Natural light
  • News and Blog

The Lost Words exhibition opens

21/10/2017

0 Comments

 

From Compton Verney to Countryfile, we're all celebrating #naturewords

Picture
The former mansion house and grounds at Compton Verney, Warwickshire is the place to go for a quick lesson in how to lay on an art exhibition.  Critic Waldemar Januszczak described this summer’s Op Art project as “a dazzling exhibition that sets the standard for how all shows should be done”.  So, apart from the fact that their latest exhibition is all about #naturewords, I had good reason to look forward to my first visit there last night.  I was not disappointed.
​
Jackie Morris’s paintings for The Lost Words, her stunning joint venture with writer Robert Macfarlane, are presented alongside Macfarlane’s acrostic word-spells, as he calls them, each celebrating one of twenty names for everyday wild animals and plants.  The story of these lost words has been told on this blog over the last three years.

Accompanying the exhibition are small, telling touches including Morris’s sketchbooks and Macfarlane’s scribbled early drafts, along with collections of books from their own libraries.  Visitors are able to thumb through copies of some of the works of other authors that have inspired them, from Nan Shepherd to Roger Deakin to Sara Maitland.

We arrived at dusk for a private view, but will have to return in daylight, enticed by a sign (pictured, right) advertising two ‘Spell Walks’ set in the 120 acres of Capability Brown parkland surrounding the house and offering a journey of words, wildlife and discovery. ​Created by Christopher Jelley they complement The Lost Words in at least one crucial way – putting technology to use for the enjoyment of the real world, rather than pitting one against the other.
Picture
Jackie Morris’s paintings for The Lost Words will be on display at Compton Verney, Warwickshire from 21 Oct to 17 Dec (except Mondays) 11am – 5pm

Countryfile’s edition from Cornwall will be broadcast on 22 October, BBC1 at 18:15, featuring poet Chrissie Gittins's celebration of nature words, and available on iPlayer afterwards.  Her Adder, Bluebell, Lobster is published by Otter-Barry Books

The Lost Words was published by Hamish Hamilton on 5 October.
​


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Welcome

    to 
    NATURAL LIGHT
    a site devoted to nature, and artists who are 
    inspired by it

    editor Laurence Rose

    Follow us on 
    Facebook and Twitter
    Email us

    RSS Feed

    Tweets by @Naturemusicpoet

    Archives

    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All
    Australia
    BBC Proms
    Biodiversity
    Birds
    Campaigns
    Cheltenham Festival
    Conversations
    Endangered Species
    Environment
    Fenland
    Festivals
    Flamenco
    Hear And Now
    Iceland
    Landscape
    Literature
    Moth
    Music
    Norfolk Festival Of Nature
    Olivier Messiaen
    Peter Sculthorpe
    Poetry
    Re:Tweet Of The Day
    RSPB
    Sibelius
    Soundscape
    Spain
    Ted Hughes
    The Long Spring
    Uplands
    Wetlands
    Words
    WW1

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.