I just came across this and don’t think I’ve linked to it from here before:

Funded by Arts Council England and jointly conceived by The New Art Gallery Walsall and mac Birmingham, British Summertime 2 is a career development programme for emerging and mid-career visual artists who come from diverse communities. More broadly, the programme aims to increasing knowledge, access, networks, artistic standards, and leadership in order to strengthen and enrich the visual arts scene.

The artists involved were Dan Auluk, Dilwara Begum, José Forrest-Tennant, Karen McLean, Mark Carroll, Pauline Bailey, Saranjit Birdi and Shaheen Ahmed.

There’s information here via New Art Gallery Walsall and there was a British Summertime 2 blog too.

The ‘SUR-FACE’ exhibition represents a visual response to the word ‘surface’. The theme captures the essence of the exhibition as the ambiguities of the word ‘surface’ allows for wider expression and interpretation of the concept.

Saranjit Birdi: Explores social dynamics of territory and freedom through the surface of a life-size, action-painting installation combined with dance, movement and mark making as an art form.

Live performance of ‘Paint Box’ 7pm at Private View with special guest WINSTON NELSON – Former UK Kickboxing champion

Marie-Claire Calatraba: focusing on ink drawing techniques, deconstruction and reconstruction of images, re-working layers, development of detailed layered drawings and built-up surfaces.

Karen McLean: questions what lies beneath the surface in an installation that interrogates the historical and contemporary evolution of African Caribbean kinship and the marginality of the father figure.

Janice Talifero: demonstrates the use of protective surfaces in contemporary art like animal coats, skins and feathers, use of latex, colour and spatial aspects of large format abstract paintings.

The private view is on 23 Feb from 5.30-9pm but presumably, unless you’ve been specifically invited, you shouldn’t go along to that because you’re not wanted. Maybe go some other time instead.