Artworks to watch
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Noctalgia
Northumberland National Parks, December - May 2024
Commissioned as part of 10th anniversary as a International Dark Skies Park, Noctalgia celebrated the night sky and the changing relationship to darkness.
Referencing an Orrery, a mechanical model that maps the movements of stars, planets and moons, the kenetic light sculptures explored Northumbria’s ecology and celestial connections.
Finders Seekers
Commissioned by Greenfield Arts, January – March 2021
Shaped by conversations with community participants about possibility, enquiry, challenge and changing perspectives. In response, Bethan created an eco-system; a collection of artworks that interlink with each other, combining tools and human-made objects of exploration and elevation with seeds, roots and ‘rewilding’ nature.
The exhibition invites the viewer to enter a child-like world; a paper made forest full of metaphor, imagination and elevation.
Floraphone
Woodhorn Museum 2019
Commissioned by Woodhorn Museum “The Floraphone” was a site specific, interactive work combining moving sculpture, horticulture and sound, to playfully explore the internal life of plants.
Exhibited alongside Matt Stokes’ The Sound Mirror, it took inspiration from his research into the story of an orchid grown and named in honour of footballing legend Jackie Milburn.
The work featured sound design by Nick John William, and textiles elements created in collaboration with Catriona Maddocks and Amber Zamani-Esskeli.
The Birds, the Bees and the Blossom
Seaton Deleval Hall, National Trust, Gateshead 2025
The birds, the bees, and the blossom celebrated pollinating insects and the life cycle of flowers.
Inspired by the blossoming plants found at Seaton Delaval Hall the work explored the ecosystems that rely on blossom; the tiny pollinators who help produce our food and flowers such as bees, moths and beetles, as well as migrating birds who rely on the fruits that grow from Spring blossom.
The spinning light installation threw shadows of laburnum, wisteria, rhododendron, hawthorn and apple blossom across the historic beer cellar. Circling these plants were birds such as fieldfare, redwing and black caps as well as hoverflies, ladybirds and bumblebees
The artworks were developed alongside community participants from Northern Butterflies, New Hartley First School and Changing Lives, who explored the biodiversity created by blossoming plants through workshops in drawing, shadow puppetry and collage.
The work featured sound design by Nick John William and Orrery construction by Jona Aal. Photography by Bec Hughes