ABOUT
Hello there. My name is Jess. I am a nature-based practitioner and ecological artist living in the Black Mountains in Wales.
In this landscape of rain-soaked lichen and weathered rock, I am shaped by the possibility of another story. A story rooted in solidarity with the natural world from which we are inseparable. With one foot on the earth, I feel a sense of being planted among something I can only describe as ancient. The other, in a dance with uncertainty. How to land in such shifting times?. Yet, it is those moments between that feel most alive. In Japanese arts & culture there is a concept called "Ma" - which speaks of the fundamental time and space from which life needs to grow. It is my experience that if I can turn towards this dance with open curiosity, there is medicine to be found. Here, light streams through the smallest break in the wall, imbuing life with new meaning. It is these moments that capture my imagination and inspire my life and work as a nature-based practitioner and ecological-artist.
If I were to trace my most formative experiences that have led me to working with people in nature today, it would be my own research into the mountain living communities and cultures I have been fortunate enough to spend time among. An early interest in exploring more nature-based ways of living led me to the Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, supported by a Zibby Garnett Travel Fellowship. My travels continued to hillside nunneries in Myanmar, the Andes Mountains in Bolivia, and the Chapadas of Northern Brazil. With my hands now firmly placed in home soil, my motivation for sharing what has been gathered in my basket is ever enriched by those I meet within the gardens and landscapes around me.
Background & Training
My background and training span over fifteen years in developing a creative and therapeutic nature-based practice. Much of my work today exists at the confluence of human-nature relations, tending, growing and communal storytelling. I work within community based organisations and in private practice. My training to date includes studies in the Arts Therapies (British Assocciation of Arts Therapists), Environmental Education & Leadership (Schumacher College), Permaculture, and group work facilitation (The Work that Reconnects & London Gestalt Centre.) I am currently in my final year of training with the Natural Academy on the Advanced Pathway in Ecopsychology and Nature-based practice. You can find out more about my experience in bringing these threads of practice together here. If you would like to explore the possibility of working together, either individually or as a group, more details can be found here. In nourishing my own life and practice, I dedicate regular time for creating with others in the landscape. In recent years, I have been cultivating an eco-philosophical movement practice as a way of tending to my own healing and growth with the natural world. I feel fortunate to have studied with environmental movement artist Helen Poyner and internationally renowned Butoh expert, Marie Gabrielle-Rotie, supported by the elemental soundscapes of Nick Parkin.
