Last Saturday 29th June 2024, a group of local people set off as part of Otley Walking Festival to draw the bog and associated wildlife of Denton Estate moorland near Ilkley.
Led by local artist, Naseem Darbey, and Yorkshire Peatland Partnership (YPP) expert, Lucy Lee, the group of 10 spent the day on the moor absorbing the landscape, learning about the bog and documenting it through art.
The project has been titled Bog in a Drawing Box as participants are provided with a specially designed box with a host of drawing materials to allow them to illustrate the moorland, it’s plants and animals.
The project has been funded by the Yorkshire Peatland Partnership with the aim of encouraging attendees to think and learn about how society and the natural environment affect each other, to value peatlands for their own sake and for the benefits they provide and benefit from peatlands (recreation/health/wellbeing) and to take action to protect our peatlands.
By drawing the bog and it’s botany, the aim was to inspire the artists to get involved in restoring and protecting their local peatlands and highlight how important it is for wildlife, recreation, as a carbon store, flood protection and water security.
The project has also been supported by The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Otley Walking Festival, Nidderdale National Landscape, Denton Estate and the Wharfedale Naturalists Society.
For more information on the Bog in a Drawing Box project or our future collaborative projects with the YPP, please email naseem@keighleycreative.org
