A NEW art exhibition was launched at Crediton Library with a private viewing and chance to meet the artist at Crediton Library.

The exhibition, titled “Folklore”, is by Bristol-based artist Katie Marland and will be in place until Christmas.

Katie, a fine-art and natural history illustrator, came down to Crediton to install her exhibition personally and is hoping to pop down from time to time to meet people in the library during the next few weeks.

She studied at the Bristol School of Art, Camberwell, and The Royal Drawing School, where she recently completed her Masters.

Katie says: “‘Folklore’ is an ongoing body of work chronicling the mythology and legends found deep in our history. The art is brought to life in stark monochrome on canvas and paper.

“I use my background in natural history illustration to inform the creation of something  uncanny, twisting the ordinary into the preternatural.”

Images range from the biblical cockatrice to the Dartmoor legend of the Hairy Hands and Welsh Mary Llwd hobby horse.

The exhibition has been brought down to Crediton through the library’s ongoing partnership with The Folklore Library and Archive, which is housed in the building.

The Folklore Library and Archive is a donation-funded, volunteer-led organisation dedicated to collecting and preserving folklore materials and making them freely available for the future.

It includes a number of collections of national and international significance and has recently formed a new Special Collection, “The Devonshire Folklore Collection”, which acquires physical items, audio and video material and books and documents relating to Devon’s traditions and customs.

All of the Folklore Library and Archive reference materials can be consulted during normal library opening hours.

Mark Norman, Founding Curator of The Folklore Library and Archive, said: “It has been great to be able to bring Katie’s exhibition down to Crediton to give it a new audience, especially after it has enjoyed a successful run at Bristol City Hall.

“This is another in a series of partnerships between the Folklore Library and Archive and Crediton Library which we hope will be of benefit to the community as well as providing more opportunities to engage with our materials.”

You can view the exhibition during normal library opening hours and Katie has a guestbook in which she hopes that people will leave comments for her.

You can view the work of the Folklore Library and Archive, whose patron is Michael Rosen, online at: www.folklorelibrary.com .

This will also link to its digitised materials, including the Crediton Library Local History archives which it hosts on the library’s behalf.

If you would like any further information about the exhibition or the work of the Folklore Library and Archive, please pop into Crediton Library or email: [email protected] .