In a vibrant collaboration between artist Chris Jones and young people across Bolton, a fantastical forest installation has taken root built from cardboard, layered collage and multimedia imagination.

 

Known for his intricate sculptural assemblages that repurpose found imagery into surreal, often architectural forms, Jones guided participants through the creation of large-scale cardboard tree constructions, each layered with richly textured ecological collage work. Within these imaginative trees, young artists crafted tree hollows housing surreal multimedia dioramas, miniature dreamlike worlds that reflect both the beauty and fragility of forest ecosystems.

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The project brought together Bolton College students, weekend participants from Creatives Now, and young creatives from across the town. In a special visit, students from PINC College Bolton explored the installation-in-progress as a source of inspiration for their own woodland-themed project, currently taking shape in their studio at the Bolton Museum & Library basement. Their visit sparked ideas that are now being transformed into an immersive forest space of their own.

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The installation is set to travel to the Forest of Imagination festivities in Bath, where it will be exhibited as part of a broader celebration of nature, creativity and education. Following its time in the South West, the project will return North for a Manchester-based exhibition featuring new contributions from PINC students across the northern college network.

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This collaborative artwork continues Chris Jones’s practice of reshaping cultural fragments into uncanny new narratives, this time bringing young people’s visions of forest life into vivid, sculptural form.