Art Meets Ecology: Arborealists in Lady Park Wood

Lady Park, an ancient, semi-natural wood on the slopes and cliffs of the Wye Gorge on the borders of England and Wales is a unique wood, which has been left to grow naturally for 150 years. This book is an expression of the artists' and ecologists' response to the woods.

This book features the paintings and drawings created by The Arborealists – an informal group ofprofessional artists with an interest in painting trees and woodland – in Lady Park, an ancient, seminaturalwood on the slopes and cliffs of the Wye Gorge on the borders of England and Wales.Uniquely, the wood, which has been left to grow naturally for up to 150 years, has been studied indetail since 1944 and the fortunes of hundreds of individual trees have been tracked for three-quartersof a century. The artworks are matched with a commentary by George Peterken, who has led theresearch since the 1980s. Both artists and ecologists observe trees and woods closely, but express theirunderstanding of the wood in totally different forms. The two interests came together to deepen theirunderstanding of each other and their different perspectives in an interest they share and promote abroader interest and understanding of native woodlands generally. Elm disease, the great drought of1976, storms, snow and now ash disease have taken their toll on the ageing beech, oak, lime, ash, yew,hazel and many other species, many of which now lie prone in great heaps of dead wood and regrowth.