Inviso by Inviso

SPECTRUM F I N E A R T & G R A P H I C M AT E R I A L S

175 CORPORATION STREET B4 6RG

BIRMINGHAM

We believe that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Art is not what you see, but what you make others seeâ&#x20AC;?. We aim to inspire people in Birmingham to explore their city and discover the beating heart of the art community.

Written Design Ilustration Photograp Animation

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Haberdasheries & Art Stores

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The Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Library

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Everything Can Start as a Box

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BBOY Championships 2013

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The Electric Cinema

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A Night with Marling & Mulvey

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Kate Nash at The Institute

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Stores

The Fancy Silk Store 25 Moat Lane Birmingham, B5 5BD The Fancy Silk Store is just a stone’s throw from the Bullring, tucked away from the main hustle and bustle of the city centre. The Fancy Silk Store does boast a superb range of silks, evening fabrics and more. The staff is more than willing to help you ﬁnd the perfect bolt of material to suit your needs. However, it’s a shame to say that despite the great range of materials and the friendly environment it’s hard to tell what a gem this store is just by looking at it. To get around the store you often ﬁnd yourself having to squeeze past other people, and with the poor layout it can be more than challenging to reach fabrics without worrying about being buried beneath a stylish avalanche of cottons, and silks. This said I would still recommend it as a one stop fabric shop, for those who don’t mind a challenge.

Guthrie and Ghani 169 Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 8JR Guthrie and Ghani, is a small fabric store situated just outside of Birmingham city centre. It’s a beautiful little shop, with a retro feel that adds to the experience of sorting through their small but well chosen selection of patterns and materials. Not only do they have the regular vogue, Burda style and McCall clothing patterns, but they also have a wide range of imported American patterns that are impossible to ﬁnd in the average fabric shop. The people at Guthrie and Ghani are incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and passionate about their work, telling you that if you are interested they also

offer regular workshops for sewers and knitters of all skill levels. Not only will you be impressed by their eclectic range of patterns, but you will also be astounded that they also stock a rather interesting display of knick knacks, and wools. So you are not only limited to dress making, but they have everything you need to make bags, scarves, hats and more. Guthrie and Ghani may be a small shop, but for sewing and knitting aﬁcionados, or those looking for something a little different it’s deﬁnitely not a store to miss!

Barry’s Fabric Superstore 1 Moseley St, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 6JX Barry’s Fabric Superstore, is not an easy store to ﬁnd despite its rather central location. Unlike Guthrie and Ghani it does not have a pleasant cosy atmosphere, but rather one of disorder and chaos. It has a wide selection of fabrics, but practices quantity over quality. However, that said if you have the time and don’t mind sorting through the clutter, you’re patience may be rewarded you never know what interesting gems you might ﬁnd. The material here is decently priced, so if you’re out looking for a bargain this is the store for you.

Spectrum 175 Corporation Street, Birmingham, B4 6RG Spectrum is a veritable cornucopia of an art store, it’s centrally located and very easy to ﬁnd. As soon as you step through their doors you will be amazed at their variety and quality of stock available. They literally have everything from screen printing, lithographs, oil paints, water colours, and a wide range of inks, pens, brushes and paper of all kinds. If you love any of those things, you will feel like a kid in a candy store, and after minutes in there you will

have spent the best part of your month’s wages (it does help to know if you are a student they offer a discount). Everything is well laid out, which is an amazing feat for a store of its size and the staff are more than ready to help you, and make recommendations. If you like a wide variety of quality goods, at a decent price I recommend this store for you.

Harris Moore Unit 12, Fazeley St, Birmingham, B5 5RT Just around the corner from millennium point, is a small quirky store decorated with local artist’s work, which is readily available for sale, and two stuffed crows give it an almost eerie atmosphere. Most don’t even know this place exists which is sad for anyone with an interest in oil painting, or screen printing. This little shop of horrors offers a unique range of goods from rabbit skin glue, to gum Arabic and many other unusual but useful items that aren’t usually stocked in your average art supply store.

However because it does cater to such a niche audience, it’s easy to see why it isn’t on many people’s lists. Though I do recommend it at least for a visit, you might just discover something that might be just what you needed.

Gunthrie & Ghani OPEN 9:30 - 5:30 FRIDAY - SATURDAY

A friendly design-led haberdashery, fabric and yarn shop.

169 Alcester Road, Moseley 10

BIRMINGH A M

Harris Moore ESPOKE CANVASES

W W W. H A R R I S M O O R E C A N VA S E S . C O . U K

ART SUPPLIES & FRAMING

verybody and their mother has seen The Library of Birmingham and its striking architectural features since its opening a month ago. However, how many people have visited and what are their ﬁrst impressions? It’s certainly not hidden standing smack bang in the middle of Centenary Square and featuring on national news - but the interior of this extraordinary building is something quite amazing. An incredible nine stories of amazing architecture and home to one million books, this library creates a perfect area for study. Branded ‘The Peoples Library” by its architects Mecanoo, the

library feels different during different times of the day. The reﬂections that cast onto the ﬂoor of its interior are beautiful and down to the design of the exterior circular patterns which reference The Jewellery Quarter. As I walked around, I spoke to people and tried to gauge their reaction to the 188 million pound project. Most visitors seem in awe of the building’s roof terraces and the views they provide. As you venture into the well signposted bookcases there are vast areas for study, including internet access and book searching features. Although the Library is extraordinary in its design and book capacity it does lack in creative literature. The arts

area is mostly dedicated to art history and previous exhibition programmes. Although this is still fantastic and a brilliant resource, for such a modern building it’s quite disappointing. Its eclectic mix of books and archive resources impressed visitors in other areas of the library. The reason I wanted to look at The Library Of Birmingham was to show that although it’s been a well publicised building and people may have an opinion on its exterior, it really does have such brilliant hidden traditional features. It brings people of all ages and background together, and when you visit, you will feel its sense of fellowship.

idden in a secluded alleyway in Jewellery Quarter, The Character Shop animation studio is hard at work. With projects ranging from television short ﬁlms, to character designs for holiday parks, and with past clients including BBC, Disney, CiTV, and Haven, visiting them was an opportunity I simply could not miss. Walking inside, we are greeted by modellers and animators Ed, Alex, Ben, and Rich, along with the producer Mark. With three completely different projects underway simultaneously, it was surprising to see that everybody was calm and having fun. I guess if you are animating to a soundtrack of “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction, it’s difﬁcult to be stressed out. I started

by talking with Ed Sitch, who was working on a character design. He went through his creative process when presented with such a task, whilst mentally practicing his Buddhist mantra, something that requires “dedication and application”. “Everything can start as a box. You start rough and add in the details. In the end a character is all one ‘mesh’.” Just like any creative profession, every job at The Character Shop comes across instances where things need changing. Sometimes it’s because the client isn’t happy, or because of more speciﬁc reasons, relating to the audience. “This character changed from the original idea, because we thought he looked a bit too scary for the children, so we changed some of his clothes and made him more of a playful villain.” Similarly whilst speaking to

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s long as it looks okay he ﬁnished result, who ares how it’s done?”

ntinues: “We come across technical ms all the time too. You start doing hing one way and by re-doing it you ; actually it would have been easier

if I had done it that way to begin with. In the end, there is no right or wrong way. “As long as it looks okay in the ﬁnished result, who cares how it’s done?” That’s quite refreshing to hear, because as an animator myself, I often worry about completing my projects in the wrong way, with the wrong software and so on, but Ed points out that in the end, the computer and the software is “just a tool” and that “it’s what you do with it that matters”.

“You don’t get a better proﬁle than being on the BBC”

As I move across to the

next desk, I speak with Alex Watson, who is working with Rich Smart on a project for CiTV. As someone who graduated with a Masters in Animation only two years ago, I see ﬁt to test his fresh knowledge on the craft; although I am also told he has a profound understanding of Aerosmith and Bon Jovi as well. “So for this project, I’m working on lip-syncing, and to do that we create what are called ‘morphs’. These are like states of a face, so one for each sound and others for expressions, and we are then able to animate these morphs based on the soundtrack we are given. This all then links in to the main character that is animated separately.” As I

carefully watch him intricately edit the facial movements of the character, he moves on to the basic principle of character animation. “We animate the body, then complete the lip-sync, and then ﬁnish by animating details like eyebrow movement. The ‘rig’ [the skeletal system used to animate characters] that I have set up is fairly basic for the face. Some companies do bone based rigs, which is nice, but takes a lot longer than morphs.” As Ed previously said, it doesn’t matter how The Character Shop animates, it’s their end results that are most important. “One of the frustrating things sometimes, is having a tight deadline. You know with a bit more time, you could do it better, but

that’s just the reality of it.”

“We’re all a bunch of mates, and here, everyone is special.” Adding to this, Ed says that it’s about “efﬁciency, speed, and ease” because “everything has to be done fast and to a budget”. However from my experience, animation is never a fast craft, objectively speaking, it takes dedication and many many hours for it to work nicely. That doesn’t mean to say there aren’t shortcuts, some of which are described by Ben, who is working on “Woolly & Tig”.

“We often plan shots to use shortcuts, for example there was a scene where Woolly draws with Tig, and placing his crayon into the scene would be very difﬁcult to achieve successfully. So instead we have him grab the crayon from off-screen, which in the end was easier, but still looked believable.” Woolly & Tig is, as Ed explains, probably the studio’s proudest project, and is a children’s television program, whose second series is currently being broadcast on CBeebies. The program features Tig - a three-yearold girl, and Woolly – a toy spider that comes to life and helps Tig overcome some scary situations, like going to the dentist. To summarise the pride that the studio has for being able to secure

such a brief, Ed says, “You don’t get a better proﬁle than being on the BBC”. “For this project, we get sent the live action footage to use as a template,” Ben says, “then we animate Woolly into the scene based on an approved model. We then use a combination of the voiceover and direction to dictate how long the shot is.” As Ben demonstrates, the ﬁnal composition is fairly simple, as it is made up of the animated sequence of Woolly, the base footage, and environmental factors like shadows. “Although we do a bit of colour correction, the shots are then sent to Scotland, so they can be properly colour graded, so all the shots look streamlined”. It’s interesting to see how

the animation industry has progressed since recent technological innovations such as the Internet, have grown and become more readily available. The whole approval task with clients has become much quicker, and that means there is room for more improvement. Studios are also given the chance to easily collaborate with people in different cities, and even different countries. Continuing with technological innovations, Alex demonstrates a project he is working on alongside his CiTV brief, which utilises a technology called “augmented reality”. The consumer will use an Apple iPad and graphics will display on a model in front of them, which Alex is

animating. The basic idea of animation will always stay true and will never change, it’s what you do with it that will change and become more interesting as time progresses. Animation is “the box”, and then by going in and adding the details, you can create some amazing projects.

“Ours is more like a ‘Render Plant Pot” Some of the studio’s projects have very rigid briefs, with some clients even pointing to past work and saying to use a speciﬁc frame as reference. However Rich Smart describes the project he is working on, which he created from

scratch. “We got the brief from CiTV, and I created the environment, the characters and the animation from scratch. Of course their decision is ﬁnal if changes are required, but initial ideas all came from me.” “I like the fact I have to animate it, light it, render it and comp[ose] it practically alone. The most fun bit for me is having nothing and then having something come out of your head and seeing it on the screen. That drives me.” With my animation work, I love thinking of ideas as well as implementing them on the screen, animating your own creation is a lot more enjoyable than working with other peoples’ ideas. However,

the creative environment at The Character Shop allows everyone to bounce ideas off one another and solve problems without feeling ashamed about having them in the ﬁrst place. “We’re all a bunch of mates, and here, everyone is special.” Ed resumes by describing the differences between a small studio like The Character Shop and a larger one like Pixar, in a more technical sense. “Once animation is completed, it goes through a process called rendering, which takes every frame of the animation and outputs it to a sequence. We have computers networked up to one another, so we can be rendering 3 projects at once using around four machines for each rendering task, which gets the job done 3 times as fast. A bigger studio like Disney or Pixar will have a huge amount of machines called a ‘Render Farm’. Ours is more like a ‘Render Plant Pot.’” After speaking with Ed, Alex, Ben, and Rich, I picked up some tips that should be useful to any “budding” animator. •Animate, animate, animate –

practice a lot •Even though you might want to spend as long as possible on a project, you always need some kind of deadline •Keep pushing yourself, read into new animation technology or try out effects/techniques you have never done before Animation is a big and sometimes daunting world, but it’s possibly the most fun world, and in my opinion, it is deﬁnitely the best world. Don’t expect to be amazing at it overnight, because in the end, everything starts as a box.

B B O Y CHAMPIONSHIPS 2013 A

s I arrive at Birmingham’s O2 Academy, ﬂuid Hip Hop beats were already bursting from speakers brought by the keenest of break dancing fans. Some are taking turns to dance in the middle of a circle, performing the most athletic of moves, surrounded by eager eyes, cheers and encores. I soon learned that this is called a ‘cypher’ and is common practice while waiting for events to start. Its ability to enhance the atmosphere of a usually boring half hour wait is impressive, and it creates a real buzz amongst everyone. The B-Boy World Championships ﬁrst started in 1996, and brings together the best hip hop dancers, poppers, crews and solo breakers from around the world. Alongside Battle of the Year, and R-16 Korea, it is regarded as one of the main international B-Boy competitions, and each year supporters travel to the UK from

all over the globe including US, Japan, Holland, Russia and China, to watch the very best compete for the title of B-Boy Champion of the Year. DJ Hooch, the event founder hosts the ﬁnals alongside Crazy Legs from American B-boying group Rock Steady Crew, and David Massingham, the Artistic Director of Dance Xchange. Their unrivalled enthusiasm and clear knowledge and passion for the sport enthrals the audience and dancers alike. ‘Japanese Kids’ - a trio of Japanese girls aged 9-12 who are Hip-Hop Crew Champions, take to the stage ﬁrst. Everyone is blown away with the imagination that went into the choreography, as well as the precision in which it was executed. Then the competition begins. After exciting introductions from the hosts, the best specialist solo dancers from around the world compete in multi-round battles in which

they take turns to perform a sequence of Foundations (basic moves), Freezes (a position whereby the Bboy suspends himself in the air usually supported by one hand often to begin or end a freestyle) and Footwork skills in front of a panel of world class judges. Once again, the audience is stunned by the dancers’ ability to perform athletic and challenging moves perfectly in time to the music. During the battles, judges look for the consistency and quality of the precision in which the dancers move to the music they are presented with. This involves smooth transitions from each position or movement to the next, and clean footwork. Creativity is also a major factor of success in a battle. Achieving

a move that the judges haven’t seen before or using it in an unusual sequence can be very impressive, showing passion and dedication to the sport. Each dancer must also bring their own ‘ﬂavour’ which translates as one’s unique style and originality. Individual battles are held for Poppers, Solo B-boys, Hip Hop Freestylers and Footworkers, to make the judging fairer and more appropriate. Battle Grids are available on the B-boy World Championships website along with the winners of each round which include the World B-boy Crew Champions: Morning Owl from Korea. They were well deserving winners and pulled out all the stops to appreciate huge admiration from the audience, judges and

competitors alike. Solid teamwork was a huge component in their performances, often carrying out moves involving the whole group which even included throwing and catching members! Just when I thought the night was full of enough fun, The Beatbox Collective - a group of the top beatboxers in the UK - made an appearance showcasing their amazing vocal talents and humorous stage presence. They worked together and individually to make sounds I never even knew existed before. Overall it was a fantastic night and witnessing such skill and support between competitors was and still is inspiring.

ere in Birmingham lives the UK’s oldest working cinema. It’s called The Electric, and has a history dating back to 1909 when it was first established, showing short silent films with a piano backing to an awe-inspired audience of all ages. In 1920 the cinema was bought and renamed The Select, and played its first sound film in 1930. Joseph Cohen bought The Select just one year later, with plans to rejuvenate the cinema and better the staff areas. In 1937 it reopened as The Tatler showing Pathe and British Movietone news reels alongside news features filmed by its own staff. Cartoons and short films played until the late 1960’s when news programmes were largely removed from cinema screenings due to

the release of private televisions. It became known as The Jacey and in an attempt to rekindle the relationship with their audience, began showing adult ﬁlms. The Classic Cinema chain took over in 1980, adding a second screen, and as their nickname describes, ‘butchered’ many of the beautiful 1930’s Art Deco features the cinema boasted. After two more owners and closure due to debt, the cinema was bought in 1993 by Bill Heine, a radio presenter, who had a keen interest in cinematics. He brought back the name ‘The Electric’. After a dramatic opening, and a decade of screening but deterioration of the building itself, the cinema was closed and then bought by Tom Lawes who renovated and reopened it in 2004. The Electric gained popularity in 2006 and the

second screen was reintroduced, allowing screenings of popular and independent ﬁlms to be much more ﬂexible. Reopening in 2008, the cinema boasted a recording studio as well as a modern digital projection system in Screen 2 and 50,000 visitors a year enjoy the individuality the cinema holds.

“Industry was always going to change because digital is cheaper.”

I spoke to Assistant Manager Tim who explained to me how much of an attraction the history of the cinema is to the customers. “People come from all over the world to see how we do things. We get a lot of cinema owners come to see us too because we’re so different, and they love it.” The fact that “so many

different forms of cinema have been used here” also makes it incredibly interesting. Nowadays no house is found without a TV, and for younger generations it is hard to imagine only being able to watch their favourite cartoons at their local theatre. Although The Electric still uses 35mm film occasionally to screen films, the modern advances of the digital era have made it a less economically viable approach to use at the cinema full time. “As a topic, there is a lot of debate about it” Tim explained. “We moved to digital mainly because the industry is and the industry was always going to change because digital is cheaper.” Because 35mm film is much harder to get hold of, and a lot more expensive, when booking it, the distributor only allows

the cinema to show the movie for two or three weeks at a time. However when hiring a digital film, the cinema has the opportunity to show it for as few number of times as they want - allowing more films to be shown. Tim told me this is especially useful during the ‘Oscar season’ which occurs around November, when the big budget studios release their films, as well as January’s award season. Digital cinema opens up other opportunities not available with 35mm rolls such as live screenings. Alongside other cinemas across the country, The Electric is presenting the first ever live cinema broadcast from The Royal Shakespeare Company’s ‘Richard II’ in which David Tennant is playing the title role. Directed by Gregory Doran, this is sure to be one of

the most exciting theatrical productions of the year. There will be three screenings from The Electric - one live on Wednesday 13th November, and two encores due to the popularity of this intriguing event. With this digital streaming and projection system, many people who love theatre, but cant afford a ticket to see it live, or do not have the time to travel the distance can still be a part of the overall event, which is a fantastic step forward art being accessible to everyone.

“It’s not a conveyer belt…here, no-one is shooed in and out”

Considering how 35mm compares with digital in terms of atmosphere, Tim said “There is certainly a nostalgia for

35mm…some suggest that it’s better in how it looks, some say that digital is just as good”. Part of the excitement of going to the cinema when it ﬁrst became available, was the atmosphere, and friendly service. I think this is an aspect of cinema that has been lost with the big name chain companies due to the enormity and hustle and bustle of the cinemas. The Electric, however, prides itself on sustaining a high quality service making each customer feel important. “It’s not a conveyer belt…here, no-one is shooed in and out”. One way in which this cinema upholds its individuality is by providing the opportunity for its customers to watch a ﬁlm from the comfort of a sofa. “Tom, the owner, maintains he had the idea in the bath…we are cre-

ating a different experience… if you’re hiring a babysitter, you want to feel like you’re having a proper night out.” The Electric is also unique in the way that it listens to and recognises what people want to watch. On the 23rd, 24th and 30th of November, Dr Who 50th Anniversary: The Day Of The Doctor will be screened in 3D. This long awaited episode will be an extremely popular event, and there are still tickets for the latter two shows. Tickets are available on the website. To celebrate festivities this Christmas, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ will be screened with mulled wine being served. This really does prove Tim’s point when he says “We are more than just a cinema”. Even more so, The Electric extended the business to

establish a Film Production and Distribution Company that goes by the name of ElectricFlix which is based at the cinema itself. To celebrate the history of independent cinemas within the UK, centring on The Electric, the company directed and produced ‘The Last Projectionist’. It also explores digital cinema and how the use of 35mm ﬁlm is steadily declining. ElectricFlix is now working on a feature length comedy drama which is planned to be shown in the cinema next year.

To ﬁnd out more about ElectricFlix or the upcoming screenings and special events, please visit www.theelectric. co.uk

MULVEY

Adorned in fairly regular clothing with a generally inconspicuous appearance, Nick Mulvey walks on the stage, a guitar by his side. His first track, April, begins with an impressive complex guitar plucking, a standard that defines his whole performance. His regular hums within tracks become a second defining feature of his music, and subtle lyrics similarly form his overall style. Juramidam plays around four songs in, and sets a new benchmark. A mix of subtle lyrics, impressive complex guitar plucking, and similarly beautiful humming, form a track that has been on repeat daily ever since.

MARLING

Unlike Mulvey, I knew what to expect from Laura Marling, but that didn’t stop her from utterly astounding me once again. An artist that has only ever improved with each album release, I knew this would be a night to remember. The room’s lights dim, a blonde woman in a long skirt walks on, picking up one of the two guitars set up on the stage. “You should be gone beast”, she sings as she commences her four-song medley (Take the Night Off, I Was and Eagle, You Know & Breathe) to begin tonight’s performance. A woman on stage with her voice and the voice of an equally beautiful guitar is all we hear. The combination however, is enough to place the whole audience in a state of awe as every song is played. With a mix of this gorgeous singing and instrumentation, and her hilarious on-stage banter, every song, along with the ﬁnal performance, is met with a roar of laughter and applause. Devil’s Resting Place is played, a song I have never heard a live performance of, and I begin to feel so privileged to have had this opportunity. Despite the lack of violins (my personal favourite section of that song), the performance is a standout track for me, and one I have had on repeat daily for over a season.

KATE NASH 30

THE INSTITUTE

DIGBETH A

night out at The Institute Digbeth is always exciting. The venue attracts a variety of different bands and solo performers from up and coming artists to more established people such as Kate Nash. If you are new to the city, you will realise The Institute is not as advertised or well spread as other music venues in the area. The Library tonight hosts Kate Nash, located below The Institute with a capacity of 600 it’s a brilliant venue which holds small intimate gigs throughout the year. Re opening in 2010 titled The HMV Institute the building itself has undergone an amazing transformation. Playing a full ninety minute set

including hits along with tracks from her newest album ‘Girl Talk’ her performance was brilliant. Playing to a room full of all ages and backgrounds she engaged with her audience brilliantly. During her encore members of the audience swarm onto the stage and dance along with Nash and her all girl backing band. Although at ﬁrst Nash seemed like a stranger that had walked into the wrong bar; after ninety minutes I had never seen a performer with such energy. If a performer stage dives at her own gig, you know you have been fortunate to attend a good night on their tour.