Jamaica Street Studios: Open Studios 2019

The month of May brought us, in the shape of Spike Island’s annual Open Studios, an annual highlight of Bristol’s art calendar – especially for those who like to get up close and personal with art and its creators.

This month brings another such highlight: the annual Open Studios at Jamaica Street Studios, the thriving, 30-plus-strong artists’ community based in a former carriage works at the junction of Jamaica Street and Stokes Croft.

This year’s Open Studios follows the much-loved format of recent years: opening party on the Friday night, followed by open studios on Saturday and Sunday, when the public are invited into the building to explore the many studios, meet the artists, talk about their work and perhaps pick up a favoured artwork or two.

Also returning, albeit in a revamped format for this year, is JSS’s hugely popular Fundraising Auction. This year, instead of submitting miniature canvasses, the JSS artists have been tasked to make anything they want. You can view the artworks up for grabs, and start bidding already, via the link at the end of the feature. The live auction itself takes place on Sunday 16 at 5pm.

The ever-popular Live Auction returns once again to JSS’s Open Studios weekend. Pic: Damien Hockey

It all kicks off with a launch event on the Friday evening from 7pm – a preview for the Open Studios, also featuring cheap bars around the building. Then everyone descends to Jamaica Street Stores, the bar/restaurant housed in the basement of the Studios’ building, at 10pm for a party late into the night, with local DJs. On the Saturday and Sunday, the Studios are open from 11am, allowing visitors to get to know the building and its many studios and resident artists at their own pace.

The Open Studios are much loved by Bristol’s art lovers: and the resident artists get plenty from it too. “Open Studios is so valuable because it gives me the chance to meet and talk directly to art lovers and see first-hand how they react to my work,” says Tom Hughes, a JSS resident and master oil painter of landscapes of London, Bristol, Dorset and Cornwall. “I spend hours over the weekend talking to all sorts of different people about how or why my work resonates with them, which is a fascinating experience.

“Typically with galleries, you never get to meet your collectors, so it’s nice to talk face to face with people and get that feedback that we all crave as artists. Working in a vacuum throughout the year can be quite an isolating experience, so meeting so many people over a few days is really invigorating.”

“Open Studios is a key part of life as an artist here,” adds photographer Jessa Fairbrother. “It is a way of catching up with friends and supporters who have helped me along the way – I’ve met many of them through previous Open Studios and that has been central to why I’m still making work as an artist. No matter where I go I always come back to Bristol – it feels right.”

Visitors are invited to tour the Studios across the weekend – and it all begins with a launch night on the Friday evening. Pic: Alice Hendy

Other Jamaica Street residents include Zoë Power, a mural painter, illustrator and lettering artist who has been on site for two years and who recently hosted her first solo show Overlay at That Art Gallery on Christmas Steps. Elsewhere, sculpture, mixed media and video artist Isis Whiteaway has been in residence at JSS since September, as the first recipient of the studios’ Young Artist and Recent Graduate Residency. “This residency is our offer of subsidised studio space to those who have less opportunity to access studio space in the city,” explains studio manager Danny Prosser. “Since being with us, Isis has developed and exhibited new work for the first time in Bristol, at Caraboo Projects as part of their Scratch Lab.”

“Jamaica Street Studios has been the home to a diverse collective of artists for over two decades,” Danny concludes. “Every year we fundraise to be able to subsidise the cost of running the studios, to continue to secure affordable studio space in the city for visual artists. Open Studios is our main fundraiser, but also our annual commitment to celebrating artist studio spaces. Inviting the public in for this rare peek behind the scenes, creates a more personal connection between our studio artists and the art lovers of Bristol and beyond.”

Jamaica Street Studios: Open Studios takes place from June 14-16. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/events/410123886489962

View and bid for the Fundraising Auction at www.32auctions.com/organizations/50048/auctions/61883

Main photo: Fine artist Elaine Jones in her studio at Jamaica Street Artists. Photo by Alice Hendy

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