NEWS

After a few quiet years in abeyance, BHAAM is back!

A handful of past members have been meeting with a view to revitalising the group and in October 2024 the AGM brought a chance to discuss ways forward.

BHAAM is now in the process of redefining itself as a group of professional artists making, and critically engaging with, contemporary art within a rural context.

Its members offer new and diverse perceptions that invite audiences to reconsider their connections to landscape and rurality.

Image: Alice Crane, Billy Down Sunset, 2024 photograph

Download PDF here

In June 2016, Bhaam members Liz Gregory and Megan Calver organised two walks on the Blackdowns in connection with the Bhaam exhibition Life in the Blackdowns, Hemyock. On each occasion, walkers participated in the production of one joint work on a long scroll of paper.

Championing small, incidental thoughts and observations, the walks emphasised the importance of process in art making and considered the widely different ways artists approach landscape and get ideas. An underlying theme proposed the creation of a sociable event, such as a walk, as an artwork itself — with authorship extended to all participants.

Liz and Megan would like to thank:
Gordon Field and Bronwen Gundry for installing artworks for walkers to discover
Heather Stallard for providing tea for walkers and Open House to view her art collection
Tim Martin for giving a talk to walkers about his practice and the Bhaam exhibition

Flock Together @ The Nissen Hut Barn, Cherry Hayes Farm, Smeatharpe EX14 9RD
Artist-led talk with Debbie Locke RWA and Sara Dudman about their collaborative practice
6-8 pm Friday 10th July 2015. £5 per person for non-members
Delicious refreshments included

This is an invitation to view the rural barn installation of paper-based works from the project and engage in an inspirational and sociable evening of discussion centring on collaboration led by the artists.
Installation also open 11 am-4 pm Saturday 11 July 2015.

For further information or to book a ticket for this event please contact BHaam: email geraldinelf@icloud.com tel: 01823 601162

Report from new member Linda Mattock. 'The benefits of the visit for me have been twofold. As a new participant of the group I greatly valued the opportunity to get to know the other members and to learn about their individual approaches to making work.

One of the group concerns is to consider how to build a vibrant artist led community in a rural environment. Birmingham has developed an exciting creative hub over the last 4-5 years so it was particularly relevant to explore how this is being brought about so successfully albeit in an urban environment.

Over the 2 days we visited various art spaces and galleries. The focus was not to specifically look at ‘exhibitions of art’ but to engender discussion on how to relate the various curatorial practices and studio working conditions we saw to give us direction of how we might move forward as a collaborative group of very disparate artists and craftsmen living and working at some distance from each other.

The dynamics of walking across Birmingham city centre over the 2 days made the greatest impact on my thought processes. I appreciated the evident willingness of a city to continuously evolve and accept rapid change without looking back or trying to imitate. The eclectic mix of industrial architecture; monumental buildings constructed at the pinnacle of industrial wealth: the power of using new materials and technologies to construct new buildings, rebuild and reuse old premises was inspirational. The new is built upon the heritage of the old. The mixing of ideas and ideals giving a harmony that isn’t aesthetic but creates an environment that reflects the unfixed, uncertain and flexible needs of the world we live in today. This is such a contrast to the rural countryside I now live and work in that changes subtly and slowly.

All the galleries and spaces visited shared a collective enthusiasm to work together to make Birmingham a functional and exciting community for artists and curators and a stimulating place for the people who live there. This was proudly summarised by Eastside projects that have a clearly defined vision of where they fit in Birmingham and the broader art scene.

This collective passion and clear vision to ‘make it happen’ was also demonstrated by Trevor ? at A3 [?] Studios. I particularly connected to his approach to the curatorial role as his art practice. His energy to move on, never stay fixed, always take the lead within a group endeavour gives his projects a very clear directive. He is also practical, balancing the functional commercial side of the undertaking with his creative aspirations. A joint role of producer and director I can relate to.

In summary, it has been a very worthwhile and enjoyable visit. Along the way I also saw some very interesting artwork! There’s no doubt that it will inspire and influence what I do and how I approach doing it. Most valuable, I feel privileged to have been part of the group and to have made new friends'.

Art Exhibition: 14 September – 6 October 2013
Venue: Cotley Tithe Barn, Cotley, Nr Chard, Somerset
For more details see the Project pages

On the 18 April eight BHAAM members visited Compton Verney in Warwickshire to look around the galleries. They had meetings with staff to discuss the organisations approach to its temporary gallery programme in a rural area. They had a good lunch which was followed by a meeting with Compton Verney's head of communications who gave a talk focussing on BHAAM's future marketing needs.