Rooted in Place: Earth Arts Forum & Workshop Day
An Earth Arts Forum and Workshop Day of creativity in the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area - a gathering for sharing ideas in kinship, community and creative dialogue ,demonstrations and hands on workshops and showcasing work by local artists and their creative practice.
10am Registration
Tea & Coffee
Welcome
Acknowledgement to Country
Program Highlights
Welcome & Introductions
10-12pm
Why Place, Community , Creativity and Art is Important
Dr. Cheryle Yin Lo
Artist, Arts Educator , Creative Mentor , Cultural Researcher and Sustainability and Wellness Advocate
Cheryle will share her personal and professional perspectives living in the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and our local and global connections .
She will also share her creative practice and how sense of place, community , creativity and art can enrich our lives in everyday life.
Introduction to Australian Earth Laws Alliance (AELA)- Earth Arts Program- Convenors Liesje Barratt and Dawn Mills
Introduction to ideas and concepts and purpose and vision of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance
Liesje Barratt will share her perspectives of her involvement with AELA and her passion for the arts and advocacy.
Dawn Mills artist and photographer will share her creative practice and her work with AELA and her recent artist eco residencies.
Dawn Mills is a Coordinator of AELAs Earth Arts Program. She practices a range of creative pursuits, with a focus on printmaking and mixed media art. This allows her to express her philosophical approach to her place in the wider circle of life on this beautiful planet. Her aim is to encourage others to acknowledge their inherent creativity, foster connection with our local places, each other, and our wider planetary home.
Dawn has a lifelong passion for our natural world and has engaged in many environmental causes over her life. She is inspired by Indigenous cultures and spiritual philosophies based on non-duality, all for one and one for all.
Liesje Barratt is a Coordinator of AELA’s Earth Arts Program. Liesje is a Social Ecologist & Ecological Animator. She has lived in the beautiful Blue Mountains, lands of the Dharug and Gundungurra peoples for most of her life & is passionate about her local area and connecting others with a sense of wonder & joy for the natural world. Liesje loves bushwalking, gardening and any opportunity to be in nature.
LUNCHTIME
12pm-1pm- Vegetarian Lunch provided
Earth Arts & Kinship
Drumming with Hands , Heart & Feet - Emily Cooper
Afternoon
WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES
Suitable for adults, children and young people
Choose your hands on workshop
1pm -2pm Activity 1A
Making Cyanotypes with the Sun
Facilitator : Cheryle Yin Lo
Or 1pm-2pm Activity 1B
Plein Air -Outdoor Drawing & Painting
Facilitator: Dawn Mills
Choose
Activity 2A
2.30pm-2.30pm
Introduction to Nature Journalling
Facilitator :Cheryle Yin Lo
OR
Activity 2B
2.30pm-3.30pm
Storytelling -Nature Art Play & Making Clay Sculptures
Facilitators :Liesje Barratt and Antonia TBC
3.30pm-4pm Where to from Here?
Thanks and Feedback and Discussion
Date: Sunday 15 November 2026
Time :10am-4pm
Venue: Blue Mountains Creative Arts Centre
Cnr of Hare and Moore St Glenbrook
Cost : $20.00
Blue Mountains Creative Arts Centre members (BMCAC) $15.00
Vegetarian Lunch provided. Morning tea and afternoon tea provided.
All materials included for practical workshops.
What to bring:
CO-PRESENTERS
Contact & more information
Dawn Mills
Co-convenor of the AELA Earth Arts Program
Email: dawn@earthlaws.org.au
Liesje Barratt
Email: dawn@earthlaws.org.au
Co-convenor of the AELA Earth Arts Program
Cheryle Yin Lo, Artist & Arts Educator and Cultural Researcher
Printmaker and Creative Mentor
CEO and Founder
Creative Traveller Enterprises
Email: creativetraveller@icloud.com
@crea_tivetraveller