Nature Nurtures: Conservation, Illustration & Drawing from Nature

As part of the new Nature Nurtures project, London Wildlife Trust and creative arts agency, Spread the Word, are running a series of workshops for young people (aged 16-25) over the summer. Nature Nurtures want to work with London’s youth to create a friendly community who want to explore nature conservation, social action and the creative arts. Whether you’re a nature novice, seasoned writer, or have never even flexed a creative muscle – Nature Nurtures invites you to join us for our next workshop!

Our next FREE creative nature taster workshop will be taking place on:

• Date: Saturday 30th July
• Timing: 10.30am-3.30pm
• Location: Camley Street Natural Park (Kings Cross)
• Who can come? The workshop is open to young people aged 16-25
• What to expect:

🌼Morning – Get ACTIVE in Nature: Explore Camley Street Natural Park, learn about its wildlife & get stuck in with seasonal nature conservation tasks on the nature reserve - no experience necessary!

🎨Afternoon – Get CREATIVE with Nature: Drawing from nature is mostly about observation – learning how to look at things and understand what you see – and then practicing to get your fingers and your brain working together to make pictures. Illustrator Woodrow Phoenix will help you get your eyes and hands in sync with some simple steps for drawing what you see. Materials will be supplied. - no experience necessary!

About Woodrow Phoenix:

Woodrow Phoenix is a writer, artist, and graphic designer based in London and Cambridge. His constant experiments with the form and style of the comic strip medium have resulted in an extremely varied output of narratives appearing in national UK newspapers including The Guardian, The Independent and the London Evening Standard, in magazines and comics across Europe, the USA and Japan, and in television projects for Walt Disney and Cartoon Network. His books include SugarBuzz!, Plastic Culture, the critically acclaimed Rumble Strip and its sequel Crash Course, the award-winning anthology Nelson, and the experimental She Lives, a gallery installation that is also a giant graphic novel. She Lives was featured in a BBc4 series, Art That Made Us in May this year. Woodrow is a visiting lecturer teaching on the MA in Graphic Novel and Children’s Books at Middlesex University. His most recent book for children, Donny Digits, was published in October 2021. A specially commissioned artwork for the Foundling Museum is currently on show there until September 2022.

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FAQs

✨Cost - FREE (we can also cover the cost of your travel expenses within London zones 1-6)

✨ Do I need to bring anything? Wear some comfy clothes and closed-toe shoes (no sandals/flip-flops!) and a packed lunch/drink (there is a café on site too). All other materials will be provided for you.

✨Nervous about coming alone? You are more than welcome to bring a friend (ideally, get them to sign up here too)! You can also get in touch with us ahead of the workshop and we will buddy you with one of the team, so you can connect before and during the workshop.

✨Accessibility - The facilitators will be very keen to ensure that inclusion needs are met as best as possible, so please feel free to let us know before if there's anything we can do by contacting us at efox@wildlondon.org.uk

✨Why should I join the Nature Nurtures community? We’re creating an inclusive space to explore and develop young people’s practical conservation and creative skills which we want to be led by young people. By becoming a regular member of our community; we’ll tailor future Nature Nurtures workshops to your interests, you’ll be given access to Youth Leadership and Volunteer Management training, and you’ll have the chance for your creative work to be professionally published in a nature anthology and other creative productions.

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More info about the Nature Nurtures project:

Nature Nurtures is a new cross-sector project led by London Wildlife Trust with partners Spread the Word, Black Girls Hike CIC and London Youth. The project will be a whole host of exciting opportunities for young people that link natural heritage with creative arts to get more young people volunteering and taking action for nature. Nature Nurtures will also be an opportunity to explore themes of wellbeing, identity & cultural heritage within the environmental sector.

Specifically, this project will focus on young people from Black, Asian, and Minoritised Ethnic heritage, young people with special educational needs and disabilities, and those who live in socio-economically disadvantaged areas of London.

Nature Nurtures is supported by funds awarded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports, via the Volunteering Futures Fund distributed by Arts Council England.

Woodrow Phoenix is a writer, artist, and graphic designer based in London and Cambridge. Woodrow Phoenix will be running a workshop on how to draw from nature and will help you get your eyes and hands in sync with some simple steps for drawing what you see.

London Wildlife Trust's Camley Street Natural Park