The Black and White Cat Press is an artist ran printer and publisher of zines, comics, books and CDs based in Salford, England. The press was set up by David M. Birchall in 2001. The press prides itself on taking care of all aspects of the design, print and construction of its artworks.

The Press is also active in the field of furthering visual education providing comics workshops with young people in the Greater Manchester area.

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David Birchall: CV

Born: Leicester 09/07/1981

Website: http://www.blackandwhitecatpress.org

Email: blackandwhitecatpress@hotmail.com

Phone: 07858616077

Languages: Fluent English, Intermediate Norwegian, Beginners German, Greek and French

IT skills: word processing, internet, basic web design, adobe photoshop.

Travel Experience: I have traveled extensively throughout Europe and spent some time in North America. I have been resident in Greece for a period of 5 months and have spent several month long periods in Oslo.

Education
1999-2002
2:1 BA (hons) English Language & Literature, University of Manchester

1996-1999
4 'A' levels and 9 GCSEs from Longslade Community and 6th Form College, Leicester

Statement.
I am interested in exploring ideas of social change and communities and this manifests itself in a number of ways.

Through my work as a musician I have worked within worldwide networks involved with building communities that transcend national boundaries in their creative aspirations. My practise as a musician has focused on developing skills as an improviser on fretted string instruments. I also work on projects composing and arranging music.

Working with children and young people in Manchester, the city which I have made my base for the past ten years, has made firmer to me the importance of educating and offering opportunities for a positive future to young people. My work as an artist crosses over with my work with young people; focusing on addressing concerns about visual literacy through the use of comics and visual storytelling.

My own practise as an artist has developed out of my undergraduate study of creative writing, language and literature. Intially exploring the idea of narrative and word forms through comics and illustrative story telling, my work is now developing in new directions. I am currently making new comic work exploring the links and history between writing and drawing, the visual aspects of language, semiotics, semantics and how these manifest themselves in comics narrative. I prefer to present my drawn and comics work as accessible handmade multiples to make the work available to the widest number of people.

Bibliography.
Proposals for Social Change in the Novels of William S. Burroughs (University of Manchester BA dissertation) (2001)

Extricate 1 (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2002)

Extricate 2 (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2003)

War is Death & Oppression (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2003)

Bloomst I Hage (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2003)

Extricate 3 (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2003)

Extricate 4 (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2004)

Extricate 5 (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2004)

Tegne 1(Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2005)

Extricate 6 (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2005)

Pencilled In 1 (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2006)

Oslo Meow 1 (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2006)

Vast Latitudes of Indifference (Bei Renate, Berlin) (2006)

Odins Story (Shoogooble, Salford) (2006)

Extricate 7 (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2006)

Extricate 8 (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2007)

Sketches of Greece (No Gch, Manchester) (2008)

Oslo Meow 2 (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2008)

Exhaust (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2008)

Extricate 9 (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2008)


Discography.
Our Beautiful Ridiculous Plan Bleaklow (Black and White Cat Press/Hearing Aid, Manchester) (2004)

One Scrappy Mass Volume One (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2005)

Stuckometer/Milk Teeth untitled split  (Hearing Aid, Manchester) (2006)

Stuckometer Muung (First Person, Stoke) (2006)

Stuckometer Beta Carotene (Low Point, Nottingham) (2006)

Stuckometer/Agripon Jodrell Bank in the Palm of Yr Hand (Galerie Pache, Paris) (2006)

Stuckomter Onyx (Rayon Records, Lyon) (2006)

Magnus Birkehalle The Sound of this Guitar in a Room All Alone (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2007)

Kalbakken Kalbakken (Black and White Cat Press, Manchester) (2007)

Levenshulme Bicycle Orchestra Spinning Priest  (Lost Frog, Tokyo) (2007)

Open Eye Duo Sea and Fish (Ikuissuus, Tampere) (2008)

Stuckometer appear on DVD compilation Freenoise The Sound of Sheffield (Freenoise, Sheffield) (2008)

Stuckometer Stomacheater (Poot Records, Hull) (2008)

Kalbakken 13 songs (Little Red Rabbit Records, Manchester) (forth coming 2009)

Exhibtions.
Cow Lane Studios Gallery, Salford Group Exhibiton (Group Exhibiton) (2007)

Bankley Mill Gallery, Manchester All Beginning With... (Group Exhibtion) (2007)

Cow Lane Studios Gallery, Salford  Exhaust Exhibiton created in collaboration with Zeke Clough (2008)

Derby City Museum & Art Gallery, Derby Art Postcards (Group Exhibiton) (2008)

Sand Bar, Manchester I Bike Manchester (Group Exhibiton) (2008)

Bookfairs.
Manchester Radical Bookfair, Merci (2005)

London Zine Symposium, Brick Lane (2008)

Bristol Comics Art Fair, Commonwealth Hall (2008)

Brighton Artists Bookfair, Phoenix Arts (2008)

Manchester Zinefest, Urbis (2008)

London Small Publishers Fair, Conway Hall (2008)

Manchester Artists Bookfair, Manchester Metropolitan (2008)

Leeds Thought Bubble Festival, Royal Armouries (2008)

Liverpool Artists Bookfair, Wolstenholme Projects (2008)

 
Tours.
Autumn 2004 week long tour of UK with Our Beautiful Ridiculous Plan

Winter 2006 two week tour of France, Holland, Germany and Denmark with Stuckometer

Autumn 2007 week long tour of UK with Kalbakken

Spring 2008 week long tour of Spain and Portugal with Kalbakken

Summer 2008 week tour of UK with Open Eye Duo
(Forth coming: Easter & Summer 2009 of UK & Europe with Kalbakken)


Employment
06/08-present
Self employed worked in schools and youth centres teaching comics workshops and own my self intiated projects. I applied for and received a grant from the Big Boost National Lottery fund to set up the comics education project.

09/07-present
Teaching Assistant
Working part time offering support to a young child with Aspergers Syndrome at Alma Park Primary School, Levenshulme, Manchester.

03/06-09/06
Playworker
Working part time facilitating free play for 8 to 13s through creativity and sports at Addy's Young Peoples Centre, Benchill, Manchester.

09/04-02/06
Study Support Worker
Running a busy homework centre for 8 to 16s in Longsight Library, Longsight, Manchester

2/04-09/04
Teaching Assistant
Working across Greater Manchester for Select Education in a wide variety of Special Educational Schools

03/03-09/03
Cycling Instructor
Teaching safer cycling in schools through Bike Right! Around Greater Manchester

09/02-03/03
Teaching Assistant
Working with children with identified special needs at a school in inner city Leeds.

Voluntary Experience.
04/04-present
Radio Producer & DJ
Running a specialist music show on community radio station ALL fm. 08/03-present


08/03-present
Gig Organiser
I have been involved with organising gigs in Manchester in pubs, churches, houses, social clubs, squats, artists studios, youth centres for artists from across Europe and the US.

07/08-present
Chair & Organiser
At Cow Lane Artist Studios where my workspace is. This involves the day to day running of the space, setting up and booking exhibitions, dealing with finances, ensuring membership is maintained.

01/07-05/07
Instrument Maker
I lived and worked in Vasiliko, a small village in Greece, apprentice to a professional instrument maker in a project funded by the EU. I also volunteered one day a week in the nearby town of Xylokastro at the Centre for Creative Play.

03/03-09/03
Housing Activist
During this period I was part of a community occupying and establishing homes in empty houses for those with no alternate housing in South Manchester.

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