Jerwood

The Jerwood Foundation was established by Alan Grieve for John Jerwood the Japanese based jewellery and pearl magnate in 1977. The Foundation awards prizes for multiple visual media that include photography, drawing, painting, writing, sculpture and applied arts such as ceramics and works in glass. The creation of a collection of 20th and 21st Century sculpture is a major initiative of the Jerwood Foundation and an important part of its wide-ranging support of the visual arts. From its beginning in 1999, the aim of Jerwood Sculpture has been to display large sculptures in the natural environment. Since 2004, the collection has been sited in the magnificent grounds and park of Ragley Hall, home of the Marquis and Machioness of Hertford in Worcestershire. The growing collection is set out along a 2.5 mile sculpture trail, following the walk through the formal gardens and the woodland walk through the park. Alongside works by artists of international reputation such as Kenneth Armitage, Michael Ayrton, Lynn Chadwick, Elisabeth Frink, Peter Randall-Page and Antony Gormley, the collection includes works by other important sculptors and by emerging artists who have won the Jerwood Sculpture prize. In 2008 the Jerwood Stable Studio housed in a wonderful stable built in 1751 opened at Ragley with the aim of creating an exhibition space for the sculpture collection.

The Jerwood Gallery is an exciting project to create a permanent home for the display of the Jerwood Collection, and a new regional venue for the Jerwood Visual Arts programme on the Stade in Hastings. Developed and funded by the Jerwood Foundation, the ambition is to create a major new cultural venue with regional and national importance and at the same time contribute to the regeneration of Hastings.

Jerwood Space occupies the site of the 1872 Orange Street School close to the Tate Modern on London's South Bank. In 1998 it was refurbished by the Jerwood Foundation to provide rehearsal facilities for dance and theatre companies and also incorporates the Gallery which is now the home of Jerwood Visual Arts.