Explore the ‘uncanny’ of our nature crisis through Bryony Ella’s art practice and wild drawing workshops
Creator OF THE MONTH
THE SCENT OF COW PARSLEY, “towering green and white” above her, still draws Bryony Ella back to her childhood in Bradford. Here, her mother worked as a community artist and many of Bryony’s earliest memories feature her “small hands full of crayons and paint brushes.” She carried a small rucksack filled with pencils and colouring books wherever she went.
Aged eight, her family relocated to Kent. Bryony’s backpack of crayons and biophilia came too. She “always felt safe” exploring the forest and orchards, forming a motley crew with other village kids. They ran through the understory pretending to be wolves, owls and cuckoos as they called to each other. Now 40 and living in New York, where she is working with environmental historians on a project looking at urban heat islands through a climate justice lens in order to “cultivate of new value systems and structures that work far more in harmony with the natural world”, Bryony is grateful for her childhood in nature.
Whilst her art practice has developed over the years – Bryony works, often collaboratively, in multimedia – the natural world has been its perennial subject. “It never fails to surprise, delight or humble with its infinite hues, forms, textures, scales, patterns, sounds… why wouldn’t I pour my energy into celebrating this endless source of inspiration?!”
Bryony leads guided wild drawing walks, sometimes in collaboration with scientists, who bring insight into human-nature relationships. The ecocentric process is “messy, playful” and decent
