SILT is a visual arts research studio dedicated to sustainable creativity. We focus on image-making using ecologically aware materials and methods, contributing innovative approaches to art, sustainability and community building. Our studio features an eco darkroom for analogue photographic processes and facilities for ink-making and textile dyeing. Through education sessions and an evolving exhibition program, we explore the intersection of art, ecology, and critical theory.
We provide hands-on workshops and courses such as Botanical Inks and dyes, Eco Analogue Photography, Drawing, Painting and Printing. For 2025/26 we are running programme of free art sessions for young people on Saturday mornings thanks to funding from the Arts Council. Alongside educational opportunities, we stock artworks, textiles, prints, publications and eco-friendly art materials which support sustainable art practices.
Organisations that we've worked with recently include Trowbridge Council, Folkhouse Bristol, Trowbridge Future Youth, Lacock National Trust, Arts Hub East Harp Tree, Weymouth College, Teen Trowbridge, Barefoot Bindery, On Paper Festival, Pressing Matter Magazine, Little Cinema Bath, the Museum of Bath at Work and MA in Art and Ecology at Goldsmiths, London.
We have received two public grants from Wiltshire Council, and our Colour and Light Saturday Session programme is funded by a grant from the Arts Council, England.
SILT was founded by visual artists Alison Ballance and Anna Chrystal Stephens in 2023. With extensive experience in studio practice, socially engaged art, workshop facilitation and curation, they draw on their own research to encourage exploration and learning. Their work has been featured in leading galleries and arts organisations, and they bring their experience from working with communities, education, and running creative spaces.
