Mindful collaborative drawing at Stream Walk Community Garden

Come and enjoy a couple of hours of mindful drawing in the beautiful surroundings of Stream Walk Community Garden, a thriving gardening project in the heart of Whitstable. Led by local artist Liz Atkin who also volunteers at the garden, this session will provide gentle time to explore mark making with a range of art materials from charcoal, colour pencil, soft pastel and more, before taking inspiration from the flora and fauna to create individual drawings and a large scale collaborative artwork. We hope that the art created will be included with a seasonal book of recipes Stream Walk is currently collating.

Mindful drawing is a slow, process oriented practice, focusing on enjoying the act of creating. Reducing stress by focusing on the present moment and the feeling of creating. We will look closely at the garden, focusing on the sensory experience. We will focus on process, not artistic perfection, being present with each mark and line on the page, and what we notice in the garden around us. We will lean into Slow Drawing, taking our time with the art materials.

No previous drawing experience is necessary. Suitable for all ages. All art materials included.

About Stream Walk

Stream Walk has a mosaic of organic growing beds and wildlife habitats, a plant nursery, a polytunnel for year-round growing, an outdoor classroom, activity areas, a fire pit and a compost loo as well as a Bodger’s Hut from which they run woodworking sessions. Run predominantly by local volunteers, Stream Walk is dedicated to creating a welcoming, creative and inclusive environment for all ages to access gardening and a range of nature-related activities as a route to wellbeing and greater social connection.

About Liz Atkin

Liz Atkin is a Whitstable-based artist and educator. She reimagines her Compulsive Skin Picking and anxiety into charcoal drawings, photographs and performances. Liz is a mental health advocate and raises awareness for the disorder around the world. She has exhibited and taught in the UK, Europe, Australia, USA, Singapore and Japan. Her work is permanently held in the Wellcome Collection, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, Derby Museum, and Bethlem Gallery Collection supported by the Peter Sowerby Foundation and National Lottery Heritage Fund. She is an ambassador for The Big Draw, the world’s largest drawing festival, focusing on the role of creativity for health and wellbeing.

Liz received the People’s Choice Award and the Judge’s Favourite Award with the Contemporary Art Academy Award at the inaugural exhibition of Contemporary Kent Artists. She was awarded the Unstoppable Spirit Award for Outspoken Advocacy at the TLC Global Conference for Skin Picking and Hair Pulling Disorders in San Francisco, and was a finalist in the Janey Antoniou Award with Rethink Mental Illness. Her work has featured on TEDx, BBC News, Woman’s Hour, Vice, Women’s Health USA, Huffington Post, Channel News Asia, Metro, AlJazeera and more.

Liz teaches art for all ages, working in creative health settings, schools, hospitals, hospices, prisons, arts venues and universities. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, she gave away more than 18,000 free #CompulsiveCharcoal newspaper drawings to commuters on public transport in London, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Cologne and more.