Pollinate and Create

Image credit – Claire Atherton

In collaboration with Suffolk Artlink, Culture Health & Wellbeing Alliance, Natural Habitat, Green Light Trust and Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Suffolk Community Libraries invited six creatives to take part in a week-long intensive residency at Lowestoft Library.

The purpose of the week was to provide space to explore new ideas and ways of working, which, following the intensive, will evolve into a tangible community programme. This programme will support healthy habits for Suffolk library users, drawing on the proven health benefits of creativity and connecting with nature.

The artists involved were:

Henry Driver comes from a farming family and has seen firsthand how climate change devastates harvests. That experience led in 2019, to dedicate their practice entirely to environmental work, developing projects that reconnect people with their surroundings and offer practical, achievable responses to the climate crisis.

Sarah Lewis founded Glass House Dance in 2013, interests and continued training in anatomy, yoga, play based practices such as clowning, social dancing and resilience based practices including breath work and mindfulness, makes Sarah’s workshops playful, interactive, thought-provoking and fun; an investigation towards understanding yourself better.

Julia Mclean is a photographic artist using psychogeographic methodology. Work-in-progress is a long-term research project open deep-mapping the fallout zone around the nuclear power facility at Sizewell on the Suffolk coast.  Research walks undertaken in ‘The Zone’ investigate circularity, time and endurance as ways of storying ‘Zone’ ecologies.

Lucy Wheeler is Creative Producer and Project Manager, Ceramicist and Educator, living and working in Norfolk. She has over 15 years’ experience working in arts participation in galleries, museums, hospitals, health and community settings, schools and local authority.

Ellie Rodwell is a Suffolk-based multi-disciplinary artist, whose practice is rooted in mark-making, the landscape and translating emotional experience. Considering environment as a catalyst for self-exploration and exploring the tenderness and control within horticulture, collaborating with living plants and how empathy nourishes biodiversity.

Maddie Exton is interested in playful ways to engage with complex ideas. Working across sculpture, drawing, film, and socially engaged projects, exploring themes of care, resilience and the complexities of working-class identity. Their work often starts with research or social engagement, evolving into participatory experiences that invite reflection and dialogue.

The first day was about understanding each others practices, what’s happening within Creative Health across Norfolk & Suffolk and exploring our surroundings.

Day Two began with a workshop from Emma Mills, Mental Wellbeing Co-Ordinator: METAL – Southend understanding creative facilitation and safeguarding wellbeing within creative health project delivery.

This was followed by lunch and an exploration of the work of Natural Habitat. Natural Habitat is a grassroots environmental charity founded by Carrie Phoenix, which reconnects communities to nature, food and each other. Lola is a community focused chef, a keen grower, fermenter and forager.

Our sharing lunch focused on food that is good for people and the planet and through the variety of dishes provided we were able to connect with the land to consider how we could empower positive change.

Day Three saw the collective travel to Suffolk Wildlife Trust Carlton Marshes. After an exploration of the reserve, Vicky Eyles, Senior Wilder Communities Officer demonstrated the facilitation used by the Wilder Communities and Wilder Training teams to inspire local people to understand nature, learn about the local environment, and take action for Suffolk’s wildlife and environment.

All six artists will now be invited to contribute to shaping future projects and ways of working for the library, stimulating a new body of work which will bridge the gap between public health priorities, creative health, and community engagement, in green and blue spaces.

You can read more about Pollinate & Create here

You can read more about developments in Creative Health across Norfolk & Suffolk here 

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