Jelly Team
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Suzanne is an artist, activist, and founder of Jelly. She set up Jelly a year after leaving Art School in Bristol, where she had been involved in temporary pop-up exhibitions and involved in a community based darkroom. Returning to her hometown of Reading was only meant to be a temporary move, during that time she set up Jelly as a way of working with other artists and showing her own work whilst still exhibiting nationally. Suzanne signed a 6 months lease and it was during this time that Suzanne created her own work in their basement studio as well as curating the exhibitions in the gallery space. Since then, Jelly has evolved and changed shape over many locations but the key part to the vision was supporting and advocating for artists and bringing the art space into the community.
Suzanne has continued to use her initiative to actively make change and create opportunities for artists and the community in Reading. Her pro-active style and determination, as well as strong ethics, belief in equity and commitment to sustainable working practices, support Jelly to continually move forward and innovate in response to the challenges of our times.
Alongside working on her own creative practice, Suzanne is a performer and maker working on artistic interventions, including for Extinction Rebellion, Ocean Rebellion, Esme Boggart and The David Graeber institute. Recently she has been working with Laura De Moxom – as part of Bold and Tender Collective – a shared collaborative practice making site specific public artworks. Currently she is working with her collaboration partner, Andrew Darnton, developing a new shared practice which can tell the truth about the emergency we find ourselves in, and anticipate what lies beyond it.
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Kate is a community focused creative educator and maker. She has studied and worked in many creative industries; theatre, art, design and believes this variety is what makes life interesting. She loves stories and people and is passionate about creativity in education at all levels across all subjects.
Kate loves to learn and will always be taking a course in something, probably textiles related, but it has been the things she has learnt from the people around her rather than her education which has truly guided her.
Kate has circumnavigated the world, a large part of it by train. The people were, and continue to be, a source of inspiration for her. Kate has wanderlust and believes it was largely fuelled by being brought up surrounded by Reading’s diverse community. She always knew that there were more stories to hear outside of where you are right now.
Upon returning to Reading she embraced her local community, promoting creativity, crafts and the arts for everyone. She joined Jelly as an artist-maker during Open for Art 2014, as the years went by she became more involved and is proud to be a Co Creative Director.
Kate is people focussed, she leads creative workshops in schools and community settings, she is interested in designing through making and thinking through making. She believes that art and craft is essential for societal change, and pivotal to invention and evolution.
But, fundamentally, she likes to talk, travel and sew.
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Linda is an artist, illustrator and tutor. She first discovered Jelly after leaving Central St Martins Art School in 1993, where she attained a Degree in Graphic Design and Illustration. She began to exhibit and had a painting studio in Jelly's first 2 homes. Linda was also a lecturer on various Art & Design Degree programmes, but after 20 years of teaching, she took a Sabbatical break to develop her creative practice and discover her artist voice. The following year she attained a first class Master's Degree in Authorial Illustration at Falmouth University, along with the 2018 prize for Graphic Literature. She then returned to Reading and another studio in Jelly's Broad St Mall home, shortly before Lockdown. Linda continued to work with Jelly to deliver projects and experiences, and during lockdown, co-created a group of Jelly artists online for monthly meetings to share work and take part in interesting online projects. These meetings expanded in scope and became what is now Jelly's very successful Associate Artists Scheme.
During lockdown, Linda was awarded one of 12 'At Home' residencies with Jelly, to collaborate with another creative applicant. Linda's application paired her with Ardman-trained animator Mo Soliman. Their partnership led to a successful Arts Council grant for her to apply stop motion animation methods to her illustrative work, which she did with Mo as tutor and mentor.
She teaches different types of Art including painting and drawing, illustration and printmaking to adult groups at Jelly and at Adult Education facilities. She is passionate about helping adults to find a creative outlet outside of the rigours of formal education, and understands the trauma associated with low creative confidence and the feeling of having to get things 'right'.
Linda has been facilitating Jelly's Associate Artists Scheme since 2020, which has seen over 150 members since its conception.
Her garden shed is her studio, currently set up for her Stop-Motion animation work, but she also does her linocutting in there.
She lives in Reading with her artist husband and their beloved Tibetan Terrier dog.
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Emma first joined Jelly in 2000 volunteering with Suzanne and Marje on Tuesday evenings at Jelly’s space in the Oracle. With encouragement from Suzanne she went on to study BA Hons knitted textiles degree at Winchester School of Art and graduated with a MA at the Royal College of Art in 2010. Emma was awarded the Althea McNish colour prize, and the Marianne Straub Travel bursary. This travel bursary took Emma to Ladakh to work with the Snow Leopard Conservancy Trust in India where she knitted with remote communities in the Himalayas.
In 2013 Emma’s focus shifted with the birth of her daughter and Emma spent more time at Jelly running children activities with her young family in tow. Jelly’s flexibility and supportive way of working allowed Emma to continue her creative work whilst navigating the needs of her young family, working behind the scenes on the day to day organising of the charity and producing and curating events, festivals and workshops with the core team, trustees and freelance workshop artists.
Emma has a keen interest for participatory community art workshops and sharing art, craft and textile skills especially with families, pre-school and school age children. Her experience in community engagement, working with children and families, as well as being a parent and artist herself, means she has an understanding of the challenges that many creative artists face in continuing their careers, and brings her experience and sensitivity to support others working in the arts.
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Laura is a Socially Engaged Artist and empathy-led Cultural Manager, she works with Jelly as Managing Producer as well as an associate artist, workshop facilitator and running Jelly’s Book Club as a volunteer.
Although born and bred in Reading she studied her BA in Contemporary Fine Art in Sheffield and since then her practice explores using mixed media and alternative photographic processes to create alternative archives. Conscious of the importance of sustainability she is currently exploring how to reduce the impact of her practice, as well as how creativity can be used in activism, especially as an introvert.
Her work has been published with Artists responding to, Aeonian magazine and Edinburgh Collage collective, as well as featuring on the cover of Soundscape artist Leo Magnien’s album. She has been commissioned to undertake co-creation projects by Arts Reach, Arts at The Old Fire Station, Fusion Arts and Borough Councils and has undertaken residencies with the Sustainable darkroom and Lumen studios.
Laura has more than 10 year’s experience in delivering multi-artform learning and participatory experiences in the cultural sector, spanning across libraries, museums, galleries, art studios, festivals, schools and unexpected places. In roles ranging across production, management, operations, and hands on delivery and facilitation. She is particularly excited by projects that are co-created with communities, and loves supporting other creatives to develop their practice and participatory experiences.
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