Local beverage tycoon Roly Topf was on the island in July to launch a brand new product ready for summer. No barbecue will be complete this summer without some mainstay Rekorderlig cider and some new Jamaica Rum Vibes cocktail cans! Every launch needs some test sampling, and a small but perfectly formed crowd of friends and supporters joined the staff of Randalls at La Hacienda. The Caribbean weather was there in support as DJ Nelson played some classic reggae tunes to put revellers in an irie mood, as they enjoyed liberally sampling the lime and ginger varieties.
After curating shows all over Europe while consulting for London galleries assisting with their artist liaison, Jasmine Rose Neal is bringing her talents home to Jersey and opening her first gallery.
“ I felt it was time. Now or never!” She tells us, “I have great collectors in Jersey so I need a space to be able to properly present work to them.” With the grand opening on the horizon, September 8th in fact, we chatted to Jasmine about Jaro’s journey and what we can look forward to seeing when the gallery’s doors are swung open.
How did you become interested in collecting and curating art?
Having studied interior architecture at university I always thought I would go into property development and interior design, but after having children I had time to realise that art is what speaks to me the most. I have always loved art, both creating and studying it, but I also have a passion for numbers and business. My father is an art collector, so it’s just always been something I’ve witnessed, loved and been inspired by.
How many artists do you represent and can you tell us about a few of them?
The gallery currently represents eight emerging artists both local and European. It also exhibits well-known established artists on the secondary market.
The first artist we represented was Bluntroller who originates from Jersey. He’s been exhibited in shows in several leading European public galleries including Saatchi and Quantus Gallery and his work is well-known within the street-art community. Our working partnership has been a great learning experience and he’s now established in many leading collections. We sold out our first solo exhibition together in Switzerland 5 years ago and have continued to work closely together ever since. His work is now highly appreciated by collectors and a waiting list exists for his work. We’re hoping to complete a major public commission piece in the near future.
My other locally-recruited artist is Sally Weekes who has yet to exhibit in Jersey. She is love, nature, tears and happiness all wrapped up and painted on to specially sourced pieces of wood. The emotions that her work conjures up and seeing how blown away people are when I introduce her work to new clients is simply breathtaking. Her subject matter is vast and random so there is something for everyone. Her work is the antidote to all modern developments of AI art and cannot be recreated. Sally draws inspiration from the wood and by enhancing what is already there in nature she creates masterpieces, often with historically important references. Her technique can also be applied to custom interiors, boats and planes. Before having children she worked for Jaguar, Liberty of London and a handmade kitchen company based in Knightsbridge. Similarly to Bluntroller, Sally needed assistance in connecting her work to clients and developing her portfolio.
Working with them both has been such a pleasure and I get so much from seeing them succeed and grow.
Juliya Delani is a new artist to us whose work is highly sought after with over 15 international sell out exhibitions. We met in Geneva where she had recently moved following the war in her home country of Ukraine. A percentage of the proceeds from her Jersey exhibition will be going to help displaced children in her hometown and support them with education and child-care. Juliya works with mixed media, primarily acrylic on canvas, to create abstract representations of her reality. These large atmospheric paintings are up for personal interpretation and I personally believe they would make a beautiful statement in any home be it modern or traditional.
Mr. Controversial has been mentioned as the one to watch when it comes to rising artistic talent in the UK. He is hot off the back of sell out exhibitions and collections and I am extremely excited to introduce him to the jersey market on September 22nd when the exhibition starts. Known for his twist of vintage imagery with funny, relatable captions he will be showcasing his new typographical oil paintings which are equally as bold, witty and riddled with truesims that we can all relate to. Due to the sharable nature of his work it often goes viral and I think he hits the sweet spot between social media viral content and contemporary fine art. We’re working on a few unique pieces that I am sure my clients and visitors will love.
Why did you choose Jersey as the location to open your new gallery?
Given my life situation with my children, my clients and also the artists I represent there is nowhere better. And I want to contribute to getting our local talent recognised internationally. Alongside the Jersey gallery I am also opening one in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where many of my clients are based and I will continue with the European pop-ups as well as working with London based galleries. This means that my Jersey clients can rest assured that these artists are being well-promoted and that their value will continue to increase.
What will your first exhibition be about?
Ooooh… It’s a good one! I needed to start strong and I really want to inspire my existing clients while also showing new people and those who maybe don’t know much about art yet that art can be epically mood enhancing and empowering. It will focus on strong, beautiful women with a slightly dark twisted humour.
Memories (2) by Juliya Delani, £6600 Monet, by Sally Weekes, £8000e Rocco Rocks, by Sally Weekes, £4000In A Walnut Shell, by Sally Weekes £6000Oat Milk by Mr. Controversial, £3,500,Rihanna Urban Grime, Bluntroller £6000
What advice would you give to a first-time collector?
To put it simply I have 3 types of clients. The first are collectors who are people that buy art that they like while being mindful of the market and picking pieces that will hopefully hold their value. The second are investors who are building portfolios of works that are not necessarily to display but are purely for investment purposes. The third are novices and probably my favourite type of client as they are people who don’t think they know much about art but who are attracted to something for a certain unknown reason. Within this category I would also insert those who just want something aesthetically pleasing for a certain room in their house to help create the home they desire. I work closely with many interior designers to source or commission paintings to this effect.
So, my advice to a first time collector would be to buy a piece of work that makes you feel something because to me that’s everything. If they then decide that they have an interest I can work with them and help manage their portfolio for investment. Always buy with your eye, and don’t hesitate to be courageous.
Are there any exhibitions at the moment that you would recommend?
I’m always a big fan of the classics which can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery, The Tate or the Wallace Collection in London. These big galleries can be a bit overwhelming though and so I often find I get more from popping in and just looking at a few paintings and spending time learning about them as opposed to staring blankly at hundreds of paintings with little to no context. I also admire Larry Gagosian and see him as a mentor. If you’re ever in a city where he has a gallery then I would highly recommend visiting it as he really is at the forefront of the global art market and has, in my opinion, the best modern artists on his books.
What future development plans do you have for your gallery?
Everything develops so quickly and I never anticipate directions or events. I just want my artists to be happy and my clients to be inspired. I hope to have placed more emerging artists’ works within the leading collections in Jersey and to have introduced my love of art to some new faces.
What shows have we got to look forward to?
I plan on exhibiting a mixture of local and international, commercial and established investment grade artists. I want to inspire my clients and the curation is one of my favourite elements as it enables me to take people on a journey. We also have a non-commercial exhibition of historical and educational importance to Jersey. This is slightly different for me but I’m excited by the challenge and I think it gives a lot of context to everything else that I will be putting on. This was something that Jersey Heritage wanted to put on but unfortunately weren’t able to. There will also be installation art, workshops and artist talks so there is space for everyone to get involved.
Jaro Gallery at Number One York Street in St. Helier from 8th September. Public welcome from 5-8pm.
Kay Le Seelleur Ara is one of Jersey’s leading contemporary artists whose provocative and visionary paintings have won awards over several decades. Wednesday 19 July sees the opening of her latest exhibition at ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House, ‘Mrs Magnitude’s Emporium’. It promises to be a mesmerising solo exhibition of her recent paintings, curated in collaboration with conceptual artist Rachel Ara taking, with the starting point for the show taking favourite images from Kay’s Instagram followers.
Visitors can expect a fun and wild journey into the brilliantly inventive, sharp humour and gender politics of this significant artist and her extraordinary body of work. The show will feature hundreds of original works of art, paintings and drawings made over the last couple of years in a unique and inviting setting styled in the theme of one of the Royal Academy of Arts rooms for Academicians. It promises to inspire a sense of awe and immersion for the viewer entering the space, while the surrealist nature of the work makes it playful and unintimidating. We caught up with Kay Le Seelleur Ara to learn more about her background, her work and what we can expect from her upcoming exhibition in July
Hi Kay. Can you tell us a little bit about your artistic background, beginning with where and who you trained with?
I’ve enjoyed drawing for as long as I can remember. From the age of four I can remember drawing chickens. I remember I wanted to draw the Virgin Mary with Angles when I was at FCJ and Mother Carmel told me I wasn’t good enough to draw her. In a sense I’m still trying to do that painting today
I attended Bath Academy of Art in the late 50s to early 60s. It was probably the most ‘happening’ Art College at the time, and had 4 fantastic years. We were privileged to have such high calibre tutors such as Howard Hodgkin, Willian Scott and Gillian Ayers. I really started drawing again in earnest after I broke my hip in 2017. I couldn’t garden, do walks or concentrate on reading, so I just drew and painted and it became an obsession.
I’ve heard you have a very rigorous studio routine, tell us more?
I wake up at 6am every morning and post my first cat picture on @mrs_magnitude at 6:15. It’s usually the drawing I’ve done the day before. At breakfast I have a pad of paper on the table where I do some more drawings. I then go to the living room and do a cat cartoon by 11am. I then go upstairs to my studio and work till 12:45. After lunch I’m back in the studio from 2:15 to 5pm. I then go back to the living room, have a large brandy and scroll through my IG feed. I do my best work when I’m plastered. Every 5 days I post a drawing to @kays_telly_doodles and a painting to @kay_leseelleur.
Your upcoming exhibition Mrs Magnitudes Emporium is described as an immersive journey into the world of Kay LeSeelleur Ara. Tell us a little about the show?
It’s a selection of all the work I’ve done over the last 4 years. The gallery will be split into 3 main areas, one with all my paintings, about 200, one with drawings and Mrs Magnitudes small room at the end where you can view the catorium.
Who is Mrs Magnitude?
She’s a slightly deranged old lady who lives in her skyparlour – often she visualises herself as a cat. The name just materialised out of the blue and it just sounded right. It then became the name of a new Instagram account where I post daily cat cartoons.
Kay Le Seelleur Ara: Mrs Magnitude’s Emporium runs between 19 July – 20 August 2023 at ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House, 8 Church Street, St Helier. Free entry with opening hours Tuesday to Saturday 10.30am to 6pm/5pm close on Sundays/closed Mondays.
@mrs_magnitude, @kays_telly_doodles and @kay_leseelleur
Many tutors at our local Highlands Adult & Community Education (ACE) are trailblazers in their fields. From chefs to yogis, a graffiti artist to a drag diva, a master potter to a jewellery maker, watercolourists to best-selling authors, a coder to an upholsterer, the tutors are blazing trails that are inspiring to their students.
Trail blazers like to do what’s never been done before. Carolyn Rose Ramsay observed how many young people there were in Jersey who studied dance but who had to leave island to explore that career path. So she set up a ballet company in Jersey. Herself. She is the Artistic Director for Ballet d’Jèrri, the Channel Islands’ first professional dance company. She also teaches Dance Appreciation courses for Highlands ACE.
A former dancer for Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Miami City Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, and the Norwegian National Ballet, Carolyn has lived and breathed dance her entire life. She says that she teaches “to share the deep knowledge that I have acquired throughout my lifetime as a professional dancer and to encourage people in Jersey to learn more about dance. In many other parts of the world, children grow up with a national ballet company, so they have an ingrained appreciation of dance. Because Jersey has never had that before, it is not ingrained, so I hope to give them an appreciation for the art form.”
So far, she has taught dance appreciation courses for ACE that focus on ballet in Britain, the origins of contemporary dance, and an introduction to Ballet d’Jèrri with the dancers describing their histories. “People tend to think that they don’t like dance because they don’t know that much about it, or maybe they saw one thing that they didn’t like. But dance is so broad and varied, and there is something for everyone. Students have told me that they now see dance on TV and they start to recognise what they are seeing, and form opinions about different techniques, choreographers, and individual dancers, which makes them invested in what they are seeing.”
If it’s possible to be a trailblazer by going back in time, then that’s what Tim Le Breuilly is doing at Luddite Press. In contrast to high-speed, digitised, mass production printing, the ethos at Luddite Press is to slow down and hand print one item at a time on one of several ancient printing presses. This ethos is similar to the slow movement—an approach which encourages people to slow down and truly be present with what they are doing instead of scrolling or streaming.
Tim teaches printmaking workshops for Highlands ACE at Luddite Press in Grève de Lecq Barracks. “At Luddite Press, we’re coming towards the end of a successful year’s project to improve people’s wellbeing through printmaking,” he says. In addition to the ACE workshops, they have gotten referrals from Older Adult Mental Health, Community Navigators and Eye Can as well as walk-ins from people accessing other services. “For those accessing these ‘one-to-one’ sessions,” Tim says, “we hope that an hour or two out of the house trying something new and creative with tangible results lifts the mood.” He adds that “the ACE classes are more sustained and students can expect to get a deeper insight into some of the processes involved as well as an opportunity to develop their own art work further.” Tim also leads a mountain biking programme with the Sea Cadets Jersey, teaching them how to literally blaze their own trails.
Tim finds teaching “hugely rewarding” and appreciates the opportunity “to pass on skills and understanding to others and see it enrich their lives.” In addition to the benefits to the students, Tim also finds that teaching helps artists have a deeper understanding of their craft. “From a personal perspective,” he says, “I find it also helps to solidify things I may have been experimenting with myself. Students can sometimes give a fresh perspective on a process I’ve gotten so used to doing a certain way.”
While many artists in Jersey give up their paint brushes to go the corporate route, Lisa MacDonald decided to make money from her art. She is a professional artist who started a homeware business 14 years ago, MollyMac, and most homes in Jersey have at least one MollyMac product, whether it is a tea towel, coffee mug or wooden bunting. She blazed the trail for other Jersey creatives to market their artwork commercially as housewares and souvenirs. “My work constitutes a patchwork of components,” Lisa says, “but I make my living from my creativity.” In addition to the MollyMac brand, Lisa paints her own work. She says, “I spend much of my time painting and drawing. My current work is about journeying through safe spaces.” She says that whenever someone buys one of her paintings, “it makes my heart sing.”
Lisa uses her expertise and experience in teaching the adult learners at Highlands ACE. “My general advice is about taking yourself and your work seriously, get as skilled as possible in and out of education and respect your worth,” she says. “Learn to build work that really resonates with you and then find your audience.” For students who want to become professional artists, she advises, “There are lots of ways to be an artist and there are some ways to make it a financially viable choice. Being a professional artist means a compulsion to create and make with all the joys and frustrations that that brings. It is also about believing in your value, making money from your work, and spending most of your time creating.”
She adds that she is “always keen to make suggestions for students to progress even if it is just encouraging them to take the next step on their journey” and mentions that one “doesn’t have to be a professional to enjoy learning about a subject,” rather, students can “just be quietly learning and improving and enjoying the process. Art in all its forms, feeds the soul, changes the way people think and should be celebrated more.”
Now in its seventh year, the Jersey Summer Exhibition is the biggest selection of local art available to view at one time in a single event. CCA Galleries International is the perfect backdrop for artists looking to exhibit their work in a professional gallery, whilst allowing collectors the opportunity to acquire new artwork by the best emerging artists our Island has to offer.
Having work professionally exhibited at CCA Galleries International has helped launch the careers of promising Jersey artists, as well as enforcing that of those already established. The exhibition, modelled on the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in London, and works with a panel of Royal Academicians and respected international artists to select and curate the show. This year’s judges are artists Gavin Turk, Deborah Curtis and Cedric Christie.
As we go to print, the final selections are being made and the selection often sees a huge variety in a range of mediums including paint, print, drawing, sculpture, installation and video. We’re looking forward to any graphic and illustration entries for the award that we’re supporting as Gallery. We’ll see you at the open view!
Jersey Summer Exhibition 2023, CCA INTERNATIONAL, 23rd June – 27th July. Visit https://ccai-jse.co.uk/ to learn more about the exhibition and judging.
Childhood memories are like gold. When those memories involve huge inflatables and humans dressed as lions, it’s hard to let them go. When we first met Will Lakeman 10 years ago, he somehow looked older than he does now. Returning to his youth, both physically and spiritually, Will has melded cutting-edge AI with nostalgic memories and reimagined his childhood haunt in an exhibition of imagery that’s both familiar and obscure. Guests at the Open View were treated not only to Will in his teenage self’s attire, but also trappings of the 80s with Mr Freeze Ice Pops and even a guest appearance by Humfrey the Lion. The exhibition runs until the 2nd July. Be sure to head down and check it out, on your Bauer skates or BMX to really get in the zone.
Banks, in movies, always feature huge lobbies with loads of bank tellers behind counters and rows of people ready to hit the floor when the bank robbers arrive. The new Natwest at Library Place would have The Ex-Presidents perusing local produce or arranging a strategy meeting rather than heading for the cash drawers. The new space has been completely redesigned to create a new welcoming area that offers other local businesses the opportunity to promote products in a central St Helier venue and share things with people as they come to see the friendly faces at their branch. Guests enjoyed live music, a pop-up art exhibition, curated by Private & Public Gallery and a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Dr Lesley Dickie, CEO of Durrell Conservation Trust. Plus there were cupcakes, which are always a winner.
Randalls celebrated its 200-year anniversary with a nostalgic event in St. Aubin. Members of the public, along with current and former Randalls staff, gathered at The Boat House to toast Randalls’ past, present, and future, amidst an atmosphere filled with drinks, food, and music. The festivities commenced with a captivating horse and cart parade through town guided by Ivor from Millennium Carriages, capturing onlookers’ attention as it made its way to The Boat House. Accompanying Ivor on the horse and cart was Colin Hidrio, a dedicated member of the Randalls team for over 40 years. Adding to the allure of the celebration, a vintage Citroen van served exclusive samples of Randalls’ highly anticipated limited edition 200 ALE, allowing guests to indulge in the essence of the occasion.
The Porter’s Store played host to a mixologist throw-down in celebration of the latest addition to Hendrick’s Gin’s Cabinet of Curiosities, Flora Adora; ‘a floral bouquet inspired by the enchanting world of botanicals’. Ahead of the evening party, we were invited down to witness the skills of the island’s cocktail shakers and makers as they battled for glory making drinks with the new spirit . We spent a hard few hours at the bar, tasting and judging innovative gin-based creations on their flavour, presentation, story, and originality. The eventual victor was cocktail-maker and OG shaker Joe Davies (who is a partner in the Hammer and Dash cocktail brand); he kept it simple and sumptuous. As you can imagine, it got a bit loose. Rumour had it people lost their cars. We’re looking forward to the next one.
Having found their perfect new harbour-side home the gallery re-opened with not one, but two, parties! A fabulous opening exhibition ‘Re Berth’ is currently running, inspired by all the new berths and boats out front, with over 80 exhibitors. The gallery now has a brilliant Genuine Jersey Market Place where 20 producers are selling their island-made items from chocolates and chutneys to beers, ciders and gins. With two workspaces they are also running even more educational and wellbeing courses. So make sure you pop in to 19 The Quay, Commercial Buildings to find out more.
