Contact: M 0431510710. Email: shirv@bigpond.com

Drawn to Nature Workshops

My practice has been shaped and enriched through a wide range of artist residencies and teaching engagements across Australia. I have held multiple NSW Department of Education Bush Studio residencies at the Gibberagong Environmental Education Centre (2023 - 2025), alongside earlier residencies and teaching roles with institutions such as Sturt Winter School, West Darling Arts’ Outback Residency, the EDGE Greenway program, and repeated appointments at Pymble Ladies’ College, the Arthur Boyd Studio at Bundanon, Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Croydon, Trinity College, and Epping Boys High. These residencies have run in parallel with an extensive teaching and workshop practice that continues to evolve. My workshops—spanning Drawn to Nature programs for Mosman, North Sydney, Lane Cove, Liverpool and Penrith councils, as well as drawing, illustration and abstraction workshops at Macquarie University Art Gallery—reflect my commitment to connecting people with the natural environment through observational drawing, nature journalling, and creative enquiry. Since the late 1990s I have delivered programs for schools, councils, universities, arts centres and environmental organisations, including long-standing roles with the Workshop Arts Centre Willoughby, UNSW’s Career Discovery Mentoring Program, Centennial Parklands, and numerous regional initiatives. Collectively, these residencies and workshops form a sustained body of educational and creative engagement that supports my ongoing dedication to drawing, nature literacy, and the unseen stories within our landscapes.

Thanks so much for doing the 2 Drawn to Nature workshops. They were a great success, and the feedback was very positive. It would be great to do it again perhaps on an annual basis. 

Benjamin Wyllie
Bushland Management Officer
Mosman Municipal Council

Thanks so much for everything last week, the team had a great time and I definitely think it achieved what I wanted it to.   Chris Moore General Manager / Principal Ecologist Narla Environmental Pty Ltd

We loved having you join us for an event so much this year that we’d like to book you for another in 2025.

Would you like to be involved in the following and lead us in this activity?

Nature Journalling Jess Whittick Bushcare Program Officer
Penrith City Council

Thanks so much, was such a great workshop and I think the community really enjoyed it! I really felt the relaxation myself.

Jessica Styan Environmental Education Officer The Hills Shire Council