FIRE, EARTH, ART is an outdoor arts intervention to support peoples mental health and well-being. The project was initiated in 2018 by Nichola Goff as part of research for an MA in arts, health & wellbeing. Nichola collaborated with Ruth Sidgwick, Arts manager for the art programme at Southmead hospital in Bristol, to develop a series of taster sessions and deliver a six week summer programme for people with long-term mental health challenges.

Nichola and Ruth worked with Green Square housing and The Independence Trust to deliver a series of open taster sessions and then work with a peer-led group of participants for the summer programme. The workshops took place at Angus Buchanan Recreation Ground in Coleford in the Forest of Dean supported by The Rewild project and funded by The Barnwood Trust and the National Lottery Community Fund.

The sessions focused on communing around a fire outside in the woods, working with natural creative processes. Participants made drawing charcoal from willow using the campfire, made paper from plants, produced woodblock prints and artists books with stamps, made paint from natural earth pigments derived from the local landscape and clay pinch pots and tiles.

The ethos of the project has been to create a safe environment for participants to be outdoors, take risks and get creative. Working with processes such as wood block carving, sculpting with clay, mixing pigments into paints, mark-making, stripping bark from branches; encourages an automatic intuitive part of the brain to take over. Working with primitive materials in a natural setting and keeping people busy has been an effective way of relaxing people and building confidence, allowing people to be exploratory with less fear and for conversations to happen.

For more info on the project, take a look at the ‘Fire, Earth, Art Case study’, an in-depth analysis of the project, written by Ruth:

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