The Book
We have produced a beautiful colour coffee table book, 120 pages of artwork and poetry. It will be on sale for £15 at the exhibition, 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 Exhibition
Unearthing Dartmoor represents the creative collaboration of local poets and artists working together on Dartmoor over two years starting in spring 2020.
A large and varied body of artwork, poetry, prints and photographs chronicling and reflecting different dimensions of Dartmoor, this treasure trove of creativity will be on public exhibition from Saturday 1 July to 29 September 2023 at the Dartmoor National Park Authority’s Visitor Centre at Princetown. Entrance is free and offers enjoyment and inspiration to both Dartmoor’s locals and its many visitors.
We appreciate generous grant support from both the Duchy of Cornwall and Moor Poets, and thank the Dartmoor National Park Authority for our exhibition venue.
Moor Poets and Contemporary Markmakers Unearthing Dartmoor
Over two years we have laughed and picnicked together, been drenched by relentless rain and enjoyed many warm sunny days. We have 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 have traced Bronze Age reave field systems on Holne Moor that demarcate some of the earliest enclosures of farmland in Europe; we have sat within the ruins of a 13th century farming village at the Hut Holes; we have heard about the challenges of traditional upland farming and the rewards of meadow rewilding; and we have watched many moorland birds leaving and returning.
The book shares our journey with you.
Contemporary Markmakers
Contemporary Markmakers is a group of artists who have been meeting weekly at the Mansion House in Totnes for a very long time.
A wonderful collection of very different artists, we share a common passion for making marks.
Led throughout lockdown by Anne Pirie, who kept us together, we supported each other through very difficult times, our art triumphant where it could easily have faded. We are knitted together now, a network, still for art but fundamentally looking out for each other and jointly stretching forward. And well done Anne, who got us all zooming several weeks before the government found it and introduced the virtual press conference and virtual parliament.
We started 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 latest venture Unearthing Dartmoor, is a joint venture with the Moor Poets. Not the first time we have worked together, and not the last.