Like so many summer events, the annual Nidd Art Trail  has become a virtual happening, with over 50 artists and craftspeople from Nidderdale and the surrounding area being represented, with links to their other online platforms and selling outlets, some of which are now open again. 

A group exhibition exploring the concept of ‘verge’. This could mean looking into the edges of physical spaces, existing on the periphery of society, being on the verge of a psychological breakthrough or transitioning between different states of emotion. Within this group of experienced practitioners, creative responses encompass a range of media to present a rich and diverse body of work which holds a lens to the various verges we encounter through life.

Featured artists

Jane Carlisle Bellerby - silk & mixed media, Gill Kirk - textile art/printmaking 

Anna Lilleengen - photography, Fiona Mazza - ceramics 

Frances Payne - fine art, Sandra Storey - fine art/printmaking , Nicola Turner - fine art/mixed media 

Young Artist Workshop: The Lost Words

Inspired by...gallery, Danby

I'm delighted to be leading these workshops in conjunction with The Lost Words exhibition for children age 7 years and over. Come be inspired by Jackie Morris's award-winning illustrations and Robert Macfarlane's evocative spell poems and work with natural resources, silk and gold leaf to create your own joyful nature art!

Earlier this Spring I received a commission from the Upper Nidderdale Landscape Partnership and Nidderdale Visual Arts, organisations concerned with cultural heritage conservation and arts access in the dale, to work with a group of KS2 children from Hampsthwaite CE Primary School. The project was inspired by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’s ‘The Lost Words’, a book written as a reaction to news that nature words are disappearing from children’s dictionaries to be replaced by words relating to technology and the virtual world. 

The Lost Words of Nidderdale project involved taking the children to Fishpond Wood in Bewerley, encouraging them to pay attention to and make creative responses about the nature they came into contact there. Subsequent workshops resulted in the creation of silk & mixed media artwork and associated poems. Throughout the process we have been fortunate enough to have had responses from Robert Macfarlane via twitter, which he has been kind enough to allow me to include in a booklet I have put together for the project. 

The Lost Words of Nidderdale exhibition is at number 6 studio gallery - preview Saturday 16th June 6:30-9pm, Sunday 17th 12-5pm, Monday 18th-Wednesday 19th 10-5pm.