{"id":13207,"title":"The Story Behind the Artwork","description":"We're thrilled to have collaborated with much loved artist Isla Middleton to come up with the iconic image to represent the Seed Gathering 2021, and now feature on this exclusive range of t-shirts. With a popular series of foraging posters and calendars, Isla's work had caught the attention of Gaia's Seed Sovereignty Team and we knew that her style would suit the Seed Gathering perfectly. Isla usually sources inspiration for her designs from plant forms, flowers and natural colours from her immediate surroundings, but we challenged her to create a design featuring three seeds which relate to particular stories connected to our Seed Sovereignty UK & Ireland Programme","content":"

We're thrilled to have collaborated with much loved artist Isla Middleton to come up with this iconic image to represent the Seed Gathering 2021, and feature on this exclusive range of t-shirts.<\/p>

With a popular series of foraging posters and calendars, Isla's work had caught the attention of Gaia's Seed Sovereignty Team and we knew that her earthy style would suit the Seed Gathering perfectly. Isla\u00a0usually sources\u00a0inspiration\u00a0for\u00a0her\u00a0designs\u00a0from\u00a0plant\u00a0forms,\u00a0flowers\u00a0and\u00a0natural colours\u00a0from\u00a0her\u00a0immediate\u00a0surroundings,\u00a0but we challenged her to create a design featuring three seeds in particular - oats, beans and chillies - as each relates to a particular story connected to our UK & Ireland Seed Sovereignty Programme<\/a>.<\/p>

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<\/p>

The delicate\u00a0oats framing the top left of the design\u00a0represent farmer Gerald Miles' search for the welsh black oats that his grandfather once grew\u00a0on his coastal farm in Pembrokeshire. Our short\u00a0film, Llafur Ni<\/a>\u00a0(Our Grains), shares his story.\u00a0A powerful tale of the interconnections of language, (agri)culture and seed. <\/p>

The elegant beans on the right\u00a0represent Professor Colin Leakey's life-long work on stable,\u00a0digestible beans<\/a>\u00a0in the UK. Some of these varieties are being preserved by his daughter, Tamsin, with support from our Northern England network.\u00a0<\/p>

And lastly, the chillies reflect the work of growers in the Southwest Seed Savers Network, who are collectively saving and cultivating many varieties of chillies and other crops.\u00a0<\/p>

Huge thanks to Isla for capturing these stories so beautifully in her work. Find out more about Isla Middleton by visiting her website www.islamiddleton.co.uk<\/a><\/p>","urlTitle":"the-story-behind-the-artwork","url":"\/blog\/the-story-behind-the-artwork\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/the-story-behind-the-artwork\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/thegaiafoundation.teemill.com\/blog\/the-story-behind-the-artwork\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1633980023,"updatedAt":1633981485,"publishedAt":1633981485,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":139496,"name":"The Gaia Foundation"},"tags":[],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/rdrheurqbe5fe72ydcdqoemuat0v1y0ujcq35nejffyidc3r.jpeg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/rdrheurqbe5fe72ydcdqoemuat0v1y0ujcq35nejffyidc3r.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/rdrheurqbe5fe72ydcdqoemuat0v1y0ujcq35nejffyidc3r.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"metaTitle":"Isla Middleton Seed Sovereignty design","metaDescription":"","keyPhraseCampaignId":null,"series":[],"similarReads":[{"id":13232,"title":"Introducing Gaia & the Seed Sovereignty Programme","url":"\/blog\/the-folk-behind-the-tee-gaia-the-seed-sovereignty-programme\/","urlTitle":"the-folk-behind-the-tee-gaia-the-seed-sovereignty-programme","division":139496,"description":"Registered UK charity The Gaia Foundation (Gaia) has been working at the nexus of climate resilience, seed diversity and indigenous knowledge for over three decades, both in the UK and overseas. Across Africa we support local and indigenous communities to revive their local seed diversity, by restoring confidence in their traditional knowledge and governance systems. We also use communications to raise the voices of traditional seed keepers and small-holder farmers and fisherfolk around the world, and in 2012 we released the documentary Seeds of Freedom, narrated by Jeremy Irons, to exposing the truth about the corporate takeover of seed","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/orqqaof3m2cmg3la9f8vlypoxvnfgp4ymrw4v044wyx89tmt.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/orqqaof3m2cmg3la9f8vlypoxvnfgp4ymrw4v044wyx89tmt.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":13205,"title":"The Seed Gathering - October 2021","url":"\/blog\/the-seed-gathering\/","urlTitle":"the-seed-gathering","division":139496,"description":"A collection of discussions, workshops and talks celebrating the diversity, opportunities and deep cultural connections of our seeds.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/do7qe5jmdbqkhnephgdnkfgum6h1yyncxgepecosrzgaa7se.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/do7qe5jmdbqkhnephgdnkfgum6h1yyncxgepecosrzgaa7se.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":13208,"title":"Ellis Bowdler from Vallis Veg talks to Gaia about her love of Seed Saving","url":"\/blog\/gaia-talks-to-ellis-bowdler\/","urlTitle":"gaia-talks-to-ellis-bowdler","division":139496,"description":"We're incredibly grateful to the team at Vallis Veg in Frome for turning their green fingered hands to modelling for the afternoon and donning the Seed Revolution Tee so wonderfully. Ellis Bowdler is fast becoming an incredibly skilled seed saver thanks to Gaia's Seed Sovereignty Programme trainings.\nWe took the chance to talk to Ellis about all things seed...","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/v1zjixe3ielzhz3wzex4evkksdzvg0r6jscdyn96pgkslq9l.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/v1zjixe3ielzhz3wzex4evkksdzvg0r6jscdyn96pgkslq9l.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0}],"labels":[]}