Last updated 12:50, Friday, 30 May 2008

ART made from wood and art made from words come together in a new exhibition which runs until the end of June.

The exhibition, entitled Touching Wood , at Senhouse Roman Museum, Maryport, features work by poet Angela Locke and wood turner Phil Hetherington, in what might seem a strange collaboration .

Angela explains that she was inspired to write the poem Turning Ash watching Phil carving a bowl from a piece of ash at his workshop at Greenquarries Farm, near Dalston.

The two artists work in different media, but they felt the creative process – whether making things from wood or from words – was similar, and decided to display their work together.

Phil, 26, works in his family business at Greenquarries Farm, but has been working in his spare time as a wood turner for the past 10 years.

He says he did see similarities between his work and Angela’s: “We are both creating something. At the start I’ve just got a lump of wood but by the time I’ve finished I have transformed that wood into something, which is very rewarding.”

Angela, from Mosedale near Penrith, works as a poet, novelist and journalist. She says she hoped the pairing of wood turning and poetry in the exhibition would introduce fans of one art form to the other.

The museum, in The Promenade, is open every day except Mondays and Wednesdays, from 10am-5pm. Admission costs £3 for adults and £1 for children. A family ticket costs £8.