These colours, shapes and textures are a response to the exciting immersive experience I had last November when a late afternoon break from the rain and wind revealed this scene in my garden. The sky was a gorgeous mixture of golden rays from the sun and dark grey rain clouds but it was the rich ruby red glow from the acers which caught my attention and made me hold my breath in wonder. It’s leaves looked like tiny red fingers of myriads of little hands.

A new bestiary and herbarium for at risk species by artists from Northern Print.

“Endless Forms Most Beautiful” is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to support visits, new printmaking and school’s programme for this project.

Northern Print artists bring together traditional printmaking and the natural world with a series of new prints highlighting the diversity of species that are categorised as ‘at risk’.

The ‘endless forms’ include marine life; plants; birds; insects and mammals with many familiar and much-loved species as well as less known and intriguing creatures that have captured the imagination and hearts of Northern Print’s artists.

This exhibition of 45 new prints has been made following a series of visits to our region’s natural history collections and habitats and represents the tiniest tip of the iceberg of our natural world under threat.

The artwork includes a range of approaches and printmaking processes – including heritage craft skills also deemed at risk including letterpress and mould-made papers