Fascinated by the industrious green worlds that exist all over Auckland, artist Jean Stewart started visiting market, community and private gardens to capture people at work growing food.

One garden network connected her to another until she had developed a series of en plein air paintings of working gardens, all over Auckland. Struck by the passion of these communities, Jean contacted like-minded garden folk Emily Harris from Urban Pantry and Sue from Art at Work and together they set up Growing the Future; a fun, artistic exploration and celebration of our food growing communities dotted around Auckland. Over April 17-27, the Silo will become a source of inspiration for those interested in gardens and growing food. During the day, wander amongst Jean Stewart’s large-scale painting series Workers in Dirt, catch a screening of acclaimed documentary Gardening with Soul, attend art workshops, contribute to the growing art installation (children welcome and encouraged) and visit the stalls and seed trading tables. One of the silos will also house a display garden by Urban Pantry and Unitec landscape design students, to offer inspiration and ideas on how to grow edibles in small spaces, such as balconies. See the schedule for dates and start times of the workshops and screenings. https://www.facebook.com/growingthefutureak

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