A nature-inspired creative workshop exploring how plants and wildlife live together across the diverse habitats in Kirkstall Abbey grounds.

Wild Together: Come along for a creative afternoon of looking, walking, drawing and printing.
We’ll take a wander through the Abbey grounds, slowing down to notice and respond to the small details of the wildflowers, grasses, insects and birds that share this space. Through observation, drawing and playful printmaking, we'll explore the many forms of life that coexist within this urban habitat, turning our discoveries into marks, patterns and textures.

Using grasses, leaves, seeds and other natural finds as inspiration, we'll create printed impressions with clay and ink, experimenting with a quick and playful printing technique to respond to the details and textures we discover.
You don't need any previous drawing or printmaking experience, just bring your curiosity and a willingness to look at the familiar in a new way.

The drawings and prints created during the session will contribute to three collaborative zines as part of Common Ground, a wider funded project bringing together observations and creative responses to Kirkstall's living landscape.

About Common Ground:
Common Ground: Mapping Kirkstall's Living Landscape is a participatory printmaking and environmental storytelling project exploring the diverse habitats and ecologies of Kirkstall, Leeds.
Through a series of walk-and-make workshops, the project invites people to spend time outdoors, notice the plants and wildlife around them, and develop a closer connection with the natural environment on their doorstep. The three workshops explore different habitats across Kirkstall and will support a series of collaborative zines and three textile banners to be exhibited locally.

Common Ground: Mapping Kirkstall's Living Landscape is part of the Seasons of Culture Programme, funded by West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leeds City Council through the Leeds Cultural Investment Programme with the workshops happening with kind permission from Kirkstall Abbey, The Conservation Volunteers at Hollybush Conservation Centre and the Canal & River Trust.

About your tutor:
This workshop is facilitated by Aidan Liggins, textile artist and creative workshop leader, as part of Common Ground: Mapping Kirkstall's Living Landscape.
Aidan Liggins is a textile artist and workshop facilitator exploring how creativity, traditional knowledge and making can help us rebuild a relationship with the natural world.
Her work is rooted in tradition and slowness, using tactile processes such as block printing and botanical dyeing to explore the connections between people, materials and the changing seasons.
Through textile artworks, experiences and creative workshops, she invites people to look more closely at the natural world around them, drawing on folklore, seasonal knowledge and contemporary observation to create curiosity and connections - believing that care starts with attention.