Widdershins 2016:
an exhibition of Moorland Mythic Art


Dartmoor Mythic Arts


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 by Alan Lee

Merlin in the Wild by Alan Lee

Warlock the Hunter by David Wyatt

Warlock the Hunter by David Wyatt

Moor Maiden by Virginia Lee copy

Moor Maiden by Virginia Lee

Bluebell Honeymoon by Rima Staines

Bluebell Honeymoon by Rima Staines

Wolf Boy by Danielle Barlow 2

Wolf Boy by Danielle Barlow

Mandrake by Nomi McLeod

Mandrake Root by Nomi McLeod

The Rose of Stonehenge by Marja Lee Kruyt

The Rose of Stonehenge by Marja Lee Kruyt

Faery Family by Wendy Froud 2

Faery Family by Wendy Froud

Go West by Brian Froud

Go West by Brian Froud