Located in the Digbeth art booming workspaces of Minerva Works is Stryx, an artist led studio and exhibition space in Digbeth formed by recent Fine Art graduates from Birmingham Institute of Art & Design.

From the Stryx site:

‘Formed by six female graduates of Fine Art from Birmingham City University, 2012, Stryx’s joint ambitions are to continue developing their art with the ever-growing cultural wealth of Birmingham, and maintaining support for artists internally and externally by creating an accessible community of practice.’

Co-Founder Aly Grimes had the chance to speak to Axisweb in this great video below:

Stryx apparently have lots planned for the new year, but for now you can take some Life Drawing classes in the space every other Wednesday, with the next 13th March.

Check out their website, Facebook and Twitter for more details.

• Birmingham Institute of Art and Design: various times, 11-17 June (art, visual comms, fashion & textiles, 3D design, architecture, jewellery)
• Birmingham Metropolitan College: 16-28 June
• BCU School of English: 27 June, anthology launch and end of year show
• Sandwell College Photography: 13- 24 June,  HNC/HND students’ show at The Public

Every year it’s a pain in the backside trying to find where and when all of these are happening. If you’re organising or involved in one or even if you’ve just come across the info somewhere, please let me know in the comments (a link will do). Thanks!

Thanks to the Fake Magazine ladies for putting me on to Resign:

A small collective of BIAD final year students (fao @createdinbrum) have produced a short film for their FMP/to kickstart their careers – blooming fanastic. BIAD’s Visual Communication course are continuing to produce outstanding graduates

I’ll be honest, I have no idea what FMP stands for and Urban Dictionary is, oddly, not helping. I’m sure someone can be kind enough to expose my idiocy in the comments. Anyway, check out the nicely produced website and film at resignfilm.co.uk

Obsessionistas presents an exhibition of personal collections from across the staff and student community at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design.

On show are a broad range of items representing twenty five different collectors and their collections, including Japanese guitars, vintage hairdryers, Spirograph sets, English delftware, Mickey Mouse ties and deely boppers

The exhibition’s on now and runs until 16 December. The photo above is of Jo Pond’s collection of brushes.

There’s something really quite nice about this. Obsessionistas is run by Graham and Helen Powell and started back in April. Their aim is to celebrate collectors and their collections, with around 80 highlighted so far – many of them from around the West Mids area.

This is Sunny:

We Grow Cherries is:

a talent pool of graduates from the BA (Hons) Visual Communication course at BIAD, BCU. Our Visual Communication graduates span Graphic Communication, Illustration, Photography and Moving Image

Over at CMYKern James has been picking out his highlights.

The Typographic Hub is:

part of the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design at Birmingham City University; the Hub works to promote the history, theory and practice of typographic design

They organise an annual typographic symposium (16 March this year) and will be publishing a fair amount of typographically-related articles.

The website (built by Supercool) has had a fair amount of good attention from the likes of Hoefler+Frere-Jones (I’ve no idea who they are but 100,000+ followers on Twitter show’s they’re doing something right) and Gary Hustwit (who did the Helvetica and Objectified documentaries) among others.

Still don’t have an outfit lined up for New Year? Don’t panic yet! A team of MA Fashion Media students at BIAD have been busy in the run up to Christmas and New Year, coming up with an all you need to know guide to party outfits for the festive season.

Collaborating with local models and photographers, stylists Elca Jeffers, Caroline Ropper and Laura Beany have put together a shoot featuring their key looks.

Here’s a few of their suggestions:

Sequins and Metallics are a firm favourite during Christmas and New Year…

For a hint of shine and sparkle this festive season pull out that little sequin skirt, jacket or the full on metallic dress, pair with thick black tights and chunky heels and a fur jacket, coat or shrug. If that’s too much for you accessorise a plain dress with some shiny jewellery even mix and match gold and silver for that metallic effect.

Faux Fur

Faux fur collars, shrugs jackets and coats are a stylish way to keep warm and feel luxurious; they can dress up a casual smart outfit or give you the full glamorous look on top of your perfect evening outfit.

Tailored for the Lady

Funk up your old work jacket by rolling up the sleeves and placing a broach on your collar, then throw it over your favourite party dress, and there you have the most classic look of the season and future seasons to come.

The Little Black Dress “LBD”

Make a statement with your LBD and add oversized jewellery or go for that sophisticated look with dainty diamante pieces or even try the gothic look and team with black jewels, lace tights and bright red lips.

Curvy Corsets

Corsets can be reworked each season and look great with a nice pair of jeans for that casual smart look or with a pencil or puffball skirt which can create a unique party dress effect.

Hunting for haberdashery is also on their radar, listing tassels, diamantes, thinestones, lace, studs, ribbons and sequins as things to look out for.

They also suggest raiding your mum and grandma’s wardrobe to dig out vintage accessories, building your own look from the 1920’s to 1980’s, “these days even the 90’s are classed as old school”.

Photographs shot by Miles Thomas and Ryan Wicks, featuring models Jas Kaur and Tatyana Advani.

Aedas have teamed up with BIAD and Triumph Motorcycles for their latest exhibition, ‘Accessories’, which will launch with a preview show on 16 December at Aedas, Colmore Plaza.

The exhibition will feature pieces designed by MA Product Design Students at BIAD, who’ve produced a collection of 18 alternative lifestyle accessories inspired by components from the Triumph Bonneville T100.

‘Accessories’ will be on display until 20 December, and includes designs for cookware, furniture, audio equipment, household appliances and even pet toys. Triumph will also be awarding one student with a work place opportunity at the company

For more information on the exhibition, contact aedaspresents@aedas.com or take a look at this post on Beverley Nielsen’s Design and Innovation WM blog.