Fermynwoods Contemporary Art

23/06/2026

Join Fermynwoods Contemporary Art at Merged Futures 2026

We're delighted to be taking part in Digital Northants' annual innovation showcase, bringing together technology, creativity, education and innovation from across Northamptonshire and beyond.

🗓 Friday 26 June 2026
📍 Learning Hub, University of Northampton Waterside Campus
🎟 Free to attend

At 12:00pm, Fermynwoods Director James Steventon will present share examples of how we have supported life through art and technology, exploring how artists can help people engage differently with landscape, technology and one another.

Drawing on projects across Northamptonshire, the talk will share examples of artist-led work with young people, experimental digital artworks, AI, locative technologies, and immersive sound and light installations in both urban and rural spaces.

Whether you're interested in digital innovation, education, creativity, environmental engagement or the future role of technology in society, we'd love to see you there.

Find out more and register via https://digitalnorthants.com/events2/merged-futures-8

22/06/2026

🎨 BOOKINGS ARE NOW OPEN! 🌿

Have you secured your place yet?

Fermynwoods Contemporary Art is delighted to be joining the Northamptonshire Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) for the very first time this summer with our new Art & Nature Club at East Carlton Country Park.

Join professional artist Jack Halford for four days of printmaking, painting and photography inspired by the outdoors. Young people aged 9–16 will explore nature, develop creative skills and enjoy a healthy hot meal and snacks each day.

📅 Monday 27 – Thursday 30 July 2026
📍 East Carlton Country Park
🎨 Art & Nature Club with Jack Halford
🍽️ Healthy hot meal and snacks included

Places are limited and we expect them to fill quickly.

Book now via EEQU: https://eequ.org/book/art-and-nature-club-with-fermynwoods-contemporary-art-31011

18/06/2026

In our latest workshop, students worked with Digital Participation Artist John Whall in an immersive, multi-platform session designed to bridge the gap between physical crafting and digital design.

The day began with students exploring VR through a series of engaging games, setting the stage for creative discovery. The cohort then moved into tactile play using playdough modelling, which was translated into the digital realm through 3D scanning. Under John’s guidance, they explored character animation using Mixam, an empowering process that allowed them to see their handmade physical sculptures gain movement and personality within a virtual space.

The workshop continued with further collaborative experimentation, including Augmented Reality (AR) exploration via the MyWebAR platform, alongside a return to VR for immersive 3D drawing. By blending these diverse technologies with hands-on making, John supported the students as they navigated the boundaries between physical materiality and digital possibility, resulting in an exciting session where they were able to take their creative digital projects home with them.

16/06/2026

Fermynwoods is a HAF Provider for the Very First Time!

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that for Summer 2026, Fermynwoods Contemporary Art is officially joining the Northamptonshire Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF)!

If you’ve been looking for something completely different, fresh, and deeply creative for your 9 to 16-year-old this summer, this is it.

Join professional artist Jack Halford for our inaugural Art & Nature Club at East Carlton Country Park (please note: not at Fermyn Woods Country Park!). Your child will get hands-on with printmaking, painting, and photography, exploring the great outdoors while learning real artistic skills—plus, a healthy hot meal and snacks are included every day!

📅 Program Dates: Monday 27th July – Thursday 30th July 2026
⏰ Bookings Go Live: Monday 22nd June 2026 at 4:00 PM on EEQU!

Important Info for HAF Parents/Carers:
🔹 No School Codes Needed: You can access the booking system directly. Your eligibility will be verified automatically after you book.
🔹 Credits: Each eligible young person has 16 credits to use across the summer HAF programme.
🔹 Pending Bookings: When you book, it will show as "Pending." This just means we and the HAF team are verifying your details. Keep an eye on your email for confirmation!

Because this is our first year, spaces are limited and we expect them to fill up fast. Log in or create your free account on EEQU now so you're ready to book on Monday!

👉 Be the first to view our club and prep for booking: https://eequ.org/book/art-and-nature-club-with-fermynwoods-contemporary-art-31011
👉 Browse the full HAF system: https://eequ.org/hafnorthants
👉 Need help booking? Check the quick guide here: https://help.eequ.org/en/articles/220821-quick-guide-on-how-to-book-a-haf-session

Art & Nature for Curious Minds

12/06/2026

We were pleased to see Fermynwoods Contemporary Art's longstanding volunteer, Barbara Rawcliffe awarded a Rose of Northamptonshire Award.

Barbara has been a cornerstone of the organisation for nearly 20 years. What began as a visit to an exhibition quickly turned into a lifelong commitment to ensuring creative opportunities reached young people excluded from mainstream education, particularly through her work with The CE Academy. This passion helped shape Fermynwoods flagship Alternative Provision programme. Even after retirement, Barbara repeatedly returned to support the work—leading workshops at short notice, mentoring staff, and offering steady, compassionate guidance to vulnerable young people. She has also served as a dedicated Trustee for Fermynwoods and remains a most valued volunteer.

Currently, she volunteers on Animate Projects regional WORK Records project, exploring historic working lives across the East Midlands, in particular alongside other volunteers from Corby Heritage Centre.

Northamptonshire Community Foundation
Animate Projects

11/06/2026

In our latest workshop, students worked with artist Jack Halford, who deconstructs the world to a microscopic level, using micrographs as a foundation before expanding them through a blend of analogue and digital tools. This process creates a visual bridge between our biological makeup and our psychological "inner self," resulting in vibrant, immersive paintings where imagined figurative elements emerge organically from cellular structures.

Working in a mixed-media style inspired by the layered, atmospheric approach seen in Jack’s Anthromicroscopy series, the cohort created a large-scale collaborative painting alongside individual pieces. They combined the soft, hazy textures of water-based spray paint with the bold, intentional marks of acrylic brushwork. Depth was built by layering these mediums, using both freehand spraying and cardboard stencils to introduce forms that were then defined and refined together.

The workshop explored how different materials interact while introducing professional studio techniques in a safe, collaborative environment. Students communicated and negotiated creative choices throughout the process, giving everyone the chance to contribute to a shared, high-impact final piece.

02/06/2026

FERMYNWOODS PODCAST 20 – SPENCER GRAHAM

Before Spotify retires its Music + Talk format on 14 June 2026, there is a final opportunity to experience this experimental podcast episode as it was originally intended in 2023: a conversation woven together with the music itself.

In this episode, artist Spencer Graham discusses collecting, listening, ownership, forests, field recordings, record sleeves, mixtapes and the strange journeys music takes through our lives. Between the conversation sit carefully chosen tracks acquired through self-imposed constraints, chance discoveries and deep listening.

Soon the spoken conversation will remain, but the music that shapes and punctuates it will no longer play within the episode on this platform. In many ways, that change touches on questions at the heart of Spencer’s practice: what is lost when music is separated from its context? How do formats shape listening? What happens when access replaces ownership, or when a track becomes detached from the objects, places, stories and associations that surround it?

If you listened when it was first released, this is a chance to return to it. If you missed it, now is the moment to hear it in its original form.

Listen before 14 June via the link https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-20-spencer-graham/

The complete episode will remain available on our YouTube channel.
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28/05/2026

In our latest Alternative Provision workshop, students had the unique opportunity to dive into the world of experimental sound alongside David Birchall, a Manchester-based sound artist and free improviser whose global portfolio spans from the V&A in London to residencies in Japan. David brought his expertise in Noise Orchestra and DIY electronics to the cabin, guiding the group through the creation of immersive sonic environments.

The workshop was highly interactive and modular, allowing students to lead entirely with their curiosity. The cohort began by experimenting with found objects on a custom double banjo and transducer setup, discovering how tactile, everyday materials translate into physical vibration.

The creative process deepened as students explored the intersection of technology and physical items. Using David’s self-built electronics and transducers to activate strings and found materials, they effectively transformed ordinary objects into a rich tapestry of drones and textures. To finish the session, students built their own small oscillators, adding personalised electronic layers to the collective, evolving soundscape.

21/05/2026

In a recent two-part workshop, students had the inspiring opportunity to work with established music artist, educator, and culture specialist Daniel Johnson. Daniel shared insights from his lifelong journey in the industry, which began at just eight years old recording songs on a Dictaphone, leading to his first radio slot by age 11 after years of curating mixtapes from his father’s collection of vintage Reggae, Ska, Motown, and Soul records.

To begin the project, students were introduced to a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) to explore the fundamentals of song creation. After discussing key elements such as BPM, instrumentation, and special effects in relation to their favourite music, the cohort put theory into practice. They learned to use a drum machine to emulate specific beats and concluded their initial tracking by recording and overlaying their own vocals onto their arrangements.

Returning to the studio to build on those tracks, students applied the finishing touches to their audio before transitioning into hands-on video production. Using iPads and microphones mounted on gimbals alongside editing software, the group learned the fundamentals of capturing dynamic footage to create a compelling, original music video to accompany their custom tracks.

21/05/2026

We are pleased to announce that Fermynwoods Contemporary Art has successfully qualified as an Active Member for 2025-26 with

To achieve Active status we had to demonstrate that we had implemented environmentally responsible best practice in line with Gallery Climate Coalition guidance.

Active Membership is not a certification of sustainability nor a claim that we are doing things perfectly. We’re all doing our best to assess, report and reduce our impact, setting targets in line with science, taking any actions we can and working out other solutions as we go. We encourage all of our peers and colleagues to visit the page or website to learn more about the initiative and how to get involved.

Please join Fermynwoods Contemporary Art and DOCS+ for Our Climate, Our Future event this July. Featuring the latest climate update, plus ideas for local action following a powerful 45-minute screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing – an eye-opening film bringing together nine leading UK scientists and experts with the latest evidence and why it matters. See https://fermynwoods.org/peoples-emergency-briefing/ for more.