RECYCLE RIVER THAMES - VIRTUAL WORKSHOP
For the second year Trapped in Zone One has been selected to be part of the annual Totally Thames Festival, which takes place from the 1 - 30 September 2020.
To keep in theme with the festivals vision of connecting with diverse communities from all parts of London and help the well-being of Londoners through creative activities, this year we will be focusing on plastic pollution affecting the River Thames.
Together with our artist Luke Smile we’re hosting a virtual creative workshop on Zoom in which the artist will engage with all the participants and guiding them to create awareness message on recycled plastic to which we then plan to exhibit all the works on our website as part of an online visual gallery.
Luke Smile is a British artist who specialises in typography, with work spanning across sign painting, large-scale murals, and graphic design. His style consists of clean, precise lettering in bright colours and often embellished with spray textures that take inspiration from his background in graffiti.
The process for the workshop will start by sketching out the word ‘Recycle’ onto a large empty plastic bottle. Followed by filling in sections of the letters with different tones of colour.
In order to take part in the workshop you will need the following material:
3 different coloured acrylic pens (Posca) with one preferably being the white colour
A large empty recycled plastic bottle
A Damp cloth
Few sheets of kitchen roll
Also joining us will be Judy Proctor from Environment Agency, AJ McConville from Thames21 and Amy Pryor from Thames Estuary Partnership providing us with an introductory talk about plastic pollution in the Thames.
Environment Agency an organisation that works to protect and improve the environment to make it a better place for people and wildlife in England. This includes reducing the impacts of flooding, promoting sustainable development and delivering environmental regulation.
Judy currently leads the national strategy setting the strategic direction for the organisation’s work on plastics: reducing plastics in the environment, preserving the value of plastics in the circular economy and highlighting emerging issues. She has over twenty year’s operational and national experience in delivering environmental improvements. Many of these outcomes are delivered in partnership with partners, businesses, customers and government.
Judy champions the environment locally in her roles on the Integrated Territorial Investment Board for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, the Local Nature Partnership, and as a judge for Cornwall’s Sustainable Business Awards.
AJ McConville is the coordinator of the Thames River Watch which provides Londoners a way to protect and monitor the health of the river Thames. It does this by training local volunteers to capture vital information on Thames water quality and the types of waste that is collecting on the foreshore. This is creating a far larger data set than would be possible otherwise and are contributing vital data to the existing understanding of the Thames’ health. The project also trains Thames Ambassadors to speak to the public about the river and work to better connect local people to the river.
Thames21 is the voice for London’s waterways, working with communities to improve rivers and canals for people and wildlife. They mobilise thousands of volunteers every year to clean and green the capital’s 400 mile network of waterways. Thames21 aims to transform neglected waterways into areas that everyone can use and enjoy, by using innovative and tailored community approaches.
Amy Pryor is a marine and estuarine scientist with over 20 years of experience in marine and coastal management. Amy started her career through studying Marine Biology at Newcastle University and then took a job fresh out of university monitoring deep sea fisheries in the North East Atlantic and South Atlantic Ocean for MRAG Ltd as a live aboard scientist. She is the Technical Director at Thames Estuary Partnership, London’s Coastal Partnership covering the tidal Thames. She is responsible for developing, managing and raising funds for a robust programme of projects and research across the main themes effecting the river today including data, environmental improvement, education, skills and training, research and innovation. She also Chairs the national Coastal Partnerships Network, which exists to facilitate knowledge exchange and sharing best practice across 87 similar organisations and provides a national voice for coastal issues. Amy is a lifelong ocean lover and is striving to enhance the health of the ocean through working with coastal communities including along the Thames, London’s ‘local, urban ocean’.
The Thames Estuary Partnership (TEP) is a registered charity, hosted by University College London, with the mission of transforming the Thames into the world’s most sustainably managed estuary, connecting people, ideas and the landscape to drive socioeconomic and environmental improvement. Working in partnership with organisations embedded in riverside communities, TEP empowers local groups to carry out projects, continuously sharing knowledge and improving measurable outcomes. TEP collaborates with partners to deliver impactful projects seeking solutions to societal challenges e.g. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Marine CoLABoration to use a values-based approach communicating about the estuary as part of the ocean system to accelerate behaviour change. Success to date includes #OneLess, transitioning drinking water in London from single-use plastic to a refill culture and Estuary Edges, guidance for building back habitat along the length of the Thames.
Thank you to Foundation for Future London for funding this project and our partners Great Art, Uni-ball UK, Artgecko Sketchbooks, The People Speak and Love East Magazine for supporting Trapped in Zone One.
If you have any questions, please do contact us.