Claire Loder reflects on a Propagate Planning Day, funded by CCCI.
CCCI funding helped support a planning day for Propagate, a new student residency for MA Fine Art students at Bath City Farm launching in spring 2026.
I facilitated this planning day to bring together students, staff and an external curator/land steward around a series of shared activities, dialogue and knowledge exchange as an aid to formulating approaches and ideas for Propagate.
Propagate has grown out of my own arts practice which is concerned with community, practices of care, horticulture and practical and philosophical responses to the climate and ecological emergencies.
The planning day took place in June 2025. We started with a tour of Bath City Farm’s new growing facilities and a talk from the Director and Growing Lead about their ambitions for the site and current growing approaches. This was followed by a guided walk to Englishcombe and the site of our second venue – a barn at From The Land.
The money funded a facilitator and BSU colleague – Eleanor Duffin. El and I walked the route prior to the planning day to map out the intentions for the day and my ambitions for the residency.
Following this, El skillfully crafted a map which evoked ideas and narratives embedded in the route, in combination with poetic land connections. It included stopping places, references and extracts for participants to read.
On the day, I carried the map. We stopped and talked at stopping places along the route, accompanied by lyrics from songs, broadcast radio, literature, fiction and deep ecology – offered as frameworks and provocations. At the barn there was a series of sessions.
BSU colleague Charlie Tweed presented the group with the Grizedale Arts model as a case study. BCF Lead Grower Jude Rice demonstrated propagation methods and talked about her approach to ecological horticultural training. And I led an activity ‘talking of nature’ on the significance of language in this work.
The sessions allowed for a cross pollination of ideas between growers and artists, students and staff, curators and makers. We also explored ideas around ephemeral art works and the challenge and possibilities of artists working with the evocative living material of plants.