Bio
Lou Turnbull is a City & Guilds trained multi-disciplinary artist with a background in Earth Science. Her practice in natural colour, textiles, wild art and craft move in cyclical, intuitive and reciprocal approaches with nature. She uses foraged, found and home grown plants and materials to make art with dyes, inks, pigments, cloth, stitch, weave and papers. These inspire symbolic pieces that express her devotion to Earth, creating repair with our lost relationship with the land. This supports her mental and emotional wellbeing in an ever-changing world.
Lou is passionate about sharing her practice with others which centres around biophilia and a Forest School approach to learning in which she is qualified to teach. The environmental crisis drives her to work sustainably and regeneratively where possible, as part of a global collective of growing awareness and creative solutions. Lou's approach is holistic, slow, embodied and sensory which creates gratitude, awareness and relationship with our more than human world. Her work has shifted how she experiences life which has gifted empowerment, agency and self-sufficiency.
Curriculum Vitae
Qualifications
2025 : FSA Level 3 Forest School Leader
2024: Level 3 ICT Outdoor First Aid
2024: Women's Circle Leader Training, Rebecca Havery
2023: Year One Level 4 FdA Textiles, Bradford College of Art (Distinction)
2022: Level 3 City & Guilds in Design & Craft (Embroidery)
1998: MSc Earth Observation Science, UCL & Imperial College London
1996: BSc (Hons) Environmental Geology, University of Hertfordshire (First Class)
Facilitation & Community
2025: Community lead on natural dye garden, Knaresborough Forest Park, North Yorkshire
2025 - : Natural Colour Workshops at Hopewell Studios, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire
2025 - : Craft Facilitator at The Acorn Retreat, North Yorkshire
2025 - : Women’s Group Creative Facilitator, Wildways, North Yorkshire
2024 : Outdoor Facilitator - Woodland Wellness for Women - Earth festival and wild craft gatherings
2024 - : Crimple Valley Steering Group - Protecting our local landscape and new strategies
2020 - 2023: Artizan International, creative volunteer and facilitator
2007 - 2019: Community volunteer, fundraising co-ordinator, playgroup craft leader
Educational Courses
2026: Seed to Dye to Seed with the Natural Dyer’s & Growers Academy. 9 months online.
2026 - : Printing & Painting on Textiles for Artists with Plants & Colour. Study Group with natural colour artist Jacqui Simmons. 12 months online
July 2025: Eco-printing, Feutre Formation France, with Elisabeth Culshaw, 10 days in person
Jan 2025: Screen printing with natural dyes, Ceres Studio London, 2 days in person
2024 - 2025: Natural Colour Making for Artists with Plants & Colour. Study group with Earth Pigment artist Annie Hogg, 12 months online
2024: Growing Slow Textiles: A journey from seed to cloth with heritage plants flax and woad, The Wild Dyery, 9 months online
July 2024: New Relationships with Colour, Lucila Kenny natural dye artist, 1 month online
March 2024: Natural dyeing deep dive, Jaqui Simmons, Slow Lane Studio, 2 days in person
2023 - : Ongoing Plants & Colour workshops and talks in natural dyeing on textiles & paper, growing dye plants, eco-printing, botanical inks, pigments & charcoals, nettle fibre & pre-historic textiles.
Employment History
2019 - Present: Natural colour & materials artist, educator, creative and outdoor facilitator
2014 - 2017: The Harrogate Seamstress, bespoke soft furnishings
2001 - 2005: Senior Consultant, Mouchel. Geographical Information Systems, mapping, 3D and environmental analysis.
2001: Earth Observation Technician, Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick. Flood mapping and environmental image processing.
1996 - 1997: Technical Sales Executive. Environmental Systems Research Institute.
Memberships
2025 - : Natural Dyers and Growers Academy
2025 - : Land Art Agency
2024 - : The York Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers
2023 - : The Resurgence Trust
2019 - 2025 : Harrogate Creative Stitchers