My name is Liz and I am a participatory artist and creative facilitator based in Bury in Greater Manchester. I began my journey in permaculture when I enrolled on a Permaculture Design Course with Angus Soutar in Lancaster in 2011. Since then I completed my PDC and also my diploma. The focus of my diploma was to explore notions of accessibility around permaculture, and also to explore how permaculture design could be used to deepen my own creative practice. I am passionate about the power of permaculture design as a tool to empower communities and individuals to instigate positive change. I am now certified Permaculture Educator and in 2022 created the UK's first Permaculture Design Course specifically focused on artists and creatives. I am an assessment level Permaculture Diploma Tutor, and use Permaculture Design throughout my life, both personally and professionally.
I am curious and inquisitive, and I love to learn so throughout my life I have continually diversified my skills seeking new ways to develop and grow. I have particular interest in the way that an open, creative approach can be beneficial in a plethora of different contexts. From imaginative adventures with the youngest children to artistic discovery with older people living with dementia at the end of life – I have a wide range of experience developing and delivering projects in theatres and creative spaces, but also in hospitals, schools, gardens, blocks of flats… Anywhere that the spark of imagination is given space to ignite endless possibilities.
I currently convene a group exploring permaculture in the arts, work with organisations to explore how they can use permaculture design to inspire regenerative transformation, edit a zine inspired by imagination and permaculture, and am co-founder and co-ordinator of a community project using permaculture to manage and maintain a 120 acres of woodland and meadow by the River Irwell.
I am particularly interested in developing projects which broaden access to permaculture and which make use of it in more unusual and unexpected contexts.