- Charms & Murmurings
- October 3rd - November 22nd
Artists Josie Beszant, Hester Cox and Charlotte Morrison have been collaborating on their ongoing Collections project since 2015, when their first exhibition together was held at Masham Gallery. The project grew from a shared fascination with collecting: the objects, fragments, stories and natural finds that catch their attention and gradually find their way into their work.
Charms and Murmurings is the latest chapter of the Collections project. It began with an invitation from Jennifer Smith at Ryedale Folk Museum, who suggested birds and folklore as a theme, and its first incarnation was shown at the museum in 2025.
It proved a particularly rich subject for the three artists, reflecting things they already collect and return to in their individual practices: feathers, abandoned nests and other traces of bird life, alongside stories, superstitions, folk beliefs and museum objects connected with birds.
For this new incarnation of Charms and Murmurings, the artists return to those collections and continue the conversation. Drawing on personal finds, museum artefacts, folklore and the North Yorkshire landscape, Charlotte Morrison works in ceramics, Hester Cox in printmaking, and Josie Beszant in collage and found objects.
The resulting work moves between the observed and the imagined, the physical things they pick up and keep, and the stories humans have gathered around birds for centuries.
Sunday 11th October 1.30 pm - Meet the artists - the rooms behind Masham Gallery. Come and meet Josie, Hester and Charlotte. There will be a short (45min) chat about the exhibition, its themes and processes and a time to ask questions. FREE but limited room so please email josie@mashamgallery.co.uk to book a place.
Josie Beszant
Josie Beszant
mixed media
For this project Josie Beszant has created headdresses, masks, collages, eggs and feathers that explore our enduring fascination with birds and what they have come to represent.
Drawing on folklore, storytelling, ritual and collected fragments, her work explores the shifting territory between the human and the avian. Birds become carriers of meaning: associated with freedom and transformation, but also with omens, protection, death, migration and the possibility of moving between worlds.
Masks and headdresses suggest becoming bird, while eggs, feathers and found objects are treated almost as charms or relics: things to be gathered, held and invested with story.
At the heart of Josie’s practice is an interest in this liminal space, where the everyday object becomes something more mysterious, and where human stories and the lives of birds briefly meet.
Protector and omen
£395.00
28” x 28" Unframed. Collage, watercolour, ink piece by `Josie Beszant. Owl Woman is a figure of mystery and wisdom, dwelling in the threshold between human and bird, night and dawn. She embodies quiet power, watchfulness, and transformation - her eyes seeing what is hidden, her silence holding knowledge that cannot be spoken. In folklore, the owl is often a guide to other realms, and Owl Woman becomes the keeper of those passages, carrying memory, intuition, and the wisdom of age. She is at once protector and omen, reminding us of the fine line between.
Memento Mori
£595.00
Original collage, gelli print, watercolour and ink piece by Josie Bezant. 28” x 28”. Framed. Pick-up only. This work is a Memento Mori capturing the fleeting, transformative moment often called the petit mort, or “little death.” It exists in a liminal space, a threshold between worlds, where the self dissolves and becomes part of something greater—a place of spiritual release and transcendence. Here, the figure is not separate from nature but fully intertwined with it, accompanied by the watchful presence of birds, the corvid perched upon the shoulder as both guide and omen. Through their eyes, one feels the power of flight, memory, and transformation, a reminder that life, death, and rebirth are bound together in an endless, living cycle.
Hawkeye
£395.00
28” x 28" Unframed original collage & watercolour by `Josie `bezant The kestrel, with its ability to hover in one place while scanning the ground below, has long symbolised vision, patience, and an intimate reading of the land. Like a living compass, it maps the terrain from above, tracing invisible lines of connection between sky and earth. In folklore, the kestrel can be linked to the wisdom of the old woman - keeper of memory and hidden knowledge - who, like the bird, sees patterns others overlook. Together they evoke a sense of orientation: the kestrel charting the land from the air, the old woman charting the stories and maps held in memory, both guiding us through shifting landscapes of place and imagination.
Cuckoo song of mischief
£495.00
Original collage, watercolour and ink piece by Josie Bezant. 28” x 28” Framed. Pick -up only. The cuckoo has long held a place in folklore as a symbol of change, forewarning, and liminality. Its spring call heralds new seasons, fertility, and renewal, yet also carries omens and deception, reflecting its notorious habit of laying eggs in other birds’ nests—a trait that inspired the term “cuckold” and associations with sexual trickery. Across cultures, the cuckoo acts as a messenger between worlds, signalling both growth and disruption, promise and peril, reminding all that life’s gifts are intertwined with cunning, desire, and transformation.
Valkyrie of many faces
£595.00
Original Collage, acrylic, ink piece by Josie Bezant. 28” x 28” Framed. Pick-up only. The Valkyries occupy a liminal position in Norse mythology, moving between the worlds of the living and the dead. On the battlefield they embody death, selecting which warriors will fall, yet their task carries the promise of rebirth: those they claim are borne to Valhalla, where they are nourished with mead and transformed into Odin’s chosen company for the final battle. In this way the Valkyries are both fearsome and life-giving, mediators of destruction and regeneration. Their close association with the raven strengthens this duality. Like the Valkyries, the raven is a creature of death, feeding on corpses, yet it also signifies prophecy, memory, and the endless recycling of life. Together, they reveal a Norse vision in which death is not a finality but a passage into renewed existence.
Hester Cox
Hester Cox
Printmaking
Hester Cox’s work is deeply rooted in ecology, folklore and the seasonal rhythms of the natural world.
For Charms and Murmurings, she draws on her collection of feathers, skulls and other natural finds gathered while fell running and walking through the North Yorkshire landscape. Her work tells the stories of birds she encounters and is particularly drawn to, including curlews, owls and ravens, weaving these experiences together with stories remembered from childhood.
Through collagraph printmaking, Hester explores our enduring fascination with birds: their characteristics and behaviour, the meanings we have given them, and the folk tales, superstitions and ancestral beliefs that continue to surround them. Evidence of this relationship is embedded in our language, place and plant names, and traditions such as counting magpies.
Her boxed pieces bring together depictions of feathers from her collection with plants and artefacts, both real and imagined, creating small worlds that allude to these accumulated stories and beliefs.
Many of the birds Hester depicts are now of conservation concern. By exploring their place in folklore and our cultural imagination, her work also reminds us that when a species disappears, we risk losing not only the bird itself, but part of the landscape, stories and heritage that have grown around it.
Chatterpie
£195.00
Framed collagraph print by Hester Cox. (pick-up only) In Yorkshire magpies have been associated with witches and people would cross themselves when they saw one. Hester has created collagraphs of a magpie’s primary wing feather and an iridescent tail feather and also depicted a rowan cross which were often made as amulets to protect animals and people from witchcraft.
Corbie
£135.00
A variable edition collagraph print by Hester Cox. VE 1/15, paper size 13 ½” x 10 ¼”. Also available framed for £195 (pick-up only). In Norse mythology ravens accompanied the Valkyries on the battlefield and helped to guide slain warriors to Valhalla. Two named Huginn and Muninn (Thought and Memory) acted as messengers to Odin, bringing him news from across the realms. The plant shown in Corbie is bog myrtle which was believed to have been drunk in large quantities by Viking ‘berserkers’ to help drive themselves into a state of frenzy before battle. The silver is a piece of hacksilver that was part of the Vale of York Viking Hoard and that Hester drew as part of a previous project about the treasure.
Ghost Owl
£135.00
A varied edition collagraph print by Hester Cox. VE 2/15, paper size 13 ½” x 10 ¼”. Also available framed for £195 (pick up only). This print was inspired by the tale of Blodeuwedd from the Welsh Mabinogion. A woman was created from flowers by two magicians to provide a beautiful wife for a chieftain who had been cursed to never marry a human woman. She was named Blodeuedd meaning flowers. She fell in love with another man and together they plotted her husband’s death (which he escaped by turning into an eagle). Blodeuedd was punished for her ‘treachery’ by being transformed into an owl condemned to only show her face at night and to frighten away all the other birds. Her name was changed to Blodeuwedd which sounds the same but roughly translates as ‘flower face’ and is an ancient name for owl. The story also inspired Alan Garner to write the Owl Service and his evocative book, and the tv series it inspired, have haunted me since my childhood. In Ghost Owl the pottery sherd shows a design from the plate that Garner referenced in his book and the meadowsweet is one of the nine flowers that was used to create Blodeuwedd.
Yaffle
£135.00
A variable edition collagraph print by Hester Cox. VE 2/15, paper size 13 ½” x 10 ¼”. Also available framed for £195 ( pick up only). The green woodpecker’s call and drumming noise were believed by many cultures to foretell rain and storms. It was also associated with oak trees which were sacred trees to the Druids, the Norse and the Greeks. The silver amulet is a Mjölnir (Thor’s Hammer) with Thor being the god of thunder.
Gowk
£135.00
A variable edition collagraph by Hester Cox. VE 1/15, paper size 13 ½” x 10 ¼”. Also available framed for £195 (pick up only). So much folklore and superstition surround the cuckoo and countless plants are named after them. Gowk explores the association of Cuckoos with male fertility. The plant is arum maculatum also known as cuckoo pint. This name was found in Culpeper’s Herbal and refers to the shape of the spadix with ‘pint’ being a shortened version of pintle, the Old English slang for penis. The pottery sherd has a section of a cradle which formed part of the design depicted on Dutch delftware ‘birth plates’. The cuckoo is a migratory bird that arrives in the UK in mid-April. Cuckoo fairs and festivals all over England took place to celebrate its arrival and the start of summer.
Solstice
£150.00
A variable Edition Collagraph print by Hester Cox. VE 2/30, paper size 14” x 11”. Also Available framed for £215 (pick up only).
Blodeuwedd
£245.00
A limited edition Collagraph print by Hester Cox. Edition12/35, paper size 15 ½” x 20”. Also available framed for £320. This print was inspired by the tale of Blodeuwedd from the Welsh Mabinogion. A woman was created from flowers by two magicians to provide a beautiful wife for a chieftain who had been cursed to never marry a human woman. She was named Blodeuedd meaning flowers. She fell in love with another man and together they plotted her husband’s death (which he escaped by turning into an eagle). Blodeuedd was punished for her ‘treachery’ by being transformed into an owl condemned to only show her face at night and to frighten away all the other birds. Her name was changed to Blodeuwedd which sounds the same but roughly translates as ‘flower face’ and is an ancient name for owl. The story also inspired Alan Garner to write the Owl Service and his evocative book, and the tv series it inspired, have haunted me since my childhood.
Whaup
£245.00
Collagraph by Hester Cox. Variable Edition 2/25, paper size 23 ¾” x 16”. Available framed for £355 (framed version is pick-up only). Curlews, particularly their calls, have often been considered the bearers of bad tidings. Across the UK various communities believed that the sound of the birds flying at night, probably during migration, were spirits that foretold of a calamity or a death in the family. They were sometimes known as the Seven Whistlers. I find this in direct opposition to my own feelings of joy at hearing the first curlew returning to the Dales in February signifying to me that spring is coming. With consideration to their status as critically endangered, I have chosen to represent this duality in my collagraph Whaup, this is the old Scottish name for the curlew.
Thought and Memory
£275.00
Collagraph print by Hester Cox. Variable Edition 8/25, Paper size 25 ½” x 17 ¼”. Also available framed for £395 (framed version is pick up only). In Norse mythology ravens accompanied the Valkyries on the battlefield and helped to guide slain warriors to Valhalla. Two named Huginn and Muninn (Thought and Memory) acted as messengers to Odin, bringing him news from across the realms. Hester's collagraph, Thought and Memory, depicts Huginnwith ash tree branches and moths to symbolise the real world and intelligence/thoughts. Hester has used tree roots and fossils for Muninn to symbolise the realm of the past/dead and memories. It also connects the ravens to Yggdrasil, the sacred ash tree of Norse mythology. O'er Mithgarth Hugin and Munin both Each day set forth to fly; For Hugin I fear lest he come not home, But for Munin my care is more.
Summer is Icumen In
£295.00
A beautiful collagraph print by Hester Cox. Variable Edition 2/20, Paper Size 22 ½” x 16 ¼”. Also available framed for £375 (pick up only). So much folklore and superstition surround the cuckoo and countless plants are named after them. The cuckoo is a migratory bird that arrives in the UK in mid-April. Cuckoo fairs and festivals all over England took place to celebrate its arrival and the start of summer. Sumer is Icumen In takes its title from a medieval English round which roughly translates as ‘summer has come’. The plants illustrated are ragged robin and lady’s smock, both also known as cuckoo flower.
Charlotte Morrison
Charlotte Morrison
Ceramics
Charlotte Morrison is a ceramicist based in Bedale, North Yorkshire, who predominantly hand-builds her work.
For Charms and Murmurings, she has created a collection of stoneware ceramic shrines and porcelain wall plates exploring the folklore and stories surrounding some of Britain’s most familiar birds: tales of mystery, luck, healing and ill omen that have long inhabited our cultural imagination.
Her individual pieces reimagine these old stories through hand-painted scenes, with forms and decoration that echo medieval and Arts and Crafts traditions.
Running through the work is a personal thread: a lifelong love of nature, collecting and the study of natural specimens. Her ceramics become vessels for old stories, but also a celebration of the beauty, strangeness and mystery of the natural world.
Long-Tailed Tit Small Nest Bowl
£40.00
A small Long-tailed tit nest bowl made by Charlotte Morrison, (boxed). H. 3.5 x D. 8.5cm
Robin - Small Nest Bowl
£40.00
A small robin nest bowl made by Charlotte Morrison, (boxed). H. 3.5 x D. 8.5cm
Dunnock - Small Nest Bowl
£40.00
A small dunnock nest bowl made by Charlotte Morrison, (boxed). H. 3.5 x D. 8.5cm
Blackbird - Small Nest Bowl
£40.00
A small blackbird nest bowl made by Charlotte Morrison, (boxed). H. 3.5 x D. 8.5cm
Wren – Small Nest Bowl
£40.00
A small wren nest bowl made by Charlotte Morrison, (boxed). H. 3.5 x D. 8.5cm
Crow – Large Wall Shrine
£190.00
Large ceramic wall shrine by Charlotte Morrison. H.22.5cm x W.15.5cm x D.4.5 cm. One of a collection exploring birds long associated in British folklore with ill omen.
Migration of the Cuckoo – Large Wall Shrine
£190.00
Large ceramic wall shrine by Charlotte Morrison. H.22.5cm x W.15.5cm.
Migration of the Barnacle Goose – Large Wall Shrine
£190.00
Large ceramic wall shrine by Charlotte Morrison. H.22.5cm x W.15.5cm. For centuries, the mysterious disappearance of barnacle geese each summer led to some extraordinary beliefs. They were said to hatch from barnacles, grow on driftwood or even hang from trees over the sea. Because they were thought to come from the water rather than from eggs, they were sometimes classed as fish and eaten during Lent.
Wigeon - 7 Whistlers Wall Plate
£150.00
Ceramic wall plate by Charlotte Morrison. 27.5cm Diameter. Across the British Isles, folklore tells of the Seven Whistlers - birds whose eerie cries were said to warn of approaching storms, death & disaster. Their voices were unsettling to those who heard them. These wall plates draw on that legend, portraying the seven species most often linked with the tale: Curlew, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Swift, Oystercatcher, Whimbrel, and Wigeon. They are a reminder of how deeply birdsong is woven into myth, memory, and the human imagination.
Whimbrel - 7 Whistlers Wall Plate
£150.00
Ceramic wall plate by Charlotte Morrison. 27.5cm Diameter. Across the British Isles, folklore tells of the Seven Whistlers - birds whose eerie cries were said to warn of approaching storms, death & disaster. Their voices were unsettling to those who heard them. These wall plates draw on that legend, portraying the seven species most often linked with the tale: Curlew, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Swift, Oystercatcher, Whimbrel, and Wigeon. They are a reminder of how deeply birdsong is woven into myth, memory, and the human imagination.
Oystercatcher - 7 Whistlers Wall Plate
£150.00
Ceramic wall plate by Charlotte Morrison. 27.5cm Diameter. Across the British Isles, folklore tells of the Seven Whistlers - birds whose eerie cries were said to warn of approaching storms, death & disaster. Their voices were unsettling to those who heard them. These wall plates draw on that legend, portraying the seven species most often linked with the tale: Curlew, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Swift, Oystercatcher, Whimbrel, and Wigeon. They are a reminder of how deeply birdsong is woven into myth, memory, and the human imagination.
Swifts - 7 Whistlers Wall Plate
£150.00
Ceramic wall plate by Charlotte Morrison. 27.5cm Diameter. Across the British Isles, folklore tells of the Seven Whistlers - birds whose eerie cries were said to warn of approaching storms, death & disaster. Their voices were unsettling to those who heard them. These wall plates draw on that legend, portraying the seven species most often linked with the tale: Curlew, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Swift, Oystercatcher, Whimbrel, and Wigeon. They are a reminder of how deeply birdsong is woven into myth, memory, and the human imagination.