We have produced two Unearthing Books
Unearthing Templer Way is a coffee table book of 164 pages of artwork and poetry. It is on sale for £15 and is available by mail order for £20 (includes packing and UK delivery) by ordering from Jane Ellis tel: 07818 454375 janehellis@gmail.com. Please contact Jane to find out the postage if you want to order multiple copies.
Unearthing Dartmoor is a coffee table book of 120 pages of artwork and poetry. It is on sale for £15 and is available by mail order for £20 (includes packing and UK delivery) by ordering from Jane Ellis tel: 07818 454375 janehellis@gmail.com. Please contact Jane to find out the postage if you want to order multiple copies.
Audio visuals and poetry readings
These can be arranged for bookshops and book clubs. Please ask.
Our Exhibitions
Unearthing Templer Way is the latest collaboration of markmakers and poets, known as Teign Contemporary. We have researched and walked the Templer Way, sketched, written, collaborated, workshopped, exhibited and performed our work. We have learned together, bringing new ideas to the group and experimenting collectively.
Inspired by the Templer Way itself we have dug deep into the landscape, its history and its people, unearthing the project and stapling our findings onto paper and canvas, both marks and words. We have laughed and picnicked together, been drenched by relentless rain and enjoyed many warm sunny days. We have witnessed something special. Old lives and legends made new in our artistic imaginations, cross pollinated between wordsmiths and markmakers. We have traced the route from Dartmoor to Teignmouth, from Moor to Sea, and have embedded ourselves in granite stone, quarries, handcarved granite railroad, old tired canalways, claypits, birds, fungi, ancient rowan trees, woodland, estuary and quay.
Unearthing Dartmoor represents the creative collaboration of local poets and artists working together on Dartmoor over two years starting in spring 2020. This also is an ongoing and evolving project, with much work yet unexhibited and unseen, many word strings unprinted and unheard. More exhibitions continue to take this evolving project on tour. Watch this space.
A large and varied body of artwork, poetry, prints and photographs chronicling and reflecting different dimensions of Dartmoor, this treasure trove of creativity was first on exhibition at the Dartmoor National Park Authority’s Visitor Centre at Princetown in 2023. Please get in touch with Avenda Burnell Wash on 07954 682062 if you would like to discuss a new exhibition or pop up poetry sessions. Two of our Contemporary Markmakers, Avenda and Rachael Bennett, are directors on the board of Devon Artists, giving us access to around 550 creatives across all areas of Devon. We welcome any discussions which can further the love of art in this rich vein of creativity that is perfectly placed on the southwest coast of the UK. We have rocks and sea, and wind and sun, and history back to the dawn of time. Devon inspires.
Moor Poets and Contemporary Markmakers Unearthing Dartmoor
Over two years we explored and unearthed Dartmoor. We witnessed the birth of a foal, heard countless cuckoos, met wild campers, stood silently among ancient stones, granite circles and burial cairns, walked the lengths of double and triple stone rows and followed mediaeval leats (human-hewn water courses running along land contours).
We traced Bronze Age reave field systems on Holne Moor that demarcate some of the earliest enclosures of farmland in Europe; we sat within the ruins of a 13th century farming village at the Hut Holes; we heard about the challenges of traditional upland farming and the rewards of meadow rewilding; and we watched many moorland birds leaving and returning.
The book shares our journey with you.
Contemporary Markmakers
We refused to be separated by Covid 19. We looked for, and found, zoom several weeks before the government briefings press office and, despite a few tears, got up to tech speed in no time. We started our remote togetherness by continuing the format we followed when we met physically, except we concentrated on our smaller domestic, inner worlds … drawing in our gardens as darkness fell, or making quick sketches as the kettle boiled. These previously ignored inspirations quickly spiralled into intensely personal and absorbing projects which we allowed to fly, and in that process our relationships as a group changed profoundly, and deepened as time went on.
Our group has been, and continues to be, an important lifeline to us all, both artistically and emotionally. For many of us it has meant change and integration of our individual creative practice, and has brought strength, stimulation and hope for the future.
Our venture Unearthing Dartmoor, is a joint venture with the Moor Poets.