Declan Leslie: Weather Show

Weather Show exhibited a year-long Camden Art Centre project by ActionSpace artist Declan Leslie

This was in collaboration with artists Lucie Macgregor and Tom James, working with pupils from Swiss Cottage School and The Village School.

Weather Show invited visitors into a sensory exploration of the natural world through the lenses of sun, wind, earth, and rain. The exhibition showcased the innovative results of a collaborative project where the process of making was celebrated over the end product. The artists worked with experimental mediums, ranging from performance, upcycling, and kinetic sculpture, to respond to the unpredictable forces of nature.

Central to the exhibition was an interactive display featuring a DIY rain machine, handcrafted clay pots, and illuminated sun sculptures, each created through an iterative and exploratory process that embraced spontaneity and discovery. The work in the exhibition not only spoke to the power of natural elements but also invited visitors to reflect on our place within the broader meteorological systems that shape our world.

Weather Show encouraged visitors to ask, “What is going on with this weather?” and explore the unpredictable relationship between humans and nature.

Accompanying the Weather Show, peers and colleagues from across the gallery, education, and access worlds were invited for a exhibition tour and discussion. The event focused on some of the approaches and learnings from the programme led by the artists. Participants had time to reflect and discuss some of the challenges and possibilities within gallery and museum learning, schools programmes, SEND and more.

Recognising the relative scarcity of spaces for peer discussion within gallery & museum learning, this was an opportunity to share resources, methodologies and contacts with industry colleagues. This event was kindly supported by the A. C. & E. Foundation.

Weather Show, 2025. Image courtesy of Camden Art Centre.

About the SEN Schools Programme

The SEN Schools Programme was a long-term collaboration between ActionSpace and Camden Art Centre, designed to create meaningful employment opportunities for ActionSpace artists while delivering inclusive, high-quality creative experiences for students with special educational needs (SEN).

In its third and final year, this iteration of the programme was co-led by ActionSpace artist Declan Leslie, alongside artists Lucie Macgregor and Tom James to design and deliver workshops tailored to the diverse needs and talents of the students. Over the course of the programme, the students developed a wide range of skills, expressed their creativity, and contributed to a body of work that is presented in the exhibition as a celebration of their individual journeys.

“Working with Declan for three years at Camden Art Centre as one of three artist leads working with local SEND schools was a joy. His sense of humour and spirit of mischeivous creativity shaped the programme and taught us a lot about we can allow space for freedom and play within our programme.

Through the workshops we saw Declan develop his facilitation skills and share his love for ceramics, painting and drawing with the pupils, supporting them to engage with unfamiliar materials and processes. Declan has a unique approach to making art and his enthusiasm is contagious, we look forward to seeing the next steps in his creative journey!”
– George Collum, Learning Curator at Camden Art Centre.

This exhibition marked a milestone in the ongoing collaboration, showcasing the culmination of Declan Leslie’s final year in the programme and celebrating the creative achievements of all the participants.

About the artists

Declan Leslie creates inventive fluid drawings in which he explores various themes. Working from ActionSpace Cockpit, he likes to research a subject matter and really work through all the variations he can get from it. Declan’s work is often populated with macabre figures and scenarios, including horror and grotesqueries with a twist of humour. He creates works with various drawing mediums and as part of his art practice he explores these mediums, pushing them as far as he can go once he has exhausted their possibilities he likes to begin experimenting with a new medium. Within his material experimentations he often creates his own unique techniques.

Tom James is an artist and writer, based in London. He creates participatory projects where people can learn new skills, imagine new ways of living, and actually get their hands dirty to give them a try. His work spans live, durational installations, participative workshops, and self-published fanzines.

Lucie Macgregor is a multidisciplinary artist based in London. Moving between various materials and narratives, she navigates social meeting as a way to reconnect people and place. Translating mark making, writing and drawing through sculpture, she invites others to re-map space with her as an act of reclaiming personal geographies through collective gesture. Curious to push and play with the ‘boundaries’ which separate different methodologies of making, the artist considers surface as something permeable and reforming.