From 2018 to 2025, co-directors Laurel Gallagher, Isla Telford, and Jenny Harper led Urban Wilderness CIC, bringing art, play, and creative collaboration into communities across Stoke-on-Trent and the Midlands. This archive preserves a record of their projects, partners, and impact.
The Weight of Things is an outdoor sculpture by David Bethell, hand-carved from polystyrene and covered with fibre-glass, sand, and paint. Installed in Keele Woods, the floating rock sculpture evokes hope and despair simultaneously, inspired by Rene Magritte’s 1953 painting Clear Ideas. The work encourages reflection on impermanence and resilience in challenging times.
Read MoreYouth-led canal-side transformation at Tinsley Marina, Sheffield — shaping place, confidence and connection through creative action.
Read MoreA co-created wooden vessel rising from the earth — a public art sculpture made with young people and artist David Bethell for the Forest Worlds Festival 2019.
Read MoreA joyful family arts festival co-created with young people and artists in Stoke-on-Trent, celebrating creativity, freedom and play through performances and workshops.
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