Plants are our Teachers
Current Programme: 2025
Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart.
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Drawing a Woodland Journey, May 3rd and 4th
This workshop will start with a slow, meditative walk through woodland in a local New Town Garden. We will pause to pay close attention to different aspects of the tree community through simple drawing exercises. These drawings will then be taken back to the studio to be developed and embellished with colour from hand-made earth pigments and tree-based inks. Drawings will then be assembled into a paper quilt, telling a story of the wood.
A two-day workshop with Sarah Gittins – artist and educator
£120 (£100 if block booking)
Celebrating Elder: ecology, folklore, remedies and craft, with Ian Edwards, June 7th
A day of celebrating and giving thanks to the elder, a very valuable but often overlooked native Scottish tree. We will look at folk remedies old and new and create some simple herbal products. We will also explore what lives in and on wild elder trees and try our hand at some practical crafts using hand tools and elder wood
This is a one-day workshop with Ian Edwards – ecologist, forager and nature guide
£60
Learning from the Flowers: paying attention to the flower communities of St Mary’s, through drawing and drypoint etching, July 5th and 6th
This workshop will begin with a walk through the grounds of St Mary’s Cathedral. We will pay close attention to the wild and cultivated communities of flowering plants through simple drawing exercises. These drawings will then be developed into drypoint etchings made using recycled milk cartons, exploring intricate lines and expressive tones
A two-day workshop with Sarah Gittins – artist and educator
£120 (£100 if block booking)
Listening to the Trees: making composite, drawn portraits of trees and developing tree mandalas, September 6th and 7th
During this workshop we will get to know several trees through making composite drawings – creating many small drawings that together create a whole. Back in the studio we will take aspects of this imagery together with gathered materials to create tree mandalas – circular drawings using tree-based inks, charcoal and earth pigments.
A two-day workshop with Sarah Gittins – artist and educator
£120 (£100 if block booking)
Linocuts inspired by living leaves and the stone foliage carved into the fabric of the Cathedral, October 4th and 5th
This workshop will begin with a close look at the abundance of plant and animal imagery carved into the fabric of St Mary’s Cathedral. We will then gather leaves from the surrounding grounds and use these to inform our own designs for bosses that will be carved into linoleum. We will end by printing a small edition of prints, incorporating colour through collage
A two-day workshop with Sarah Gittins – artist and educator
£120 (£100 if block booking)
Further information
Workshops are suitable for all levels of ability from beginners to advanced.
All weekend workshops run from 10am to 4.30pm and cost £120. (Block booking all 4 of Sarah’s workshops qualifies for a reduced fee of £100 per workshop.)
The workshop with Ian Edwards costs £60 irrespective of other workshop attendance.
All materials are included in the fees.
A limited number of subsidised places for all course are available for those with a low income.
Please contact A+E for further details.
A+E 