GROUND

On Monday we hosted a lovely group from @ymca_go on the allotment for a workshop making earth pastels, using clays and earth pigments collected around Stoke-on-Trent and beyond. We got messy, smelled roses, picked raspberries, rocket and chives. Finished the day off by watering the cucumbers in the greenhouse - they’re coming along nicely! We’re currently working together with young people from the YMCA on a project called Growing Materials, looking into where natural colour comes from - making plant and earth-based inks, crayons and other drawing materials! Huge thanks to @ymcans for funding the project - we’re looking forward to how it develops 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱 Thanks to @renton0 for help setting up on the day 🧡

Thanks to all the lovely folk who came down to the allotment on Saturday! It was great to see so many people interested and wanting to get their hands in the soil 🌱 💌 We’ll be sharing our volunteer days shortly, and if you couldn’t make it on the weekend, but would like to get involved send us a DM and we’ll be sure to let you know all the details. Also no trending audio so you can hear the birds - even though we’re right off a busy main road 🕊️ come share this special space with us 💚

Happy first day of spring 🌱 sunny Stoke is really coming through on the equinox today! 🌞 👨‍🌾 Last year, we took a bit of time getting to know the allotment site we’re tending to. Situated just down the road from Stoke Train Station, it’s a huge site where we’re thinking about materials, the earth, artistic practices and how they’re all interconnected. We’re learning about the space, about growing, and we’d love to share the space more and so… This weekend, on Saturday 22nd, come down to the allotment to find out a bit more about the space, our volunteer dates and if you’d like to be involved. Send us a DM and we’ll give you some more information 💘 (Yes picture 4 is a bed that was full of bindweed, 🙃no we didn’t dig it all out, yes we grew a lot of stuff on the bed, yes it did seem like it didn’t grow back as much!)

Last March, @adamgruning made this beautiful video celebrating the conclusion of our first ever programme of public workshops in Stoke-on-Trent. We can’t believe it’s been so long! 2024 was our fallow year. After being nomads for 16 months, we moved onto a large allotment on Leek Road in Hanley and spent many months getting to know it. We grew sweet peas, coreopsis and a whole greenhouse of tomatoes. We dug the soil alongside our allotment companions @petalsandpots and @voodoodollgirl , we hoed bindweed, ate apples in the sun and worked through showers and downpours. A year on, we are finally excited to invite others to this space. We have much news to share in the coming weeks! While we aim to still be active here, our upcoming newsletter will be THE space to hear about the allotment, upcoming events and, most importantly, opportunities to get involved. So sign up, the link is in bio!

Last year I had the total pleasure of running a workshop for @groundworkshops at the beautiful studio of @wildestudio_ in Stoke-on-Trent. We worked with stripes (of course), improvised patchwork techniques, and applique to explore the different ways you can create pattern from naturally dyed materials courtesy of @katrinawilde and second-hand shirt fabrics. I would love to run more practical workshops in the future - its a different contexts to lecturing, and I love getting hands-on and working practically together. 📷 @adamgruning #textileinspiration #textileworkshop #textilestudio #patchworkworkshop #stripesonstripes

🌸A very warm thanks to everyone who came down yesterday to @airspacegallery for ~ A Year of Grounding. 🫂Wrapping up our year of an @aceagrams Project Grant, with initial funding from @stokeontrentbid , we ran a programme public workshops over the last 18 months, with some amazing people, with low-cost tickets and fair pay for the artists involved. Lots of learning to go forward with, but for now we feel happy & grateful that we were able to hold space for people to explore their creativy, feel connected to materials and spend a lovely Sunday getting trying something new. We’re looking forward to the next year, coming you to the allotment and making more lovely things happen in Stoke. 💌 Big big thank you to @airspacegallery for hosting & supporting us too and all the incredible people we’ve been working with.

On Saturday, (yes, this Saturday!) we are so pleased to be sharing a selection of films from artist-film maker Julia Parks @juliaemilyparks . The 4 films, which will be screened throughout the day in the gallery, tenderly and beautifully explore the relationships between landscapes, plants, people and industry. The selection of films responds to our cycles of soil, clay, cloth and conversation and we can’t wait to share them at @airspacegallery this weekend. Come in, free and on show all day among other lovely things happen here and around 🌸

🌱 Taking a moment to appreciate the Spring Equinox today - a marker of a rhythm and cycle that is always continuing in the background, steady, regular and grounding. Even when life around us is hectic and overwhelming, nature always has her way of bringing us back down to earth. 🌳 A couple of weeks ago we were walking and talking about materials, and specifically about oak galls, these little houses for oak gall wasps - once they fly out in the winter, they leave a tannin rich cocoon. It was once utilised as a base for ink, with the addition of iron to create a deep brown-black. As we continued our walk, we saw a little oak tree after little oak tree which were covered with them. A lovely moment of connection across realms. 💌Come down to @airspacegallery this Saturday, for A Year of Grounding - talk to us, share your ideas, sow some seeds, hang out, make some space for yourself. Lots of nice things happening through the day, and we have a few life drawing tickets left too. Plus great things happening at our neighbour’s @dropcitybooks so you can’t say nothing ever happens around here 🧡 1. Poster excerpt design by @hollytem 2. Collected oak galls 3. Natural pastel tests 4. White hyacinths growing in the window at @airspacegallery

This time of year is the perfect moment to start getting our hands into the soil. As we pass the spring equinox (on the 20th March) we start to plan the veg and flowers to grow this year. On Saturday 23rd, alongside other things, join us at @airspacegallery for A Year of Grounding, and sow some seeds with us 🌱 for us and some for yourself or a loved one. This little spring ritual will be happening throughout the day in the gallery, all are welcome and is free 💚 12-8pm at @airspacegallery this weekend!

And we’re in the window at @airspacegallery 💫 join us next 🌱 Saturday 23rd March 🌱 for a very special day reflecting back on the last year of our @aceagrams funded programme and imagine with us what the next year may look like too! Open from 12:30 - 5, then 6:30-8 for a special Life Drawing evening. The reality is that the 3 of us work outside of this project and so the time we spend on it is often in those magical twilight hours and weekends which can be a challenge but we move! Which is the same for so many artists 🦋 but we are so excited to see more and more things happening in the city and feel happy we can be a small part of that too. So come down and tell us what more you want! 🧡 Organic cotton dyed with (from the bottom): Black knight scabiosa, coreopsis, marigolds, and weld - all plants @katrinawilde has grown and will be continuing to grow from our allotment this year 🌷 Always love seeing @thebootsalepoet illuminated words over the city too 🦋 ‘Roar Open With Hope’

Today we sat down with @hollytem on our allotment to look at the work we have done over the last 2 years, to think about what we have learned and dream about what is to come. Holly has worked on the visual identity of GROUND since the start of the project. We feel so privileged to be collaborating with someone who understands the thinking behind our work so well. Thank you @hollytem 🌸🌸🌸 The result of our joint dreaming will become a small publication, which we are excited to share with you during 🌱🌱A Year of Grounding🌱🌱 on March 23rd @airspacegallery (see previous posts). See you there!

Spring Special Life Drawing 🌷 6:30-8pm £15 / and 0-£15 sliding scale tickets available 🩷 with natural wines courtesy of our pals at @littledumplingking , soft drinks, Earth pastels and plant inks, and florals from @wildernessfloraldesign . It’s going to be a special one so come along 🧡 Booking required - link in bio to book your places - A Year of Grounding at @airspacegallery on Saturday 23rd March