Here's some more fantastic work from our People's Postcode Trust funded postal art club. These are responses to the theme 'A Close Up View'. Aren't they amazing!
Thanks to Alison, Jo and Chris, and also to Sally for the stunning photographic submissions!

We're really enjoying seeing all of the Quarantine Art Club pieces arrive through the post - it's such a joy seeing the results of your creative endeavours... thanks to our artists Bethany, Ruth & Leah for these treasures. 

Getting these fabulous little artworks back through the post is such a treat!
Huge thanks to our artists Joanne, Noelle, Cheryl, Chris, & Ruth for this selection of loveliness. 

Hello Quarantine Art Clubbers (QACCERS? quackers?!)
We've seen some lovely examples of artwork already, responding to the theme of 'Here Comes the Sun'. The second theme we have asked you to explore is 'Layer it' - so here are some more images and ideas to get you thinking... 

...and below you can see some of the first artworks to come back to us! - thanks to Ruth and Alison for these. 
The first theme we have asked participants to think about is 'Here Comes the Sun', which up until today has been quite apt! The packages we sent out - full of interesting paper bits and other materials for collage - were a little delayed in the post but got there eventually (please do let us know if you haven't had yours ASAP). 
Don't forget postal people - we would like you to send 2 A5 artworks for each theme... they will all be hand bound into very special one-off zine / artists books for participants to keep. We are also scanning them so we have digital copies of everything produced.
We can't wait to see more!
​Thanks again to the wonderful Postocde Community Trust for allowing us to change the way we are using our funding in these unusual times. 

A lot of the organisations who fund our various initiatives have been working hard to support projects like ours at the moment, including the Postcode Lottery Trust, who have said that we can re-direct the funding we received for the Friday Art Club to something more 'deliverable' in these challenging times.
We are currently planning a postal art club that will take the place of the art club at the library. It will involve us sending out a monthly pack of materials and prompts to the people who sign up. Participants will produce a piece of artwork on a postcard sized piece of paper, and send those back to us every fortnight. At the end of the project, postcards from all participants will be bound into a set of very special limited edition zines, which will be given back to project participants!
​Interested? Please email us at stirchleyartroom@gmail.com ... and we'll keep you posted! ​

'Unusual times' - probably a bit of an understatement!
As you may have seen we have taken the decision to postpone all of Stirchley Art Room's various activities at the library for the time being, to protect the health of everyone we work with. When things have settled down we will publish new dates for both Change a Book and the Art Club, as well as other exciting future projects we are currently planning. 
In the meantime, we intend to continue offering art learning opportunities for the community, somehow, by offering project ideas, tutorials & links to artists and information online.
We would welcome your thoughts on how we might do this and what sorts of things you would like us to do! Please email us at stirchleyartroom@gmail.com or message us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook (@ArtStirchley) if you have any suggestions. 
Take care folks! ...and watch this space. 

Nicki 

We can't quite believe this has come around so quickly, but it is nearly time for the third and final set of workshops in our Arts Council funded project. We hope to see both new and familiar faces at the 'Change a Book' workshops, where we will be exploring ways of re-binding, recycling and re-purposing existing books and texts. All workshops and events are now available for booking on Eventbrite.
See our Whats On pages for more info. 

In the meantime, we are also currently planning an exhibition that will follow the recent 'Fill a Book' workshops - we will be having an opening evening event at the library on Tuesday 17th March, and the exhibition will continue until March 28th. 

Also in the meantime - Friday Art Club continues! This is our free drop in art club for adults, funded by players of the Postcode Lottery. See below for details!

Although we're having a break from the book arts workshops, it's still going to be a busy month for Stirchley Art Room - we are very happy to be working with the Canal & River Trust again to deliver some workshops for Bournville Bookfest (in addition to our own book making workshops for the Bookfest in June). Exciting times!

Nicki 

The next part of the project, 'Fill a Book', starts this Monday - please go to our 'Whats On' page for info about this and our Sketchbook Circle. 

Thank you Phil Banting for letting us use some of your photos; thanks as ever to the wonderful library staff, Friends of Stirchley Library & Arts Council England for their support with our ongoing book arts project.

Nicki