We’re thrilled to announce the launch of Elements of Nature, a brand-new collaborative arts project from Left Bank Leeds, funded by Leeds Inspired and Leeds City Council’s Grow programme.

From July to November 2025, six early-career artists will work with local communities to explore creativity, sustainability, and our relationship with the natural world. Each artist has chosen an element — Earth, Water, Light, Shadow, or Time — as inspiration, and together with participants will create new artworks through a series of free public workshops.

The project will culminate in a public exhibition at Left Bank Leeds in November 2025, celebrating all the works co-created by our communities.

Whether you’re an experienced artist or someone who just wants to try something new, Elements of Nature is your invitation to slow down, experiment, and make something meaningful with others.

Meet the Artists & Book Your Place

Each artist brings a unique approach to the project, offering hands-on workshops where you can explore their chosen element. You can book into a single session or sign up for a whole series — it’s completely free and open to all. See the Tickets link below.

‍Jai’la Anderson – Light Reactive Doodles

Element: Light
Jai’la is a fine art student whose practice explores the calming effects of colour and light through installation and sculpture. In her workshops, participants will experiment with meditative pattern-making, doodling and painting, and then see their creations transform under shifting coloured lights. Together, you’ll co-create a collaborative “colour-changing doodle” that will be exhibited at Left Bank.

Annabel Cohen – Cyanotype Mapping

Element: Shadow
Annabel is a photographic artist whose work explores the intersections of nature, memory, and materiality. Her cyanotype workshops begin with an intuitive photo walk, using prompts to help you notice textures and traces in the local environment. Back at Left Bank, you’ll turn your photographs into striking blue cyanotypes, layering image-making with reflection and creative writing.

Ellie Dawes – Community Animation Lab

Element: Earth
Ellie is a multidisciplinary artist blending painting, drawing, collage, and sound. In her workshops, participants will help create a collaborative mixed-media animation by painting, collaging, and altering frames of film, recording soundscapes, and contributing to a backdrop that will feature in the final work. The result will be a hopeful, uplifting animation celebrating what Earth and community mean to us today.

George Moody – BioPlastic Futures

Element: Water
George is a bio-artist inspired by queer ecology, working with bioplastics, natural dyes, and foraged matter to explore sustainability and care. Their three-part workshop series invites you to experiment with making bioplastics, colouring them with natural dyes, and eventually combining them into a beautiful collaborative artwork. Book one workshop or all three — no experience necessary!

Jenny Wright – Community Harvest Printing

Elements: Earth, Water, Flower, Light, Time
Jenny is a screen-printer whose work celebrates the metaphors of resilience and renewal found in nature. Her printmaking workshops invite participants to explore the language of gardens and community — planting, nurturing, and harvesting ideas — while creating prints that grow into a collaborative community artwork.

Aasia Kazmi – Living Wall Tiles

Element: Earth
Aasia is an architecture student passionate about playful, sustainable making. Her workshop explores earth as a material, inviting participants to create cob and ceramic tiles pressed with natural textures and impressions. Together, these will form a “living wall” — a patchwork of community memory and creativity — for the final exhibition.

Why Join?

Take part in hands-on creative workshops — no experience required

Meet new people, explore the outdoors, and connect with your community

Contribute to a public exhibition showcasing collective creativity

Learn new skills, from printmaking to bioplastics to animation

This is your chance to co-create something unique for Leeds — and have fun doing it.

Workshops run September– November 2025.

All sessions are free but ticketed — book your place early! See Tickets below.