October 2026 / initial engagement
A precise plan for a short series of public taster sessions at Kirkland Dam and the Wetland Boardwalk, running alongside the artist’s research and development in the River Park.
Katie Fowlie
Artist in Residence
October is an initial period of listening, looking and making. The sessions are deliberately short, accessible and repeatable: people can see how the artist works, try a material process, contribute an observation, and leave a trace for the research.
The focus is ecology through a material lens. Natural materials, archaeological fragments, colour, texture, plant meanings and local stories are gathered into a working archive that can feed the River Park interpretation programme, digital platform, bespoke interpretation and future public art.
Artist on site, observing, testing, gathering and refining prompts before public engagement.
Two linked sessions per week from Tuesday 13 October, subject to the Mill diary.
Less-focused areas to date; making can be based under a gazebo to respond to the weather.
A linked sequence, not four separate workshops
The proposed format is four 1.5-hour sessions across two weeks, overlapping with activities at the Mill where useful. Each one gives participants a taster of the artist’s live research while adding a different layer to the archive. The Artist will base herself on site on those days, creating a welcoming “outdoor studio” where all 10 participants, or smaller groups, can see how an artist works, researches and develops ideas, and get involved in this way of working.
Tuesday 13 October
Kirkland Dam + Wetland Boardwalk
A slow, guided introduction to the site and the research.
Participants walk, look and gather carefully: fallen leaves, plant matter and surface textures. We will use cropped apertures, rubbings, photographs and what3words prompts to notice where colour, pattern and story are found.
Thursday 15th October
Sheltered point or gazebo near the boardwalk
Turning place-based materials into colour.
Participants test small botanical inks and pigments made from suitable gathered or artist-provided materials. Introduction/demonstration into making botanical inks, create colour swatches on postcards, and test chlorophyll printing (weather permitting).
Tuesday 20th October
Kirkland Dam + Wetland Boardwalk, with Mill links
Reading industrial traces alongside living materials.
Alongside fragments uncovered from Paul's digs/Mill activity - the artist brings a collection of river-found fragments gathered over 20 years, including references to brick, glass, pantiles, leather and rusty metal. Participants make simple prints, rubbings or plasticine texture stamps, and connect material traces to archaeology, work and memory.
Thursday 22nd October
Kirkland Dam + Wetland Boardwalk
Bringing observations, colour and stories together.
Suminigashi inspired by the river will become a way to explore flow, repetition and change. Participants can add a mark, pattern, story, thought or desire for the Park to a postcard or book page, creating a small reciprocal archive for future interpretation.
Repeatable 90-minute rhythm
Group + setting
Plan for up to 10 people around the boardwalk / Mill activity, with no prior skill required. A gazebo or sheltered point keeps the making safe from the elements.
Materials
Bring paper, postcard stock, inks, tools and a selection of historic fragments. Gather only suitable loose material on site, with permissions and respect for the ecology and archaeology.
What changes each time
The artist will refine the next prompt from what the previous session reveals: a colour, a texture, a story, a plant, a fragment or a question about the Park.
Every session returns to these four strands
The material tests are not an end in themselves. They are a way to ask what the Park is becoming, what it carries, and how a future visitor might be invited to notice it.
River restoration
What do flow, wetland, repair and changing water levels look and feel like in material form? Which marks or processes could help visitors notice the river’s ongoing transformation?
Traces, materials and archaeology
How can steel, iron, railway colour, brick, glass, clay, pantile and found fragments reveal the hidden industrial heritage without separating it from the living landscape?
Working lives, memory and civic pride
What local stories, memories and associations should sit alongside the material tests? How might people’s observations become archive items, story cards or prompts for discovery?
Plants, wetland and renewal
What do plants, trees, hedgerows, wildflower meadows and gathered materials tell us about biodiversity and care? What meanings, symbolism, uses or attributes might open new ways of seeing the Park?
Core line of questioning
Material research → public interpretation“How can the use of materials reveal the hidden industrial heritage of the River Park while reflecting its transformation into a thriving natural landscape?”
Possible October processes
Foraging · cropping apertures · rubbings · botanical inks · pigment from brick · chlorophyll printing · suminigashi · plasticine texture stamps · spool books · postcards · story prompts.
What October should leave behind
October will generate evidence, not a polished finished artwork. The value is in the combination of material tests, participant responses and clear notes about how each idea might translate into interpretation, wayfinding or public art.
Participation can become a map of textures, patterns, stories and hidden histories.
01 / material archive
Colour swatches, plant and fragment references, rubbings, prints, photographs and process notes, with the source and location recorded where possible.
02 / participation archive
Postcards, spool-book pages, story fragments, observations, desires for the Park and what3words prompts, with agreement about what can be shared.
03 / design intelligence
Early material language for public art and interpretation: possible colours, patterns, textures, processes, forms, visitor interactions and durability questions.
To confirm at the start of October