IT ALL STARTED WITH…
…my wife Barbara and I observations (as writer and photographer) on the contrasting countryside, habitats and wildlife on the doorsteps of their homes in Catalunya (Spain), and Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales (UK).
Their first exhibition Passing Through (2019) presented a series of tree portraits and poetry contrasting the beauty offered by a neglected, timber-dry Spanish woodland with that of a protected, damp, mossy broadleaf gill in the Dales.
Yorkshire Dales National Park Head Offices, Bainbridge, UK - March and April 2019
Our second exhibition, The Cry of the Curlew (2024) presents a series of reflections on the beauty and fragility of the enigmatic Curlew. For many years Barbara and Paco returned, like the birds themselves, to the same upland fells and meadows around Wensleydale and Swaledale to hear the Curlew’s soul-stirring cry and to observe these and other birds nesting and parenting their young.
www.thecryofthecurlew.com
DALES COUNTRY MUSEUM, Hawes, North Yorkshire, UK
CRY OF THE CURLEW
1 February – 11 April 2024
www.dalescountrysidemuseum.org.uk
The Cry of the Curlew is a celebration of the Curlew and the upper Dales landscapes to which they have returned to breed every year since time immemorial. The graceful and elegant Curlew has iconic status in the Dales because of the impact made by the birds’ annual reappearances, their engaging presence whilst with us, and the absence felt when they depart.
The exhibition highlights the issues facing the Curlew today through the stunning photography of Paco Valera, insightful poetry and prose by Barbara Murray, and inspiring artwork by Sally Zaranko, Hester Cox, Judith Bromley and Robert Nicholls.
Artists Sarah Smith, Susan Harrison and June Gersten-Roberts have also been working with schools in the Craven area, exploring the plight of the Curlew. The children have created posters and poems that will feature in the exhibition and we hope spur people into action.