Jake Lever

Green Space Day - Education and the Climate Emergency: reimagining our future together

The climate crisis is the most significant threat to humanity we have ever faced. It is already impacting the lives, economies and neighbourhoods of millions of people globally and it is the defining social justice issue of our time. It is increasingly recognised that schools need to be at the forefront of responding to climate change, both in the way that they model sustainability and develop ‘climate literacy’ across all age ranges.

In my role as Assistant Professor and Subject Lead for Art and Design at Warwick University I have initiated and led ‘Green Space,’ an annual climate education conference for trainee teachers. This year Green Space Day, held on Monday 24th April, attracted 250 international delegates online with presentations by leading practitioners in the field as well as school pupils, including one veteran (aged 11) of COP26. More information and recordings of the presentations can be found  on the Green Space webpage here. 

Gillian Lever
Colour and Landscape

In recent weeks I have started a new series of oil paintings. Birmingham, where I live, is one of the greenest cities in Europe with over 600 publicly accessible parks and I walk in nature every day. In April I spent a week in North Devon where I walked some of its stunning coastal path. I am often influenced by the colours that I see on my walks but also like to work intuitively with colours that resonate with my emotional landscape. 

Earlier this year I saw Jadé Fadojutimi’s exhibition ‘Can we see the colour green because we have a name for it?’ at The Hepworth Wakefield. In the exhibition catalogue interview she talks about colour’s capacity to affect mood or emotional state, something that I myself am fascinated by. 

”I am increasingly aware of my dependence on colour to soothe my emotional spectrum. Colour leaves an imprint on our memory, even just moving around day today, the shifts in your environment can provoke a shift in mood or atmosphere. I’m interested in how the way we register or understand colour is cultivated within us over time; how if you grow up in a desert landscape you’ll have a higher colour sensitivity to browns and yellows compared to someone who was born in a city.”

Jadé Fadojutimi