Thinking Through Drawing in Nature, Poetics of Care: Festival of Creative Health at Central Saint Martins.

19-30 May 2025

It was a joy to take part in the recent Poetics of Care: Festival of Creative Health at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. I ran Thinking Through Drawing in Nature, a workshop outdoors, exploring sketching, observation, and focusing attention. Can moving in nature build concentration and relaxation, invigorate and stimulate? Can sketching become a bloom space of potential? Thank you to this wonderful group of students and The Story Garden, a hidden treasure right next to the British Library and St Pancras Station.

A big thank you to Kate Keara Pelen, Cultural Programmer, CSM Creative Practices of Care, for expertly organising and hosting the festival “Poetics of Care brings together a growing community of students, staff, alumni and collaborators exploring how creativity might help us imagine new ecologies of wellbeing in times of crisis. Over 20+ workshops, talks, screenings, discussions, experiences and displays, we emphasised care as both process and outcome through co-creation, critical discourse and embodied practice..”

Photo credit: Tika Pratiwi