An Old Royal High Herbarium

"Do these weeds
Know me and name me to each other have they
Seen me before do I fit in their world?"
from Wodwo by Ted Hughes

Together with our national poet, Scottish Makar Kathleen Jamie, artist Brigid
Collins and gardener Claudia Pottier, take a moment to notice the many,
varied, ubiquitous and often very beautiful ‘weeds’ that populate the site of the iconic Old Royal High School building. The building is a national treasure,
once almost forgotten but presently on the cusp of taking on a new role. Let’s explore its wild plants as they too enjoy a change of attitude, from neglected and liminal to becoming a part of something that is treasured and central to the cultural life of this city. We’ll take a walk around the site that encourages us to ‘drop-down’ – a way of looking closely that allow us to encounter each individual plant - before responding, through words and drawings, being guided by Kathleen Jamie and Brigid Collins in creating ‘pages’ for a unique Old Royal High Herbarium book.

As Collins ponders how, in; civilised; society, weeds are something with which we have an often-contentious relationship and which we tend to view as needing to be eradicated, we will offer them our close attention and give them both authority and a voice by transforming the disregarded, humble, even denigrated into something that is noticed, treasured, even loved...

"for the moment if I sit still how everything
stops to watch me I suppose I am the exact centre
but there's all this what is it roots
roots roots roots and here's the water
again very queer but I'll go on looking"
from Wodwo by Ted Hughes

Poet Alice Oswald’s contention that ‘flowers are recognisably ourselves elsewhere‘ leads the names given to plants to summon up the flora of the psyche and on a second walk, gardener Claudia Pottier will augment what we’re uncovering with the close attention of a plantswoman who, through her tender care, allows plants of all categories to co-exist and thrive. The individual ‘pages’ that we make as a result of our shared journey will be
compiled into An Old Royal High Herbarium a collective concertina book,
becoming a unique record of this moment in time in this special place…

"When they tremble, it's as though each knows its own species of bliss.
Our time is now, they insist, our brief brave bid for futurity."

from Midsummer grasses by Kathleen Jamie

Includes all materials.

While no particular skill in either walking, writing, drawing or gardening will be required for this event, a

desire to spend some time outside and to pay close attention is essential.