Spark #7 In the Forest - Eccles Alder Forest

I attended a great artist collective session at the beginning of the year. I am way behind on sharing about the session but I ended up being taken out by an infection the following week.

Here is information about the session I attended from their eventbrite:

SPARK #7 is a seventh in person meeting for Greater Manchester/North West-based artists who want to intervene in the trajectory towards climate breakdown, and is an opportunity to meet other artists and to share information and ideas.

The event was hosted by artist Louise Clarke who welcomes attendees to visit Alder Forest, an ancient woodland within walking distance to her house. Sadly there has been trees removed from this forest to help with drainage for the M602 the highway agency clear a large stretch of tree. They have since admitted they were too heavy handed with the clearing.

As part of the session we replanted a small number of alder trees to help regrow this area to its former glory and almost poetically the sun appeared thought the clouds when the last one was planted. We also returned to a warmer space for a cuppa and shared ideas on how to best continue the initial work we had started using the space as an inspiration for art practices and ways to highlight the importance of this small (but perfectly formed) ancient woodland in the heart of Eccles to it’s local community.

While this isn’t in the area of my own project it was great to see how artists can come together and use their creative skills to keep an important environmental space alive.

For more information: SPARK Artist Network or Returning to the Forest