In 2020 Chrysalis Arts began to evolve a new programme of Slow Art called Five Hectares. The programme was designed to explore ways of engaging deeply with nature, climate, place and sustainability over an extended period. As part of Five Hectares, we ran a pilot project during 2021 and 2022 which aimed to help people enjoy greater connections with the natural world as we emerged from lockdown.
Through this process, we developed the idea of creating an Environmental Atlas of the area. We invited people to contribute their own artworks and reflections on the aspects of place that matter to them and also to take part in a range of workshops, walks and conversations. The Atlas incorporates poetry, photography, maps, textiles, painting and drawing created by local people, with additional individual contributions from the three artists, and has been beautifully brought together and bound by Alice Fox. It focuses on the area within the river catchment which includes Gargrave, Malhamdale and parts of Wharfedale, and encompasses some of the themes which we explored as a group as well as drawing upon our visits to Malham Tarn, Hill Top Farm, Malham, Littondale and North Yorkshire County Record Office.
Turn the pages of our digital Atlas to view the artworks that are in our Five Hectares Environmental Atlas. By clicking on an artwork you’ll have the opportunity to explore some of them further.
Learn more about Five Hectares on our project page.
I look forward each spring to the moment the first leaves on the hedges in the lanes around Hetton and Winterburn burst forth with that fine veil of green.
Do you see?
There are titans in the water
Fluid sinuous strength
In undulating rhythm
Great limbs bound by the dark course
Coupling the above with below
A charge from the ether
To the abode of ancient deities
Reach and connect
Through air, water, psyche,
You are mighty
As these titans
Reawaken the synergy
Let it flow and blend
Into the collective
And at twilight the distant glow
Animates a mercurial surface
Where the titans sleep.
Wendy Milner
The photograph was taken very early in the morning when the light was just so mellow, by taking it into the sun (against all the rules) i was able to get that yellowed light on the frosty pine branch without any need for filters or touching up. I like to get the image as it naturally occurs instead of changing it later on a computer. It was taken on low green Gargrave and it just looks peaceful and fresh and I walk there every day and there is always something different to see if your thinking through your lens.
I walk there every day and there is always something different to see if you’re thinking through your lens.
Wind water and time
the processes that connect interdependence
Old Middle House November 2017
Three yows on’t banking edge
Watch over Old Middle House,
Walled around with mossy stone
It’s few buildings gathered in
And drifted up with early snow,
A quiet winter starts
And a quiet spring will follow.
Robin Hargreaves MRCVS
Formerly of Hanlith.
In 2020/21 Chrysalis Arts began to evolve a major new programme of development work involving an ambitious programme of Slow Art called Five Hectares. The aim of the project is to offer artists and audiences ways of engaging deeply with nature, climate, place and sustainability over an extended period.
As an important part of this process, we have invited people to collaborate with us to create a unique Atlas. The Atlas aims to offer different perspectives on how we perceive our environment and explore the aspects of place that matter to us and those we share it with. It is focused on an area within the river catchment which includes Gargrave, Malhamdale and parts of Wharfedale. This includes the parishes of Gargrave, Kirkby Malham, Burnsall and Grassington. Much of the work in this Atlas was created through a programme of creative workshops, walks and other activities designed for different groups and ages.
The physical Atlas will be exhibited in local libraries later this year. You can find details about that here.(link to FH Page, where we’ll put that info)
Scroll through to tour the Atlas, by clicking on an artwork you’ll have the opportunity to explore that artwork further.
I look forward each spring tothe moment the first leaves on the hedges in the lanes around Hetton and Winterburn burst forth with that fine veil of green.
Do you see?
There are titans in the waterFluid sinuous strength
In undulating rhythm
Great limbs bound by the dark course
Coupling the above with below
A charge from the ether
To the abode of ancient deities
Reach and connect
Through air, water, psyche,
You are mighty
As these titans
Reawaken the synergy
Let it flow and blend
Into the collective
And at twilight the distant glow
Animates a mercurial surface
Where the titans sleep.
Wendy Milner
I walk there every day and there is always something different to see if you’re thinking through your lens.
TBC
Wind water and time
the processes that connect interdependence
Old Middle House November 2017
Three yows on’t banking edge
Watch over Old Middle House,
Walled around with mossy stone
It’s few buildings gathered in
And drifted up with early snow,
A quiet winter starts
And a quiet spring will follow.
Robin Hargreaves.
Formerly of Hanlith.
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