Artists from DANUK (Deaf Arts Network UK), Sunny Chana and Olivier Jamin will be at ArtsFest this weekend exhibiting some of their work. This will be their 2nd time after exhibiting at the Council House last year.
Sunny is a Digital Print Artist specialising in canvas prints ranging from abstract and contemporary images with very strong colours. Many examples can be found on his website: www.sunnychana.com
Olivier is a contemporary artist letting the flow of his creative imagination control the end result of each piece of work. He creates hand drawn multicoloured pictures using pen on card and stencils. He can make creative cards and calendars made to order. You can find out more about him and his work by visiting his website: www.olivierjamin.com
Both Sunny and Olivier will be at the Arts and Crafts Stalls at Victoria Square in Birmingham City Centre. Lisa Davies, co-ordinator for the network and Robin Ash, Community Development Manager for the Deaf Cultural Centre will also be present to answer any queries about Deaf art and centre facilities. They will be around on Saturday and Sunday, both days from 12 noon until 6pm.
Artsfest is a Birmingham City Council event and takes place annually in Birmingham. It is completely free to attend! Inspired by the UitMarkt festival in Amsterdam, ArtsFest was created in 198 to 'excite and intrigue audiences' by the sheer magnitude of what was on offer by local artists and to build new audiences for these artists of the region. Since then, ArtsFest has grown in size and reputation and is now firmly established in the City's events calendar during the second weekend in September.
Deaf Performer Jayne Fletcher (Fletch@) is also performing her creative and expressive Signsings at various locations throughout the weekend! The first one is on Saturday 12th September, 3.15pm at the Rep Theatre (The Door) in Centenary Square. Entry is free and her performance will last 30 minutes.
She is also having one of her films showcased on the same day but at 5.30pm - 6pm. You can see it at the Crescent Theatre (Ron Barber Studio).
On Sunday 13th September from 1.40pm - 2.10pm at the Flapper, Fletch@ will be leading a Signsong Performance.
To find out more about Fletch@, click here to visit her website.
ArtsFest 2008 showcased 447 artists or organisations (involving approximately 4500 individual people) and 581 performances, workshops or exhibitions. Around 245,000 attended over the course of the weekend.
The ArtsFest 2008 programme covered a wide range of arts and cultural activities - from flagship companies such as the Royal Shakespeare Company and a host of bands, choirs, youth dance and theatre companies and individual artists. All art forms were represented and there were a whole host of opportunities to participate.
ArtsFest 2009 takes place from Friday 11th September to Sunday 13th September and 'Anniversaries and Celebrations' is the festival theme. Sunny, Olivier, Fletch@, Lisa and Robin hope to see some of you there!