A nature-inspired creative workshop exploring how trees, plants and wildlife live together across the layers of woodland.

Woodland Kin: Come along for a creative afternoon of looking, walking, drawing and making as we explore the woodland areas at Hollybush Conservation Centre.
We'll explore the woodland areas from the ground up, slowing down to notice how trees, plants and wildlife occupy and interact across its different layers, from the woodland floor and understorey to the shrubs and towering canopy above.

Through observation, drawing and playful printmaking, we'll look closely at the small details beneath our feet before looking up to take in the scale, shape and character of the trees around us.

Alongside drawing we'll use fallen leaves, twigs and other naturally fallen materials as inspiration and to print with experimenting with botanical printing from life to create marks and textures that record what we've discovered.

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.

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.

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.