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Hi there
I'm Lisa Beauchamp
Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
here at Birmingham Museums Trust.
I'm going to speak to you today
about a new exhibition which is opening
which is called New Art West Midlands.
New Art West Midlands is a multi-site exhibition
which is taking place at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts
Grand Union Studios in Digbeth
and Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
Wolverhampton is a new venue for 2014
and this is the second year of the project
which was initiated by Turning Point West Midlands.
So what is New Art West Midlands?
The project is about artistic development
and really giving graduates the first opportunity
to showcase and display their work
in major venues across the West Midlands region.
So this is the second year of the project
and we are really excited again to be leading this
at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
Here we are showing 13 artists
and overall 23 artists have been selected for the exhibition.
So I think the show at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
is incredibly varied and many of the artists have chosen
to make new work as well which is really exciting.
So behind me here we can see a piece by Ali Reed
which she has titled 'New Art West Midlands'.
And it is a new piece that she has made
specifically for the exhibition.
And working with architectural footprints
and gallery layouts of all of the New Art West Midlands venues
she has created a 3D site specific installation
almost looks like a circuit board approach
but are incredibly detailed
and are made up of laser cut stacks.
A few other artists we are showing
at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
include James Birkin who's paintings
reference a former nightclub in Coventry.
Also some of the other artists
we've got Sikander Pervez
a Staffordshire graduate.
His sculptures look at the
functionality of every day objects.
And his sculptures are very playful and humorous
so I think you'll really enjoy looking at his sculptures
here and also at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts as well.
Another installation piece we have here
is a work by Coventry graduate Lucy Hutchinson
called 'For Home and Country'
and this piece is made up of some really stunning
hanging, gold hand screen printed wallpaper
and alongside she's showing some photographs as well.
And the work looks at cultural differences
within her own family.
So a few of the other artists to talk about
Morna Lockie-Anrig, a Birmingham City graduate.
She is showing a floor piece
which almost looks like Minton tiles
but are actually made up of pulped food scrapings.
Having worked as a waitress in a restaurant
she's collected food scrapings
and incorporated them into some pulped tissue.
So from above it looks like these beautiful Minton tiles
but then when you look at the ingredients list
you can actually trace some of the remnants.
So just to finish off
we also have a catalogue for this exhibition
so here is the catalogue here
it arrived this morning, very exciting.
So this catalogue includes essays by all of the selectors
and then also there is a page for each of the artists
and an image of their work as well.
So I hope you'll come and see the shows.
They launch on the 14th February
and they are on until mid May.
At Grand Union it is a shorter run until the middle of March.
Thanks a lot.