Habitats of Composition: The Walking Studio and Biodiversity Gardening 

February, 2024

https://www.artstherapies.org/ecological-models

A walking studio supports wayfaring through either urban or natural landscapes to encourage arts based responses using photography, found object assemblages or spoken word poetry. The route of travel is curated to include places of interest that also prompt conversations about urban design, street art, place names, local history, the built environment and social concerns. Biodiversity gardening is a form of companion planting that enhances home and community landscapes by cultivating nature for the purpose of either food production, apothecary gardens or for the growing of art materials (natural dyes, sculptural materials, seasonal displays and plants from healing traditions). Gardening can compose nature installations through ecological designs and become a focus point for developing horticultural skills that encourage creative expression through environmental activism. Community gardening contributes to quality-of-life indicators related to achievement, self-efficacy, participation, lifelong learning, pride of place, and belonging. Both the walking studio and biodiversity gardening are public art forms that support place making through an intentional gathering that brings people together for the purpose of co-creation within the outdoor studios of their lives.