somethings are happening

We have had a busy week working and next week will be much the same with half term break plus the Town Centre Day but you may have noticed something happening in town.

jelly 27/28

You can find out more about these pop-up galleries right here including the artists who are taking part. The work will only be exhibited until June 5 2009 but the images and artists information will remain on here.

The exhibitions are part of our Town Centre Day programme (previous info available here).

jelly, with the help of Reading artists, will be helping anyone and everyone who wants to become an Artist for the day. To celebrate 20 years of the Children’s Festival we want to create a town full of artists and artists in the making for the day. The event is free and will take place in Town Hall Square culminating in a mass art exhibition and changing the face of Reading for the day.

The exhibition of works created on the day will take place using the railings around Town Hall Square and the John Soane monument and through the Bristol and West Arcade complemented by window exhibitions of works by some of the artists who are helping us.

All this has been made possible by the generous help and support of Reading artists, Reading people and businesses, including picnic, Cream Design, Reading UK CIC, Reading Borough Council Voluntary Sector Support Unit, Sainsbury’s, Haslams, Fryer Holt, Brook Henderson, MUSE Developments and Hicks Development Ltd.

Come along and join us on the day and help us Change the face of Reading.

A quick update

So many things have happened since the last update including viewing four buildings, three for temporary homes and one for a long-term home, plus working on our big project for the end of the month but firstly we’ll update you on our long-term home, the studios.

The future studios building is the Old British School on Southampton Street, “At a meeting held at the house of Mr Letchworth to consider a plan submitted by Mr Lancaster for the education of poor children held this 27th August 1809. Resolved that such a school be established and that the same be a free school.” Reading Lancastrian School Minute Book 1809.

The Grade 2 Listed Old British School on Southampton Street was built in 1810. It is the only surviving building in the United Kingdom of its type from the period and in the Winter of 2000/2001 a competition run by the BBC decided that it is one of the most important buildings in the country.

jelly has been fortunate enough to be working with an individual who is putting time and care into returning the building to its former glory. Eventually it will be part of a larger residential development but the main studios will have their own street facing entrance with small network/ exhibition space plus space for about 10 artists in the main studio. The brickwork has been re-pointed, the roof replaced and a major clear up of the interior which had been left to home the pigeons for many years has been undertaken.

Here are some glorious interior shots:

entrance to studios/ network/ exhibition space

sneak preview of main studio area

We could bore you with photos all day, and we are currently fighting the urge to post more and more of this lovely space. This is a long drawn out job of painstaking, built by hand and last week when we visited individual bricks were being marked that needed extra care.

beautiful brickwork

The front aspect of the building shows an upper floor, that will be a flat available for rent (not from jelly) – how fantastic to live there. We used their stairs to take this image looking down into the main studio area.

View from the upper floor

The studios will be home for 15 years, we will keep you updated here on where we are at with them (and maybe even post some more photos!).

We are also in negotiations on another temporary space in Reading to be used for exhibitions – the property is currently victim of the economic climate and is in administration but thanks to the jelly’s 16 year love affair with using short term properties and the recent Government public announcement for supporting artists in empty shops we are working towards something fantastic. It will be run like Gallery 10 and will be an exhibition space for many groups and artists in the area. It is 7,00sq ft of space right in the middle of town.

sneaky peek, Floor 2, jelly2 space

The other two buildings are only for 2 weeks and will be used as part of
Changing Reading for the Day: Town Centre Day Friday 29 May 11am – 4pm; Exhibition from 4-5.30pm.

jelly, with the help of Reading artists, will be helping anyone and everyone who wants to become an Artist for the day.

To celebrate 20 years of the Children’s Festival jelly wants to create a town full of artists and artists in the making for the day – it is a hugely ambitious project, with many artists already signed up to help. jelly is providing materials, the expertise and anyone will have the opportunity to be creative. The event is free and will take place in Town Hall Square ~ we are looking to recreate the Freeze exhibition of 1988 and create our own stars of the future, culminating in a mass art exhibition and changing the face of Reading for the day.

The exhibition of works created on the day will take place using the railings around Town Hall Square and the John Soane monument. Alongside this there will be window exhibitions of works by the artists helping us. The works will be housed in 27/28 Market Place (opposite the Post Office) and 173 Friar Street (in Town Hall Square) from Friday 22 May until Friday 5 June inc. All this has been made possible by the generous help and support of Reading artists, Reading people and businesses, including Sainsbury’s, Haslams, Fryer Holt.

Come along and join us on the day and help us Change the face of Reading.

things that jelly makes

So we have been back a week and are into our normal term time programme -normal is a random way of describing the activity that happens here, there is never anything that quantifies as a normal week. When people ask what we do, it is hard to say in words exactly as it changes daily, weekly, monthly but we are always working towards a common goal: making good art and being involved in creative activities are just two of what we aim to do. The real official line is here if you really want to know.

We are all passionate about what we do, and in the next year we will slowly be adding extra bits on here about us as individuals, what our art practice is, why we do what we do and how we came to be involved in jelly.

Whilst we are writing that, delivering projects, activities and exhibiting we also have our fingers in other pies ~ we started by using empty shops in the last recession and we are completely embracing the Government initiative to keep the High Street live during the current economic climate. This Friday we will be looking at a new building for a six month home – this will house the new version of Gallery 10 plus we are working on two other temporary spaces which we hope to use on our Artist for the Day project – details will be announced soon, but mark out the last Friday in May for that day.

The studios are moving along and next week some of us will be going on a visit, taking pictures and signing off the flooring – much happens unseen here and the best part of when we update on this site is that we can keep you all up to date.

The other news in jelly’s life is that the Chatham Place project has been put on hold, ‘due to radical changes in the economic climate and outlook, the jelly Directors reappraised the viability of the plans for occupation at Chatham Place, to include gallery, education and network space and have decided that it is no longer viable. The deferring of Phase 2 of the Chatham Place Development due to economic uncertainty has identified challenges for jelly’s future sustainability with lower than anticipated footfalls in this location for the foreseeable future.

The jelly team have been prudent in constantly responding and reviewing the business model since their initial discussions in 2006 and felt that jelly’s focus would become steered towards delivering profits to meet rent commitments, in an environment when gallery income is expected to remain subdued, at the expense of delivering our artistic aspirations and education programme.

This has been discussed in detail with MUSE Developments who have been forced to review their aspirations and the level of financial support available, alongside The Arts Council funding, to facilitate jelly’s relocation to a fully fitted-out unit at Chatham Place due to the sharp property downturn.

The net result is, with much regret from both parties, that we are unable to conclude a deal at present. We are pleased to announce that we will continue to have a dialogue with MUSE who remain supportive of our efforts.’

This decision in the current climate is a positive step for jelly and reinforces the sound business background to our creative lives. We will still be creative, in many places and we are running towards many more opportuities in the immediate future with one eye on our long term ambitions.

All is good in the jelly world

something you don't see, the jelly office. Photo by Sarah Kench