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Mapping Marton Wood is a slow art project led by Chrysalis Arts Development based in North Yorkshire. The project is funded by Arts Council England and National Lottery Community Fund. Mapping Marton Wood weaves together ecology and art, bringing artists, ecologists and the public together to explore a 6.6 hectare, local woodland. Alongside the activities, we’ll be sharing what we learn and our approaches to stimulate wider creative engagement with our planet’s precious environmental resources.
Find all of the Artists' Comissions here.
Exhibition Opening
In June 2025, we opened the Mapping Marton Wood exhibition in the local Marton cum Grafton Memorial Hall. The exhibition was visited by community members who had been involved with the project, as well as those who were seeing it for the first time. It's clear from the feedback, that the exhibition, and the project more wholly, has turned local people's attention to this small woodland. Alongside the exhibition, we invited people of all ages to try their hand at weaving with Artist Sue Harrison.
‘ Never been to the woods but will go now’
‘ Didn’t know anything about Marton Wood before’
‘I will visit it more often’
‘ I now visit with more awareness’
‘ Will notice more when I visit’
‘ I must see Marton Woods!’
‘ It opened my eyes to how beautiful Marton Wood is’
‘Not really noticed it [Marton wood} before’
‘I had never visited on guided tours and it was through provoking’
Touring Exhibition
The final exhibition of work for Mapping Marton Wood toured North Yorkshire libraries, Summer 2025. Alongside the exhibition, Artist Serena Partridge led workshops for families at each lirbary.
The exhibition toured to:
Thirsk Library, Tue 15 Jul–Wed 30 Jul
Pickering Library, Fri 1 Aug–Tue 19 Aug
Selby Library, Thu 20 Aug–Thu 4th Sep
Additional workshops were held at:
‘I grew up in woodland and it is a joy to hear and see it.’
'The value of the woodland is vital to our survival and connection to self and each other. It promotes the wellebing of the wood and people and ecology and creativity in it.'
‘It has made me keen to go to the woods in my local area and enjoy its peace and beauty. ‘
'It reminded me of the peaceful excitement I feel near trees'
'Beautiful to walk up the stairs at Thirsk and hear the sound installation before even seeing the exhibition!'
‘One of the best ecological exhibitions to ever appear in Pickering Library. Informative and entertaining for customers of all ages'
'I was very sad to turn the birds and bats off for the last time this evening. We have so enjoyed having the exhibition here, the sounds on the headphones have captivated old and young alike. The library is going to look quite empty when I return to work on Thursday. Thank you so much for allowing us to host it.'
Artists and Ecologists Involved
Rob Mackay and Simon Pickles
Rob Mackay is an award-winning composer, sound artist and performer. In May 2024 he began a residency and collaboration with the North and East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre (NEYDEC). Working alongside Director Simon Pickles, the two will spend the year gathering data on the Wood while Rob records and develops a sound piece and performance. From a tree’s roots to its canopy, the soil to the inside of trees, their recording of Marton Wood will create a map unlike any other.
‘I've really enjoyed working on the project. Working with Simon has been an inspiration, as he is so knowledgeable, but also as equally inspired and fascinated by the sounds of the wood as I am. You could say Marton Wood in many ways is fairly unremarkable, an every-wood. But visiting it time and time again has revealed the wonder of the every day with so much wildlife and activity packed into its few acres. We've been able to listen to the richness of the dawn and evening choruses, as well as revealing sounds usually hidden to human ears such as bats, and the sounds of insects inside the trees.' – Rob Mackay
Alongside their research and work, Rob and Simon have run workshops in the local community and with Knaresborough-based charity Orb Arts.
Visual Artists
Rebecca Chesney and David Haley
Rebecca Chesney and David Haley are artists based in the North of England. Both artists have a long history of working with Chrysalis Arts, and will be co-designing a project together with the Chrysalis team. Alongside this, they are each developing proposals for a commissioned work. So far, they have explored and researched the wood with ecologists and met with the team to develop ideas.
‘I was fascinated by the idea of Marton Wood being described as ‘unremarkable’. It’s not designated as a site of outstanding natural beauty, nor is it a must-see visitor destination. However, it’s profound interest for me is that it is a commonplace, everyday wood that was just another field until sometime in the 1850s, when someone decided to turn it into a wood… something that they would probably not live long enough to see. And it now provides the potential for us to creatively learn how to live with Nature. I am, therefore, engaged in a kind of dialogue with the wood, local people, Chrysalis Arts Development and the other project artists to explore our relationships. This may lead to a ‘storymap’, to complete the series of maps in the Memorial Hall in Marton cum Grafton. It may become an installation of small stories and a video of a walk in the wood with a soundtrack of people’s thoughts. Finally, for me the question remains; ‘what’s in it for the wood?’ – David Haley
‘On my second trip I visited with scientist Serena Turton-Hughes whose specialism is looking at trees as microhabitats and she helped reveal the hidden and over-looked within the wood. We spotted tiny pearls of white bobbly slime mould and the many types and colour of fungi: orange dots on decaying twigs; black spotted patterns up the bark of dead trees; and tones of bronze, pearl and chocolate brown of the bracket fungus protruding from trunks and branches. And it’s these patterns and colours I’m beginning to use to inspire and develop new works, highlighting the minute but vital organisms of the wood.’ – Rebecca Chesney
Sue Harrison
Sue Harrison is a textile artist who has been deeply involved with our Marton Wood project since its beginnings.
From 2022-23 a small group of artists explored the wood in guided walks with ecologists and specialists. Sue Harrison, alongside Artist Laney Birkhead, went on to lead community workshops and create collaborative works with residents.
'My time with this project and CAD has been a process of immersion and self revelation. With every visit I have found that different senses, memories and connections have begun to emerge.' – Sue Harrison
In 2024, we invited this group of artists to submit proposals, and Sue Harrison was chosen to create a piece. Sue is planning on creating a visual representation of Rob Mackay’s sound piece.
'I intend to render the invisible sounds visible through the medium of stitch, thereby mapping the various sonograms being recorded, resulting in a ‘Score for Marton Wood’' – Sue Harrison
Find all of the Artists' Comissions here.
Community
As a core part of the project, Chrysalis invited local people into the woodland through guided walks and creative workshops. Led by artists and ecologists, the sessions and activities follow on from our positively received community events during the Marton Wood Pilot Programme.
In the community we ran:
Community Open Days at Marton Wood Memorial Hall with art activities led by Sue Harrison and sound walks with Artist Rob Mackay
Walk with Fungi Expert Andy Woodall
Local women's craft group: Felting Workshops with Artist Alison Spaven, Ceramic Workshops with Artist Karen Thompson, Textile Workshops with Artist Jane Carlisle Bellerby
Photography Walk led by local Photographer Lizzie Shepherd
Botanical Walk with Ecologist Dr Stuart Barrett
'I feel inspired to continue connecting with nature and learn more. It's good to connect in a different way from usual.' – Botany Walk Participant
'Learnt so many things about biology. It has made me look at my woodland walks in a new way. I'm going to relay it back to my family.' – Botany Walk Participant
'I Learnt so many interesting things about nature I never knew before. I found it very interesting and inspiring. It has shifted my perspective a lot.' – Botany Walk Participant
'Another thing I've really enjoyed about working with CAD has been their commitment to community engagement as well as bringing together different artists and an ecologist to map the wood in a number of different and revealing ways.' – Rob Mackay
‘It's been great to educate my kids about nature and art and to think differently about what art is.’ – Community Participant
'Can you carry on doing this?' – Community Open Day Particiapnt
'Brilliant, learning a new skill – how to work with clay with a lovely, patient teacher (karen). Thank you for taking the time to teach us' – WI Craft Group
We had a fab sound walk in there yesterday with Rob Mackay and Chrysalis Arts – fascinating, inspiring and thought provoking! And great to hear all those little insects munching away!’ – Lizzie Shepherd, Sound Walk with Rob Mackay
Schools
Across the 2024-25 school year, we’ll be bringing artists into local schools, including Marton cum Grafton Primary. Sound Artist Rob Mackay has already led sessions on exploring sound and sound composition. There will also bAcross the project, we ran three artist-led art sessions in Marton cum Grafton Primary School led by artists. Sound Artist Rob Mackay led two sessions on exploring sound and sound composition. In his session, students both visited the wood to record sounds and learned to use composing software back in the classroom. Artist Jane Carlisle Bellerby, who specialises in textiles and mixed media art, also ran a session.
‘I have learned that Marton Wood is filled with nature that I don’t know about.’
‘I have learned that you can do or use the same image to create things that are completely different. I have learned that Marton is full of nature.’
‘I have learned that things as simple as fungi can be beautiful art.’
Orb Arts
Early in the project, we began a partnership with the organisations Orb Arts.
Knaresborough-based charity Orb Arts promotes positive mental health and provides better life opportunities to those experiencing poor mental health through engagement in creative activities, learning, performance and volunteering. We’re holding sessions with Orb where participants can both experience the wood itself with an ecologist as well as get creative in artistic sessions.
With a slow and mindful approach, we were able to dedicate time and resources to this group, allowing them time and space to create.
Following this partnership, five budding artists from Orb Arts spoke on a panel at our ‘An Unremarkable Wood’ Symposium. It was fulfilling and fascinating to hear them speak about their experience both at Marton Wood and time spent making with artists.
‘It’s nature to me that I’m drawn to, that I want to connect with, that I always want to spend time with. So being told there was a group that was going to spend every Friday going into a piece of woodland, and what was a very private space, and a very safe space, that was initially what jumped out at my straight away, and I was like ‘yes, of course I want to do this. But equally the creative side…’ – Orb Arts Panel Member, ‘An Unremarkable Wood’ Symposium
‘It’s so lovely to bring so many different types of people together. I learned so much from the ecology, data side of stuff, that’s not what I would naturally engage with. I’m much more of an intuitive, holistic kind of person. So then to be met with learning stuff I had no idea about birds or ecological processes going on, to me that wasn’t separate to my beliefs or connections, it actually enhanced them and made me understand deeper and I wouldn’t have had that opportunity without this project.’ – Orb Arts Panel Member, ‘An Unremarkable Wood’ Symposium
‘How grateful we all are to connect with all these amazing people we never would normally do. In my daily life I never would have. To have this kind of opportunity is amazing’ – Orb Arts Panel Member, ‘An Unremarkable Wood’ Symposium
'An Unremarkable Wood’ Symposium
Please note, later this Autumn we’ll be releasing a symposium highlights film to share key themes.
Realigning creative practice and perceptions of nature through collaboration, ecological responsiveness and shared learning.
12 June 2025
Chrysalis Arts Development and York St John University present a one-day symposium exploring creative relationships and processes that aim to reset connections with place, nature and artists’ responses to the ecological crisis.
This event combined presentations, panel discussions, breakout sessions offering a choice of themes and content, and creative activities.
Download the full itinerary from the day.
Themes addressed:
Collaboration and shared learning: Creative partnerships and transdisciplinary collaborations
Ecological Responsiveness: our understanding of place and storytelling, durational research and slow art.
New Narratives and Examination/Beyond the Human: ethical and imaginative connections across species boundaries, the creative use of data to map and explore natural and human environments, including local and global perspectives
The symposium built on a longstanding collaboration between Chrysalis Arts Development and York St John University. It was designed for artists, including those with an environmental research focus, other creatives, arts and environmental organisations, academics, local authority officers and others working with place-related and environmental issues.
Featuring a range of speakers, it also drew upon CAD’s current project, ‘Mapping Marton Wood,’ an extended slow art project which weaves artists, ecologists, and the public together focusing on a 6.6-hectare local woodland.
'Today reminded me I am part of a community of artists that are all concerned with the same values and experience the same pressures on our creative time.'
'Thank you! The programme was varied and introduced me to new practitioners and approaches. I now want another reading list.'
'Honest wonderful discussion from orb arts. The enthusiasm and genuine feeling among the group was truly lovely.'
'Excellent event. Great programme, venue, lunch, loved the sound walk. Amazing presenters Thanks!'
About the Speakers
Keynote Speaker: Lise Autogena is a Danish artist, Professor of Cross-Disciplinary Art and Head of Research at Sheffield Hallam University.
Eric Moschopedis, of Mia & Eric are an interdisciplinary artist team from Calgary, Canada. They bring together elements of craft, performance, and multi-species ethnography to create site-specific and socially-engaged art works.
Rob Mackay is an award-winning composer, sound artist and performer. Recent projects have moved towards a cross-disciplinary approach, including geology, soundscape ecology, theatre, audiovisual installation work, and human-computer interaction.
Simon Pickles is the Director of the North and East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre.
Laura Harrington is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher whose practice considers the complex relations between humans and landscapes, often through experimental fieldwork, research based and process-orientated enquiries, and in dialogue with other disciplines, habitats and people.
David Haley is an ecological artist, researcher and eco-pedagogue with specific interest in generating dialogues for ‘capable futures’ that question the nexus of Nature-Climate-Cultural Emergencies.
Rebecca Chesney is an artist whose work is concerned with how we perceive land: how we romanticise, translate and define it.
Sue Harrison is an environmental artist working in schools and projects throughout Cheshire and North Yorkshire.
Orb Community Arts promotes positive mental health and provides better life opportunities to those experiencing poor mental health through engagement in creative activities, learning, performance and volunteering.
Alex De Little is an artist and researcher exploring listening and sound through interdisciplinary, collaborative practice.
Pete Stollery is a composer/sound artist creating works for concert hall performance as well as installations and internet projects.
Geoffrey Cox is a composer, filmmaker and one-time performer (guitar and tenor saxophone).
Cath Heinemeyer is a storyteller, musician, and Senior Lecturer in Performance at York St John University.
Wendy DesChene (Canada) and Jeff Schmuki (USA) founded PlantBot Genetics in 2008 to merge activism, art, and ecology.
Kyveli Lignou-Tsamantani is an art historian, researcher and curator.
Helen Turner is Associate Head of Art at York St. John University
Sara Trentham-Black is Senior Lecturer Arts and Cultural Management at Sheffield Hallam University.
Rosie Barrett is the Community Engagement Manager for the Mapping Marton Wood project at Chrysalis Arts Development.
Rick Faulkner is Executive Director at Chrysalis Arts Development.
Further Information
If you would like to see what species we have identified at Marton Wood, please see our species list here.
The project has developed out of our initial Marton Wood Pilot Programme which took places from 2022–23. The woodland has been leased to Chrysalis Arts for ten years from North Yorkshire County Council.
A special thanks to our funders, Arts Council England and National Lottery Community Fund. We would also like to thank all of our project collaborators and co-designers mentioned above.
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