RUNNING water, moss-covered boulders, intricate geological formations and man’s stamp on the landscape combine to inspire a new exhibition at The Moors National Park Centre in Danby.

Snickets, Stones and Streams features the mixed-media embroidery of Sue Pilkington-Hanna, ceramics by John Egerton, hand-spun and knitted jewellery by Lisa Armstrong and Sarah Garforth’s oil paintings.

Freelance embroidress and textile restorer Sue Pilkington-Hanna works from Whitby.

Certified by the Royal School of Needlework, she’s worked on many projects from archiving and restoring the Jesuit Collection of ecclesiastical vestments at Stonyhurst College to exhibiting a featured cow in the international Cow Parade exhibition of 2004.

As Chair of the Manchester Branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild, Sue was a sought-after lecturer and workshop leader. Latterly, she has concentrated on restoration and has pieces in several Dioceses, cathedrals, churches and private collections.

“The pieces in this exhibition combine my passion for a variety of techniques with my love for my surroundings in the presentation of flora and fauna using silk and wool threads on painted grounds,” said Sue. “2D and 3D pieces evoke the ruffling of birds’ feathers and the delicacy of petals, alongside the fragility of butterflies’ wings and the permanency of fossils.”

John Egerton, of Sneaton Pottery, has been working at his craft for 50 years.

After studying Design at Scarborough College of Art he moved to London and the Hornsey College of Art to train as a teacher, but in 1965 returned to his beloved North Yorkshire and persuaded his parents to allow him to set up his first pottery workshop in an outbuilding at their home in Sneaton, where he still lives and works.

John’s technique involves bisque firing, after which one or more glazes are applied and his design is drawn through this onto the surface. Extra glaze can then be painted or poured onto the pot and it is fired a second time. Decoration varies from flowers, fish and fossils to simple linear designs.

“The source and inspiration for my work is almost always nature in all its wonderful forms – from plant life and rock formation, to the land and seascapes of my North Yorkshire homeland," John said.

Lisa Armstrong was taught to knit as a child and now creates textured and embellished decorative items from her own art yarns, which she spins on both drop spindles and a spinning wheel.

She has a long connection with the North York Moors, having spent her youth walking and rock-climbing in the area and, later, studying its moorland geology for her Earth Science degree dissertation. Her latest commission saw her working with Sue Pilkington-Hanna to create the knitwear for English National Opera’s innovative production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

“My inspirations are the colours, textures and structures of moorland rocks, plants and lichens,” said Lisa.

"I find them beautiful, intricate and fascinating, and aim to represent their fine detail in my jewellery and small functional vessels.

Sarah Garforth is a Yorkshire-born artist living and working from her studio in Ramsgill in Upper Nidderdale. She trained at the University of Northumbria, gaining a BA (Hons).

She works primarily in oils on gesso boards in an alla prima (‘at first attempt’) style, taking her inspiration from the rivers and reservoirs within a stone’s throw of her home. Her work has been seen in galleries in London, York, Harrogate, Ripley and Keswick, and in The Great North Art Show in Ripon Cathedral.

Sarah said: “I love the work of the impressionists and in particular the Canadian Group of Seven.

“I follow their ethos of striving to create atmosphere without the complication of detail. I prefer to work outside, responding directly to my subject.”

There’s an opportunity to meet all four of the artists between noon and 3pm on Saturday, June 21, with medieval and renaissance music played by the Caedmon Ensemble.

Snickets, Stones and Streams can be seen at the Centre’s Inspired by… gallery from Friday , June 20 to Sunday, July 20, daily from 10.30am to 4pm.

For more information on the North York Moors National Park and forthcoming exhibitions and events, go to www.northyorkmoors.org.uk