Art of Ideas kicks off towards the end of this week, the four day event will celebrate the cultural life of Birmingham, with a series of talks, exhibitions and related events held at various galleries and institutions around Birmingham.

We’ve already mentioned a few of the associated events such as The Witching Hour and In Conversation with Brian Griffin and Stuart Whipps, so here are some of the other highlights…

12 November: Grand Union Event,
7.30pm – late

Launching the new Grand Union Editions, patrons scheme, plus an artists talk will be given by Jamie Shovlin on his current exhibition, Hiker Meat, along with Mike Harte and Euan Rodger.

Places must be booked, so e-mail Grand Union to reserve your spot.

12 November: What is an art collector?
6.30 – 8.30pm at Ikon

13 November: The Future of Public Collections, Collecting and Spending £1m.
6.30 – 8.30pm at Ikon

13 November: In conversation with… Paul Hedge (Director of Hales Gallery, London)
3 – 5pm, New Art Gallery Walsall (free event, no booking required).

14 November: Brokerage, Endorsement and Representation.
3 – 5pm at the Lecture Theatre, BIAD, Margaret Street

Unless stated otherwise, e-mail or call 0121 248 1200 to book your place for these events.

Artists Clinics

Art of Ideas have also teamed up with Business Link West Midlands to deliver a series of development workshops aimed at new and emerging artists. They will look at how artists can increase their income through alternative routes to market.

mac: 12 November, 11am – 1pm
Wolverhampton Art Gallery: 18 November, 10am – noon
mac: 19 November, 11am – 1pm

Places for this must be booked, e-mail or call 0845 113 1234. Places are limited.

Photographer Liz Hingley spent two years researching and documenting the diverse culture and religious communities who inhabit Handsworth’s Soho Road.

Her critically acclaimed exhibition ‘Under Gods’ stories from Soho road is now open at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, running through until 26 February 2011.

At a time when religion is seen to cause much social unrest and breeds fear through misunderstanding, the photographs show the reality and intensity of different lifestyles and the beauty religion brings to everyday inner city life.

– Liz Hingley

Take a look at the collection on her website for a few interesting quotes which accompany the photographs.

Can you tell us a little bit about Victorian Wolverhampton?
Victorian Wolverhampton celebrates the opening of The Victorian Galleries here at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Bantock House. Everyone here is really excited about the displays finaly opening after so much hard work that has gone into the project, and I thought that to engage the community with the displays, we would need a website which can give them a behind-the-scenes look at what is going on. It’s not all just from me! There is a community panel who are researching stories and information.

What was your first reaction to being given the task of setting up a blog?
I was terrified but really excited all at the same time. I have never done anything like this before, I don’t even have a Facebook or Myspace! I also don’t get on too well with computers, but I love researching and learning especially about local things. I’m not from Wolverhampton either so it has been quite a lot of work as I didn’t know very much about the city at all. I didn’t really know where to start, I had to have a crash course in blogging!

What difficulties have you faced when creating the blog and fitting it around the existing website?
I’ve had to be really careful with what images I have chosen to go on the blog, the images from the collections all have to be credited. Also, all of the information has been subjected to some scrupulous examining by the staff working on the displays, which is a bit daunting. Other difficulties have been technical, as this is my first encounter with blogging, I am really learning as I go along however, I do think that I have picked it up really well, the blog is only 4 weeks old!

What have you found most surprising or exciting?
I think the most exciting thing was when after working on it for about 2 weeks, it was then published! I was so happy when I looked at the statistics and found that people had actually been looking at this blog that I have worked really hard on. I knew that blogs are the way forward and that they really do reach a wide variety of people, but it’s great to know that people are actually looking for it or stumbling across it and learning something new. It hasn’t had any comments yet, but I am looking forward to feedback from the community about it. What has been surprising is how easy it is once I knew what I was doing, sometimes I have made mistakes, but I’m learning from them and getting quicker at posting items and working on the pages.

What advice can you give for people wanting to start their own blog?
I would say think very carefully about what you want people to get out of your blog. It’s great that it is a space for you to share things that interest you but why are you sharing it? Also, you have to think about the tone of your blog. They tend to be more chatty than websites, and snappy to so that you engage people and make them want to read more. When I first started working on the blog, I think I took too much of an formal tone, I’ve tried to relax this now and be more myself which is very important but then you don’t want to alienate people either- so it’s about trying to get that balance.

Half Term Family Workshops
Following a special gallery tour, families will use a variety of media to creatively explore the themes and ideas within the current exhibitions.
17, 19 February  2 – 4pm
Ikon Gallery
Free – to book call 0121 248 0708.

Science Spectacular
Drop in during half term to trap silly specimens in jars, cast ancient dinosaur teeth, create your very own planet and much more!
16 Feb – 20 Feb 11am – 1pm
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Free

Gigglefest!
Gagsters, comics, pranksters and clowns will be performing as well as the opportunity for budding young jokers to learn some tricks of the comedy trade.
All week.
Central Library.
Free

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Although I’ve only dipped into have a look occasionally, Capsule’s Home of Metal project seems to be picking up pace nicely.

This blog is going to be used to keep people going until the archive is launched at the end of the month and will then be used for info around related events, contributions from volunteers, news and all that sort of good stuff.

The next event is an open day (with special guests) at Wolverhampton Art Gallery from 10am to 4.30pm.  Entry and refreshments will both be free.  It’s part of the Hello Digital thing and I’ll definitely be popping over for a look around at some point.