Health of the Sublime: a new phase

Hot news! First: I am beyond thrilled that The Barn, Banchory will host the Health of the Sublime exhibition 23rd September-24 October, 2026! There will be performances, workshops, open mics and more. Yes, that's next year, but there is much activity and ways to get involved before then!

The Barn was always been my dream venue for this exhibition as their climate-centric, ecologically-minded ethos matches perfectly with a project that maps the lived experience of wellbeing in the natural world through the lens of climate change. Want to be involved? Click an appropriate button below, email, call, wave me down, we are entering a very exciting new phase of the project, with a wildly exciting new partner, as well as our

ongoing brilliant partner Mearns and Coastal Healthy Living Network,

and our funder Creative Scotland.

Ongoing activities:

Embroidery Map Club

Health of the Sublime

Second: Embroidery Map Club is an ongoing get together of folk of all skill levels helping to embroider the textile maps we've made in our map making workshops at The Barn. We will sew these together and perform these outside with stories and poems in our late September 2025 performances. We've been blessed with many beautifyl pieces of embroidery by Mearns and Coastal clubs - now they need attached to the map and more are very welcome! Dates, locations, and times to be revealed very soon.

Embroidery Map Club will meet at various locations in, around, and a little bit outside of Kincardineshire, sometimes during a weekend afternoon, sometimes in the evening. Watch this space for when and where to be announced very soon. The map is to be embroidered with the many words of wellbeing on nature that came out of the map making workshops. If you don't embroider, not to worry, there is some stencil painting to be done too,

and it's fine to show up just for the craic too. You'll improve your embroidery skills, maybe teach some too, meet like-minded community, chat, and contribute to a public art piece to be exhibited at The Barn in September-October 2026.

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We want your stories

Third: We want your stories

Spending time in nature benefits us in many ways, but what is your particular experience? We are seeking stories of your relationship to nature in places you love, your special experiences of beauty in nature, from the awe inspiring, to the daily twitter of birds, to your concerns for the future.

I'm now making appointments to record (sound only) you at your convenience at yours or another quiet place from July through mid-September.

Your story will become part of our interactive map of our experience of wellbeing in nature, where you can share it with your friends and family. If you would like to share your experience, please drop a message to me here. There is no cost, you just need to live in or around Kincardineshire, southern Aberdeenshire, northern Angus. We'll be making audio recordings, not video.

We’re looking for three kinds of audio stories:

1. Narrative: Why do you love nature? Where in nature do you feel wellbeing? That might be here or somewhere far away. What changes have you noticed over time? Have you ever felt emotionally moved or had your breath taken away by a place or natural event? We would love to hear your story that covers many years, or a shorter time.

2. The Sublime List: A spoken list of your experiences in nature that made you feel moved, grateful, full of awe, or swept away.

3. Future: Concerns you may have about how extreme weather might or is effecting the outdoor places you love. What changes have you seen to the landscape and weather of your beloved places in Aberdeenshire, Angus, or further afield?

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Last but not at all least:

Health of the Sublime has partnered with nearby farm Glensaugh, The James Hutton Institute for an exciting new thread of the project called Sunset Soil Song. Stay tuned with how you can get stuck in, learn much more about the soil at yours, help science, and learn about what we put in soil and what that sounds like from a biodiversity perspective.