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
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We'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who has contributed their thoughts and ideas to our ongoing consultation about transforming the first floor of Stirchley Library into a community art space. Comments have continued to be returned via the website form and on the paper flyers handed in at the library, so we thought we'd share some more of them.
The comments we have received have continued to be incredibly positive and supportive, both in terms of there being a new community art space, and also in how it will benefit the library itself in the longer term.
The particular heritage of Stirchley Library has been mentioned, and the relevance of this is something that has also come up in the face-to-face conversations we have had with members of the community over the past few months. Stirchley Art Room at Stirchley Library seems to feel like a good fit, an appropriate and meaningful partnership, that pays tribute to a local history of community benevolence and recognises the special role the arts can play within this. "I whole-heartedly support your dream of a community art room in Stirchley, more particularly in the first floor of the Library! Amidst all our preoccupations of daily life, and compounded by the dearth of community space and time, we desperately need to re-inspire ourselves and connect in meaningful ways. This is a fantastic way of doing it. Especially in a building that was made possible by Carnegie and Cadbury. I can think of no better way to honour and sustain their legacy." We are excited to announce that thanks to funding from Arts Council England, we are going to be delivering a series of book arts community workshops over the next few months, in our very favourite place: Stirchley Library! Since our very early days, Stirchley Art Room has worked closely with the library and we have always been made to feel extremely welcome by staff and FOSL volunteers. We have always been interested in the crossover between books and visual arts, and in the summer of this year we put together a funding bid to support an accessible and affordable series of workshops of events designed to explore book making, bookbinding, and lots of other associated artforms. We were thrilled when we discovered we had been successful, and in recent weeks we have been finalising our plans for this exciting project. The project has three phases: Make a Book, Fill a Book, and Change a Book. The first phase begins on November 18th, and places can be booked using the links below. We have planned to sessions to be as accessible to as many people as possible, with events taking place on weekdays, evenings and weekends. The courses are free of charge to people who are not currently earning, with a nominal charge for those who are. Make a Book Mondays: 10-2pm on November 18th, 25th, December 2nd, 9th & 16th.
Make a Book Saturdays: 10-2pm on November 30th & December 14th; 10-12pm December 7th. (A shorter version of the Monday course) Coptic Bookbinding with artist Chloe Spicer: Artist talk 10-11.30am, and workshop 12.30-3.30pm, Saturday 23rd November. Please share far and wide! Dates for phases 2 & 3 will be announced shortly... Nicki Over the past few weeks, we have been seeking your thoughts & suggestions about our idea to transform some of the first floor of Stirchley Library into a community art room. Sarah spoke to attendees at a recent Stirchley Forum meeting, we had a stall at the Stirchley Late Summer Bash at the end of August (seems like a long time ago!), and we have been in the library on the past two Saturdays working alongside other community events. On Heritage Open Day we invited visitors to show some love for the library by making origami library hearts and adding thoughts about the past, present and future of the library to a copy of the rather beautiful architectural plans. Earlier today we teamed up with Lego Club to help children think about what the library of the future might look like. Amongst our favourite ideas were rooftop gardens, slides between floors and robotic arms to help select books! Very cool. Lots of people have shared their thoughts with us - both by filling in our online form and by commenting on our consultation flyers. Happily, these responses have been overwhelmingly positive...
We are going to continue to ask people about our plans during the course of the feasibility study (in partnership with Apec Architects, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund) - please spread the word and keep letting us know what you think!
Nicki |