Jamaica Street Studios

Jamaica Street Studios Jamaica Street Studios is an artist-led studios in the heart of Stokes Croft. A creative community that make, exhibit + collaborate.

Artist-led studios in former carriageworks, Bristol.

Date for your diary!Studio holder Vera Boele-Keimer will be exhibiting works alongside artist Mary Flower in July, in KI...
05/06/2026

Date for your diary!

Studio holder Vera Boele-Keimer will be exhibiting works alongside artist Mary Flower in July, in KIT FORM.

Support/Structure
Vera Boele-Keimer and Mary Flower

preview evening
Thursday 16th July 
18:00 - 20:30

Exhibition continues 17th, 18th, 19th July
12:00 - 18:00

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This two-person exhibition develops a dialogue between the work of Bristol-based artists Mary Flower and Vera Boele-Keimer. 

Both share a fascination with the “vital materiality” of grids which they use as metaphorical and physical support structure in their works.

Whilst Vera’s work focuses on the grid as a methodical principle of woven fabric, Mary pushes the implied stability of grids to breaking point in her sculptural practice. 

The resulting exhibition combines ceramics, moving image with works on paper and painting, interrogating the grid’s capacity to move, become undone and hold together.

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and

Studio holders Dave Bain  and Jess Knights  have been busy painting in the sun as part of Upfest  🌞 Dave's mural celebra...
27/05/2026

Studio holders Dave Bain and Jess Knights have been busy painting in the sun as part of Upfest 🌞

Dave's mural celebrates motherhood and is a modern version of a Botticelli painting with a fruit-based connection to its location on Garnet Street. First picture credit:

Jess spent Saturday painting at To***co Factory , painting her board alongside lots of brilliant artists. Jess painted her brother's cat Minnow, alongside little reminders to slow down, enjoy your morning coffee, connect with nature and be more present. (Pictures 2&3)

Upfest continues until Sunday 31st May with a jam-packed programme including live painting, activities for families & DJs at To***co Factory on Saturday 30th. More details at upfest.co.uk

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JSS is pleased to be hosting curator Hettie Judah for 'How to Enter the Art World After...'Sat 23 May, from 5pmKIT FORMH...
15/05/2026

JSS is pleased to be hosting curator Hettie Judah for 'How to Enter the Art World After...'

Sat 23 May, from 5pm
KIT FORM

Hettie will be joined by three of our very own studio holders Dorcas Casey, Louisa Fairclough and Jessa Fairbrother, alongside Ellie Kerr-Smiley whose work will be showing in KIT FORM

TICKETS VIA HEADFIRST
hdfst.uk/e153282

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DORCAS CASEY
Dorcas Casey is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Bristol. She is interested in dreams, intuition, folk rituals, memory and stories. She works with many different materials including fabric, plaster, bronze, and ceramics. Dorcas studied Sculpture and Multi-disciplinary printmaking. She is an Academician at the RWA and has a studio at Jamaica Street Studios in Stokes Croft.

LOUISA FAIRCLOUGH
Returned from a lengthy period of mental illness, sound is at the core of Louisa Fairclough's practice, both analogue (16mm film/ tape loops) and digital. Louisa is currently making sound/live work rooted in her lived experience of psychosis, a project funded by ACE. Louisa is a co-founder of BEEF, a film and sound collective based at Jamaica Street Studios.

JESSA FAIRBROTHER
Fairbrother uses stories of her maternal line, historical archives and the porous body with photography, performance, embroidery and writing. She completed an MA at the University of Westminster and is currently undertaking a practice-led PhD through Kingston University / Wellcome Collection, funded by Techne, which looks at miscarriage in relation to astrological methods of thinking. Her work appeared in Hayward Touring’s Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood and is held in several national collections in the UK

ELLIE KERR-SMILEY
Ellie Kerr-Smiley is a self-taught contemporary figurative artist, whose work looks to marry together the real and the imagined. With a strong link to storytelling, Ellie’s work explores the interiority of her sitters by combining traditional portraiture methods with illustrative representations of the internal self.

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Photo 3 credit: Trish Morissey

SAVE THE DATE! 25 / 26 / 27 SeptemberOpen Studios will be back in 2026 🎉Explore our beautiful grade II listed building, ...
13/05/2026

SAVE THE DATE!
25 / 26 / 27 September
Open Studios will be back in 2026 🎉

Explore our beautiful grade II listed building, see stunning artworks, chat to artists, check out our new darkroom, the group exhibition, the famous fundraising auction, beers, coffee, cake...

Poster artwork by Yuko Edwards

We've had a bit of a hiatus from Facebook, but we're back! We thought we'd kick off with some lovely studio spotlights.....
11/03/2026

We've had a bit of a hiatus from Facebook, but we're back! We thought we'd kick off with some lovely studio spotlights...

--- Studio Spotlight ---
Karen Edwards

--- About & Inspirations ---

Karen Edwards has held a studio at Jamaica Street Studios for 25 years (give or take). Karen studied Fine Art in 1980, but has enjoyed drawing and painting for much longer, saying that “it was the only thing I was good at.” Inspired by walks, landscapes and places, her work reflects this, flitting between focusing on the sea, woodlands and still lifes. Karen struggled to name just 3 inspiring people, but after a browse of her large art book collection, settled on Turner, Levitan and Courbet.

--- Karen’s Creative Process ---

Karen works mostly with oil, but will often start a new work with a sketch. Rarely working from photographs, Karen creates work from a memory, often after some time has passed. Karen likes to mix together places and memories, creating a “collage” of multiple memories, for example taking a sky from a woodland and placing this above a memory of the sea. Using many layers of oil, and working for a long time on one piece, Karen makes many changes along the way. She describes only being able to let go of a piece when it finally stops saying to her that there is something wrong.

--- Find Out More ---

https://www.rwa.org.uk/blogs/artists/karen-edwards

WOW! We're 25% funded after 1 week - we can't thank you enough.We're on track to meet our target, but we still need YOUR...
07/05/2024

WOW! We're 25% funded after 1 week - we can't thank you enough.

We're on track to meet our target, but we still need YOUR support.

Please share our campaign around and of course visit our Crowdfunded page to pledge! There are loads of amazing rewards on offer.

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/jss

OUR CROWDFUNDER IS LIVEwww.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/jssHelp bring Jamaica Street Studios into community ownership and secure ...
01/05/2024

OUR CROWDFUNDER IS LIVE
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/jss

Help bring Jamaica Street Studios into community ownership and secure the future of a Bristol cultural landmark.

We have amazing rewards on offer, created by our studio artists, with some extras including snooker final tickets and artist retreats.

Click through to watch our brilliant film, featuring local legend Steve Davis!

Your support will mean the world to us at JSS!

29/04/2024

CROWDFUNDER GOES LIVE TOMORROW AT 10:00AM

Help bring Jamaica Street Studios into community ownership and secure the future of a Bristol cultural landmark!

There will be loads of amazing rewards on offer in return for your pledge. Our studio artists have offered workshops, bespoke commissions, and Crowdfunder exclusive original artworks.

Lots of these are really limited, so make sure you pledge early to secure the reward you want!

⭐️On the 30th April we will be launching our Crowdfunder!⭐️We have been given the one-off opportunity by our longstandin...
23/04/2024

⭐️On the 30th April we will be launching our Crowdfunder!⭐️

We have been given the one-off opportunity by our longstanding landlords to buy our building! It's a tall order, but we think we're up to it.

Our studio artists have put together an amazing array of 'rewards', which mean you get something in return for supporting the studios - a double whammy! There will be exclusive limited edition print runs, bespoke commissions, pet portraits... and some seriously great surprises.

You'll be supporting a studios which has been a huge part of the Bristol cultural landscape for over 30 years... We want to make sure it's here for future artists as well.

Your support would mean the world to us, so pop the 30th in your diary!

CHRISTMAS SHOW + SHOP Thursday - Saturdays : 12:00pm - 6:00pmSundays : 12:00pm - 4:00pmUntil 16th DecemberOriginal artwo...
07/12/2023

CHRISTMAS SHOW + SHOP
Thursday - Saturdays : 12:00pm - 6:00pm
Sundays : 12:00pm - 4:00pm
Until 16th December

Original artworks, prints, cards & gifts from the studio holders & guests 🎄

In our new ground floor gallery space, KIT FORM, at 37 Jamaica Street

Address

39 Jamaica Street
Bristol
BS28JP

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