The Barber team shares ideas with you to explore in your own home.
These reflections have all been generated in response to our collection and our galleries as part of our programme, Barber Home.
This programme enables the Barber to remain ‘open’ as a place for people to engage with creativity and learning and is also an exciting opportunity for us to work collaboratively with artists and partners during this time.
Follow the links below to find our Barber Home artist responses!
23. Investigating our Histories of Art and Climate Change with Worm: art +ecology
Free; via Zoom.?Monday 7?December 6 – 7.30pm.
How is art connected to the climate crisis??Think about people, power and the environment through history – and how these factors have shaped the climate issues we face today – with Angela Chan of Worm: art +ecology.
22. Barber Home – Recovery (18+)
Free; via Zoom. Thursday 3?December, 5.30 – 6.45pm.
A workshop for making and drawing, reflecting and connecting…
Join us for a creative and social drawing workshop – in response to a challenging year. You’ll receive all the art materials you need in the post – and to keep you creative afterwards!
21. Myth Personas: Visual Poems with Holly Hunter (18+)
Free; via Zoom. Wednesday 18 November, 6.30 – 7.30pm.
There’s no one way to interpret art – trust your own responses!?Guided by artist and writer Holly Hunter, put your hand to a series of drawing and writing exercises inspired by stories from Greek mythology – as seen in our collection.
20.?Edward Lear for Families – Writing Together with Sipho Ndlovu (family)
Free; via Zoom.?Sunday 25?October, 10 – 11.30am.?
Jumble and tumble over words and create your own family tales, stories and poems with spoken word artist and poet, Sipho Ndlovu. Get?inspired by our 19th-century print ‘Tabuan Parakeet’, and the nonsense writing of Edward Lear.
19. Welcome Week 2020 (18+)
We’re excited to welcome new and returning students to the University of Birmingham – no matter what your course is. Thanks to everyone who came along to our Welcome Week workshops?with poet Jasmine Gardosi and artist Laura Onions.
18. Mengxia Liu – Illustrated Zoom Background
Mengxia Liu, a Birmingham-based artist, has created a vibrant illustration that captures the life and energy of the Barber and its beautiful original 1930s Art Deco foyer.
17. Family Activity – Still Life Drawing with Benny Semp?
Inspired by Renaissance paintings in our collection, learn about still life paintings and the hidden significance of the objects found within them…
16. Overhear with Jacqui Rowe
Discover Jacqui Rowe’s original poetry inspired by familiar works in the collection.
- Have a go at creative writing exercises, and if you’re out and about – listen to Jacqui read her poems on location via?Overhear, the audio app hosting content from local writers and local spaces.
15. Live Zoom Event – Jon Sleigh – the Queer Gaze: Emotion and Erasure
What is queer historical erasure?
Arts Educator Jon Sleigh reveals powerful queer coded messages, alongside sitters’ known histories, in this emotive journey through two of our 18th-century portraits.
- ‘Emotion and Erasure’?was a live talk and Q&A via Zoom on?Thursday 6 August, 6 – 7pm.
14. Women in Hospitality Birmingham
Inspired by Hendrik Goudt’s beautiful etching ‘The Mocking of Ceres’ (1610), Chlo? Qureshi, founder of Women in Hospitality Birmingham, has written a series of delicious, mouth-watering recipes for you to try.
13. The Barber Collective: digital showcase
From colonialism and reclaiming histories, to manifesto-writing and world building: our collective of 16 – 21 year olds has worked with artists Navi Kaur and Hipkiss & Graney to explore these far-reaching subjects.
12. Family Activity – Create a Camera Obscura with Jo Gane
Interested in how you turn a whole room into a camera obscura?
Delve into our online ‘Sights of Wonder’ exhibition by learning more about the Victorian photography of Francis Bedford.
- Artist and photographer Jo Gane?shows us how to create camera obscuras at home!
11. Family Activity – Degas Dancers with Becca Randall?
Explore movement and learn about ballet poses inspired by artist Edgar Degas. Contemporary dancer Becca Randall has produced three video workshops inspired by the Barber’s bronze ballerina sculptures.
10. Live Zoom Event – LYNNEBEC Embrace the Strange – Movement Workshop
Barber Home and?LYNNEBEC?collaborated for a surreal Dada-esque movement workshop inspired by Jean (Hans) Arp’s?‘Man Seen by a Flower’ (1958).
- Explore these ideas yourself with our?workshop information and resources.
9. Family Activity – Zine-making with Sarah Taylor Silverwood
We’re thinking about families… and families come in all shapes and sizes!
- Join artist Sarah Taylor Silverwood to make a zine and reflect on your family, whoever and wherever they may be.
8. Live Zoom Event – Photography Workshop with Kate Green
Inspired by our online exhibition ‘Sights of Wonder‘, Birmingham photographer?Kate Green?hosted a relaxed and informal photography workshop via Zoom.
7. Family Activity – St Ives Scrap Sculptures with Benny Semp
Become a St Ives sculptor with artist Benny Semp – learn about the techniques used by Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo.
6. Live Event – Queer watch party with CineQ?
Responding to the Barber’s ‘Reclining Nymph’, Barber Home and CineQ?collaborated?for an evening celebrating queerness from our own homes. CineQ?showcase?the best in local and international queer film, with a focus on stories for and by QTIPOC,?(adult themes).
5. Family Activity – Creepy Crawlies Q&A with entomologist Liam Crowley?
Ever wanted to know more about bugs?
Inspired by the amazing specimens in our 394-year-old print by Wenceslaus Hollar, we asked entomologist Liam Crowley to answer all your questions about our creepy crawly friends in a live Q&A session.
4. Wendy Tournay – response to ‘Gold Teapot with Stand’
Filmed in lockdown, ceramicist Wendy Tournay responds to the Barber’s decorative ‘Gold Teapot with Stand‘, made in 1785.
- Watch the meditative slip-casting process used to create a teapot and learn about casting, fettling and finishing.
3. Laura Onions – response to Daubigny’s etching, ‘Interior of an Inn’
Artist Laura Onions shares a series of drawings, produced in lockdown, responding to Charles-Fran?ois Daubigny’s 1861 etching, ‘Interior of an Inn’.
2. Family Activity – Concertina Creepy Crawlies with Ruth Turnbull
Artist Ruth Turnbull joins Barber Home to investigate creepy crawlies.
- Inspired by Wenceslaus Hollar’s 17th century prints, learn about insects and create your own folded sketchbooks and mobiles.
1. Infinite Opera
Infinite Opera reflect on their performance, composition and research following?Nocturnes: Ethereal Science / Constructing Beauty, in our Cornwall as Crucible exhibition.
