Connecting Our Communities?

After all the protesting, petitioning and even trying to work with the council to find solutions, Summer 2017 saw the implementation of connecting communities phase 2 on the youth service, the council closed its youth clubs and ceased providing an open access youth service.  This is the end of an era and I couldn't just let it be forgotten without acknowledging the valuable work the service and the city's youth workers have done over the years for Coventry's young people and for me personally.

As a young person I never went to youth club, I was too busy vandalising stuff and getting into mischief. The council decided to crack down on graffiti, it was a matter of time till the police were at the door and I was getting prosecuted for being a public nuisance.

After being prosecuted and before I had set up Bring Colour, I didn't really have any direction and was a bit lost. One day I floated into Yardley St youth club in Hillfields and met a youth worker called Nina Mankoo. Nina must of seen something in me as she gave me my first opportunity to deliver a graffiti workshop with the young people at her centre. This was where my journey with the youth service started.

Its been over twelve years since that first session. When I started I didn't really know what goes on at a youth club, what a youth worker did or what youth work even was.


Over the years I've worked at a lot of different centres and seen a lot a different approaches to youth work. I've grown up as an artist with the youth service, I've learnt a lot from youth workers and young people and I've seen first hand what youth work is all about. Youth Club isn't just about playing pool and table tennis, youth clubs provide a safe space for young people, a place where they can learn new skills and build confidence. Youth workers build trusted relationships and through their work deal with health and social issues that effect young people. Youth work is important.

In recent times of austerity, central government cut the amount of money for local councils. Coventry Councils answer to these cuts was called "Connecting Communities" where they proposed to end universal provision in 16 locations across the city. 

The councils proposals went out to public consultation. Young people wanted to respond and youth workers had their hands tied so I offered my support to the youth forum in their quest to save the service.

The youth forum included young people from different youth clubs working together collectively. Bailey set up a petition, Zara composed a letter to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, and the youth forum organised a protest against the councils proposed cuts.

As part of the consultation the council had asked for organisations to express an interest in delivering youth services in the city. I was asked by the young people at Peoples Place in Stoke Aldermoor to try and save their centre, so whilst supporting the youth forum in trying to save the whole service, I began working on a viable solution to save the one centre, Peoples Place.
The council decided to go ahead with the proposed cuts and I submitted a business case to keep Peoples Place open. Sadly it wasn't what the council were after and it got turned down.

So its the end of summer 2017 and its also the end of 16 youth clubs and the universal youth service.

I cant help but feel sad at the dismantling of something that has helped and supported so many young people and has been such a crucial part of my development as an artist and person. A massive thank you to Nina, Dave, Tracey, Tammy, Sonia, Karen, all of the workers and young people that have played a part in making the youth service something special. 

We'll have to wait and see what effect these cuts will have and hope for the best.
At least no one can say we didn't put up a fight!


John Mckeown

Bassment Sessions

Local DnB DJ Noizee B got in touch with bring colour wanting us to create a backdrop fro a new night he was putting on at The Cellar called "Bassment Sessions", we got busy and created this bold text based backdrop with a couple of nice little speaker details for him.

Bassment Sessions is back for part two next friday, 31st May at  the cellar. More details can be found on the facebook event page:   BASSMENT SESSION PT.2

Bring Colour offer a variety of services, including but not limited to:

• backdrop painting
• graffiti bedrooms
• bespoke feature wall murals
• shop murals
• shutter murals
• office murals

If you have an enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you, then please get in touch.

HGSG Logo

We have been working with a small group of young people up at Henley Green youth club. Two girls and two boys had formed "HGSG" Henley Green Steering Group at youth cub and their first task was to design and create a logo and identity for the group. The young people started off with brainstorming ideas and went on to develop their ideas further......

Once they had the different logo's digitalised they then consulted with others at youth club to which they preferred and what changes if any needed doing. After the consultation they tweaked their logo and saved it ready for their forthcoming blog, merchandise and promo material.

THE WORKSHOPS WE OFFER ARE FLEXIBLE, CREATIVE, IMAGINATIVE AND FUN.

If you have an enquiry or would like to book a workshop please get in touch.

Coventry Canvas

We were contacted by a local DJ who wanted us to paint a Canvas for his house. We asked him what sort of thing he was after and he was very vague, "Something Cov" and colour wise "Any", the only sure thing was the size it had to be. So we got in the studio and had a stab in the dark with a canvas of the Coventry skyline with a bunch of colours and texture. 

Luckily we hit the nail right on the head and he loved it! We have another canvas in the pipeline only this time he know's what he wants and we've been given a bit more direction.

If you have an enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you, then please get in touch.

A 'sprig' of Laura

We were contacted by a lady from Leamington who had seen a bring colour wall that we did a while back (The Best Till Last) and wanted something along the same lines.

On the chimney breast in her bedroom she wanted us to paint a small sprig picked out from the Laura Ashley floral curtains.

We popped over to Leamington, painted the delicate sprig and left a very happy lady with the feature wall she requested.

If you have an enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you, then please get in touch.

Pea Pod

Taylor Johns House got in touch with Bring Colour and asked us to deliver a quick street art workshop at The Pod.

Taylor Johns and The Pea Pod Collective were hosting an arts festival at the pod, we went along and worked with two groups in quick-fire 15 min sessions.
Everyone got the chance to make their own individual pieces using a variety of mixed media that they could keep.

The workshops we offer are flexible, creative, imaginative and fun. 

If you have an enquiry or would like to book a workshop please get in touch.

Bring Colour presents Handsome Gentlemen

 

Throughout last summer we worked with Paul Taylor from the Fargo Team at trying to bring some colour to Far Gosford Street and the soon to be Fargo Village. We had mentioned to Paul that we had been planning an empty shop project, transforming a run down, empty shop into a gallery space for a pop-up exhibition showcasing the work of Coventry artists.

Paul liked the sound of our project and suggested we use an empty unit in the village, he showed us around unit 7,  previously Backbeat rehearsal rooms. Unit 7 had been damaged by fire, Fargo had the roof replaced, the electrics sorted out and new strip lights fitted. The toilets and water supply didn't work and the place was full of rubbish, pallets and dirt. 

We didn't commit to anything right there and then, although the space at Fargo had fantastic potential it also had a lot of work that needed doing to bring it up-to scratch for us to open up to the public as a gallery. We came away from unit 7 excited with the space but slightly overwhelmed with the workload and decided that it wasn't something we could tackle alone.

 

We had previously contacted Coventry council's Arts Development Service seeking some help, advise and information on possible funding sources for our pop-up gallery project, but we were unsuccessful and were just left waiting. Fed up of waiting we decided that the opportunity at unit 7 was too good to let slip through our fingers so arranged a meeting between Bring Colour and the Hearts Gang.

We asked the Hearts Gang lads if they wanted to work together on the project and put on a Hearts Gang group exhibition, everyone liked the idea and seemed keen. We explained that we'll be doing it on a budget of £0.00 and the response was "who cares?"

We got the keys to Unit 7 and things got hectic. Dedicated volunteers, the HG lads and Bring Colour all rolled up our sleeves and got stuck in.

  

We emptied the unit of rubbish and started on the walls, brushing off the flakey paint and cleaning them up ready for white washing.  We boxed in the electrics, hung a new toilet door, even had a plumber come in and fix the "un-fixable" toilet.  After a good few layers of white emulsion and the building of a counter the gallery was taking shape and was ready for Artwork to be brought in and hung on the walls. 

    

The Handsome Gentlemen exhibition included artworks from HG members, Abel, Andrew John Smith, Body Odour, James Mewett, Kevin Donnelly, Pecks and Vel.

To celebrate the launch of the Exhibition and the completed transformation from a grotty warehouse to a white gallery, we threw a party. We invited everyone to come down, check out the artwork, listen to some tunes and have a drink with the gang. The launch party featured a live performance from HG members Idyllic and Ricta as well as a super selection of tunes from Eddie Goodtimes, KI Groover and Saul. The launch party was a success and the gallery was well and truly open for business.

The Exhibition ran for a 11 days and we had over 543 visitors to gallery, the feedback that we had from visitors was fantastic, a few of our favourite comments in the guest book were:

"Not enough of this in Coventry - A must see"    Johnny

"Excellent show of local artists with a unique style"    Joel

"Brilliant effort, very welcoming. Hope you are working on the next one!"   Ellie

"G ♥ ♥ D !"  Fred

When we closed the door to the public for the final time the work hadnt finished, we wanted to leave the unit in a much better state than it was in when we first entered. After taking down the artwork, touching up the white and clearing all of our belongings we were ready to hand back the keys.

 

If you would like to purchase a Handsome Gentlemen T-Shirt, a limited number are available from the Bring Colour shop.

Thank You to everyone that came to the gallery and supported the Handsome Gentlemen exhibition.

Special Thanks to Paul Taylor, Andrew Smith, Body Odour, Amelia Cook, Fredrock, Batch O'Neill, Russel Bristow, Joe Marshall, Abel, Tanith Smith, Zeth Johnson, Ricky Wyeth, Vel, James Mewett, Pecks, Idyllic, Andy Slattery, Ricta, Kevin Donnelly, Imogen Cook, Hipp Dogg, Eliza Cook, Jake Montgomery, Jessica Pinson, Saul Adams, Eddie Goodtimes, KI Groover, Auto Bodyworx, Tandy, The Baginton Oak, Fargo and everyone else that helped to make Handsome Gentlemen possible.

FLASH!

Mr Rax form the Kasbah asked Bring Colour to pop down to the club and create a couple of backdrops for Tricky Discos 1st birthday.

To celebrate the 1st birthday of tricky disco, the Kasbah crew booked headline act & hip hop legend Grandmaster Flash to perform. Bring Colour were asked to produce two graffiti/urban backdrops for either side of the DJ box, so we went down to the club & got busy.

If you are interested in a Bring Colour custom backdrop, have an enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you, then please get in touch.

VB - 005

Savvy from the Vendetta Bass crew got in touch with Bring Colour because he wanted us to bash together some graphics for Vendetta Bass's fifth release, VB-005.

For VB-005 Savvy wanted the same layout as the previous graphics we produced for VB-001 & VB-004, although the main image and colour theme for VB-005 had to be darker than previous ones as the theme for this release was the "Plague".

VB-005 is available 04/03/13 at all major retailers.

A - Savvy - "Plague" 

AA - Digital Era - "Mayday"

If you have a graphics enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you then please get in touch

Circus Mural

Bring Colour were recommended to a lady in Kent who was searching for something to decorate the wall of her sons room but couldn't find exactly what she wanted. The vinyl stickers she had looked at were just too babyish.

When we launched our January Sale on children's murals, she couldn't resist and snapped us up on our offer. We were asked to use elements from their Joules circus Duvet & cushion to decorate a wall in their sons bedroom. 

We popped down to Kent yesterday, got creative, painted a circus themed wall, personalised it with a little 'W' for Will & continued the theme nicely on to the ceiling with a few matching stars.

If you are interested in our January Sale, have an enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you, then please get in touch.   

January Sale

For the month of January the Bring Colour camp have decided to have a sale on our children's murals.

A Bring Colour feature wall for a Bedroom, Nursery or Games Room for only £150 with NO additional fees or travel expense.

NORMAL PRICE:  £175 - £300 + TRAVEL EXPENSE - saving of up-to 50%

Maximum size of wall: 5 meters x 4 meters

  

Offer applies to Mainland England only

Our murals are bespoke, one-off, unique pieces of artwork.

If you have an enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you, then please get in touch.

Maison Stratford

The lads from Maison got back in touch with Bring Colour as they were setting up a new "Maison" over in Stratford. We had previously worked with the guys when they were based at Maison in Priory Place, they had taken over the empty Dogma unit and opened up Baby Buddha, as an attempt to put some life into the area.

We were called in to do some graphics for Baby Buddha & the guys were that happy with the results that they booked us in to do "Maison Stratford" when it was just a pipe-dream.

 

We spent a couple of days over in Stratford with the guys and did a few different bits for them. The main feature is the stairway where we painted some stylized cityscape's as they wanted a kind of sex in the city vibe. On the outside of the building we painted some signage and also a repeated Maison logo which would be a VIP photo wall.  

Recently we popped back over to Stratford to put some Maison logos in the DJ area and on a coffin for some Halloween photos!

Our murals are bespoke, one-off, unique pieces of artwork.

Interior walls, exterior walls, vehicles, backdrops, canvases, we can paint the image you want where you want it!

If you have an enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you, then please get in touch.

Hedgey's Studio

Hedgey must of been missing Bring Colour as he was back on the blower asking us to pop down to the studio and do some more decorating.  We went over to the studio to see the man himself and find out what he wanted doing this time. 

Hedgey was off to the Amsterdam for a weekend break & wanted us to paint a mural on a wall in the front of the studio as a surprise for him when he returned. He left us the with keys to the studio and the instruction "Paint something I'll like!"

So, Hedgey went off for the weekend & we got busy down the studio. 

He arrived home on Sunday evening but couldn't wait till the following morning to check out what we'd done, so went straight to the studio and phoned us up... "You nailed it, I love it!"

Our murals are bespoke, one-off, unique pieces of artwork.

Interior walls, exterior walls, vehicles, backdrops, canvases, we can paint the image you want where you want it!

If you have an enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you, then please get in touch.

Work Hard!

We were contacted by an old college friend, who's brother wanted Bring Colour to create a graffiti mural on one of his walls. 
We popped round to see him and he threw a hundred ideas at us for the graffiti mural in his newly built summer house / gym.

After a lengthy design process, we created a design he was really excited about, went round and got decorating.
He was so happy with the result we are now in the process of designing a second wall!

Our murals are bespoke, one-off, unique pieces of artwork.

Interior walls, exterior walls, vehicles, backdrops, canvases, we can paint the image you want where you want it!

If you have an enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you, then please get in touch.

Handsome Gentlemen

 We have been planning an empty shop project in the Bring Colour camp for some time now, lots of planning, plenty of meetings and numerous knock-backs later we are very pleased to anounce something bigger and better than an empty shop project............... An Empty Warehouse Project!

Bring Colour presents Handsome Gentlemen, the debut group exhibition of Coventry-based creatives, The Hearts Gang.

OPENING PARTY - Saturday 3rd November - Be there @ 6pm.

Art, Photography, Live Music, DJ's and its FREE!

Exhibits from:

ABEL

ANDREW JOHN SMITH

BODY ODOUR
JAMES MEWETT 

KEVIN DONNELLY 

PECKS 

VEL

Live Hip Hop from...

 

IDYLLIC

RICTA 

+ DJ's TBC

GALLERY OPEN - Tues-Sun (2pm-8pm) - Til' Saturday 17th November


" Coventry isn’t famed for its art. Words like – Vibrant, Fresh, Creative and Young don’t often take star roles in Coventry City Councils shopping list – However… all this is about to change; HG have a gig, and by gig I mean “Massive Warehouse” jam packed to the crumbling asbestos, full of amazing art, delightful music and a crisp exciting way of approaching life in this humdrum Coventry.

Handsome Gentlemen don’t profess to hold any of the answers to the stagnant mystery of Coventry’s “creative sector”. In fact HG don’t profess anything, cards and chest etc. They do however offer a large bowl of optimistic bread to the table - of course the bread is of good wholesome quality; weirdly sweet in sentiment, warm and steamy.

Make no mistakes, the group is a rabble. HG can be best described as a strange, fuming, potion, flaring in a cauldron of confusion. A raggedy bunch of tattooists, graffiti artists, musicians and photographers, who all excel in their chosen field (And if they don’t they think they do) They’re not short of confidence… However they do struggle for a voice. They struggle for a voice in Coventry, a city that fattens daily with an apathy for inspiration. Coventry sits spread, bursting with thick, grey goo slipping from its seams.

HG endeavour to change the plight of Coventry’s Creative Sector by breathing life back into the bowels of the dwindling city. The raggedy, rabble plan to carry out their demonic plot by showcasing an ethos of creativity, and expression. Pop along to the warehouse or you might get shot! "

Join the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/352267644858345

Break City Limits

Dtain from Flip The Script Promotions got in touch with Bring Colour to create a backdrop for their new hip hop night, "Break City Limits".  They wanted a big, bold, graffiti style backdrop to brighten up the West Indian Centre, ready for the b-boys, b-girls, MC's & DJ's to battle it out.

Break City Limits 2 is in the pipelines, so if you missed out on number 1, dust off those shell toes, polish up that name belt buckle, get your Kangol hat out of the loft and get practicing your b-boy stance!

Our Choice BBQ

The Groundwork gang have been running a youth project called 'Our Choice' for three years, working with young people aged 11-19 in the Tile Hill, Canley, Willenhall, Stoke Aldermoor, Hillfields & Foleshill areas of Coventry.

The 'Our Choice' project gave young people the change to get involved in their neighbourhood and get their voices heard on what they wanted to see happening in their neighbourhood.

Lou from Groundwork got in touch with Bring Colour, 'Our Choice' were having a summer BBQ for the young people at Coombe Abbey and wanted Bring Colour to come along and facilitate a workshop. The aim of the workshop was for the young people to create a piece of art, through which they could evaluate the 'our choice' project.

Vendetta Bass VB004!

The head honcho over at Vendetta Bass called the bring colour phone and requested some new graphics for the record label and its forth release: VB004. He knew what he wanted, "a music robot made of speakers" to use for the label graphics and then some "bee themed" artwork for the release. He also knew exactly what he wanted it to look like and couldn't of been more helpful with direction, which made our job a lot easier.

VB004 Artwork 

Robotic Vendetta Bass Artwork

If you have a graphics enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you then please get in touch

Back to School part 3

Bring Colour artist, John Mckeown was invited back for the third year in a row to deliver a Graffiti / Street art workshop at Cardinal Newman's Community Arts Festival.

The school wanted the young people to create some artwork with a science theme for them to display in the science block.

The weather on the day was awful but the young people battled against the elements & got creative!

Previous years workshops: 

Back to School part 1

Back to School part 2

FARGO

We were contacted by the guys at FARGO about possibly doing some artwork up Far Gosford Street, so we popped up to have a chat with them. They had a space on the road that was a bit of an eyesore, in between the Beer Engine and the newly restored shops. Their plan was to put temporary hoardings up and have them decorated with a mural until the derelict, former shops are restored.

The derelict site between the beer engine and the restored shops.

We were asked to paint two shop frontages on to the hoardings but we suggested that it might look a little flat and would look better with some depth to the mural. They understood what we were saying and we discussed alternatives. We agreed on having one half shop frontage and the other shops leading down a road to add some depth.

Far Gosford Street is a conservation area so everything has to go into the council for them to check that it 'fits' in to the right criteria. So we began the process, got the pencil and paper out and began sketching.

Initial sketch for the leading road submitted to the council.

We sent in our initial sketch idea for the mural to the council and it came back with a thumbs up, but they needed to see the colours that were going to be used in the mural, so we got busy again.

Colour illustration submitted to the council.

The Council were happy with the plans so we got to work and did our thing.

Hoardings painted with the leading road and shop frontage design.

There are lots of changes up Far Gosford Street that have happened and still lots more to come, if you haven't been up there for a while go check it out. They have restored some fantastic buildings back to there former beauty and have encouraged cool independent local business's to set up shop.

Wicced - alternative clothing and pagan wares

Marjoriedoo Vintage - Vintage clothing and accessories for men and women 

Hopefully we will be doing some more work up there in the future so you might see us too!