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Time spent on a sunny afternoon on the hills above Inchree, searching for Corrychurachan

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An afternoon listening to stories with Ms Morag Mackintosh

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Fort William Memories Alistair Ness

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Nether Lochaber Hotel from Fort William Memories recoloured by Marie Nolan

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Possibly run rig farming, now better known for the glorious bluebells

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HMS Majestic - a dreadnought commissioned in 1895.

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Ballachulish Goddess is a figure carved from alder wood and with quartz stones for eyes, from the iron age found in 1880 in a bog called Ballachulish Moss. This figure stands around five feet high and it is believed she was to protect prehistoric travellers crossing the dangerous straights, or a fertility symbol or possibly to commemorate an important female who had died.

As part of Brìgh: Stories in Stone, St Brides Primary School were invited to take part in a workshop with artist Ali and Lucy, the Wild Cooke, combining foraging with printmaking around the site of where the Ballachulish Goddess was found close to the school. Participants gathered interesting natural objects from around the site and if these were edible, they were able to taste some. Back at the school these collections were used to create individual artworks using cyanotype which uses natural UV light to expose an image onto light sensitive paper. Ali had also prepared a full scale Ballachulish Goddess image on a large sheet of watercolour paper and the leaves, grasses, twigs, needles and even some chanterelle mushrooms were used to create this artwork.

Searching for the Ballachulish Goddess has been an important part of the ‘living archive’ project Ali is working on for the Nether Lochaber Community Association. Exploring places of significance gaining a better understanding of habitat while creating engaging art projects is part of Ali’s practice. Ali and Lucy had such an enjoyable afternoon with St Brides Primary School P4-7, thank you for having them along.

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Foraging at the site of Ballachulish Goddess

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Foraging at the site of Ballachulish Goddess

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Exploring the environment around the school close to Bishop’s Bay with Lucy Cooke, the Wild Cooke and Ali Berardelli, artist for Brìgh: Stories in Stone where primary school children from St Brides were invited to learn more about the ancient iron age Ballachulish Goddess and explore the site where this figure was found. Looking at the flora within the proximity allowed for participants to gather natural objects and taste edible plants. There were many tastes explored, from the orange taste of fir needles which reminded everyone of Christmas time, the sharp taste of Common Sorrel, an abundant leaf which tastes like a Granny Smith apple and the very bitter taste of plantain found all over the location. Understanding the types of edible and inedible plants was a great way to get to know the environment better. Docken leaves were also plaited and the usefulness against nettle stings was discussed. The natural objects found were used in a printmaking task back at the school, commemorating the experience and learning an interesting technique of cyanotype printmaking.

Lucy and Ali spent a very informative and creative afternoon with P4-7 St Brides Primary School, thank you so much for taking part in Brìgh: Stories in Stone.

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The Ballachulish Goddess has become an important aspect of the research Ali is doing into the history and culture of Nether Lochaber and after working with the pupils from St Brides Primary to create a full scale cyanotype printed Ballachulish Goddess Ali took a trip to Edinburgh to the National Museum of Scotland to meet the Goddess.

She is to be found in the Early People Gallery of the museum, a place of treasures, artefacts and hoards found from all over Scotland. A map accompanies each exhibit of its origin. Imposing at the end of a short corridor and housed within a concave partition is a glass fronted display, the Ballachulish Goddess resides, secured by a woven oak branch sculpture by the British land artist, Andy Goldsworthy created in 1998. Ali has said;

"I had just come from the National Galleries of Scotland where the retrospective of 50 years of Andy Goldsworthy’s land based art occupies several floors within the gallery and to find the Goddess in amongst one of his sculptural pieces was really exciting. What a resting place. She has presence and poise, although warped from her time being removed from the bog and drying out in the late 1800s she retains the unique features, of hands close to her belly, quartz pieces for eyes. Having studied her form from books and online I was able to see how she has altered after being discovered. I thought about our Goddess, made with the pupils from St Brides, the concept of creating a piece in her honour based on the land from where she was found. Her presence is intact, this hugely important symbol from an ancient time taking centre stage in our national museum. I left feeling a real connection to place, her place in Ballachulish Moss, Nether Lochaber. To create art pieces based on this along with others from the community allows a deeper connection with the land where she came from.”