About us

 The ART and ENERGY Collective is an award-winning group of artists, tinkerers, researchers, scientists, and makers based in the South West.

We specialise in designing participatory arts projects which help people take creative steps towards a brighter greener future.

We recognise that we face the giant dilemmas of climate change and ecological disaster.

How to BURY the GIANT

We believe that paying attention to natural energy systems and nurturing creativity are two essential elements of responding to the overwhelming challenges of our times.

Experiencing and making art can help people;

  • develop technical and creative skills to face whatever is to come

  • explore new ideas and experiment, opening doors in the imagination to new possibilities and ways of living

  • find courage and agency when they are experiencing eco-anxiety

  • grow new connections with our nature and communities

  • have fun and make meaning

Considering natural energy systems can help people:

  • improve physical and mental wellbeing

  • appreciate and understand where our energy comes from and how we can use our power

To ensure that all of our work has a positive impact on life, we have developed a design framework called Our Compass, which helps us to ‘Bury the Giant’.

We love to work with other creatives, community groups, schools and universities, families and groups of friends, businesses and industry…. we believe that the Climate Emergency affects us all, and that we are strongest when we work together and share knowledge and resources. Although our core team are based in Devon, UK, we love to collaborate with people far and wide.

Find out more about Our Team, Our Board, The way we work and Our Compass.

Group of women standing outside next to a colorful, textured textile laid across the grass and a wooden gate, with a lush green background.
Two people in colorful rain jackets holding a sign with text on a grassy field landscape.

Our Team:

  • A person with curly hair wearing denim overalls and a striped shirt stands in a room with shelving units filled with various items, including boxes and equipment. A small table with a glass top is in front, along with some storage racks and a framed artwork on the wall.

    Chloe Uden

    Chloe is the founder of The Art and Energy Collective. She makes work that explores the place where art and renewable energy meet through visual, participatory and often co-created artworks.

  • A woman smiling in a creative studio filled with art supplies, plants, and books. The desk is cluttered with paper, paint, a yellow and black bee decoration, and a map. Shelves with books are in the background.

    Naomi Wright

    As artist and ecologist, Naomi makes visual or performative art that is about nature, renewable energy and climate change. Energy conceptually underpins her work, as does Social Sculpture. We all create, use energy and have impact on our place, our community.

  • Person holding colorful paper butterflies in a lush greenhouse

    Jenny Ayrton

    Jenny specialised in casting, etching and engraving glass until she met Art & Energy. She now aspires to be a maverick creator of crazy artworks! Jenny loves a hands on creative challenge, working with reclaimed materials and finding unusual solutions.

  • A woman wearing glasses smiling in a garden next to a wooden fence and tree branches.

    Catherine Andrews

    Cat joined Art and Energy with almost 20 years' experience in the nature conservation sector. She is an experienced project manager having delivered successful programmes of marine conservation themed work.

Our Board:

  • Person with glasses wearing a sweater and standing outdoors with a blurred background.

    Paul Hardman

    Paul is currently the Manager of the Sustainable Earth Institute (SEI) and Deputy Director of the Low Carbon Devon project at the University of Plymouth. Paul is passionate about developing a sustainable future for our world and using Art as a route to inspiring and engaging people.

  • Smiling person standing indoors, wearing a patterned shirt with red, white, and black squares on it.

    Sabrina Candido

    Sabrina is an arts and cultural professional with over 17 years' experience working across significant and diverse international projects, strategic partnerships, executive production and curatorship. She interested in projects that promote the exchange of knowledge, social transformation, and in working towards the construction of a collaborative networks of partners.

  • Person installing a solar panel in a dark room

    Matt Burnell

    Matt started Re-Solar Ltd, which researches solutions for implementing the waste hierarchy for the solar industry, focusing on finding methods reuse and repair. He is Business Development Manager for PV Cycle UK. Matt brings to the board his technical expertise in solar, visions of solar upcycling, and engagement with communities via tangible solutions to tackle the climate emergency.

  • Person in a yellow jacket smiling in front of an iceberg on a cloudy day.

    Dylan Beard

    Dylan is a PhD candidate at the University of Plymouth, researching contaminants in glacial regions. He loves nature, exploring, crafting, and caring about the environment. His aim is to make science more accessible and use creative ways to get people involved with the environment.

  • Person standing in front of a solar panel array in a sunny outdoor setting.

    Katie Shanks

    I am a researcher at the University of Exeter’s Cornwall campus developing state of the art solar energy technology. My expertise, and input to the Art and Energy Collective, is in solar cells and optics.

Our Associates:

  • Woman smiling outdoors, wearing an orange sweater, black beaded necklace, and yellow headband. Standing against a stone wall.

    Micha Colombo

    Micha is a Devon based poet, performer and playwright, she is drawn to nature and tries to connect and celebrate it in her work.

    Micha has recently written and performed our new book for children - A Mossy Story.

  • Black and white portrait of a man looking sideways, wearing a suit jacket and a striped shirt, against a dark background.

    Matt Harvey

    Matt is a Devon based broadcaster and performance poet, he is a long standing collaborator with Art and Energy.

    Past collaborations have included Moths to a Flame poetry, Element in the Room and SWIMBY the musical.

  • Person writing in notebook at log cabin cafe, with coffee mug on table.

    Matilda Wright

    Matilda is an emerging podcast maker and writer, she was an important part of our journey to the Glastonbury Festival with The Mossy Carpet in 2024. Listen to her Mossy Carpet podcast The Unexpected Oracles.

  • Portrait of a smiling woman with glasses and long hair in an office setting.

    Devon Tipping

    Devon is an illustrator, creative facilitator and researcher based in the South West and founder of Community in print. They have worked with us on the illustrations and design of our children’s book - A Mossy Story.

  • Woman sitting in a large leather chair, holding a book, surrounded by branches with paper butterflies, warmly lit.

    Miranda Barlow

    Miranda is an artist, illustrator and writer, commissioned by Art and Energy to write ‘A Moth’s Whisper’ a children’s book for our Moths to a Flame project.

Art and Energy help participants and audiences to feel excited and connected with energy, support them to learn new skills, encourage restorative and regenerative behaviour change in light of the climate emergency, and celebrate progress within communities and the environment. Since forming in 2018 we have developed and delivered a wide range of projects and ways of working.

The way we work:

Woman smiling while looking at a smartphone, standing in a room with a white brick wall. On the wall, there is a framed art piece with a floral or leaf design, connected by a blue cord.

We experiment creatively and focus on hope

  • Our communities can give us happiness, strength, encouragement and appreciation. Even during the toughest of Covid19 lock-downs, we continued to innovate, delivering activities in communities through creative kits and online facilitation.

    These solar stars in Filwood, Bristol, were each decorated by a volunteer as a way to celebrate the work of community members who went above and beyond in the first months of the pandemic.

Close-up of hands holding a handmade paper moth with "We are Nature" and "Nature is us" written on it.

We bring many voices together to create a chorus for change

  • Over two years, we worked with more than 59,000 people to create Moths to a Flame, a mass-participation art installation for the UN climate conference, COP26. The project included live-streamed moth-watching, upcycled craft activities, poetry, an illustrated story book, augmented reality colouring and much much more.

    We have transformed thousands of the recycled milk bottle moths into our new Moths to a Flame Geodesic Dome which is an artwork to behold.

Young boy working with a soldering iron at a table.

We activate creativity and encourage independence

  • We run workshops and design activities to share skills and ideas… these are just the beginning as they make it possible for people to do more independently, taking responsibility and action.

    For example, solar artwork workshops participants leave with an amazing sense of achievement which puts a whole new meaning to the word empowering!

Hands holding a clump of green moss with small star-shaped structures against a blurred natural background.

We connect creatively with nature and invite you to view the world through an energy lens

  • Moths to a Flame compared our attraction to energy-demanding technology with that of the overlooked moth and it’s draw to light. Looking and observing nature provides a greater understanding of living and renewable energy in our world, as well as comfort, health and hope. We are part of nature and so self reflection, and increased awareness of energy leads to changes in our thinking about our values and priorities.

    Our work with Energy and Wildlife groups has made a difference to their connection with renewables.

Outdoor display of memorial plaques on poles in a garden, set along a paved pathway, illuminated at night.

We bring people together through playful creativity

  • Our communities can give us happiness, strength, encouragement and appreciation. Even during the toughest of Covid19 lock-downs, we continued to innovate, delivering activities in communities through creative kits and online facilitation.

    These solar stars in Filwood, Bristol, were each decorated by a volunteer as a way to celebrate the work of community members who went above and beyond in the first months of the pandemic.

Group of people holding artwork outdoors in a courtyard with brick walls, ivy, and industrial pipes.

We cross borders, and banish barriers, bringing culture, industry, academia and community together

  • We believe that the way forward is together.

    We provide safe spaces for imaginative conversations where knowledge and ideas can be shared as we look for a way forward in the context of the Climate Emergency.

    Collaboration is the key to success.

  • Person holding a blue solar panel close-up

    Why Energy?

    The climate emergency is caused by carbon emissions from fossil fuels, deforestation and the way we manage land. So climate change is all about energy, our relationship with the natural world and each-other. We look through an energy lens at the energy systems we’re in and where we get our energy from. How we harness energy for power., what it costs us and how we use it and live with it day to day plus how can we transform the systems and ourselves.

  • Person holding a paper moth artwork with the text "We are Nature" and "Nature is us."

    The Challenge

    The climate emergency can feel overwhelmingly massive and scary; this can lead to eco-anxiety, disengagement and in-action. We see it as our job to give people creative cultural experiences that resource them to deal with eco-anxiety, help them to understand the relevance to their lives, and enable them to respond to the climate emergency by making better choices about how we live.

Our Compass:

"Our Compass" poster with guidance on climate action and empowerment: includes topics like climate change response, energy awareness, nature connection, positivity focus, creativity, community building, experimentation, leadership, and celebration of achievements.

Download a copy of Our Compass