ISsue 2 - July 2016
Welcome to nafzine! www.northfieldartsforum.com
Contents: Feature - Meet The NAF Staff
4-5
Feature - The Gap Arts Project
6-7
Feature - Uneek Walls
8-9
Art - Neth Brown
10-11
Art - Purrl Pankras
12-13
Art - Nafzine Workshop Art
14-15
Art - Tony Parkash, Celia Palmer
16-17
Art - Kieran Meier, Taylor Jarvis-Jukes
18 - 19
Poetry & Art - Giovanni Spoz Esposito, Celia Palmer
20 - 21
Poetry - Vincent Stokes, Khembi Maynard
22 - 23
NAF Summer Lemonade - Mohini Howard
24
NAF Photo Collage
25
Upcoming NAF Events
26 Note from Editor:
Thank you for opening up the second ever issue of Nafzine. It’s been 4 months since the release of issue 1 and we’ve had extremely positive response. Thanks to all who contributed, lets continue to promote creativity. Want to contribute? Contact Nafzine@gmail.com Keep creating, always. Guy Hirst - Editor
Corrections & apologies - Nafzine Issue 1, Page 28-32 - words accompanying art belong to Giovanni Spoz Esposito
what we do! e
m
r
Inspire
Engage
Record
We’re here to engage with young people by running Nafzine workshops to contruct key elements of the magazine, people of all skill levels are very welcome. We also run advancedworkshops for those interested in learning how to professionally assemble a magazine using industry standard tools.
Nafzine is a trimonthly documentation of the grass roots arts projects Northfield Arts Forum runs and participates in throughout the local district of Weoley, Longbridge, Northfield & Kings Norton and the wider Birmingham arts community. We want to share what we’ve been up to with you!
We’re here to inspire your creativity by publishing you, whether you’re from the Northfield district or you’re interested in getting involved in the forum by submitting your work. We publish illustrations, poems, short stories, photography, interviews, reviews and art of all persuasions. You create, we publish.
Thank you to all artistic contributors: Celia Palmer, Khembi Maynard, Puurl Pankras, Tony Parkash, Vincent Stokes, Mohini Howard, Spoz, Neth Brown, Kieran Meier, Taylor JarvisJukes, Chloe Bramwell, Kayleigh Ditchburn and to all Nafcaf(e) doodlers. Thank you to photographic contributors: Heather May Corvid, Hannah Prentice [Prentice Production Photography], Siobhan Franics [Shivnic Photography], Paul Stringer [Beatfreeks] and Lauren Jones [Beatfreeks] Special thanks to: The Gap Arts Project, Uneek Walls, Oliver Armstrong, Beatfreeks, The NAF Staff, NAF volunteers and to everyone who has taken part in our wonderful events and workshops.
Meet THe Oliver Armstrong - Northfield Arts Forum Coordinator Hello there, my name’s Oliver Armstrong and I’m the co-ordinator for Northfield Arts Forum, essentially this means I oversee the wonderful NAF team in everything we do. I’m a Northfield local and I’m passionate about connecting the various fantastic projects and groups from across all of our district through grass roots arts projects. My work outside NAF is an early years music specialist, with a background in youth work and playing in bands. Kayleigh Ditchburn - Lead Artist & Workshop facilitator I’ve been with NAF for a year now. I started volunteering in 2015 at our arts village at Northfield Carnival. I’m now involved in our monthly Nafcaf(e) and I’m also a freelance arts worker for NAF’s creative workshops and community art projects. NAF are an amazing support network that encourages community unity through the arts - I’ve met so many incredible people. NAF has helped me develop my confidence and self belief and I’m incredibly proud and blessed to be apart of the team. Get involved to gain skills and have loads of fun. Lauren Jasen-Parkes - Events & Volunteering Leader I lead and recruit our awesome NAF volunteers. I’m the first port of call for all of our volunteers. Being involved with NAF is easy - all you need to do is email us or drop by one of our events. We have volunteer roles ranging from occasional packer-uppers, cafe staff, workshop leaders, to members of our steering group. We also offer mentoring in arts facilitation and welcome proposals for new arts events from local artists and community organisations. Khembi Maynard - Art Assistant & Volunteer Assistant I’m a Fine Arts Graduate and I help to showcase artistic talent here at NAF, I also contribute poetry and artwork to our Nafzine and for our community arts events. What I enjoy most about NAF is working with all the lovely people that make all of our events possible. Get involved with NAF it gives you the chance to fall in love with something as gentle, fun and relaxing as art in your local area, so I really recommend NAF as a resource to express yourself.
Want to be apart of our team?
NAF Staff! Joe Todd - Music Co-ordinator & Sound Engingeer I’m the music coordinator for Northfield Arts Forum. I currently book and organise the music for our events. This includes setting up our PA and amplification equipment, organising artists and ensuring everything runs smoothly. NAF is an incredible organisation to get involved with because it connects people who share professional and artistic interests, and these people can be a great help in the future!. Guy Hirst - Nafzine Editor & Communications Assistant I’m really excited by my ongoing role with NAF. Since becoming Nafzine editor and heading this publication in March 2016, I’ve taken on social media, marketing, funding and workshopping responsibilities. NAF has allowed me to work in my area of interest (arts journalism) while also offering me new freelance opportunities in working with young people, something I now enjoy immensely. I recommend that any young person/professional get involved to enhance their own skills, network, and become more in-tune with Birmingham’s arts communities. Leo A.K.A Leo The Explorer - Graphic Design & Comms I’m a videographer and illustrator, my favourite thing about Birmingham is that there are more miles of canal than Venice. I also really love how creative and diverse Birmingham is, and that’s why I’m involved with Northfield Arts Forum. I’ve always been involved with performing arts and creative arts and I love supporting local initiatives. So if you’re local to Weoley, Longbridge, Northfield or Kings Norton - maybe you should join us.
And all of our lovely and wonderful NAF volunteers! To all those who run workshops, serve tea, coffee and cook our pay-as-you-feel-food at Nafecaf(e), to all those who move chairs, lug equipment and are enthusiastic about our grassroots community work - without you NAF wouldn’t be possible. We apprecaite all the hard work that you do. So much so we’re going to be interviewing you all in issue 3!
contact : nafvolunteer@gmail.com
The Gap Arts Project have an amazing creative space in Digbeth run for and by the young people of Birmingham! Under 25s can work in the space for just £5 a month [over 25s £10], volunteer, work and gain access to a huge range of workshops, exhibitions and events. In fact, we’ve been using the space to run Nafzine workshops! Nafzine talks with Creative Producer Arron Gill to find out more. What are the main aims of The Gap? To champion creative, quality and meaningful engagement in the arts and community with and for the young people of Birmingham! How and when did The Gap start? The GAP Arts Project has its background in Drama. Under the former name Theatre Ark, the company worked with productions which challenged young people in how they understood the world, asking what was it to be human - since then we have evolved and now work in several practices in the arts and community. In 2013 we became The GAP Arts Project. What’s your motivation behind the space? Birmingham is the youngest city in Europe and it didn’t have a dedicated arts space for young people, so we opened one! It is a particularly hard time to be a young person in light of ideological austerity and rampant neoliberal capitalism. Here at The GAP we are making a public space so young people can find meaning in the world they live in by being apart of a community with artistic solidarity. [We encourage young people] to imagine and work towards a future that they want. How long has opening the space taken to achieve? It's taken years to achieve. To open a space like this has been a priority for a long time, however funding and a lack of affordable spaces have been our main obstacles. The core team have worked so hard over the years without pay to provide this much needed resource and its still not completely ready yet, but were close. How do you recommend young people get involved? There are lots of ways to get involved. The easiest way is membership - £5 a month gets under 25s access to The GAP, free wifi, free tea and coffee, free workshops, events and screenings, a bookable space and more. Its £10 for over 25s. We are always open to ideas so have a chat with us if you want to run your own project, or if you want to programme workshops etc.
How has the space been received so far, what kind of events have happened? The space has been received really well so far. It's a large multifunctional space that really gets the imagination going. Lots of activities have been happening, including Facing The GAP: our international drama and democracy programme, 2nd year art students from BCU had their degree show here named Heart of the Matter, Sunday Brunches, life modelling, craft skill shares and much more. Be sure to check out our upcoming events on our website and social media, [shown below] What excites you guys most about all of this? What excites us is the potential. We have the space until end of September 2016 but we really want to make this a permanent venue and supporting our crowdfunder will enable this to happen! What are you looking forward to most in regards to The Gap Arts Project? I'm most looking forward to meeting and organising events with other young people, and for the space to become a place where young people can be free to think and to practice their creative and artistic outlet. You’re still fund-raising to make the space permanent (fingers crossed) - what’s next? Once we hit our £10,000 crowdfunder, we will use that money to make the space more sustainable by putting in a proper kitchen, proper heating and lots of other facilities and equipment that’ll make the space of even more value to our community. Which will mean that we can continue to function and keep going for longer than until the end of September. Is there anyone you’d love to thank? Too many to name - everyone who’s been involved in Theatre Ark and The GAP Arts Project over the years, our trustees for their advice and governance, Big Brum, our drama partners Inisite (Hungary), Drama Rainbow (China) and Unifaun (Malta), and the people of Birmingham!
The Gap needs your support. To install simple facilities such as running water, heating and a kitchen they need to raise ÂŁ10,000! Providing these facilities will keep them open. You can donate below and be sure to support them on social media. DONATE HERE https://igg.me/at/TheGAP www.facebook.com/thegapartsproject www.twitter.com/GAPArtsProject www.gaparts.org Nafzine Workshop - 07/06/16
Facebook.com/UneekWalls
Hi Alex, tell us more about UNeek Walls and your Art Socials. U-Neek Walls has two strands - the space design business side and the artistic development side. The Art Socials are to help artists learn how to get paid, how to price their work, deal with commissions and basically how to put themselves out there or even how become an art tutor. It’s about strengthening confidence. Artists can often struggle talking about their work and sometimes you can just live inside this cocoon - whether that’s your bedroom or your studio. You may not have certain communication skills that are necessary to progress as an artist and we can help with that. What kind of art do you host and what can artists expect from the socials? The art we have encompasses visual art in a fixed form - painting, sculpture and textile. It’s setup to grow confidence and for artists to network. If you don’t want to be social that’s fine too - just come and sketch in a different environment and you may come across a new opportunity. You may have hand illustrations for a comic but need someone who’s good at graphic design, come to a social and you may meet someone, and even if you don’t, you’ll be directed to someone who can help you. It’s a great creative network for sharing techniques, materials, skills, financial advice and material costs. Everyone has their own creative obstacle that they’re trying to overcome and we can give advice based on the experiences that we’ve had.
Northfield Arts Forum had the pleasure of collaborating with U-Neek Walls to host an Arts Social event in conjunction with our monthly NAFcaf(e) at Northfield Baptist Church back in May 2016. The U-Neek Walls event was specifically designed for Birmingham artists to network, sell their work and learn an entire host of skills to further their artistic development. Nafzine spoke with company founder, Alexandria Robinson-Sutherland to find out more.
How did U-Neek Walls and the Art Socials begin?
So what does U-Neek Walls do outside of the Art Socials?
I started by doing my own freelance work, attending events and literally just knocking on business’s doors and just saying ‘You’ve got a spare wall, can I put my artwork up?’ and it grew organically from there. A lot of people would ask me how I got my artwork in that space, and how they could do the same. I love helping people but I didn’t have the time to help as many people as I wanted, so I started to condense my advice and share opportunities and that’s where U-Neek Walls and the Art Socials came from.
U-Neek walls is about space design, which is nothing to do with NASA [laughs]. Space design means that we can take literally any space and make it fit for purpose. It’s the combination of interior design and interior architecture. Interior design focuses on the aesthetics, feng shui, colours - whereas interior architecture knocks down walls, redesigns door frames, windows, everything internal that redefines the structure of a space.
What’s your background as an artist? Did you do an art degree? I’ve always done art but I’ve never really studied it other than GCSE. I did graphic design at college and then architecture at University. I actually chose architecture because I was told that it was the only kind of creative job I could have that would pay the bills. So you know, I was told artists don’t make any money. But while doing Architecture I realised that there are artists out there who make money and I wanted to be one of them. I finished my degree and then took it from there - I started working with young people doing youth work, went into teaching, and then that’s when I started to approach businesses and get my artwork in their spaces. I attended events, I set up stalls, and started getting commissions.
Want to know more? Facebook.com/Uneekwalls
Let says you wanted to turn a space into a coffee shop - I’d sit down with you and discuss how you want your customers to feel - do you want them to be short term or long term stayers? Do you want a quick turnaround with furniture you can only sit on for about half an hour comfortably? Or do you want that more cosy feeling where people can relax and then have a growing community of customers based around that? Do the Art Socials and space design compliment one another then? Yes they do! Artistic services include artwork, plants, nature and certain types of lighting, decorative pieces - so that’s where we we’d bring local artists in who we may have met at our Art Socials. Some people [clients] like murals, some like canvassed work, framed artwork and so on, so we’ll work with local artists and say ‘This is the theme, this is the style, let’s look at your portfolio.’ So get out there, attend events, use your initiative and use your creativity to the fullest..
Celia Palmer & her first ever arts stall
Perusing original artwork
Holding up Nafzine issue #1!
Getting stuck in Neth Brown and her lovely stall
Alexandria Robinson-Sutherland
Neth Brown
Neth Brown
Puurl Pankras
Puurl Pankras
We hope you enjoy this lovely middle page spread. Every collage you see here was done at our Nafzine workshops on April 16th (Social Exchange), June 7th (The Gap Arts Project) , 18th June (Kings Norton Library) or July 4th (Northfield Carnival). The beauty of this cut-glue-and-stick workshop method is that is allows absolutely anyone to express themselves. From toddlers to teenagers, we’ve had an awesomely positive response. We look forward to publishing your work in the future.
Fela Kuti - Tony Parkash
Celia Palmer
Kieran Meier
Taylor Jarvis-Jukes Northfield Arts Forum met Taylor and and Kieran at our monthyl Nafcaf(e) event. This is the easiest way to get involved with the forum and Nafzine. Nafcaf(e) is on the last Thursday of every month, we have workshops, music, poetry and pay as you feel food. So be sure come to our next one on July 28th, Northfield Baptist Church, Bristol Rd, Birmingham.
Valentines Day In The Jungle A poem by Giovanni Spoz Esposito I hear stories. Stories of a sinking ship that can carry no more Can't make it ashore 'cause it's packed to the brim Where conditions are poor and pickings are slim It sounds grim, but while sailors squabble Over scraps and squeezed spaces The opulent officers wear grins on their faces As they drill holes of austerity in the hull Whilst reciting their well rehearsed mantra, "The ship's full." Yet, they swing fat cats and gorge in their enormous quarters Building barbed wire barriers Instead of bridges over waters Exporters of war and slaughter to order With a barrage of broad sides on a biased border I see stories I see stories of hope and resilience Where others are told to see fear and ambivalence The threat of disobedience and an assault on sensibilities Just pathetic excuses for continued hostilities I see frozen faces with the warmest smiles Where others are told to see rapists and paedophiles I see the cost of ignorance and neglect People paying high prices Where others are told to see terrorists Told to devour divisive devices, so why alarms and why surprises When a doorstep challenge becomes a crisis I see families who have cried so many tears, they have non left On time bless though now bereft On Calais' coastline as unwelcome guests So how apt and fitting it is That those benevolent French authorities See refugees with tearless eyes, bloodshot and raw So provide them with canisters filled with more I tell stories I tell stores 'till I'm hoarse, but is anyone listening? Compassion's gone missing And ring wing rhetoric resolve is stiffening It's as crippling as Annie Wilkes in 'Misery' Yet Joseph marches on, in the midst of this artillery He's here because he's sure metaphors won't kill As quickly as the civil war in West Sudan will This once proud man tells me of his plight in 'Pidgin English' It's left him morally molested and pigeon chested Says he'll swim the channel if he has to, once he's fully rested From his last attempt at stowing away So we drink tea together on Valentine's day And I make no apology and refuse to say sorry When I say the best thing to come out of France, right now Would be a thousand hopeful smiles on the back of a lorry A humane quarry and a ferry full of hope, not hate to fill our soul With an open gate, at border control Because these are the sad and selfish days Where we need to over-stand open gates, work both ways There's a whole globe waiting for the xenophobe Good riddance to bad rubbish please! Because I can't think of a fairer trade Than fascists for refugees
These two pieces were done in a Nafzine workshop 07/06/16, both inspired by Spoz’s poem.
Celia Palmer
Guy Hirst
You Were Alive A poem by Vincent Louis Francis Stokes You were alive You were the last breaths of a swan song fire You spat out sparks and burnt ripe holes between my shadow and the shadow of your loneliness The shaming sun of Sunday morning hung over you with the deafening pulse of a church bell Now I can see why you don't believe in God You were alive I contemplated pissing whilst you pissed, exhibitionist style and so full of balls There was nothing in this world that you saw of any worth and you almost had me thinking The same when your golden stream of urine dribbled from the doorway of Louis Vuitton and into the splitting seams of my leather boots. You platted fog halfheartedly and out of tune, across and over the loosening stone streets of 7am Sunday morning comedown. You punched in the number of a cab, slowly dying, you laughed! You were alive Outside of your heart Turpentine wet the senses that clung onto the crusts of your opal granite non-coloured gaze. So vociferous with your sex dreams Tongues and sweat and stories of flesh that just sounded sad in the light of the smoking shelter. They left you hollow and full of the sun. You were alive You were unmoved by the unbiting freeze that crawled from your blood to your bones. Nonchalant amongst the cosmopolitan leather-lilac that you picked apart like bread just for fun You were the outrage of the world while you sang, as you tried to dance As you fell inwards on yourself and into the arms of another man He held you up on imploding crutches of pity You were alive And letting go of smoke narcotic that itched to crawl and creep and float back into your mouth Over your profane lips Everything wanted you, everything offered itself to you as if you had the answers that we all needed to know You were everything that nobody wanted to be, Forlorn, untouched as you lay curled between the dead magic of your indigo sheets Sheets like paper, sheets like broken glass, sheets that were torn with your long shopping lists of lovers I refused you then and I refuse you now You were alive You tossed away your love notes on moving day Every heartfelt declaration and apologetic sentence you relinquished just to spite your lover To pollute your lover's heart To kill in your lover what you had killed in yourself so long ago.
Touch
A poem by Khembi Maynard He sees me in his dreams He wants to know what love means On a scale of high and low how do you know where to go He loves your body but finds your soul a mystery How can he judge my history without knowing me Without the touch of love and heart warming sorrow How will I know if he'll love me tomorrow? I never saw his life or witnessed his answers But deep in the thorns of my wounded emotion I know what they are They creep into my mind like a spider spinning a web The doubt of his uncertainty weaves in notions of insecurity Time goes And texts fade like unwanted memories passed down from a flirtatious gaze Why is love such a maze? You Slightly hidden romances exploding from the heart And whispers of a forbidden destiny are now painted in the stars.
She Sees
A poem by Khembi Maynard She gazes out the window with wandering eyes She sees the sights of people with broken lives How can it be that her heart still tries to see past the people who feed her lies? I know her heart is in her dreams Where else would they wish it to be? Opening her mouth she tries to speak Her agony far greater than her love to eat These days I keep the smile I gave to you I know when to move on When all hope in life and love is gone Imagine you have taken my hand and loved my soul As you would have loved me In a past life and brought happiness you've always wanted into this moment You may not see me now But imagine you have Imagine you've felt the breath I breathe upon you enter Right into your mouth Imagine your thoughts I'm whispering to you Imagine I'm standing where you want me to be With your beautiful body Right beside me
A NAF Summer Lemonade Recipie By Mohini Howard - Adventures With Food. Mohini@adventureswithfood
Freshly made summer drinks can be awesome and super easy to put together. The simplest can be assembled b squeezing the juice of an organge into a glass and adding fizzy water. You could also experiment with the basic recipe for fresh lemonade below and make all kinds of fancy stuff! You could use honey instead of syrup, or an other type of sweetener, and expriment with flavours, or decorate your glasses with fruit slices or dip the rims in sugar before filling them with zingy and colourful homemade drinks. But here’s the basic method with some flavour suggesions! Ingredients: Sugar syrup: 1 mug granulated sugar, 1 mug of water Lemonds/limes + fizzy/still water Suggested: Strawberries/blackberries Fresh mint leaves Fresh Ginger Ground cumin and salt Method: Firstly make up the sugar syrup by slowly heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to boil and take off the heat and cool. This syrup can be stored in a bottle of jamjar in the drige ready for when you want to squeeze a few lemons to make lemonade. To make basic lemonade squeez a lemon or line into a jug, add a tablespoon of syrup and a glassful of water. Adjust to taste by adding a little more syrup or juice. Stir well and pour into a frosted glass with ice. Give your drink a twist by adding some slices of fresh ginger root, bruised mint leaves or squashed berries or, for a traditional Indian sweet/salty hit add a sprinkle of ground cumin and salt. Now chill, put your feet up and neck that glass for nectar before dancing to a hot tune!
What’has NAF been up to?!
NAF @ Beatfreeks Routes To Roots Birmingham, exploring Brum’s arts heritage and future thanks to Heritage Lottery Fund - 06/05/16
Our craft tent at Northfield Carnival - Dream catchers & T Shirt making and portraits and arts and crafts! - 04/07/16
NAF artists painting Kings Norton Park as part of Art In The Park in collaboration with Friends of Kings Norton Park - 11/06/16
Young creatives @ U-Neek Walls Naf Caf(e) - 26/05/16
Guy Hirst @ Northfield Carnival manning the zine + arts & crafTs workshop, plus you can dress the manakin in funky fabrics! - 04/07/16
Nafzine workshop with young families in Kings Norton Library - zine collages on pages 14-15 - 18/06/2016
NAF volunteers dressed up as their favourite literary characters @ Naf Caf(e) - World Book night Special 18/04/16
Kayleigh Ditchburn & Guys Hirst, Nafzine Workshop @ Beatfreeks Social Exchange zine collages on pages 14-15 - 16/04/16
NAF CAF(e) BRUM SQUARED & POKEMON GO SPECIAL Thurday 28th July 6-9pm Northfield Baptist Church Bristol Road, B31 2NQ Photographers and Pokemon trainers of all skill levels needed. We’re photographing Northfield as part of Brum Sqaured - photographs to be publish in Nafzine. Visit facebook.com/brumsquared for more info. We’ll also be doing two hours of pokemon catching! NAF CAF(e) Thursday 30th August 6-9pm Northfiedl Baptist Church Bristol Road, B31 2NQ NAF CAF(e) Thursday 29th Septemeber 6-9pm Northfield Baptist Church Bristol Road, B31 2NQ FUN PALACE WEEKEND Saturday & Sunday 1-2 October For more info - funpalaces.co.uk Want to know more or get involved? Contact us: nafzine@gmail.com www.northfieldartsforum.com www.facebook.com/northfieldartsforum www.twitter.com/northfieldarts1