Artist and educator Tanya Wilson has been working with the South London Gallery team from 2023-2024. As the Residents’ Programme Assistant, she has worked with young people, artists and colleagues across departments to deliver a variety of activities and events.
We spoke to her at the end of her traineeship about her highlights from her time at the SLG and what she’s up to next.
Hi Tanya! Tell us a little bit about what you’ve been working on during your traineeship.
Hiya I’m Tanya the Residents’ Programme trainee. My role consists of supporting Open Plan, SLG’s public art and education project. Within Open Plan is Art Block, a free space based on Sceaux Gardens Estate for local children and families to be creative, hangout and play which I help facilitate in the day to day running of.
The traineeship also allows me to develop and lead on a personal project. My project this year was Wingin’ It: Birdwatching at Art Block. I was Inspired by a newly discovered passion for birdwatching and the outdoors. I wanted to develop a project focussing on discovering the abundant wildlife and nature in London’s urban environment.
You brought the young people at Art Block on an exciting visit to The London Wetland centre. What did you get up to?
Bird watching is usually associated with being solitary and quietness but through joining bird watching groups like Flock Together, Bethnal Green Nature Reserve and experiencing birdwatching classes when I was working at a nursery I knew there could be a sense of joy and excitement as well as inclusion in collective learning outdoors.
I wanted to keep the project south of the river and relatively close to Camberwell, so when I came across WWT London Wetland Centre in Barnes, I knew it would be the perfect place to take the kids on a trip. The wetland centre is is really centred around children’s learning, exploration and play so I knew it would be the best place to take them, many for the first time to bird watch.
I worked with Sam Hills, a learning officer at WWT London Wetland Centre who created a bespoke learning session for our kids, introducing them to taxidermy and looking at birds close up, then taking them around the centre to look at resident birds.
I also gifted each of the children on the trip a pair of their own binoculars to keep for life. They learnt how to confidently use binoculars and identify birds so that they can continue birdwatching as they grow up.
It was a really exciting day for everyone involved. We saw greylag and Canada geese, moorhens and coots, parakeets, herons and mandarin ducks. All the children were really engaged, which was great to see and be part of.
Since your visit, you’ve been working with them on a calendar. Tell us about this. How did the ideas develop and how did you get the young people to collaborate on it.
I’m also a practicing artist but have worked in children’s art education for the past 5 years so I was keen to produce something physical, championing the children’s art.
I decided to create a monthly calendar for 2025 filled with bird illustrations drawn by the children. I ran two art workshops with the kids after the trip to the wetlands centre, introducing them to more UK birds, their habitats and when you will most likely see them. Using photographs, bird song and tactile props like feathers and fake nests with eggs. The children then responded by painting the birds, their nests, foods and habitats.
To design the calendar, I collected and collaged their paintings. We printed with Earthbound Press using riso print to give it a playful effect.
In your time here, you’ve also worked with Seyi Adelekun on her community garden, and have been planting around Art Block. Tell us about the results of these. How have the kids been responding to nature?
I was really thrilled to be given the opportunity to take over the maintenance of the growing bed we have outside Art Block this year. My mum has an allotment, so she’s taught me a lot about growing. Working with Seyi Adelekun in the summer of 2023 on their project Disapora Garden on Pelican estate gave me the confidence to continue growing on Sceaux Gardens estate the following year.
During the Sceaux Gardens estate spring party, we planted tomato, callaloo, lettuce, peas, kale, carrots and strawberry seeds with the children and families who attend Art Block.
The callaloo we planted at Art Block this year came from the callaloo we harvested in the previous summer at Pelican estate, as part of Seyi’s project. I brought over the flowers and collected and dried the seeds with the children at Art Block, That’s been a really special , teaching the children about the longevity and cycle of growing.
It’s been great to give the children a shared growing bed which has encouraged them to have collective responsibility in looking after and maintaining the fruit and veg. They love watering, not just our growing bed but the surrounding greenery on the estate.
We’ve also been able to already harvest the peas, lettuce and kale which we’ve used to make salads and cook in sessions!
As part of the traineeship, you were able to shadow other departments. Did you enjoy this? Any highlights?
Shadowing was a really amazing opportunity to see the behind the scenes of how a gallery is run. They can be quite mysterious institutions.
A highlight was shadowing the gallery technicians when installing for Pope.L: Hospital and Acts of Resistance: Photography, Feminisms and the Art of Protest exhibitions. The technicians were really great and welcoming. Coming from an art background, it was good to see first hand, the process of how big galleries deinstall and install shows.
What has been your favourite moment during your time with the SLG?
The children and the community around Art Block. Everyone has been so welcoming and I’ve loved being in the sessions. We’re always doing different activities with the children, from playing bingo, building robots out of cardboard, making burritos or painting murals on the walls there’s always something fun happening in the space.
What are you up to next?
I will be starting the Drawing Year at The Royal Drawing School in September!
