Dartmoor, in England's West Country, is a landscape steeped in myth: full of ghostly whist hounds, shapeshifting witch hares, trolls who lurk under clapper bridges, piskies who dance among standing stones, and the Green Man and Woman of the forest, symbolising the wild in nature...and the wild within us.

Dartmoor has always attracted artists -- the village of Chagford in particular, which has been a centre for visual and literary arts from the late 19th century onward.

Beginning in the 1970s, Chagford has also become known for its many artists of a specific kind: painters, illustrators, designers, writers, musicians, puppeteers, and dramatists inspired by mythology, folklore, and fairy tales.

Click on the pictures in the right- and left-hand columns to learn more about the mythic artists working on Dartmoor today, with an emphasis on those living in Chagford and the hamlets and villages nearby.

For more about the legends and lore of Dartmoor, go here.

Merlin in the Wild by Alan Lee

Warlock the Hunter by David Wyatt

Moor Maiden by Virginia Lee

Bluebell Honeymoon by Rima Staines

Wolf Boy by Danielle Barlow

Mandrake Root by Nomi McLeod

The Rose of Stonehenge by Marja Lee Kruyt

Faery Family by Wendy Froud

Go West by Brian Froud

Walking "widdershins" (counter-clockwise) is a traditional way to enter the Faerie Realm.

Exhibiting artists: Brian Froud, Wendy Froud, Alan Lee, Marja Lee, Virginia Lee, Pauline Lee, David Wyatt, Paul Kidby, Rima Staines, Terri Windling, Danielle Barlow, Angharad Barlow, Hazel Brown, and Neil Wilkerson-Cave in the Green Hill Gallery, with additional artists (Alexandra Dawe, Suzi Crockford and others) in the Green Hill shop.

Photographs from Widdershins 2016 can be found on Virginia Lee's blog and David Wyatt's blog. Alan Lee's introduction to the exhibition, and photographs from the opening night, can be found on Myth & Moor.

Exhibiting artists: Brian Froud, Wendy Froud, Alan Lee, Virginia Lee, David Wyatt, Paul Kidby, Rima Staines, Terri Windling, Hazel Brown, and Neil Wilkerson-Cave in the Green Hill Gallery, with additional artists (Danielle Barlow, Angharad Barlow, and others) in the Green Hill shop.

Photographs from Widdershins 2013 can be found on Rima Staines' blog, Virginia Lee's blog; and David Wyatt's blog.

The banner photograph at the top of this page is of the Scorhill Stone Circle by Stu Jenks. The drawings at the bottom of the left and right columns are by Virgina Lee and Brian Froud. Run your cursor over the images for further art credits. All rights reserved by the artists.