Alex Shaw Art

30/03/2026

What’s living beneath our feet?
I’m inviting local residents to take part in a citizen science project exploring the hidden life of our soil.
You’ll receive a small wool sampling kit to place in your garden or outdoor space. Over time, it will be colonised by fungi, microbes, and other unseen life.
Alongside this, you’ll be given some paper to record the place where your sample is buried; this could be notes, a drawing, or a short description of the space.
If you’d like, you can also include a location (for example, using What3Words), but this is optional.
This is a slow, shared exploration of the landscapes around us, looking a little more closely at what is usually missed.
Local delivery available in Abram and the surrounding areas.
Message me with your name and address if you’d like to take part.
Limited number of kits available.

29/03/2026

Over the past few months, I’ve been working in my local area, looking at how the landscape connects through waterways and the life around them.
Spending time with plants, mosses, lichens and fungi, day and night, has been a way to slow things down and notice what’s usually missed.
It’s been a pleasure to be joined along the way by some lovely members of the local community. Through walks, workshops and shared moments of discovery, we’ve talked about the past, present and future of these places, what they were and how these post-industrial landscapes are becoming spaces people can reconnect with.
It’s made me think about how differently these places might be experienced beyond our own point of view.
I want to thank Down to Earth, Wigan Council and Arts Council England for the opportunity to spend time developing this work within the community, with support from The National Lottery.

11/03/2026

This post is a few weeks late due to some unforeseen circumstances, but I just wanted to say how grateful I am to and everyone involved, especially and , for putting together such a lovely exhibition celebrating all things Wigan, and for inviting me to be part of it.

My piece, A Land Learning to Breathe, responds to the recovery of the post-industrial landscape. The paths and waterways that lead into the quieter heart of these places are often hidden from view, not unlike the mosses and lichens that call these places home. Sometimes you need to slow down and look a little more closely to make these discoveries, but they are there for everyone to enjoy if you take the time to look.

These waterways also connect us to the wider landscapes of the Northwest, linking local spaces to a much broader ecological story.

If you’d like to see the exhibition Wigan’s Voice, it runs until 25 July at Wigan Museum.

04/03/2026

This Saturday’s session at Abram Community Centre will be the last chance to join us for some ecological art–science activities.
Come along for a relaxed creative workshop where we’ll be making wool “nests” to create seed bombs for your garden, looking at local soil under the microscope to see what lives within it, and doing some close looking using phone cameras, magnifying glasses and scanography with natural materials to create detailed images.
All welcome 🌿

21/02/2026

Reminder, free sustainable arts workshop looking at the local ecology happening today at Abram Community Centre, drop in anytime 1pm to 3.30pm, all welcome

Next Community Eco-Arts Workshop - Saturdat 7th February🌿🍂
Our next session at Abram Community Centre is coming up, and everyone’s welcome. We’ll be continuing our creative exploration of local nature through gentle, hands-on making, using natural materials, wool, plants, and audio equipment to help us tap into the natural world around us.
No experience needed, just curiosity 👀