Wild Drawing
Wild Drawing is a practice of experimental mark-making that prioritises the sensory over the rational, engaging qualities of reciprocity, play, empathy and wonder. It has become foundational to studio projects and paintings, as a way of discovering simple ways to heighten awareness of and ground the human experience in landscapes familiar and unknown.
Drawing IN, OF & WITH NATURE
Whether we find ourselves in the middle of a city or a rainforest, Wild Drawing is about taking a moment to tap into and express our instinctual responses to the natural world.
The practice began with the belief that simple mark-making can help to strengthen our connection to the natural world without the need of formal art training, costly materials or endless hours to spare. Zooming into the micro and stepping back to observe the macro, the exercises engage our sensory and emotional responses to the landscape in ways that are playful, meditative and non-judgemental.
Developed during the pandemic, it has grown to become an essential aspect of the studio practice that continues to be developed through residencies with scientific, activist and cultural organisations. Alongside the studio focus, guided walks in landscapes from rural England to central New York, provide ongoing opportunities to share and develop the practice with members of the public. Read more about it’s evolution into Drawing Heat with Queens College, New York, here.
Film on wild drawing during a Cultural Reforesting residency at Orleans House Gallery, London. Footage by Ellie Mackay, 2021.
