Return to the valley – An Exhibition of Watercolour Landscapes

An exhibition of fifty, large contemporary watercolour landscapes, created during the first year of artist, Sara Abbott’s return to the Calder Valley.

24^th – 26^th June 2022 at Creative with Nature in Todmorden. The exhibition will be formally opened by the Mayor of Todmorden at 6pm on Friday 24^th June with a reception till 9pm, then open to the public 10am till 5pm over the weekend 25^th – 26^th June.

The Calder Valley, God’s own Country, steep sided, cut by the ever present waters that have dissected the high moors above over millennium. When you’re on the tops, the valley bottom, teaming with our human existence is so small and insignificant in comparison to the wide sky, stretched taught over the curves of the weather worn moors.  As the year’s wheel turns the colours change, last summer’s grass, golden, or heather blushed, burnt browns of dead bracken, cloud laden, mist draped and snow covered.  This valley has been home to humans since 10,000 BC, the use of the river and later canal, dictating the nature of life clinging to the valley sides below the expanse of heavenly peat bog above.

Artist Sara Abbott has painted these scapes before, was witness to the catastrophic floods that submerged towns along this crease in the land, from Todmorden to Elland in 2015. Now her studio is back, with a window facing east over Hebden Bridge.  A new genre of work is rising under her brushes, in response to the daily beauty, surprise vistas and moments that take breath away on the journey to the studio in the morning, walking her dog in the afternoon, all and any snapshot moments, stills from the film of an artist’s daily life.

The exhibition is in the renowned ‘Creative with Nature’ the only willow basketry high street shop in the UK, a space decked with beautiful objects, both functional and decorative, all with a natural bent. Also a venue for creative workshops and a home of fabulous coffee! Joevanka Gregory, master basket weaver offers classes in this inspiring space, passionate about safeguarding ancient skills and using materials from our environment.

This current venue for CwN was opened during lockdown in 2020 and everyone is welcome over the weekend to view what has been happening in the five story, stone shop, one of the oldest in Todmorden and celebrate natural creativity at its finest.