Packed Lunch

Meet Emma Donaldson.

Emma is a self-taught textural abstract artist, life model and surrealist playwright who writes in Spanish (deliberately unintelligible to everyone, including Spanish speakers).

Her paintings are conversations between colour, form and restlessness. They've travelled from Leicestershire to Sheffield and all the way to Boston, USA. And now, they're in South London.

This is what we're about at Packed Lunch Productions: creating platforms for emerging makers, creatives, artists - visual storytellers, really - to reach new audiences and grow their practice.

Come see Emma's latest show, 'Trails of Colour Dissolve' West Norwood Library & Picturehouse . It's free. It's impactful. It's live until 19 September.

Sales proceeds go towards supporting the artist’s growth and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.

https://www.packedlunch.org/exhibitions

We're so happy to share this news!

We've just secured grant funding from Grocers' Hall Charity to launch Animating from Care – a bespoke fine-art animation learning programme for young people who've lived through the care system.

For care-experienced young people, the stories of life can be particularly intense and complex. Often, those stories go untold – and that carries real weight. Storytelling through moving-image making offers something powerful: a creative outlet for self-expression, a way to counter stigmas and a platform to be heard.

Through charcoal animation workshops, participants (ages 14–25) will:

- Develop creative communication skills and artistic confidence
- Build technical proficiency in animation and filmmaking
- Strengthen their wellbeing through self-expression and peer connection
- Create moving-image work that celebrates their voice and experiences

The asks:

We're looking for delivery partners – care and education providers, local authorities, adoption and foster agencies, charities working with care-experienced young people – to help us identify and support participants for our 3-day course in London (October 2026).

Also, f you work with care-experienced young people in other parts of the UK and would like to explore bringing this experience directly to your services, we'd love to hear from you. This is a truly mobile initiative designed to be delivered wherever is convenient for participants and service partners.

📧 Contact us: [email protected] |
🌐 Learn more: www.packedlunch.org/animating-from-care

With huge thanks to for making this possible.

for - Architecture of the Body

On 9th June, participants at WW+P Architects - formerly Weston Williamson and Partners - discovered how understandings of shape and proportion of the human form transforms architectural thinking. Our latest life drawing workshop with the firm focused on hands and feet, engaging participants with fresh technical ways of tackling these foundations of the body.

"A wonderful life drawing session."
"Nice to get different approaches to drawing."
– Participants

A massive thanks to tutor .thirlaway.7 and model for delivering such an impactful workshop to the WW+P team. From sketches to spatial awareness, this session bridged creative practice and professional craft.

This experience is part of our Workplace Skills Development strand, helping creative professionals and teams strengthen observational skills that deepen their practice and expand their creative communication language.

To learn more about our team engagement workshops visit https://www.packedlunch.org/teams

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pop us a DM anytime.



Nurturing Learning and Growth through Creation

Scaling Up and Reaching Out

Newsletter - June 2026

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West Norwood Library & Picturehouse