TWO organisations have come together to celebrate wildlife through art.

Durham Wildlife Trust (DWT) has joined up with arts organisation Daisy Arts for the creative initiative.

The project at the Trust’s reserve at Low Barns, near Witton-le-Wear, will have three elements: workshops with schools and community groups; the creation of artworks to create a unique artistic interior for Low Barns’s main bird hide; and a temporary exhibition showing work produced during the project.

Laura Tedstone, Living Landscapes Officer.at Durham Wildlife Trust, said: “Low Barns Nature Reserve is rich in wildlife with a mix of habitats, including wetlands, woodlands and meadows, and we want to create artwork which will reflect and interpret the natural landscape, enriching people’s experience and encouraging more visitors.”

Daisy Arts will co-ordinate the programme of workshops led by four artists with different specialisms, a photographer, illustrator, creative writer and specialised craft artist. DWT’s Environmental Educators will work with them.

Each artist will explore the shapes, colours, textures, forms and sounds within the natural environment from a microscopic cellular level to a landscape scale to create artistic works.

Using this work, Daisy Arts will design, create, construct and install the permanent artistic panels in the bird hide.

A temporary exhibition in the Visitor’s Centre will use material from the workshops to explain the artistic development and creations of the final artistic piece.

Jane Crawford, Director of Daisy Arts, said: “We're thrilled to be working on such a programme of work. It's a great opportunity for those that take part in this project to learn more about their natural environment and create what we hope will be a unique Hide interior.”

The project is supported by the Arts Council through its National Lottery-funded Grants for the Arts programme, and County Durham Community Foundation.