Image above: an Ilkley fountain model on Ilkley Moor, October 2024
Filmmaker Clare Dearnaley and I have worked together on a short film which explores the origins of the design for the Ilkley Fountain. We had just two mornings to take the footage, and we were very lucky that the weather and light were on our side as we took the model up onto Ilkley Moor. The filming happened to coincide with a key week in October 2024 of moorland restoration work organised by Moors for the Future. Clare had to shoot short pieces of footage in-between the to-ing and fro-ing of the helicopter flying above us, transporting huge swinging bags full of stones for leaky dams which slow the flow of water from the moor and protect the peat. It felt like a privilege to be up there while all that was happening and have a sense of the care and guardianship of this precious and vulnerable habitat.
“It is wonderful to see this celebration of sphagnum moss, a tiny plant which plays a vital role in holding water on the moors, and storing carbon for future generations. With help from volunteers, Friends of Ilkley Moor, BMDC and Rebel Restoration, Moors for the Future Partnership will have planted over 60,000 sphagnum plants on Ilkley Moor by March 2025 and the design of this fountain will help to highlight the concept of a sustainable future.”
Richard Brewster, Conservation Works Officer
Moors for the Future Partnership
The film has evolved from the development of ideas around an immersive exhibition inspired by moss. This has taken the form of seed funding from Bradford 2025 and preparatory discussions with both Born in Bradford and the Life Sciences Department at the University of Bradford to explore the possibility of an immersive ‘Moss Nest’ project.
A few years ago, Clare Dearnaley and I developed the Dovetailing installation, an exhibition of music, projected film, and sculpture which explored the journey of sound from a tree to stringed musical instrument. This developed into Dovetailing Responses, which exhibited responsive work and improvised performances by artists, musicians, dancers and poets and which was recorded in a book, Gathered Notes. The ‘Moss Nest’ project would be a new iteration in the Dovetailing story.
Images above: Clare Dearnaley (left) and Juliet Gutch (right) making the film on Ilkley Moor
