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This summer, we partnered with GROW Eastbourne to provide creative artist-led activities around nature, food and community connection. The sessions were free for children and young people eligible for Free School Meals and supported by the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) project. Workshops were led by artist Katie Spragg in GROW’s community allotment spaces, and those who came along had the chance to get to know how shared food growing spaces work, learn about edible plants and create art through mark-making, sculpture, collaboration and discussion.

We spoke to Katie about what the project meant to her and how it took shape…

Katie Spragg moved to Brighton a few years ago, excited to bring her artistic practice towards the South coast. This practice for her had always related to the natural world, specifically with an interest in how we can relate to and learn from the behaviours of plants. Such a concept came into play from the early stages of planning the project, as she developed ideas in synchrony with the life cycle of a plant – first ideas were like seeds as they began take root, and later would put out shoots while the workshops took shape within their environment.

Working in the GROW allotment, Katie wanted to think about the ways that children could connect to the things they’d find growing and thriving there and what they might take away from the natural processes and patterns of organic life. “I love the way strawberry plants send out shoots to support each other,” she described, hoping that this would provide encouragement to a group of children as many of them met and worked together for the first time.  

The allotment was, in all senses, fertile ground for the project, allowing participants to be properly immersed in the place where they worked and with the materials they used. This was important to Katie who in turn wanted to make sure that the way she led and taught was responsive to individuals and their experiences as they unfurled. Being present in a community space where plants could be touched, tasted, felt, explored and built upon meant that the children were given a “sense of ownership over the garden and a sense of pride out of their work,” blossoming even further through conversation and commonalities that came up as the workshops drew together the separate but intertwined practices of ‘growing’ and of ‘making’.  

Katie discovered that using clay added an element of empowerment to the workshops; “it’s a material that changes instantly in the palm of your hand.” Through this, she felt that the children had been encouraged to think about their roles in changing communities, in social change and in coming together to build things that benefit the greater good. “Art can create a really helpful space for people who don’t usually work together to work together,” she said, “The arts can’t be left to fill the gap of other important things that are missing from communities, but this is where the foundations for those changes begin to take shape.”

Towner's Learning Curator Mollie Howells said: "This was such a fantastic project to work on with GROW, formalising this connection through the HAF programme has been a particular highlight of my first year at Towner! GROW’s crucial work in the community and refreshing approach to engagement with nature is something we’re keen to see develop.

Katie’s calm and creative approach to these workshops and to bringing young people together consistently amazed me. Her unique way of communicating themes around connection and growth through her singular practice was a joy to see. I know all involved had a great time, their achievements are something they should be immensely proud of."

More information about what happened during the workshops can be found in this Eastbourne Reporter article by Rebecca Maer.

Can you help us keep our community and family workshops completely free? Read about our Winter Community Appeal.

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