We came together in March 2020, as the pandemic hit globally, with a wish to hold each others’ hands through these exceptionally challenging times, and to reimagine together ways of working & connecting to one another to build creative & financial resilience. We were united by a delight in Hanna Varga’s Dialogues with Nature podcast and the feeling that it might be the spark for something wider. Each of us was trying to define a path between art & commerce, expertise & learning, craft & instinct and we sensed that there might be others out there like us. Together we uncovered ‘The Meadow’ and the begining of this, ‘The Network’ .
Our current members are artists, writers, ink-makers, print-makers, collectors, herbalists. Our first four months have seen three book clubs, a film screening, a poetry reading, dozens of zoom chats and ongoing discussions about works-in-progress, found collections, recipes for natural dyes & cordials, just to name a few. These virtual interactions are sometimes all we have right now, but hopefully planting seeds for the in-person interactions so many of us miss. Last month, two members in Oregon met for a mushroom hunt! Wish we could all have been there, but until then we’ve got the Network.
Your Hosts and Founding Members
Hanna Varga is a Hungarian sculptor based in the UK. She defines herself as a nature artist who lives and works in close contact with the surrounding landscape. Through her creative practice she nurtures her own relationship with nature through craftsmanship. She is best known for her bronze leaf sculptures. Ashleaf is the small art practice she co-founded in London in 2015, dedicated to preserving leaves in bronze using the ancient lost-wax-casting technique. Her work was featured in various exhibitions throughout the UK and Europe. She started Dialogues with Nature podcast last Autumn that later served as a catalyst for this Network.
Maija Liepins is an artist, writer and creativity guide working in The Dream Forest. With a background in design and collaborative project-management, she has worked with many organisations and individuals to develop their brands and strategies. Passionate about creative self-expression in all its forms, Maija contributed to the CAS ‘Laboratory of Dissent’ in 2015 and 2019, the ‘All About People Conference’ 2016 and an anthology of essays ’Dissent: A creative practice’ (2018), all on the topic of empowering individuals within collectives. Maija was a trustee of Test Valley Arts Foundation 2013 - 2018 and Maija has been a CAS (Chapel Arts Studios) Associate Artist since 2013 and worked as CAS Engagement Manager 2018 - 2021.
We’d also like to thank those members who developed The Meadow Foundation Course with us in 2020
Anna Laurent is an award-winning flora-focused photographer and author. She is especially interested in the visual depiction of plants—as an author, throughout history, and as an artist, in contemporary practice. Her photography is in the permanent collections of the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, London; the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles; and is interred in a mountain in northernmost Norway, alongside Svalbard Seed Vault. Her first book, Botanical Art from the Golden Age of Scientific Discovery (University of Chicago Press, 2016), examines the art & science of plant biology in 19th-century wall charts.
Naomi Evans is a maker, musician and founder of These Two Hands, an online shop of nature-inspired, handcrafted homewares and gifts made from natural, sustainable materials by small independent British makers. She's always loved making things by hand. She started making her own designs after receiving art therapy following the birth of her daughter. Nature and making are the best forms of therapy. Her designs are inspired by leaves and meadows. In her collection she aims to bring nature inside and inspire people to get outside in nature. She runs and hosts nature craft workshops at her Bristol studio and have a folk music band with her husband called Light Falls Forward.
Toronto Ink Company founder Jason Logan is an internationally recognized designer, creative director, author, and artist. His illustrations appear regularly in the New York Times and his fine art has been exhibited in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, and the Yukon. His work has been recognized by the AIGA, SPD, the Centre for Social Innovation, and the Canada Council for the Arts. His most recent book MAKE INK: a foragers guide to natural inkmaking was included in The Guardian's Best books of 2018. He is working on a documentary about ink directed by Brian D. Johnson and produced by Ron Mann with support of the National Film Board of Canada.