Spore Collective is a peer-peer learning journey about art and ecology. It’s an interdisciplinary creative practice community that follows the life-cycle of a mushroom to help us think differently and deeply together. Over 16 weeks, starting in January 2027, a group of 12 creative practitioners across artistic fields will meet to share inspiration, encounter ideas and insights from science, evolve their practice, and develop a (fruiting) body of work.​ The cycle ends with a public exhibition and events programme focusing on public engagement, idea dispersal & action. The exhibition will take place in June/July 2027.

Who is Spore Collective for?

Spore Collective is open to anyone who wants to explore a creative practice - and who is curious about the intersection of creativity and ecology. You don't have to be a professional or full time artist to join - all stages of creative journeys are welcome.

Spore Collective is for creatives, artists, writers, makers in any field. We're looking for an interdisciplinary group of creative people who can learn from and with each other's creative approaches.

It's for people who want to:

• Learn with and from others (including non-human kin). Encounter a rich range of perspectives across arts disciplines (eg. visual arts, music, writing...), ecology, research and climate science, and the fertile ground where these intersect. As a peer group of creatives, we’ll offer each other inspiration, ideas, feedback and supportive challenge so we can all deepen our practice, whatever and however we make. We’ll do practical exercises to try to attune to non-human perspectives and the insights they bring
• Explore threads of curiosity. We’ll practise ‘tentacular thinking’, and embrace the mess. We’ll wonder and wander and enjoy entangled ideas as they grow organically
• Learn without the bounds and cost and requirements of a traditional course. Art School students say the best thing about it is the creative community. We can build this for ourselves. This learning journey is flexible enough for you to attune to and trust your own inspiration, follow the aliveness of your projects, allowing them to emerge and live out their lifecycle
  
  

How does it work?

1. Inspiration 'spores'. Over 12 weeks, explore a weekly menu of ideas, stimuli, prompts & practical exercises relating to art & ecology. Branch out in self-guided exploration.
2. Expansion through connection. Just as fungal hyphae expand and bifurcate, we'll come together through fortnightly online meetups where ideas can probe, encounter, entangle & grow. Talks from visiting ecologists to share cutting edge research to inspire artworks. These take place online for a 1 hour lunchtime meetup every other week, with 7 meetups in total.
3. Node of hyphae. We'll meet for a Monthly in-person practice day. This is a chance to bring projects in progress for a friendly group ‘crit’. In fungi, hyphal strands converge in nodes - these meetingplaces are the birthplace of the fruiting body (mushroom). We'll meet for 4 days of supportive challenge in a safe space (most likely on a Friday 10am - 2.30pm, tbc). The in-person says will take place in a range of accessible venues in North East London (e.g. Art Works East gallery, The Hornbeam Centre, and likely to include other innovative, inspiring locations working in the space of community/ecological practices)
4. Develop a piece/body of work. Mentorship & guidance from curator and peers to help a mature piece/body of work to emerge and develop. You'll get two 60min 1-2-1 sessions with the Curator, plus support from your artist peers, to help you develop the piece/s the exhibition.
5. Exhibition and mature body of work, and spore release. The programme culminates with a curated exhibition in a London gallery, with associated participatory events, ideas dispersal, engagement & action. This includes a printed exhibition catalogue. Each participant is invited and supported to co-lead an event/ workshop as part of the exhibition programme, to engage the public in the ideas of the exhibition. 

What are the aims of Spore Collective?

• Make work that makes a difference: To make compelling, impactful artworks and experiences that engage a broad range of audiences and participants with urgent ecological issues in empowering ways that inspire hope and action;
   
• Celebrate what grows at the edges: Cultivate the fertile soil found at the intersections of art and ecological science, in order to allow ideas and solutions to grow through interdisciplinary research and making;
   
• Build a collaborative, creative community through collective imagination, learning and action

What inspires the methodology?

“It matters what matters we use to think other matters with; it matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with; it matters what knots knot knots, what thoughts think thoughts..” -  Donna Haraway

The programme is inspired by:

• The organic growth of fungi using hyphae and mycelium
• Collective Imagination practices, learning ways of creating better, more hopeful futures together
• Tentacular Thinking as a way to think beyond a two-legged, two-armed way of being in the world
• Art and interdisciplinary encounters: the intersections of art and science; ecology; activism & social justice
• Composting, the de- and re-composition of organic matter; the beauty in decay, the time & communities it takes to make ‘good soil’

Who is the host?

Laura Villares House is an artist, curator and educator based in Walthamstow. She’s also a trained coach with 10 years’ experience in leading participatory learning experiences for adults.

Her own art practice explores our relationship with the more-than-human world. She makes paintings and prints where detail is a form of care. Her recent collection of paintings ‘Lessons from Lichen’ were made during a self-directed lichen residency in Epping Forest.

In June 2026 she curated ‘Symbioses: Living Together’, a group exhibition about interconnectedness in the natural world. The exhibition featured 42 artists whose practices span painting, print, textile, sculpture and film; and many of whom co-create artworks with non-human forces. Her curatorial practice is centred around building communities and engagement as well offering experiences and exhibitions.

The aim for Spore Collective is to build on this further, empowering artists and creatives to work flexibly in community and in collaboration with ecology and conservation research to deepen their practice and increase the engagement and impact of their work.

When is it taking place?

Application opens in Autumn 2026, and closes on 10th January 2027. It’s free to apply. The group size will be min 6 and max 12 people.

The programme starts in late January 2027 and runs for 16 weeks, not including school holidays, with the exhibition and events programme happening in June/July 2027 (exact dates tbc).

What does participation involve?

The experience includes:

• 12 weeks of curated stimuli on specific themes relating to art and ecology;
• 25 hrs of ‘held’/ in-person supportive group space;
• Guest talks from visiting artists and ecologists; 
• 2 hrs of 121 curatorial support from the curator in the run-up to the exhibition;
• A group show in a London gallery (Art Works East, E10 5SB) with an associated programme of events to support participation and engagement with the exhibition and its ideas;
• Retention of 70% of any sales made through the exhibition (30% commission)
• Documentation including photography and a printed catalogue of the exhibition and programme.

Participation is available on a sliding scale of investment:

• £250: Supported rate. For those on a low-income. There will be up to 3 spots available at this rate. 
• £450: Regular price.
• £700: Abundant/ Supporter rate: This rate helps support others (for whom cost would be a barrier) to access the programme

There will be an option to pay in instalments.

Pricing is designed to be much more accessible than a regular course - the average cost of a specialised, 4-month art and ecology course delivered through an institution typically ranges from £3,000 to £5,000; the average cost of facilitated peer learning journeys (eg. Huddlecraft) is £700-£1500.

Spore Collective is a unique professional development opportunity for artists that blends group learning both in person and online; invidual exploration in response to a range of interdisciplinary stimuli relating to art & ecology; mentoring and curatorial support; participation in a supportive creative community, and a public-facing exhibition and events programme to celebrate and share your work.

If you're curious about art and ecology, and want to develop your creative practice in collaboration with others, we'd love to hear from you.