Striking art installation springs up in West Yorkshire as part of iconic festival

A socially distanced outdoor sculpting session in Holmfirth has seen willow deer and heron figures, amongst other creations, spring up by the sands recreation ground play area.

The sculptures made by Leilah Vyner, a specialist willow sculptor, who’s studio Dragon Willow is in Tadcaster, were installed with the help of 12 volunteers in the town on Monday (31st September), as part of the Holmfirth Arts Festival 2020.

Bev Adams, the Holmfirth Arts Festival director, in her third year at the helm, said: "It’s been so great to add something into the landscape and the community when so little has been happening due to the coronavirus.

"It’s just so nice to be adding some art to the world during these challenging times."

Ms Adams added it was the first time volunteers and festival team members had been together, while socially distancing, since February.

"It's very special as well because some of our volunteers have been shielding, and have not had contact from their household until doing this - so to add art into the community has really lifted spirits."

Alongside the animal creations harlequin trees have also been linked together to form a domed structure that members of the public can enter.

Ms Adams said she hoped the unique installation, the first of its kind in the space, would stand the test of time and be enjoyed now and for future generations.

She said: "There has never been any art there. We've added something to that little bit of space.

"We want people to care for them, we want people to enjoy them and interact with them but we also want people to be surprised by them because there is something different there."

Holmfirth Arts Festival is held annually and is usually three days of live performance, theatre, dance, poetry, song and more in the centre of this picturesque town.

But due to COVID-19, and thanks to emergency funding from the Arts Council England, the Holmfirth Arts Festival is going online for 2020, is moving online for the first time, from 18-20 September with performances, live and pre-recorded, streamed over social media.

Ms Adams said: "We wanted to work with artists and find the best way forward with them to do the best we can, in these very strange and uncertain times.

"It’s really important to make sure art survives this because arts and events are so vulnerable as a result of the virus.

"Also we are social beings, we want to be together, we want to gather... we want to enjoy art and entertainment together and it is just so difficult in the current Covid-19 circumstances."

For more information and to take part visit www.holmfirthartsfestival.co.uk for more details.

_____________________________

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today.Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you'll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers.

So, please - if you can - pay for our work. Just £5 per month is the starting point. If you think that which we are trying to achieve is worth more, you can pay us what you think we are worth. By doing so, you will be investing in something that is becoming increasingly rare. Independent journalism that cares less about right and left and more about right and wrong. Journalism you can trust.

Thank you

James Mitchinson