The Rivers Movement Painters, Print makers and Photographers

The Rivers Movement will support groups and individuals who emerge and who use the arts, creative technology and science to return places to environmental harmony. The action at this stage emphasises adult creativity. We are very concerned about climate change and its causes. We are an international federation of groups and individuals who correspond and support each other using email and come together for major projects. Rivers' Movement Policy Statement (2008) In January 2010 in preparation for a series of exhibitions and workshops which were due to take place later some of the painters, printmakers, illustrators and photographers who were associated with River's Movement decided that they would create a book. This ilimited edition celebrates both British rivers and the artists' creativity. The production process demanded that we have no more than 80 pages and so for this pilot project we allocated twelve slots of six pages. We were not unduly prescriptive about style or content. As long as at least two of the six pages were concerned with water or pollution we were happy. 'Old' work could be included and showcasing was permitted, it was individuality and variety that mattered. Just as poets and short story writers have their anthologies this was to be a visual artist's anthology. Everyone responded differently. Most of the work was made in the Christmas period. Some went to the attic or to their computers to see what they had there whilst others created new work. One woman decided to show the preliminary work that she was making for a major Rivers Movement in Malham where she is working with writers, scientists and a Parish Council. Another showed illustrations for a book of poems about the 2008 Surat floods. Some went onto the banks of tiny rivers such as the Went and the Frome, others to great river systems on the other side of the world.