AN experimental art installation goes on show in the Lake District tomorrow, featuring paintings, collages and a display of climate change science by Cumbrian artist Lionel Playford and Prof John Woodward of Northumbria University.

Peat Matters: Art, Climate Science and the Weather sees the pair take up residency in the Coach House Loft at Brantwood, in Coniston, until the end of September, with the exhibition supplemented by a series of talks. 

The works on display arose from a residency at Northumbria University in 2013-2014 funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

The art installation consists of a scientific peat coring rod suspended from the ceiling and hovering over a microscope image of an ancient pollen grain found in a Cumbrian peat core by scientists from the university researching past climates. The core rod will have attached to it 50 handmade papers made from moorland grasses and mosses found at Wolf Crag Moss near Keswick. 

The exhibition will also contain drawings made on the peat moorlands of the North Pennines and circular collage paintings based on the landscape of and scientific research at Wolf Crag Moss. In addition there will be a display explaining the science behind this branch of climate change research showing how the artist and the scientists collaborated on the residency.

Guided walks and talks, including drawing workshops and a Q&A, take place at Brantwood on Friday August 14 and 28, and as part of Playford's residency, between August 12 and 17, he will follow in the footsteps of John Ruskin in making outdoor sketches of the landscape and its weather, involving the use of natural materials combined with watercolour on large rag papers.

Peat Matters is on display in the Coach House Loft at Brantwood, daily from 10.30am until 5pm. Admission is included in the house or garden ticket.