For this exhibition we presented artists that discussed the subject of nature, climate action and the importance of our environment. Nature provides countless opportunities for discovery, creativity, problem-solving, a space to lose oneself, switch off and re-energise. Playing in woods, fields and the great outdoors promotes imagination, instils a sense of peace and strengthens our emotional intelligence. We simply can’t live without it. During 2022-23 Kingshill House hosted a series of workshops, talks and activities that encouraged communities to engage with our collective challenge to do all we can to reduce climate change through action. The River Severn is 6 miles away from Kingshill House and predicted rises in the coming years is an immediate climate emergency which will directly impact the people who visit and use our space.
We worked with the community using sustainable and traditional techniques to construct a living ‘Willow Home’, and a community permaculture garden. The main purpose for these is to create outdoor learning spaces which will continue to be used by the community beyond this immediate project. Both will become spaces for the community to use as they wish, share ideas on climate change, discuss how it will impact them and learn new skills.
Our Nature Activities Sheet for young explores to complete whilst discovering the exhibition.
Each artist in the exhibition Nature, Our Environment discussed nature through their work, leaning on it for support, comfort and absorbing its challenges. Artist and gardener Jo Ballsays “I collect things I find out on walks or when gardening. I gather these materials because they speak to me. I may not always know why or what they will be for, but I keep them anyway.” The cupped hands on the marble fireplace “start to distort. Like they’re giving way under the pressure of trying to hold everything. Relating as much to motherhood as the current environmental crisis, they give shape to the impossible attempt of trying to carry it all. But those two are linked, aren’t they? What the future holds, what the following generations are inheriting.”
Jo Beal delicately illustrates what captures her attention, drawn as fragile as nature itself. Each picture captures the complexity and dramatic species around us that we may not take notice of. Beal says of the Ash Leaves that it “is one of the most common and beloved trees in the UK but is under threat because of Ash die-back. In this drawing I wanted to capture something of the beauty and process of the unfurling leaves in spring.” Ellie Hawkes creates intricate designs from foraged materials collected on local walks or sourced sustainably. Nature is not only used to compose her ideas visually, but also experiment with textures, colours and shapes. Her designs respond to seasonal changes and appear three dimensional in form. Circular shapes are a repetitive theme, used to magnify beautiful and unique details within nature.
Kathryn Stevens paintings although appear to be landscapes also take the viewer on a journey through a dreamscape that might only exist in your mind. The way the paint sits on the canvas, has an undistinguishable, unique and subtle quality to how the marks and colours were created. You are left searching for the land through the horizon of light. A play on nature's beauty and the expectations we have that it will always provide us with beauty.
Maria Barbu (Marsh&Moor)’s work hanging in the stairwell is a celebration of curiosity and surprise, leaning into the unexpected. Experimenting with plants to extract pigment and weaving intuitively, without a pre-set pattern she gives in to the flow of creativity and emotion existing in that very moment in time. She is currently working with pigments extracted from plants, out of which most are home grown or foraged, and regeneratively farmed fibres. The act of growing and foraging is an integral part of the process and is considered to contribute greatly to the soul of the finished piece.
Georgie White’s works are based on her experiences of travelling through urban edges of woods, marshes and fields. She develops her work using a process where the handmade is important, emphasising the organic, and reflecting the natural world that is depicted in the work. The pieces emerge by manipulating photo processes, introducing the experience of the environment itself, water from a puddle, plants laid over negatives etc. The process is just as important to White; showing errors and happy mistakes creates a sense of the ever-changing environment around her.
Our environment is what houses and helps our ecosystem grow and thrive. Over time, pollution will lead to harsher climate conditions such as droughts, hotter summers and floods which will impact everyone. As more people develop an understanding that the actions we take or don’t take over the next decade could be the key to avoiding a catastrophic climate disaster, the demand for change escalates. Many of us know the changes we can make but see that the main onus is on large corporate companies.
A fun and creative activity sheet coincided with this exhibition which was available at the House to complete whilst viewing the exhibition and free to take home.
Kingshill House proudly donated 10% of sales during the exhibition period to Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, who's ambition is to preserve, recreate and reconnect Gloucestershire’s wild places.
Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust ambition is to preserve, recreate and reconnect Gloucestershire’s wild places.