This Collaborative Artist Residency explores ceramic and making-practice to encourage the participation of young people in green spaces and ecological issues. Located at Hazel Grove High School, the project involves delivering a series of practice-based workshops bringing together artists, students, teachers, geographers, scientists, green spaces and botanical collections and specimens. The project and outputs will be exhibited in Manchester and Hazel Grove, potentially touring in other schools and community groups, encouraging participation in, and care for, natural environments and biodiversity.

This project contributes to the development of ceramic and craft as a process of making, research and storytelling for enabling participation in environmental issues – including biodiversity, spatial uses, “greening”, ecological issues, wellbeing, and role of sustainable arts practice and materials. The project will be structured around a residency period between May-Jul / Sept-Nov 2017 at Hazel Grove High School with Years 7, 8, 9 pupils and independent exploratory work (focusing on the school’s Pastoral Garden and other green spaces in Greater Manchester). Workshops will combine ceramic and mixed media work, research in and around green spaces, and engagement with botanical collections and specimens. The aim is explore craft practice for engaging students, enabling them as co-researchers, and increasing their ecological awareness; developing a model for workshops that can feed into the curriculum; create a programme of activities and engagement with the School’s Pastoral Garden (as a Living Lab); and collaboratively create installations of ceramic sculptures and wall murals for the Garden and School. The project processes and outputs will be showcased as an exhibition pop-ups and workshops in Aug and Nov-Dec 2017 at Manchester galleries.

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