WHILE most of us can be guilty of hurrying head down, intent on getting indoors when the sky darkens, for centuries artists have taken the time to stop, look skywards and appreciate the wonders above. Right back to early human existence cave dwellers depicted star constellations in their wall paintings. During the Renaissance period, when astronomy and astrology began to flourish, night-settings became more popular for artists and by the 1800s the term nocturne had been coined for night-scene paintings.

Fast forward to today and whether it’s conveying the sheer beauty of the stars or moon, using the dark sky to evoke mystical or moody emotions, or expressing just how much remains unknown about the universe, artists are still finding night-time to be as rich a source of inspiration as centuries past.

For the past four years the North York Moors National Park’s Inspired by… gallery at Danby has staged an annual exhibition to coincide with the Dark Skies Festival and showcase how local artists interpret the night sky. This year the gallery’s exhibition, entitled, Until the Stars Come Out, will display the work of four talented artists who are avid sky watchers.

The Northern Echo:

As one of the artists, Tony Galuidi from Saltburn, succinctly puts it: “The immense sweeps of starlit grandeur in the skies above the North York Moors National Park are both unique and inspiring. They fire the imagination and transport your mind to a primal state of consciousness.”

Since childhood he’s been drawn to the ethereal and strangely macabre aspects of the world and spends a significant amount of time walking across the open moors at night seeking inspiration for his paintings that aim to create that primal state and evoke a sense of mystery. The result is a body of work that encapsulates the silent beauty and mystical qualities of the pristine night skies above the national park – from the image of a crow sitting on a stone at Castleton to the Milky Way above the Wheeldale standing stones.

For artist and musician Rebecca Denniff, the dark skies above the park are anything but pitch black as she conveys the hidden colour and, as she puts it, “the amazing contrasts between light and darkness that the ever-changing clouds create.” Capturing the relationship between the quiet moorland and the darkening skies has been a chief aim with her artwork. When asked why we should all take more time to appreciate the heavens above she says: “The night sky is full of stories and drama - ever changing and ever constant. We need to preserve the darkness as a marker of progress against pollution.”

The Northern Echo:

Pose the same question to Guisborough artist Ashley Harvey and he points to the beauty, hope and serenity that can be found in the night sky, adding: “It’s humbling to look out at the stars, and think about how big the universe is and just how small we are.” Ashley, who likes to use reclaimed materials such as old unwanted drawers for his paintings, has created a series of dramatic nightscapes for the exhibition based on locations that are significant to him such as Roseberry Topping and Redcar.

The latter sums up the contrast between the industrial scenes and the adjacent countryside. “At night, to the north, the sky is lit up by the warm glow of industry which is in stark contrast with the view to the south where you gaze across the infinite blue black of space, awash with stars and clouds in their natural hues,” he says. “It is easy to get lost in the stars when you can see them. I always feel hopeful about the dark sky and the prospect of seeing a shooting star or aurora.

“For these paintings I try to incorporate both the colours and features of the landscape as well as how they make me feel and abstract that into an aurora above those places. I would love to see the aurora above Redcar's Ironworks for example, but that seems unrealistic. But with a bit of paint and some gusto that idea is somewhat achievable.”

The Northern Echo:

Like Ashley, Saltburn artist Rae Clarke enjoys the clashes between the natural and built landscape that can produce dramatic scenes and create experiences of places that reside in our memories. Her paintings are impressionistic to semi-abstract and aim to translate the colours, contrasts, shapes and patterns of her surroundings into the feelings they evoke.

As part of its programme to support and nurture the next generation of artists, the gallery is also running a one-day Young Artists workshop during the Dark Skies Festival. Here, youngsters can flex their creative side with have-a-go art activities based on one of the most famous nocturnes Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.

There’s another band of artists for whom the dark sky is also their muse – the astro and nightscape photographers who like nothing better than to head outdoors after-dark to stand in remote beauty spots or urban streets to capture the sights before them. Away from the gallery, and further proof that people are fascinated by the creativity that a great dark sky can induce, is the popularity of the photography sessions during the festival – whether it’s an evening learning camera skills at Helmsley Walled Garden or using Whitby harbour as the backdrop.

Perhaps then we could all benefit if we take a leaf out of the artist’s book and turn our eyes skywards more often. As Tony Galuidi neatly sums up: “I know it’s a cliché, but we all spend so much time rushing around that we forget, as the Welsh poet WH Davies says, to ‘stand and stare’.”

  • The Dark Skies Festival runs from February 14 to March 1 at venues across the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks as well as the Nidderdale and Howardian Hills Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
  • The Inspired by… gallery’s Until the Stars Come Out exhibition runs from February 15 until March 23.