In Summer 2025, Chiswick House & Gardens Trust collaborated with artist Ayesha Weekes on the Shaping Spaces project, designed to engage our Hounslow community in our vision for a new outdoor learning space.
Through a series of hands-on creative workshops, drop-in sessions and open conversations, we’ve been reimagining how this planned space, part of our Community and Creative Campus, will connect people to nature, history, learning, and one another.
And on August 30th, our free Artist Studios Open Day and Community Celebration will invite further engagement, with creative workshops, art activities for all ages and a collaborative clay garden.
Throughout June and July, a series of workshops, led by Ayesha, were held with local primary schools and with local community group Deaf Women Ealing.
In addition, a Community Consultation Day for members of the pubic, held on July 6th, invited visitors to contribute their own thoughts and hopes, through mediums including clay sculpture, drawing, collage and letter-writing.
What we learned
Encouraging participants to think about ideas surrounding access, inclusion and shared experiences, as well as the importance of sustainability and conservation, led to some valuable insights.
We learned that members of our community would like to see a calm, communal, intergenerational space, designed to inspire curiosity and connection, and crafted in a way that works with nature, providing valuable habitats for bees, butterflies and other animals.
Our workshops with Deaf Women Ealing also provided important feedback about how a new space could reflect shared cultural and historical identities, via murals, mosaics, sculptures and bunting and community-driven art.
Speaking about the workshop with Deaf Women Ealing, Ayesha said:
It was such a pleasure to learn from this brilliant group. They shared thoughtful insights on access and inclusion, along with creative, inspiring suggestions that will help shape the future of our new outdoor learning space.
Their energy, ideas, and generosity brought so much to the conversation — we left feeling truly inspired and excited for what’s possible.
Get involved: Digital Padlet and Community Celebration event
Workshop participants, Chiswick House visitors and interested local residents have been encouraged to get involved online, sharing memories, ideas, images, and drawings via an interactive digital Padlet Board.
And on August 30th, our Artist Studios Open Day and Community Celebration will invite further engagement, with visitors encouraged to again get involved in creative activities to share their vision for the new spaces.
Ayesha Weekes
Born in West London, Ayesha Weekes is a multidisciplinary artist specialising in ceramics, and an experienced art educator and advisor. Drawing on her West African heritage, her practice is rooted in community engagement and intuitive art-making. Since 2021, she has worked with Chiswick House & Gardens Trust on its ongoing Black Chiswick through History programme, and in 2024 she led the design and creation of its much-loved Kitchen Garden long table.
