgotten Warwickshire village to an industrial suburb of England's second city. After a series of meetings it was decided that seperate panels would be created depicting various aspects of Erdington, past and present.

In the Autumn of 1990 an adult education class was set up at the Osborne Road centre led by tutor Jean Brierly and students were assisted in making tapestries which took their inspiration from a broad range of subjects and themes including:

Buildings - Erdington Hall, Rookery House, Pipe Manor.

Churches - Erdington Methodist Church, Six Ways Baptist Church.

Public Houses - The Green Man (now The Lad in the Lane), The Old Roebuck Inn.

Transport - The No2 Tram which ran along the High Street, a horse drawn bus.

Famous incidents - The mysterious murder of Mary Ashford and a hayrick fire which took place at the end of the 19th century.

Personalities of Erdington - Unsung Heroes - George the Verger, Fred the Postman, Jack the Milkman.

Industry - Local gas appliance manufacturer Valor, fighter planes built at Castle Vale (now Jaguar cars).

Miscellaneous - The Erdington Coat of Arms, a map of rural Erdington and panels depicting soldiers from the Warwickshire regiment.


On completion the tapestries were taken to Josiah Mason College and framed by Design & Technology students. In July 1995 the work was exhibited at Rookery House in an event opened by Robin Corbett MP.

After remaining in storage for some time the tapestries are now on show again and Erdington Library is pleased to host this exhibition of the work of local people which celebrates our town.


See pics below.

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ErdComTap 04


ErdComTap 03


ErdComTap 02


ErdComTap 01



Monday, 18 August 2008

Come on down.


Loads of work to be done. Please pop along and lend a hand if you can.

Monday, 4 August 2008

News




Ikon Gallery
Claudia Losi
Balena Project - Erdington, Birmingham, 2008




For the last 3 years Ikon has been working in Erdington through the City Council’s Arts Champions Scheme. This year, Ikon is working with acclaimed Italian artist, Claudia Losi who will be presenting a 25metre cashmere whale in the centre of Birmingham in Sept / Oct 08. During the lead up to this project, Ikon's Education Team has spent a week working with Losi herself and 85 children from Erdington Hall Primary School who, following a period of creative research produced a series of whale drawings. During August 2008, these drawings will be transformed into a collection of small, fabric whales by a team of creative people in the old Salvation Army Charity Shop – 3 New Street, Erdington. The children will then bring these soft-toys as a gift to the large whale during the Autumn.



We are currently looking for people who’d like to join the project team who will be racing against time to make the small, fabric whales. We can cover basic expenses for those who commit to participating for at least 8 days over the Summer … alternatively, we’d be really pleased to see people who’d just like to pop in for an hour or two and spend a friendly, informal afternoon sewing.

Opening Times:
Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 3pm
Admission is free


From 24 September to 16 November 2008, Italian artist Claudia Losi will exhibit Balena, a 25metre cashmere whale in Birmingham – watch this space for location and opening times …

For more information about Ikon, please visit http://www.ikon-gallery.co.uk/ or call 0121 248 0708

Tuesday, 4 March 2008

Friday, 29 February 2008

Newsletter


Erdington Arts Forum

Newsletter 02

30.01.08/29.02.08

Hello everybody.

I trust you are all warm and well and busy planning new art and projects for the coming months. If all goes according to plan we'll be needing loads of stuff from you all to cover the walls of Erdington this year. The main initiative is to develop a programme of events that will constitute Erdington Arts Festival which we want to coincide with Birmingham Arts Fest (which takes place 12th - 14th Sept).

There are of course pros and cons to this as the deadline for Artsfest applications is 28th March so we need to get our skates on firstly with formulating a group constitution which I will be drafting in consultation with Patrick and then presenting to the membership for comments and suggestions. It's vital that we do this as it will give a stong position from which to apply for funding. (Possible applications to Awards for All/Arts Council West Midlands/Birmingham City Council)

Briefly the Festival would comprise all or some of the following:

Theatrical presentations from All Saints Players
Art Exhibition by members of EAF
Photography by (untitled) Photography Collective
Film presentations (from Andy Spencer, myself & others)
Art Exhibition by members of North Birmingham Community Arts
Displays from Birmingham Model Railway Society (and maybe some Scalextric as well)
Public Art projects to involve local schools and other members of the local community (eg Themed painting project for the security boards now going up around St Barnabas Church)
Possible contributions/support from the Ikon. (One of their proposed projects in Erdington this year includes a 23metre long Whale made from textiles by artist Claudia Losi!)
Artist talks and workshops.

So lots of exciting possibilities and a pulling together of all our resources which are many and varied. We have the possibility of using the Cincinatti building as our main exhibition site along with other locations in Erdington (local shops etc and hopefully use of the shop space in Central Square as a gallery) Also Claire Turner from the Ikon has offered their services in regard to curatorial advice and other support and we shall be meeting with her this week to discuss this further as well as liasing with Erdington Town Centre Partnership to garner their support.

The intention is that we form sub-commitees to address issues such as funding, publicity, resources, liason with partners etc and consider such matters as approaching local business for sponsorship and support. I hope that in the next few weeks we can arrange meetings to discuss these matters further and formulate a strong proposal.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have comments and suggestions. It's a lot to consider but if we set our sites high enough I am sure we can achieve a great deal.

Look out for further email updates and info on the blog (http://erdoarts.blogspot.com/)

All the best for now.

Simon.

Email: admin.erdo@gmail.com