Endless Forms, Most Beautiful

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 47 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.

Studio members undertook a period of research field trips

Studio members undertook a period of research including field trips to Berwick Museum & Art Gallery, The Discovery Museum and RSPB Saltholme. This enabled them to develop initial ideas and concepts for the project:

The work was first exhibited at Northern Print in Spring 2024.

Endless Forms Most Beautiful is taken from the quote in ‘The Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin – “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

Bestiary: A moralising medieval collection of descriptions (and often illustrations) of real and mythical animals. (Collins English Dictionary)

Herbarium: A collection of preserved plants stored, catalogued, and arranged systematically for study by professionals and amateurs from many walks of life. (Kew Royal Botanic Gardens).

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the largest funder for the UK’s heritage. Using money raised by National Lottery players we support projects that connect people and communities to heritage. Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. From historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.

With thanks to:

Natural History Society of Northumbria / Tyne and Wear Museums and Archives, Newcastle upon Tyne
Museums Northumberland, Berwick Museum & Art Gallery
RSPB Saltholme, Tees Valley