Nature, environment and the Arts
Join us to explore some of the many connections between the Arts, nature and the environment, through our short online and in-person courses.
Our wide-ranging Culture and Humanities programme spans from the Ice Age to today, and across different cultures.
You can explore ‘Art and Environment in Ice Age Europe’, learn about animals in Renaissance Art, or think about environment and politics in indigenous art today. You can consider how Romantic poetry finds new resonance through ‘ecocritical’ readings, or study genre-busting literary non-fiction about the connections between walking and writing in urban, rural and desert landscapes.
You can also complement your studies with courses from our Science and Nature programme, including courses on botany, trees, geology, the Amazon, and the science of climate change.
Explore our exciting programme below!
- 'Bowers of bliss'? Gardens and the poetic imagination
Course start date: Wed 4 Oct 2023Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sophie OxenhamThis online poetry course considers some of the many ways in which poets have written about gardens to explore a range of concerns, including sexuality and desire; corruption, decay, and mortality; retreat and consolation; growth and renewal; cultivation and wildness; and changing perspectives on the relationship between humans and nature.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £179.00 - Introduction to geology Course start date: Sun 15 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Charles ClarkeGeology, the study of solid Earth, rocks and the processes by which they change, is a vast subject covering billions of years of history and offering insights into areas such as past climates and the history of life. Discover more about the underlying principles of this important science such as plate tectonics, how rocks are made and the evolution of life. - Being ecological: cultivating environmental consciousness in cultures of climate crisisCourse start date: Mon 30 Oct 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Katie GossThis course will introduce students to exciting initiatives in twenty-first century cultural discourse that attempt to reconceptualise what an ecological consciousness might be or feel like. Drawing on theoretical and literary texts, films, performance art, and political activism, we will explore radical ways of rethinking and reinhabiting our relations with more-than-human worlds, and how they open new possibilities for living on a damaged planet.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £149.00 Concession £97.00 - Apocalypse LondonCourse start date: Fri 3 Nov 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarah WiseExplore representations of London in works of dystopian/science fiction, written between the 1890s and the 1970s. Authors will include HG Wells, John Wyndham, George Orwell and Nigel Kneale.Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £97.00 - Art and environment in Ice Age Europe Course start date: Thu 25 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Simone ChisenaDiscover the artistic treasures of our most remote past, when our ancestors in the Ice Age created beautiful cave paintings and astounding sculpted works.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £119.00 - Geology and LondonCourse start date: Sun 4 Feb 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Charles ClarkeExplore how the geology below greater London has shaped its landscapes, infrastructure and built environment, making it such a fascinating and visually diverse city; look at stone types and their effects on the buildings around us. - Representing nature in early modern Europe Course start date: Fri 23 Feb 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Thomas BalfeExplore the links between the visual image and ideas of nature in early modernity (c.1500-1750). At this time, tools like the microscope were visualising nature in new ways, changes were afoot in how humans related to animals, and the environments of Asia and the Americas were becoming more familiar to Europeans. We will focus on how artists and skilled artisans engaged with these subjects.Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00 - Women writing and walking: Virginia Woolf, Nan Shepherd, Rebecca Solnit Course start date: Wed 24 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sophie OxenhamThis online course considers the relationship between walking and writing in three innovative works of literary non-fiction: Virginia Woolf’s essay ‘Street Haunting’ (1927), Nan Shepherd’s ‘The Living Mountain’ (written c. 1945, first pub. 1977), and Rebecca Solnit’s ‘A Field Guide to Getting Lost’ (2006).
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - The geology beneath British landscapesCourse start date: Sun 19 May 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Charles ClarkeBritain encompasses a fascinating variety of beautiful landscapes, from the lakes and hills of the north-west to the flatlands of East Anglia. This course gives you a practical introduction to the unique geology beneath these areas, covering main rock types and geological periods. - The Norwich School - a unique society of landscape painters Course start date: Fri 7 Jun 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresOn this course you will study the fascinating work of the 19th century Norwich School, a loose association of generations of painters from artistic families who worked in Norwich, Norfolk, one of the most important and wealthy regional capitals of the day. You will explore the beautiful landscapes produced by these artists and also discover work produced by remarkable women in the group.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Art and critical theory: rethinking 'nature'Course start date: Wed 26 Jun 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Irina ChkhaidzeExplore the role of critical theory within the field of art history, and learn new ways of thinking about art by focusing on how recent authors have been rethinking our understanding of nature.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £64.00 - Walking London's heaths and commons Course start date: Fri 15 Sep 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Brenna BoyleExplore the wildlife, habitats and history of London’s heaths and commons during this relaxed walking programme. First session at City Lit followed by three guided walks. - Autumn bird walks
Course start date: Mon 16 Oct 2023Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Brenna BoyleEnjoy fresh air and autumn scenery on this relaxed course spotting and identifying London’s birdlife. Learn about bird natural history and improve your wildlife watching skills. First session at City Lit followed by three guided fieldtrips in different London locations.Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £64.00
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