Fields to become a huge canvas for Tour de France artwork

Fields of Vision is one of 47 projects chosen from 400 to be part of Yorkshire Festival 2014 which runs for 100 days before the start of the famous bike race.

This bold and imaginative project builds on an idea from the Worth Valley Young Farmers Club.

They are now teamed in a partnership run by Pennine Prospects and made up of individual artists, local arts festivals and the Sports Turf Research Institute.

Seen from the sky or at ground level, Fields of Vision is a series of huge land art installations forming a trail through the stunning South Pennines landscape – the backdrop of day two of the Grand Départ.

“Commissioned artists will interpret the landscape and work with local communities to show the influence of water on life and land.

“Together they will create bold interpretations of these distinct uplands in large, living and vibrant art forms,” said a Penine Prospects spokesman. Local groups, schools and the wider community will be involved in sewing, cutting and weaving designs into a series of fields in the South Pennines during the spring.

Installations include a specially commissioned poem, reproduced at landscape scale, to introduce the trail and a continuous line drawing brought to life by local cyclists. The artwork will be visible to the television viewer, local communities and to people exploring the race route.

Pam Warhurst, chairman of Pennine Prospects, said: “This huge land-art project brings together artists, young farmers, cyclists and the community to sew and weave original designs into the stunning South Pennines landscape.

“The installations will grow and flourish during the festival to really put the South Pennines on the map during the Tour de France.”

Henrietta Duckworth, executive producer of Yorkshire Festival 2014, said: “Yorkshire Festival 2014 is a brand new arts festival over 100 days celebrating the world-class artistic endeavour and imagination of our county’s creative communities.