Artist Collective Unveils Project Linking Landscape, Food, and Community Creativity

An initiative designed to connect landscape, food production, and agriculture with community artistic expression is now accessible to the public. The Growing Places project is scheduled to host ten artists in residence at the large Gingerbread House in Stroud, commencing in September and concluding in January 2025. This initiative, developed by the artist collective Walking the Land, will see each artist pursue their individual project while simultaneously conducting a workshop for the broader community. According to Andy Freeman, a member of the project team, a core component of the project focuses on “wonderment and closeness with nature.” The collective is extending an invitation to community organizations, educational institutions, and young individuals from the surrounding region to participate in these workshops. The project seeks to endorse and uplift various farmers and landowners, including Stroud Community Agriculture and Oakbrook Community Farm, by employing art to involve individuals with their “good practice.” Mr. Freeman stated, “We’re taking art as a broad subject – it includes hedge laying and cooking, as well as lots of things to do with drawing.” He added, “It’s about three things – being closer to nature, reflecting on where our food comes from and doing it through being creative.” Among the artists in residence who have agreed to present their work at The Gingerbread House are Tara Downs and Bart Sabel. Their ongoing work centers on mycelium, which Ms. Downs characterizes as “the underground part of mushrooms,” comprising an extensive network of slender fungal filaments known as hyphae. Mr. Sabel commented, “They appear in ecology in such a way that we’re only beginning to understand.” He continued, “We’ve picked up all these bits everywhere, put them under the microscope, had a good look and showed them to other people and did some other experiments to let them grow. He further noted, “They’ve now become these abstract paintings in a way that changing and still developing – every day it’s different.” The pair have been conducting workshops with secondary schools who were “queuing up” to look through the microscope. Ms. Downs stated, “The role of artists – we get so enthused in a subject, we want to find a way to share the joy and the inspiration and new knowledge and what’s going on in the community. She concluded, “I hope that by the different workshops that the artists are doing, the things that we’re opening up in this lovely space with people, is getting people inspired to learn more.”