Realigning creative practice and perceptions of nature through collaboration, ecological responsiveness and shared learning.
Chrysalis Arts Development and York St John University present a one-day symposium exploring creative relationships and processes that aim to reset connections with place, nature and artists’ responses to the ecological crisis.
This event will combine presentations, panel discussions, breakout sessions offering a choice of themes and content, and creative activities.
Details
Venue: Creative Centre,York St John University
Date & Time: Thursday 12 June 2025, 10am–6pm, 9.15am Arrival for tea and coffee
Fee: £40. Includes buffet lunch, tea/coffee and end-of-the-day wine reception.
Limited number of bursary spots are available at a reduced rate of £15. See below.
Themes
The programme will address the following themes:
Collaboration and shared learning: Creative partnerships and transdisciplinary collaborations
Ecological Responsiveness: our understanding of place and storytelling, durational research and slow art.
New Narratives and Examination/Beyond the Human: ethical and imaginative connections across species boundaries, the creative use of data to map and explore natural and human environments, including local and global perspectives
The symposium builds on a longstanding collaboration between Chrysalis Arts Development, (CAD) a North Yorkshire-based visual arts organisation, and York St John University. It is designed for artists, including those with an environmental research focus, other creatives, arts and environmental organisations, academics, local authority officers and others working with place-related and environmental issues.
It also draws upon CAD’s current project, ‘Mapping Marton Wood,’ an extended slow art project which weaves artists, ecologists, and the public together focusing on a 6.6-hectare local woodland.
Speakers & Facilitators
Keynote Speaker: Lise Autogena.
Lise Autogena is a Danish artist, Professor of Cross-Disciplinary Art and Head of Research at Sheffield Hallam University.
Since the early 90’s she has worked in collaboration with Joshua Portway, developing large scale performances and multimedia installations that have been shown in museums and galleries worldwide. Using film, custom built technologies and global realtime data, these projects have explored how the economic, geographic, technological, and societal systems we have created, impact on our human experience and sense of self in the world. In 2020 Autogena established the non-profit Narsaq International Research Station (NIRS), which hosts scientific and cultural research projects in South Greenland. Autogena was recently awarded the National Lifelong Honorary Award by the Danish Art Foundation.
Website: www.autogena.org
Photo Credit Narsaq International Research Station (NIRS) by Lise Autogena.
Speaker: Eric Moschopedis of Mia & Eric
Mia + Eric are an interdisciplinary artist team from Calgary, Canada. They bring together elements of craft, performance, and multi-species ethnography to create site-specific and socially-engaged art works. Thematically their practice deals with interspecies relationships, biodiversity and place-based knowledge production in cities, small towns, and rural spaces.
Website: https://miaanderic.ca/
Instagram: @mia.and.eric
Eric will be joining us live via zoom from Canada.
Photo Credit Mia & Eric.
Speaker & Workshop Leader: Rob Mackay
Rob Mackay is an award-winning composer, sound artist and performer. Recent projects have moved towards a cross-disciplinary approach, including geology, soundscape ecology, theatre, audiovisual installation work, and human-computer interaction. His work has been performed in 18 countries (including several performances on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 1 and Radio France), and a number of his pieces have received international awards. Rob is currently a Senior Lecturer in Composition at Newcastle University.
Website: robmackay.net/
Instagram: @robmackay73
Rob will be presenting his Mapping Marton Wood Project with Simon Pickles from North & East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre. He will also be running a sound walk workshop in the afternoon.
Photo Credit Rob Mackay.
Workshop Leader: Laura Harrington
Laura Harrington is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher whose practice considers the complex relations between humans and landscapes, often through experimental fieldwork, research based and process-orientated enquiries, and in dialogue with other disciplines, habitats and people. For over 14 years, peatlands, uplands and rivers have been a regular focus of her work, embedding what she calls ‘upstream consciousness’ at the core of her practice.
'It feels important to be thinking with the unremarkable in remarkable ways.'
Website: Lauraharrington.co.uk
Instagram: @lauraharringtonaw
Laura will be leading a workshop and presentation.
Photo credit Laura Harrington, Crevassing as Teamworking, 2023. Team artist residency with Temporal School of Experimental Geography hosted by ALTER- in the Swiss Alps.
Mapping Marton Wood Panel: David Haley
David Haley is an ecological artist, researcher and eco-pedagogue with specific interest in generating dialogues for ‘capable futures’ that question the nexus of Nature-Climate-Cultural Emergencies.
Website: https://davidhaley.uk/
Panel and conversation with Sara Trentham-Black.
Photo credit Yvonne Haley.
Mapping Marton Wood Panel: Rebecca Chesney
Rebecca Chesney's work is concerned with how we perceive land: how we romanticise, translate and define it. She looks at how politics, ownership, management and commercial value all influence our surroundings and have made extensive investigations into the impact of human activities on nature and the environment. Exploring the blurred boundaries between science and folklore, her work is also concerned with how our understanding of nature is fed by a confused mix of truth and fiction.
Website: rebeccachesney.com
Instagram: @rebeccachesneyartist
Panel and conversation with Sara Trentham-Black.
Photo credit G Renshaw.
Mapping Marton Wood Panel: Sue Harrison
Sue Harrison is an environmental artist working in schools and projects throughout Cheshire and North Yorkshire. Her current interest is in capturing the connection with nature that bird watching gives her.
Website: threadinglightly2016.wordpress.com
Instagram: @birdy.sue
Panel and conversation with Sara Trentham-Black.
Photo credit Sue Harrison.
Panel: Orb Arts in conversation with Chrysalis Arts
Orb promotes positive mental health and provides better life opportunities to those experiencing poor mental health through engagement in creative activities, learning, performance and volunteering. They'll be speaking with Community Engagement Manager Rosie Barrett and Artist Sue Harrison about their experience of Mapping Marton Wood.
Website: orb-arts.org/
Instagram: @orbcommunityarts
Print-making workshop with Catherine Sutcliffe-Fuller
Drop in print-making will be available throughout the day.
Catherine is a Fine Art and Design print specialist, and technical demonstrator at York St John University.
Website: catherinesutcliffe-fuller.co.uk
Image credit Catherine Sutcliffe-Fuller.
Academic Papers and Artworks that will be presented on the day
Gair Wood Sounds: Deep Listening and Ecological Change
Alex De Little is an artist and researcher exploring listening and sound through interdisciplinary, collaborative practice. He is a lecturer in creative at the University of Leeds and his spans installation, performance, and writing, engaging with ecologies, environments, and participation to generate new ways of knowing and understanding the world.
On a Wing and a Prayer; towards a gentler way of working
Pete Stollery is a composer/sound artist creating works for concert hall performance as well as installations and internet projects. He is particularly interested in sound, how it relates to place and how humans interact with it. Until recently he worked at the University of Aberdeen, in NE Scotland, where he also set up sound, a new music incubator.
Tell it to the Trees
Geoffrey Cox is a composer, filmmaker and one-7me performer (guitar and tenor saxophone). He has played in numerous rock and jazz bands over the years but gravitated to composi7on and filmmaking as the vicissitudes of performing grew. He is a senior lecturer in music at the University of Huddersfield, specialising in sound and music for documentary film, acous7c and electronic music composi7on and popular musicology. He is now also an amateur baritone ukulele player and has even started to sing!
What Does The River Want?
Dr Cath Heinemeyer is a storyteller, musician, and Senior Lecturer in Performance at York St John University. Her performance (with storytelling duo Adderstone), pedagogical research in York St John’s Living Lab, and community-engaged arts work explore the role of story in helping communities thrive in a time of climate and ecological crisis.
PlantBot Genetics
Wendy DesChene (Canada) and Jeff Schmuki (USA) founded PlantBot Genetics in 2008 to merge activism, art, and ecology. Informed by DesChene’s Indigenous heritage and Schmuki’s desert upbringing, their installations use humor and public engagement to promote sustainability. They are widely recognized and have earned support from prominent granting bodies and artist residency programs.
Sycamore Gap Tree
Kyveli Lignou-Tsamantani is an art historian, researcher and curator. Her research focuses on the relationship between ethics and images, as well as representations of violence. She is a Lecturer in Art History and Theory at the School of the Arts, York St John University. Since 2022, she co-organises the Visual Ethics Network (Centre for Modern Studies Research Strand, University of York).
The symposium will also include
Simon Pickles, Director, North and East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre
Helen Turner, Associate Head of Art, York St. John University.
Chair: Sara Trentham-Black, Senior Lecturer Arts and Cultural Management, Sheffield Hallam University.
Exhibition
An exhibition of work commissioned as part of the Mapping Marton Wood project will be shown at the symposium.
Past event participants have said
It was really well held, just the right size, well facilitated, the conversations and questions evolved well, and the presenter and her work were both very inspiring. Thank you!
Fascinating look at an artists practice, where development and deeply considered motives are key
Thoroughly enjoyed the thoughtful approaches to working and reflection.
It has really opened my mind to the possibilities of bringing ecology and sustainability into my own practice, especially in partnership with other organisations.
Accessability
Bookable disabled parking on site. All rooms and buildings have level access.
Induction loops will be available.
Bursary Tickets
Bursary spots are available at a reduced rate of £15
If you would like to attend the symposium but are unable to pay the full fee, we have a few bursary spots available. The bursary will cover most of the fee, making the cost to attend £15.00. To apply for the bursary please send us a short paragraph about your artistic practice and why you would like to attend by Friday 25 April.
Email to: info@chrysalisarts.com
This event is supported by Arts Council England, The National Lottery Community Fund, York St John University and Chrysalis Arts Development.
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