Artist Residency and Workshops at
Water Fest 2022
On Saturday 4 June from 11am, 4 artists will be hosted a series of 30 minute workshops that took place within the Abbey Ruins and Forbury Gardens. The workshops will give participants a snapshot into the artists processes and techniques used to create their work.
The residencies and workshops are in recognition of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and Reading’s environmental and heritage connections with our waterways. When artists are not hosting workshops they were available to chat about their work at the Jelly base.
About the resident artists and their workshops:
Lisa-Marie Gibbs
Lisa-Marie's work as an artist facilitator has led her to engage with fragile communities, both locally and internationally over 25 years. This work has had a far-reaching effect on her own creative practice and continues to influence every creative intervention.
The notion that we are all interconnected by invisible threads and that every action we take has the butterfly effect is a constant source of exploration. This curiosity continues her search to encourage discussion.
Lisa-Marie has wide ranging experience creating art that explores a sense of individual and communal fragility and how artistic practice can make a change in terms of individual recovery within communities. Her focus and research is always wanting to understand and question notions of what it is to be human, loss, desire, love and memory.
Website: www.lisamariegibbs.com
Workshop - Collect Colour with Lisa-Marie Gibbs
Collect colour with artist Lisa-Marie Gibbs as you wander the abbey and surrounding area in search of stories and anecdotes, histories and adventures of what it is to be human, past, present and future.
Imagine creating a series of new colours that are exclusive to the Platinum Jubilee, inspired by our town, its people and the stories of each one of us being part of this 70th year celebration.
If you open up a box of paints, there are numerous stories hidden inside, stories of sacredness, nostalgia, innovation of secrecy and myth of the past, present and future. What happens when you start to mix these colours, extract the stories of a place and blend the pigments to create and localise a colour palette that charts the rich narratives that can be discovered within the Abbey.
Materials needed for this workshop:
Workshop participants are encouraged to bring their own materials. Jelly will also be able to provide:
Watercolour set to include a range of colours
Watercolour paper (a few sheets)
Brushes
Small bottle of water and cup to wash brushes
All workshops are aimed at adults. Children aged 6+ are welcome to join with an accompanying adult. Numbers are limited and each adult and any accompanying children must register for a ticket.
Philip Newcombe
Philip Newcombe is an artist who works with a wide range of media. He exhibits nationally and internationally and has taught in Universities and art colleges across the country. As he is not a studio based artist, making short films on his phone opens up his way of working and looking at the world with fresh eyes each day and he sees them as documents, as others might draw in a sketchbook. He was involved with the Jelly in the late 90’s as a studio member.
Following on from last years Abbey workshop, he set up @small_films_ on instagram, where people are encouraged to send in their own short films.
Instagram: @philipnewcombe @small_films_
Website: www.philipnewcombe.com
Workshop - Collect Moving Image with Philip Newcombe
Learn how to make films from the comfort of your own phone. Who needs a big budget or a crew of hundreds when we have the capability within our pocket to construct short films on the fly.
This workshop is an open and friendly demonstration about how to shoot, edit and construct short films quickly. How can you say what you want to say in under a minute?
Through simple ways of engaging with what’s in front of us, we can produce little magic narratives, through pace, movement, stillness and incidental noise and clatter.
Exploring the theme of ‘jubilee’ you will be guided through the festival (‘shooting from the hip’ and with a ‘quick eye’) and playing with the simple process of collecting images, looking at what we might overlook or take for granted and transform them into personal and poetic documents of the everyday and give you the confidence to explore the limitless possibilities that are only a battery life away.
Each person sees the world differently. There is no right or wrong in this workshop. What captures your attention?
This relaxed and informative workshop welcomes both beginners and those with some knowledge, alike. Come with an open mind and a weird eye!
Materials needed for this workshop:
A fully charged phone that can shoot videos
Preferably an app that allows you to edit your clips in your phone. Philip uses the App ‘Real Director 2’ but other editing apps are available.
All workshops are aimed at adults. Children aged 6+ are welcome to join with an accompanying adult. Numbers are limited and each adult and any accompanying children must register for a ticket.
Amy Beddow
Amy Beddow is an artist-facilitator interested in the different senses, and how we can use these to create, communicate, and experience our environment. She works with a range of media, including print, sound and digital image.
Instagram: @amysbeddow
Workshop - Collect Sound with Amy Beddow
How do we see sound? How do we grasp it? How do we picture it?
Close your eyes, open your mind and absorb the sounds of the day. Together we’ll use movement and drawing to capture our surroundings and create a graphic score of the celebrations.
Jelly will provide all materials but you may like to bring:
Pencils, pens and inks
paper/sketchbook
All workshops are aimed at adults. Children aged 6+ are welcome to join with an accompanying adult. Numbers are limited and each adult and any accompanying children must register for a ticket.
Linda Newcombe
Linda Newcombe is an artist and illustrator who specialises in experimental printmaking and pictorial storytelling. Linda became a Jelly artist in 1994 after graduating from Central Saint Martins College and was with us for about 10 years. She has been teaching for over 20 years and hosting face-to-face and online workshops at Jelly since 2018. Linda currently also facilitates our Associate Artists scheme.
Website: www.lindanewcombe.com
Instagram: @linda_newcombe
Workshop - Collect Texture with Linda Newcombe
Collect textures with award winning illustrator and artist Linda Newcombe. In this workshop you will be using printmaking techniques that do not require an etching press. In this creative and innovative workshop you'll be using gel plates and professional printmaking inks to create your own monotypes to take away. Motifs will include all things Royal, and you'll be able to try layered printing, working with stencils and creating textures with found objects. Prepared to be amazed at the surprising and varied results.
All materials will be provided for this workshop
All workshops are aimed at adults. Children aged 6+ are welcome to join with an accompanying adult. Numbers are limited and each adult and any accompanying children must register for a ticket.
Family Life Drawing with Costumed Models
Join Jelly artist Matt Hulse and costumed models for a 1 hour life drawing session. Matt and friends will be on hand to guide you through some sketching warm up techniques. Suitable for beginners and experienced artists.
Spaces are first come first served. No ticket is required, drop in on the day. We will have basic art materials to borrow. We encourage you to bring your own if you would like to.
Find us located on the lawn near the pond within Forbury Gardens.
Workshops are aimed at all ages and abilities.
Also on display at Water Fest 2022
Flags on display along the River Kennet have been made by children and their families at Forbury Fiesta, Jelly workshops in our studio in Broad St Mall and with years 5 and 6 at Newtown Primary.
Special thanks to guest artist Bridget Turgoose for showing us how to make wood block printed flags.
This residency and free workshops have been made possible with the support of Water Fest 2022
Water Fest is Reading’s largest free town centre-based community event. It will feature an exciting mix of arts, culture and heritage, through live performances, activities and workshops. Reading Water Fest will be taking place on Saturday 4 June this year to coincide with the Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend and will be Reading’s flagship Jubilee event!
The event takes place in the Forbury Gardens, Abbey Ruins and along the Kennet, between Chestnut Walk and the Riverside Museum between 11am and 5pm. Reading Borough Council and The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust are working together once again and hope you can join us for what we hope will be very enjoyable day!
The event will consist of live entertainment, children’s activities and refreshments, water activities, narrow boats, craft and charity stalls.