Join us for a series of free creative sessions on the Grand Union Canal. Through these sessions you will learn about plant identification, sustainable print making and nature writing and will have the chance to create work for a public display called the Canalside Flora, that will be hung along a passageway between Willen Field Road and the Grand Union Canal in Park Royal.
A "flora" is a type of book that focuses on describing the plant species found in a specific area or time period, often with the goal of helping with identification. The display that we create together will combine information on plants that can be found growing on the canalside with creative pieces, forming an expressive flora that will guide and welcome people to the canalside and encourage an appreciation of this unique environment.
We will be making a type of print called an anthotype: a photographic image created using plant dyes. These prints must be left out in the sun for several days, and up to a week for the image to develop.
Timetable:
Booking your ticket for the first session on August 9th gives you a place on all sessions listed below. We will be working towards creating finished pieces of work and so each session will build on the last. We encourage you to attend as many of the sessions as you are able.
9th August, 2pm - 4pm: Canalside Plants and Print Making Part 1:
Led by artist and Canalside Projects Coordinator Ryan Powell, this session will introduce participants to the Grand Union Canal as both an historical creation and an ecosystem. We will take a short walk along the canalside, identifying plants and taking cuttings that we will use to make our anthotype prints. We will prepare the dye and paper and put our cuttings in a flower press ready for the next session. We will also make some test prints using pre-prepared cuttings and leave these out in the sun to develop for the next session.
23rd August, 2pm - 4pm: Canalside Plants and Print Making Part 2:
In this session we see how our prints came out, discussing what has worked, what hasn’t, and the possible reasons why. We will then collect more plants to make another round of prints, applying what we have learned and taking some more creative decisions in our compositions.
6th September, 2pm - 4pm: Nature writing workshop with poet and essayist Nina Mingya Powles: This session will give inspiration and practicle tools to write your own crietive pieces. You will then have the (optional) task of writing either an informative piece on a particular plant that we have made a print on, or short piece of prose or poetry inspired by the canal and its flora.
We are thrilled to have Nina Mingya Powles leading this session. Nina is a poet, writer and zinemaker from Aotearoa New Zealand, currently based in the UK. Her debut poetry collection, Magnolia 木蘭, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and was a finalist in the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. In 2018 she was one of three winners of the Women Poets Prize, and in 2019 won the inaugural Nan Shepherd Prize. Her resulting book of essays Small Bodies of Water was published in 2021. She has also published a short food memoir, Tiny Moons (2020).
16th September, 2pm - 4pm: Group writing session:
This last workshop in the series will be chance to share your writing and discuss it with the group. We will also look at the results of our print making sessions and discuss the public display. After this session you will have more time to work on a piece of writing to feature in the display before submitting it.
Tickets:
Booking your ticket for the first session on August 9th gives you a place on all sessions. We will be working towards creating finished pieces of work and so each session will build on the last. We encourage you to attend as many of the sessions as you are able. If there are dates you know you will not be able to attend please let us know when booking so that we can plan accordingly by emailing ryan.powell@canalrivertrust.org.uk
