@flygirlnhm.bsky.social Life finds a way at Science Beach artificial rockpool. Sandown Bay, Isle of Wight UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Snorkelling to the #ShooglyHolm underwater sea-life hotel! 🤿 ℹ️: tinyurl.com/3kzbrpjp 📷 by Karen Boswarva & Katy Firth (@creativescots.bsky.social, @jpopstudios.bsky.social & @artecology-iw.bsky.social )

Today @jpopstudios.bsky.social is working on the #ShooglyHolm mooring, inc. attaching community-made ceramics. Pop by to say hello before 3pm! Project partners: oisf.org, blidetrust.org.uk, aquatera.co.uk, emec.org.uk, @creativescots.bsky.social, @artecology-iw.bsky.social, kerrianneflett.com

The #ShooglyHolm mooring is ready, and Poppy the dog is very excited! Join us tomorrow, Sat 20 Sep at 9-10am to toast its launch with a wee dram, some Orcadian poetry and a few words by artist @jpopstudios.bsky.social. (@artecology-iw.bsky.social @creativescots.bsky.social)

Join us this Fri 10am-3pm at the Museum, to see @jpopstudios.bsky.social completing the #ShooglyHolm mooring construction, inc. attaching community-made ceramics. Project partners: oisf.org, blidetrust.org.uk, aquatera.co.uk, emec.org.uk, @creativescots.bsky.social & @artecology-iw.bsky.social.

Windy on Science Beach field study area today!!

First field test of an Artecology CoCreate Vertipool (artificial rock pool) made entirely with community engagement CoCreate methods. No special moulds, and widely available materials in this case Vicat Natural Cement based concrete and clay. Now we wait for the first tide to claim it as its own!!

The wonderful world of Artecology. Eco-engineering built different!!

A day of two halves, and a post of two halves 😂

🚨 Abstract submissions for Reef Conservation UK 2025 are now OPEN! 🚨 We’re inviting abstracts for: 📊 Presentations (12 minutes) ⚡ Speed Talks (5 minutes) 📜 Posters 🗓️ Deadline for submissions: 12th September 2025 🔗 lnkd.in/e3maGC3q 💙 Stay connected with us here or on LinkedIn shorturl.at/gfWW9

An exploration in chaotic heterogeneous bioreceptive surface detail. These never-repeating patterns may create micro-habitats that support multi-species ecological succession, helping to resist dominant monoculture biogenic colonisation… including non-native invasive species. Research is ongoing.

The #ShooglyHolm floating sculpture project with artist @jpopstudios.bsky.social features as a 'Peedie Tale' in this week's The Orcadian newspaper. Read all about it! 🗞️ Project partners are oisf.org, BlideTrust.org.uk, Aquatera.co.uk, @creativescots.bsky.social & @artecology-iw.bsky.social

We're busy with our drop-in morning. @jpopstudios.bsky.social is chatting about the #ShooglyHolm floating sculpture project & making underwater bug hotels with folk. Our Climate Change Exhibitions & Outreach Officer Katy Firth is talking about seaside wildlife.

Texture, pattern, & form, rugosity, heterogeneity, & structural complexity. Study after study, paper after paper, the science leaves no room for doubt about their importance in eco-engineering. What if it’s not an algorithm? What if the solution is in everyone’s hands! #artecologycocreate

Yep it’s true, we can count to ten unaided!! The tenth Bouldnor G-Type Vertipool blank is today completed for Shoreham Port Southwick Reef. Now we wait for City Arts Portsmouth to fire the magnificent ceramic bioreceptive inserts they made with children from Shoreham.

Turkey recorded its highest temperature on record on Friday with 50.5°C recorded in Silopi ⚠️📈 This exceeds the previous record of 49.5°C recorded on 15th August 2023 🌡️ This extreme heat is bringing serious health impacts and giving a very high risk of wildfires 🔥

Blyth East Pier: 72 Vertipools installed ✅ 36.3% more algae & seaweed ✅ 18 species identified including crabs, limpets & red algae Sunderland Marina: 18 Vertipools installed ✅ Up to 78.8% vegetation cover ✅ 10 species identified including bladder wrack, sea lettuce & shore crabs #NationalMarineWeek

Science Beach field study centre a pebble’s throw from our studio. Sandown Bay, Isle of Wight.

Look out for @jpopstudios.bsky.social this Stromness Shopping Week, who’s hoping to chat about climate change, sealife and her #ShooglyHolm floating sculpture. Project in partnership with Orkney It’l Science Fest., Aquatera, Blide Trust, @creativescots.bsky.social & @artecology-iw.bsky.social.

Tomorrow's a drop-in day, Sat 26 July 10am-12pm. Artist @jpopstudios.bsky.social will share citizen science, the #ShooglyHolm floating sculpture, her drawings, models & process. Project partners: Orkney It'l Science Fest, Blide Trust, Aquatera, @creativescots.bsky.social & @artecology-iw.bsky.social

Make ceramic pieces for the #ShooglyHolm sculpture mooring by @jpopstudios.bsky.social: 🕧 2-5pm today, Robert Rendall building, #StromnessShoppingWeek Renewables Revolution day. 🗓️ 10am-12pm Sat 26 July at our Drop In. Funded by @creativescots.bsky.social, technique from @artecology-iw.bsky.social

Here’s why we like to maintain a healthy degree of freedom at Artecology ………… #3dprinting #craft #ecoengineering #moulding #concreate #ceramics #ecoengineering #natureinclusivedesign #bng #greeningthegrey #wildlifehabitat #communityengagement

Eco-engineering made different! #isleofwight #natureinclusivedesign #commnity #ecoengineering #nature #rockpool #tidepool #unescobioshpere

Artecology is working on the crisis of biodiversity loss through the triple lens focus of people, place, and wildlife it’s unique Artecology CoCreate manufacturing process. Photos show cutting edge complex artificial rock pool habitats (Vertipools) made with school children.

The way we design & build our shared public spaces can no longer be “business as usual”. The climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and coastal squeeze demand new ways of thinking and doing. That’s why Artecology CoCreate is so powerful. This is democratic “Nature Inclusive Design”.

Check out our new synthesis of heterogeneity - diversity relationships. Context matters!

Bedtime on CoralPod island. As night begins to fall the resident fish head for their nighttime hiding places. Some inside the CoralPod structure itself, others amongst the network of living coral. An Artecology Coral Centre collab 3 years after it started.

Patterns + form = prebiotic design = probiotic architecture.

Pressing hands into soft concrete isn’t just shaping a tile it’s crafting an invitation. Each Refugia Tile bears its maker’s touch. Nature thrives in heterogeneity, where uneven becomes alive. Every tile is a handshake between human creativity and wild intention.

Sandown type Vertipools curing nicely!

Trialling “right-brain” community workshop activity designed to couple mindscape to landscape. By focusing on “micro” as individuals and “macro” through assembly and assemblage, we attempt to extend neural networks into ecological networks via pathways fashioned from craft and creativity.

Creating wildlife habitats in tough spots is pretty easy with Artecology! Steel and natural cement based concrete blend seamlessly to add complex, habitat-friendly structures to intertidal sheet piles. Photos show before and after a three-year test in the Medina Estuary.

Great to host IW National Landscapes, IW Estuaries Project, and University of Portsmouth Marine Sciences at Artecology HQ! Strengthening partnerships to enhance the Isle of Wight for people and wildlife. Exciting talks on academic opportunities and making Sandown Bay a leading field studies hub.

Join us over at Instagram for more of our art/science shenanigans in words and pictures….

Good morning from Artecology HQ! ☀️

Sunday studio time….we don’t usually work weekends, but there’s a lot on at the mo! Working hard or hardly working?….seems like the latter when you live, work and play in a place like this. The lines become somewhat blurred!!

Work-in-progress down in Hexagon Alley! Like a portal to a miniature magical world, fashioned by fingers for the sake of wild lives. A place where minds meet and creativity flows like the tides that will soon transport the “more-than-human” communities to this geometric safe space.

A new day in the bay……

When the UV lights dim over the CoralPod research aquarium, for a few minutes each evening you get to see the true colours of the corals that have colonised the surface of the hand-crafted structure.

A prototype an @artecology-iw.bsky.social Refugia Tile (formally known as a Refugia Panel). It doesn’t matter much what it’s called, let’s just say it’s a whatchamacallit intended to support lifecycle resources for the more-than-human world!

Tune in and chill! m.youtube.com/watch?v=6ARw...

Today Nige had the pleasure of speaking to students from University of Portsmouth School of Architecture at Network Ryde‘s incredible facility in Ryde, Isle of Wight. The session was all about exploring the groundbreaking work of Artecology. Photo credit: Network Ryde

My favorite @artecology-iw.bsky.social installation is the one commissioned by the Gov of Gib. This is special thanks to the amazing diversity of life that has colonised them. In 12 years of working with Vertipools, I’ve never seen anything like this! #MarineConservation #Biodiversity #Artecology”