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Facebook Pop mogul returns to Walsall to launch his book!
A top music producer who had a hand in the careers of Britney, Kylie and Justin Timberlake is set to return to his Walsall roots for a major book launch.
Walsall Council will host the launch of Steve Jenkins’ autobiography ‘The Future is in the History’ at The New Art Gallery Walsall
, Gallery Square, Walsall on Saturday April 28 at noon.
The music mogul also stages a meet the author session at Walsall library, Lichfield Street from 2.30pm on Thursday April 26 with members of the public urged to come along to both events.
Bloxwich-born Steve, who was a pupil at Walsall Technology College and Joseph Leckie School, became MD of Jive Records after starting a career as a DJ in Walsall, Lichfield and Birmingham. He then joined the record industry with The Beatles management company in the 1970s.
His career has seen him his career has seen him awarded more than 260 platinum, gold and silver discs
Steve said: “No matter where I’ve been throughout my career I’ve always been hugely proud of being from Walsall.
“Being a DJ in Walsall as well as in Lichfield at Barnaby’s and Birmingham at places like Barbarella’s helped shape my understanding of what worked and what was popular that would help me in future years. I was also a DJ at Hospital Radio Stafford which I’m very proud of.
“Now I’ve written my book launching it in Walsall before anywhere else feels the right thing to do and Walsall Council have been really supportive.
“It also feels like the right time to publish the book. So many acts I worked with are returning to the stage and 80s and 90s music seems to be wall-to-wall at the moment.
“What I hope people will take from the book is two things. Firstly, some of the stories behind the big names and records. People have always asked me about how I helped sign Britney Spears and what it was like to work with Pete Waterman, for example. This book tells them and lots of other things.
“But I’d also like people to be inspired to follow their own dreams like I did.”
Jamie Morris, Walsall Council executive director for neighbourhoods, said he was delighted the authority is once again celebrating Steve’s achievements.
He said: “We hosted an exhibition centred on Steve’s life and career at Walsall Museum which was tremendously successful. We’ve very proud to host Steve for the launch of his book and also host an author visit. If people love music they will undoubtedly love coming along to the launch and author visit.”
Artists Steve helped work with include Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Back Street Boys, Steps, The Stone Roses, David Bowie, Bjork, The Prodigy, Groove Armada, Billy Ocean, Kylie Minogue and Simple Minds.
As well as a label boss Steve also worked to market and promote acts.
The book talks about growing up in Walsall in the 1950s and 1960s and talks of his DJ career which started at Pelsall Community Centre.
For four years running from 1999 to 2002 Steve led Jive Records to be the label of the year in the industry’s own Oscars The Brit Awards.
To buy the book log on at: http://amzn.to/stevejenkins.
To find out more information about Steve Jenkins career: http://www.stevejenkinsuk.com/home/
To follow the Facebook page log on at: https://www.facebook.com/SteveJenkinsTheFutureIsInTheHistory
Exciting freelance job opportunity at The New Art Gallery Walsall!
The New Art Gallery Walsall is looking for a marketing professional to work with its staff on an exciting year-long project for young people, Young Damien – Audiences Black Country.
The New Art Gallery Walsall is gearing up to present a year-long exhibition of key works by acclaimed artist Damien Hirst, as part of ARTIST ROOMS On Tour (6 October 2012 – 26 October 2013). This ground-breaking, new display will see Damien’s sculptures, paintings and prints presented within the gallery’s Garman Ryan Galleries. The display will be accompanied by a series of inspired satellite exhibitions, events and activities through the course of the year.
The gallery would like to use the Damien Hirst ARTIST ROOMS exhibition to deepen its engagement with young people and to begin to empower them in the development of the gallery’s wider programme.
The successful candidate will be expected to:
• Undertake online and face to face consultation with young people in order to identify the drivers, motivations and barriers from engaging with visual arts galleries.
• Recruit, manage and maintain a group of young people who will curate a series of events that will target their peers.
• Maintain and manage the Young Damien – Audiences Black Country project.
• Oversee and lead on young people’s events.
• Work in partnership with an artist.
• Compile necessary reports and lead on project evaluation.
• Oversee the online, digital and social media aspects of the project.
This is a 20-day post over 12 months, until March 2013. The overall fee is £4,000.00.
If you are interested in the above freelance contract post, please email your CV and a covering letter outlining your qualities, skills and suitability for the post to Ioannis Ioannou, Audience Development Curator ioannoui@walsall.gov.uk. If you have any queries re any of the above please call Ioannis on 01922 654404.
Deadline for applications is 9am, Wednesday 18 April 2012.
Call for artwork!
NESTA wants to transform their busy networking and events space into an area that inspires their staff and visitors, whilst giving budding artists from across the country the opportunity to showcase their creativity to a large and diverse audience.
To get involved please click below:
http://www.nesta.org.uk/about_us/working_with_nesta/assets/features/call_for_artwork
Spreading the word about Walsall is down to a fine art!
Poets and musicians are showcasing their work on the world stage – courtesy of a website dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh – while raising awareness of the Walsall Mayor’s charity appeal.
The connection has been made through The New Art Gallery Walsall, which is home to one of the artist’s work in the Garman Ryan Collection, and the Mayor’s Poet Laureate Ian Henery.
Solicitor Ian, who is Poet Laureate for the Mayor’s term, was inspired to write three poems after catching sight of Van Gogh’s “Sorrow” in The New Art Gallery Walsall.
“I was wandering around the gallery one lunchtime and felt the overwhelming power of the artwork speaking to me, so went off to the coffee bar and drafted out the three poems which came into my head. I was looking for a picture of “Sorrow” to attach to the poems, went on to the Van Gogh Gallery website to search for one and noticed it “current location unknown” for this artwork. I emailed them, told them it was in Walsall and how it had inspired me to write three poems. They asked to see them, described them as “very beautiful” and wanted to see more of my work. I sent them a fourth poem inspired by another of Van Gogh`s paintings “A Symphony in Blue” and that poem is on their website as well. At the time I didn’t realise their gallery was in St Louis but the internet is universal. No matter where people are in the world – whether it be an apartment overlooking Sydney Harbour, or an office in Willenhall – they can now read about the creativity of Walsall people and the charitable endeavours of our Mayor and give generously.”
The website carries a photograph of Walsall’s Mayor and Mayoress and full details of the Mayor’s Appeal.
“Walsall is on the world stage and I think we should boast about our borough and its talented residents whenever we have the chance,” added father-of-four Ian, who lives in Aldridge.
Sonya Sawall from the Van Gogh Gallery said: “The Van Gogh Gallery is always looking for ways to expose the world of Vincent Van Gogh to new audiences so we are pleased to be able to share Ian’s Van Gogh-inspired poetry with the world. We are one of the world’s most visited artist websites. We are pleased to be able to host Walsall and the Mayor as part of our World Mission!”
Ian’s poetry will join the music of Wolverhampton City Council road officer Tim Philpott and lawyer Stephen Plant, on the website. Stephen’s claim to fame is that Robbie Williams asked him to play guitar on his hit Angels after leaving Take That. Ian was also commissioned by the University of Wolverhampton to write poetry on the 2012 Olympics and his work will be performed at both of its campuses later this year. Ian’s commission is going to the Mayor’s Appeal.
The Mayor of Walsall, Councillor Garry Perry said: “What an amazing story. I agree with Ian, we should boast about our borough and if all those mouse clicks add up to more money for my charities then that’s an added bonus.”
The Mayor’s Charity Appeal is for The Creating Chances Trust, The Swing and PROUD (Parents Relatives and Others Understanding Down’s Syndrome).
For more information and to donate money please go to:
Thoughts from an Art Student
So I was pretty excited when New Art Gallery Walsall got back to me about doing a voluntary placement, so that I could get a feel of what it’s like working within a gallery. I have fond memories of coming to this gallery when I was a lot younger – I love how it is so welcoming and non-elitist. I think more galleries should try and get kids through the door and excited about art. It’s also a really nice building to work in – I vaguely remember my brother, who’s an Architect, coming and having a tour around to see the interesting building and learn more about it. I’m only on my 2nd day here at the gallery, and I’m enjoying it so far. The team have been really welcoming and given me some interesting things to do. I had already seen all of the current exhibitions in the gallery, bar one, about a month ago, but the staff encouraged me to go and have another look around which was nice.
At the moment in the gallery my favourite exhibition is ‘There is a Place…’ on floor 3. The exhibition brings together artists that are interested in psychic connectivity to landscape; depicting generic and urban spaces that evoke personal and collective memories. I am currently halfway through a degree in Fine Art and my studio practice also deals with the idea of ‘collective memory’, so I was really pleased when I saw that the gallery was running an exhibition on just that. Before this I had struggled to find a range of artists that were dealing with the same concepts as me, so it really helped my uni work out. The thing I like about the idea of shared memory is that it tries to relate to everyone; the aim being that everyone who sees the work has a personal reaction and it triggers their own memories – they can interact with it. I particularly like the work of Laura Oldfield Ford and George Shaw which is in the exhibition. The urban spaces they depict feel all too familiar, as if you’ve been there before.
Zarina Bhimji’s latest film ‘Yellow Patch’ has it’s world premiere here at New Art Gallery Walsall! It’s also being shown simultaneously at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. I managed to get down into the gallery space to watch it earlier. The sound in the piece is particularly striking. Reading more about it I realise that the film’s starting point was to do with the trade and migration routes across the Indian Ocean. The final product becomes very detached from this, it is more to do with poetic imagery than any historical facts. The film shows great craftmanship and has a sensitive handling to light and sound. To me the film was about abandonment and neglect. There were no living things in sight (with the exception of a spider and a couple of stray dogs). The film focused on empty and abandoned interiors, and lonely-looking landscapes. I recommend anyone to come and watch the film; I felt it was a bit of escapism from city life.
Epstein’s Rima: ‘A Travesty of Nature’ is also being shown at the gallery, which include Jacob Epstein’s initial drawings for the sculpture he made that was erected in Hyde Park. Rima is the half-wild ‘mysterious woodland girl’ that was a character in one of the books by popular writer William Henry Hudson, and the sculpture of Rima was commissioned for a memorial after Hudson’s death. When the piece was unveiled there was public outrage; Rima was supposed to be the physical and spiritual embodiment of beauty, but instead the sculpture showed a crudely carved figure of a distorted nude girl. The amount of controversy it caused is surprising. Looking at the drawings in the gallery it’s hard to see what all the fuss was about. Maybe it’s because nowadays we see heaps of increasingly controversial art, so this is nothing in comparison. The sculpture was revealed in 1925 which is why I find it so hard to see why it caused so much controversy. Duchamp had already created his ‘Fountain’ piece by this point, where he just presented a urinal turned on it’s side. You’d think that’d create more outrage than a crudely carved sculpture! See for yourself whether you agree that Jacob Epstein ’sold his soul to the devil’ – Morning Post 28/11/1925, when he created this sculpture.
Currently showing on the top floor is ‘Blue skies, nothing but blue skies…’, which shows several pieces of work that are concerned with the power of the sky. It’s appropriately put on the top floor, where light beams in from the large windows and you feel like you’re high in the sky. Looking out the windows at the great view and the sky all around makes the gallery windows themselves fit in with the artworks.
So, there’s a brief summary of all the temporary exhibitions that are currently on show at the gallery. What I really like about The New Art Gallery Walsall is that there is something for everyone. I really believe that anyone can come here and find something that they like.
Kiri Smart, Work Experience Student
Zanelle Muholi – Faces and Phases
On display around the gallery this February.
The 2006 – 10 ‘Faces and Phases’ series of black-and-white portraits by Zanelle Muholi focuses on the commemoration and celebration of black lesbians’ lives. Muholi embarked on this project in 2006, taking portraits of women from the townships in South Africa. In 2008, after the xenophobic and homophobic attacks that led to the mass displacement of people in that country, she decided to expand the ongoing series to include photographs of women from different countries. Collectively, the portraits are an act of visual activism. Depicting women of various ages and backgrounds, this gallery of images offers a powerful statement about the similarities and diversity that exist within the human race.
Passion meets purpose in this body of work. Muholi aspires to see black queers – a section of society that includes gay and transgender people – receive the same recognition and basic human rights, in what she deems a heterosexual society. Her purpose is fulfilled by her use of her visual activism – to give a voice and put a face to the plight faced by black queers, especially black lesbians.
In 1996, South Africa’s constitution made it illegal to discriminate against any citizen, based on sexual orientation. This effort means that South Africa has a healthy number of individuals who are out and living their most authentic lives. This is true for some but not for the queers in the predominantly black townships. The constitution does not seem to cover them because according to Muholi, “We experience rape from gangs, rape by so called friends, neighbours and sometimes even family members.”
She decries the lack of police involvement when such cases are reported and the lack of recourse to the justice system. The townships have been plagued by ‘curative rapes’ because some men have taken it upon themselves to ‘teach’ lesbians the ‘African way’ of life. A bulk of black society has not accepted that there are people who are genetically ‘different’.
9 photos from the series are on display at the gallery’s mezzanine level at top of the staircase at Floor 1 and in COSTA COFFEE. Part of LGBT History Month 2012 http://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/.
Road Trip West Midlands – Artist and Writer wanted… a Commission
The Background
Turning Point West Midlands was set up in 2010. It is a network that aims to strengthen the visual arts in the region through working with artists, arts organisations and national agencies. Writing West Midlands is the region’s literature development agency, supporting creative writers and the development of creative writing. This commission is a first collaboration between the two organisations, designed to showcase new ways for artists and writers to work together.
The Commission
Turning Point West Midlands and Writing West Midlands are delighted to announce this unique commission for a visual artist and creative writer working together. The commission will fund a visual artist and a creative writing to undertake a road trip in the West Midlands and to produce art work (visual art / creative writing) in response to this experience.
The West Midlands region is home to 11 % of the population of England and encompasses a wide variety of communities and landscapes. The exact route taken is up to the visual artist and creative writer although we would like the journey to cover a range of parts of the region. The route could be pre-planned, entirely random, or a mixture of the two. We want the visual artist and creative writer to visit places and meet people along the way, effecting dialogues in various ways, perhaps through impromptu drop-ins or by joining gatherings already planned in advance…
We are asking that a record of the journey is made, treating it as a road trip and conveying some of the chance encounters, the thoughts, the conversations, and the moving through the landscapes. We would like some permanent record of the journey; moving image, audio, broadcast, writing or photography, as well as public interaction through a blog, facebook and/or twitter. Other visual art and creative writing work might be produced, although these would need to be completed within the overall time period for the commission. There may be opportunities for work produced to be exhibited or shared following the project.
The journey can be made by whatever means the artist and the writer wish to use: by car, by public transport, by canal, by bicycle or by foot or by a combination of means. Turning Point West Midlands and Writing West Midlands, in addition to funding will help promote the project and the artist and writer involved and will offer some support in managing the commission.
Budget, Timescale and Copyright
A total budget of £4,000 is being offered for the project to be split between the visual artist and the creative writer (by agreement) and to include all materials, travel and subsistence. The commission should be undertaken in March or April 2012 and must be completed by 30th April 2012. We anticipate that the journey will take up to four days (consecutively or in separate blocks) and that a similar amount of time will be given to producing artworks and writing in response. The artist and writer will own and have copyright to the work they produce, and will allow Turning Point West Midlands and Writing West Midlands to use images and text to promote the project. We will credit the artist and writer at all times.
How to Apply
Applicants without a collaborator
As the period for application for this commission is very short we do not have time to create a mechanism for putting visual artists and creative writers in contact with each other. However we will be using the Twitter hashtag #roadtripwm so feel free to tweet with requests to find a visual artist or creative writing using this hashtag.
All Applicants
Please submit a proposal outlining your ambitions for this commission. This should be no longer than two sides of A4 and should include the following:
• The anticipated route of your journey and proposed means of travel
• Proposals for creating dialogue as part of the journey
• The form(s) of visual art and creative writing that you propose to use while travelling and after the journey
• The anticipated visual art and creative writing to be made as a result of the journey
Please also submit a CV giving details of visual art and creative writing work. A small number of images and no more than two sides of A4 of creative writing may also be submitted or/and links to work on digital platforms. All applications will be treated in confidence.
Please submit to: Wendy Law, Turning Point WM, wendy.law@bcu.ac.uk.
The deadline for submission is 5pm Monday 20th February 2012.
We will endeavour to make a decision by Monday 27th February 2012.
Exploring Documentary Photography – Adult workshop
Exploring Documentary Photography
Saturday 3 December 2011
1pm – 4pm
This is a discussion based workshop inspired by the current exhibition This is Not a House, by Edgar Martins at The New Art Gallery Walsall.
If you have an interest in photography both taking your own photographs and in discussing photographic styles and would like to meet like minded photographers within the region please book a free place and come along, its ideal for new photographers and seasoned pros.
This event will include a practical demonstration of how to use a 5 x 4 camera and the considerations needed for this; planning a photography project and the importance of this to continue your own personal development; and looking at the type of photography genre that you might usually expect to see on a degree level photography course.
The session will also be looking forward to a future exhibition at The New Art Gallery Walsall by photographer Martin Parr. The session is led by Malcolm Brice, professional art & commercial photographer who has taught at Nottingham Trent University for the past two years.
To book a free place (places limited) please call gallery reception on 01922 654400
Group Occupation
Group Occupation
Artist Residencies for ESP Members at The New Art Gallery Walsall
6 March – 2 June 2012
Deadline: 27 January 2012
Extra Special People/Eastside Projects (ESP) and The New Art Gallery Walsall (TNAGW) have teamed up to offer Group Occupation, a series of short, practical residencies for nine ESP members. Working in the Artists’ Studio at TNAGW, artists will occupy the space in groups of three for one-month at a time during March, April and May 2012.
Group Occupation will provide artists with support, time and space within a mutually supportive group context in which to develop new work. Artists will be grouped together thoughtfully according to their practice, interests and approach to the residency, encouraging a useful dialogue and possibilities for working together to develop.
Artists will receive critical support from ESP including facilitated critical group discussions for each residency group with a facilitator of their choice. Participants will also take part in an open studio day.
This opportunity is aimed at artists who want to undertake a self-directed residency in the context of a public gallery and who will benefit from the opportunity of working alongside other artists.
Each artist will receive a fee of £350 (including materials)
Deadline for applications: Friday 27 January 2012
Interviews: Wednesday 8 February 2012
Artists working in any medium are eligible to apply.
Click http://extraspecialpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Group-Occupation_information.pdf for more information on Group Occupation and details on how to apply
Please note this opportunity is only open to ESP members. Extra Special People (ESP) is Eastside Projects’ Associate Membership Programme, it supports the development of work, ideas, connections and careers. Eastside Projects is an artist-run gallery located in Birmingham.
The clocks have turned back, the dark nights are setting in and the end of British Summertime 2011 is upon us…
The New Art Gallery Walsall and mac birmingham have warm summer memories of seaside adventures, long train journeys and artists’ retreats. As Jack Frost begins to nip, we would like to invite you to bask in the learning of British Summertime II – an innovative professional development programme for West Midlands-based artists who explore diversity within their work, initiated by Arts Council England West Midlands and delivered by The New Art Gallery Walsall and mac birmingham, from March to October 2011.
Wrap up warm!
The New Art Gallery Walsall and
mac birmingham
Click below to find out more about the programme: its content, delivery, findings and future aspirations. Plus profiles on the nine participating artists: Shaheen Ahmed, Dan Auluk, Pauline Bailey, Dilwara Begum, Rubina Bibi, Saranjit Birdi, Mark Anthony Carroll, José Forrest-Tennant and Karen McLean.
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