THE ARTIST SOUP KITCHEN - BROWNFIELDS - SITES OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC INTEREST? with MARTIN GODFREY

The Artist Soup Kitchen are a series of events, designed and delivered by Anna Francis with AirSpace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent. Part artist development session, part relational artwork, The Artist Soup Kitchen rethinks the Artist Talk, to make it a more meaningful, supportive and participatory space for creative practitioners to be nourished.

Event Text: 'Our next Artist Soup Kitchen is an extended version, responding to our current project The Brownfield Research Centre - and includes an offsite workshop exploring a Brownfield Site and learning the processes in and how to make your own Herbarium.

The Artist Soup Kitchens at AirSpace are talks and workshops to explore support networks, good practice and sustainability of the arts and artists in a changing climate. We have noticed that some of the best conversations happen over a good hearty meal and so the Artist Soup Kitchen events provide an opportunity to meet up in a relaxed and special environment, and talk over the main issues facing artists today - all over a delicious bowl of homemade soup, and specially baked bread.

For "Brownfields-Sites of Special Scientific Interest" we have invited leading Bryologist (moss (and lychen) man) Martin Godfrey to lead this double-pronged Soup Kitchen.

First we will visit a local Brownfield site, where Martin will lead us on an investigative tour of the Site - identifying plants and explaining their genesis. We'll be collecting specimens, where on our return to the Gallery, we'll learn how to create our own Herbariums ( a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study).

Second, The Soup Kitchen itself will follow this activity - Martin will present on the theme of the ecological imortance of Brownfield sites and the special characteristics of the hardy plants which arrive and thrive on them. Following the presentation, we'll open up the discussion to explore future possibilities and potential for these sites.