Wharfe and Worth, our rivers…

I'm a landscape painter, but memory and intuition are fundamental to my process, I layer paint expressively capturing fleeting moments and memories of places and experiences, thinking about mood, atmosphere and the layers of history. As an outdoor swimmer I especially love the rivers that stitch our towns together and connect them to wilder landscapes beyond. They are my ongoing obsession. I love the symbolism of rivers flowing on forever and connecting past and present.

I live on the Worth and I swim in the Wharfe, both are beautiful rivers, both flow from the Pennine moors above through steep sided valleys. The Worth is a tributary of the Aire, which goes on to flow parallel to the Wharfe through the industrial heart of West Yorkshire. The first cotton mill built in Yorkshire still stands by the river Worth in Keighley.

The Project

Workshops: Expressive landscape painting with music with me and Latterhand, and eco photography with Louie at Damems Nature Reserve by the river Worth. Character design project with Leonie, Who Is Your River? with children at Worth Valley Primary School

Exhibitions: two concurrent exhibitions in September!

One at Keighley Civic Centre, Know Your Worth, showcasing the work made by workshop participants with a community opening and the development of a Keighley Clean River Group and Friends Of Damems group in collaboration with Aire Rivers Trust, Ilkley Clean River Group and Keighley Town Council.

The other at Ilkley Manor House, Wharfespeed, an exhibition of new large scale, immersive river paintings by myself, with an opening featuring Commoners Choir, storytelling by Vickie Orton, music from Latterhand, with Mark Barrows underwater film The Kingdom Beneath The Current all about life in the river Wharfe. In October an afternoon with Rob and Amy and a discussion about rivers and the Wharfe and brand new poetry from Rob, and an evening concert of a new river composition from Latterhand with live painting by myself. There will also be a selection of work from our Keighley participants with a display from Ilkley Clean River Group.

It will be a series of wonderful events and workshops! Together with other river-loving creatives we’ll inspire environmental action, celebrate local histories, create exciting and vibrant work, and contribute to cultural regeneration in Keighley and Ilkley. Along the way we’ll develop connections and harness the knowledge of partner Ilkley Clean River Group to develop a campaigning group for the Aire catchment. Ilkley Clean River Group campaigned successfully for Wharfe at Ilkley and worked with Yorkshire Water on the river which became the first stretch of river in UK to be awarded bathing status. We’ll start a campaigning group for the Aire.

This is a start. I want the same for the all rivers, as outlined in The Universal Declaration Of The Rights of Rivers but I’ll start here in Keighley with the Worth and the Aire!

Workshops are an integral part of my creative process… love teaching, and facilitating others to connect to their landscape through art, with mindful observation and expressive journaling and painting techniques.

I run workshops independently and with local organisations to encourage people to get outside and enjoy their local area, whether that is out on the moors, down by the river, or in town. I believe this helps them to feel more invested in their place, and more likely to want to help take care of it. Fly tipping, pollution and neglect can make some local places seem unpleasant and even scary, but a little work together can transform them and grow pride and enjoyment and community connection.

Art is a brilliant way to develop observation skills and to encourage people to slow down. I’m looking forward to partnering with Keighley Town Council, Keighley Creative, Get Out More CIC and Aire Rivers Trust and River Worth Friends by the Worth at Damems to really embed this philosophy.

My creative partners

Leonie Briggs

Leonie is already a firm favourite of the families of Keighley! Her imaginative world is so joyous and filled with warmth and familiarity. She remembers exactly what it feels like to be a kid and so kids love her regular Saturday workshops at Keighley Library.

Leonie is well known for her character design and leading our Who Is Your River? workshops she’ll use all her skills to encourage people to create a character to represent the Worth as they see it.

She’s deeply devoted to Keighley and has experiences the healing power of the Worth herself everyday as she walks down to her studio at Keighley Creative where she’s been involved in many community projects including the Rombald’s Rocks Sculpture trail and The Mega Drawing Box

Louie Haslam-Chance

Louie Haslam-Chance is a young local photographer who makes poetic but accessible work exploring place and memory. His work is a deeply personal response to the environment and he uses experimental photographic techniques with handmade sustainable developers and expired film.

His quiet, environmentally thoughtful approach to his work in local edge lands and becks is a way to mindful mental wellbeing and gentle connection to nature for our workshop participants. It will also introduce them to Photohub North in Keighley where they can continue to develop their photographic interest after the project ends.

Louie has been involved with several projects in Bradford including his brilliant project Mucky Beck for OUR TURN festival (Bradford 2025)

Rob Cowen

Rob Cowen is an award-winning writer and poet, hailed as one of the most original voices on nature, place and people. His first book, Skimming Stones, won the Roger Deakin Award from the Society of Authors. His second book, Common Ground, was shortlisted for the Portico, Richard Jefferies Society an the nation’s favourite nature books of all time in a BBC poll. His follow-up, The Heeding, was the best-selling debut book of poetry in 2021. His latest book The North Road has been described as a ‘masterpiece’ and a ‘dazzlingly inventive work of literature’ and debuted as Book of the Week in the Observer, Financial Times, Telegraph and New Statesman. Rob was born in Ilkley and now lives in North Yorkshire.

Amy-Jane Beer

Dr Amy-Jane Beer is an award-winning author, biologist, naturalist, and campaigner. She is a Country Diarist for The Guardian, columnist for British Wildlife. Her last book, The Flow: rivers, water and wildness, won the Wainwright Prize for nature writing and her latest A River Running Through You is a collaboration with illustrator Elin Manon. Amy is a codirector of the Right to Roam campaign and honorary President of the national park society Friends of the Dales.

Join me, Rob and Amy on October 4th at Ilkley Manor House for a reading of brand new and older work and a rivery discussion about the Wharfe.

Latterhand

Latterhand are sound artist and violinist Ian Tothill and artist and musician Phil Moody . Until 2024 they were known as These Men.

Their site specific audiovisual work explores the nature of the environment and how it can be reimagined. They perform in a wide variety of spaces such as theatres, galleries, clubs, public parks and more. As artists in residence they use a wide range of visual art media to work with people collaboratively.

I’m so excited to be collaborating with them on outdoor workshops at Damems Nature reserve by the Worth, and on a Live music and painting concert at Ilkley Manor House on October 7th

To listen to their previous work please visit their website www.latterhand.com