Jonathan Watkins (Ikon Director) asks Frances Carey (former Deputy Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum) five questions about Käthe Kollwitz. 

By Helen Cobby, Assistant Curator at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts 

39 of the many artworks or written pieces submitted by inmates of HMP Grendon for the Koestler Trust annual arts award have received awards or commendations, increasing the number by 14 compared to the 2016 awards. This includes 2 First-time Entrant Awards, 21 commendations, 9 Bronze Awards, 2 Silver Awards, 3 Gold Awards, and two Platinum Awards for a pastel drawing Hustles of Brussels by Mark and a painting entitled The Forest of Autumn by Michael. Congratulations to the artists!

Ikon Gallery’s Slow Boat has recently undergone a transformation as it embarks on its next three year programme, Looping the Loop.

Artist Edmund Clark in conversation with Director of Ikon Gallery, Jonathan Watkins.

Keep your children entertained, educated and enthused about art throughout the Summer Holidays! We have a fabulous range of children’s books on offer, from storybooks to activity books suitable for all ages. Pop into Ikon Shop and browse the selection*, or take inspiration from our Bookshop Assistant Ella’s top five picks…Black: An Artist’s TributeSantosh Kumar Das£27.00The author and artist Santosh Kumar Das gives a poetic and conceptually rich insight into his inspiration for becoming an artist, paying tribute especially to the women of his native India. In a storybook format, this beautiful book is a lovely way for children to learn about the spirit and wonders of creativity and the artistic traditions of another culture. The book itself is also a work of art, with exquisite illustrations screen printed on black recycled paper and bound by hand. Each copy is a unique numbered limited edition. Published by Tara Books.

Edmund Clark, Ikon’s artist-in-residence at HMP Grendon, has been nominated for the annual Butler Trust Award. The Trust, set up to recognise and celebrate outstanding practice by those working with offenders, received nominations equalling last year’s record high number. A significantly high proportion of these nominations, over a quarter, were received directly from prisoners. Presided over by HRH The Princess Royal since the Trust’s launch in 1985, the next annual award ceremony will take place in early 2018. For more information on The Butler Trust visit their website or follow the trust on Twitter.

Author Rachel Billington visited Edmund Clark and inmates of HMP Grendon:

By Jiang Jiehong, Heather Connelly and Hiu Man Chan from the Centre for Chinese Visual Arts (CCVA) at Birmingham City University

Ikon is very excited to be exhibiting the work of Sidney Nolan which is on show until 3 September 2017. This exhibition, part of a nationwide programme presented by the Sidney Nolan Trust to celebrate the centenary of Nolan’s birth, brings to light a selection of extraordinary spray painted portraits dating from the 1980s. Anthony Plant, Director of the Sidney Nolan Trust shares his insight into Nolan’s spray paintings.

Oliver Beer’s exhibition at Ikon brings a refreshing perspective to the punchy nostalgia of rifling through a worn family photo album; engaging with the exchange in impact between the individual and the space they inhabit.

Ikon is presenting On Kawara’s One Million Years at Venice Biennale this year.  For those familiar with the city the venue the artwork will be housed in Oratorio di San Ludovico, Dorsoduro, an old ecclesiastic building dedicated to spoken word.

Artist Edmund Clark spoke to prisoner Michael about what art means to him.

Sidney Nolan (1917 – 1992), one of the most important Australian artists of the twentieth century, lived his last years on the Welsh-Midlands border. Between June and September 2017 Ikon presents an exhibition which brings to light a selection of extraordinary paintings by Sidney Nolan dating from the 1980s. This exhibition, organised in collaboration with the Sidney Nolan Trust, is part of year long celebrations to mark the centenary of his birth.

We are delighted to announce that Yorks Café will be opening at Ikon in March 2017 to deliver catering for both the café and event hire at the gallery. An exciting new partnership between two much loved Birmingham brands, it will be a new addition to the city’s quality of life, mixing informality and innovation.

At Ikon, we offer a number of student placements each year across departments.

A selection of works by men from HMP Grendon went on display at Vibin’s a restaurant in Buckingham, a town just 10 miles from the prison. The opening of the exhibition coincided with the fundraising event of Friends of Grendon, a charity led by professor David Wilson.

Art at HMP Grendon, the second exhibition of the prisoners’ artwork, was organised by the men themselves under the supervision of Edmund Clark. Over 50 invited artists, curators, writers and other interested guests headed to the conference centre of the prison to meet the inmates and discuss their art on what has become an important day in the calendar of the prison. One of the prisoners, Gavin, had this to say:

HMP Grendon inmate Tom talks about his passion for poetry. His poem Guiltfoot Ron (below) received the Tim Robertson Platinum Award at the Koestler Awards 2016.

25 of the many artworks submitted by prisoners from HMP Grendon for the Koestler Trust annual arts award have received awards or commendations, more than doubling the success in the 2015 awards. This includes 15 commendations, 4 Bronze Awards (£20 cash prize), 3 Silver Awards (£40 cash prize), two Gold Awards (£60 cash prize) for a mixed media piece Still Life for a Still Life and sculpture Group Therapy (photo above), and one Tim Robertson Platinum Award (£100 cash prize) for a poem entitled Guiltfoot Ron. Congratulations to the artists!

Two weeks ago Ikon Youth Programme (IYP) were given the opportunity to construct Mahtab Hussain’s installation, Mitti Ka Ghar – a scaled replica of a traditional Pakistani clay house.

Edmund Clark in conversation with Jonathan Watkins.

Read more about Mahtab Hussain, the lead artist for the Ikon’s Black Country Voyages 2016, converting Ikon’s canal boat into a vehicle for The Auspicious Journey.

The latest post from Mahtab Mahtab Hussain, The Auspicious Journey.