Photo sharing with Fife Museums Forum

A guest post by Claire Robinson, Fife Museums Forum

How can museums share their collections with as many people as possible without access to much-needed financial resources or staff time? This was the exciting challenge faced by a steering group within the Fife Museums Forum, a collaborative network for museum professionals working in museums across Fife, charged with the task of publicising member museums and their diverse collections.

Following the example of leading museums, including National Museums Scotland and the V&A, we decided to reach out to museum audiences by embarking on a project to create a Flickr photo-sharing group for the Fife Museums Forum.

At the outset of the project, we were aware that members of the Forum had very varied levels of experience of photography and using social media. In order to ensure the success of the project, we would have to provide some form of training and support on both counts.

We got in contact with Megan Combe, National Partnerships Officer at National Museums Scotland, who very kindly offered to arrange a workshop on ‘Studio Photography for Social Media’ as part of the Knowledge Exchange programme. As part of their Responsive programme, the workshop would be in partnership with the Fife Museums Forum, but open to anyone outwith the Forum who had a real need for the course.

On 27 September representatives from museums across Fife, from Dunfermline to St Andrews, left the Kingdom and travelled to Edinburgh ready to be let loose on the world of social media and photography!

In preparation for the afternoon training session, Megan had asked attendees to dust off their cameras and practise their photography skills by taking a few shots of museum objects. Armed with cameras and a lot of enthusiasm, representatives from the Forum thought that it would be a good idea to combine our ‘homework’ with a visit to the newly-redeveloped National Museum of Scotland. We enjoyed exploring the galleries and taking photographs of some of the fascinating objects on display (and even had time to sample one of the National Museum’s new cafés)!

A quick group shot before heading inside to explore the National Museum of Scotland. Representatives from member museums of the Fife Museums Forum: the Carnegie Birthplace Museum, Dunfermline; Kirkcaldy Museum, Fife Council, Kirkcaldy; Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther; Museum Collections Unit, University of St Andrews, St Andrews; and the British Golf Museum, St Andrews.

A small selection of some of the photographs taken by the Fife Museums Forum.

After travelling to the National Museums Collections Centre at Granton, we joined colleagues from Verdant Works, Dundee and East Lothian Council Museums. Megan Combe then introduced us to Elaine Macintyre, Digital Media Content Manager, and Neil McLean, Photography Manager, who were to lead the afternoon session.

They shared with us some handy tips on museum photography and digitisation, including lighting and camera techniques. We also learned about online photo applications and some good examples of photo-sharing projects. In response to some of our member’s concerns about the possible loss of rights over images published online, Neil and Elaine gave some very useful advice about the management and use of digital images in social media. This was followed by a very informal discussion session where attendees could ‘ask the experts’ any questions that they had about digital photography and social media.

We also had the very exciting opportunity to see ‘behind the scenes’ in the Photography Studio at the Collections Centre. Neil gave us some very helpful and honest feedback on how we could have improved some of the digital photographs (of varying quality!) that we had taken in the Museum earlier that day. It was also very useful to find out how to take good quality photographs of museum objects without having a professional photographer’s studio and using inexpensive materials, such as large rolls of coloured paper and table lamps.

Photography studio at the National Museums Collections Centre at Granton.

Photography studio at the National Museums Collections Centre at Granton.

As a result of the Knowledge Exchange training session on ‘Photography for Social Media’, representatives from our member museums have been provided with the knowledge, skills and confidence to both participate in and take forward the Fife Museums Forum Flickr photo-sharing project. Since the Knowledge Exchange training session, members of the Fife Museums Forum have been avidly taking lots of snaps of their museums’ collections to include on the Flickr page. Equally importantly, our visit to National Museums Scotland and the Knowledge Exchange training session provided representatives of the Forum with a great opportunity to meet with and share experiences with museum colleagues from across Scotland. It was a great day out!

We would all like to thank the National Partnerships, Digital Media and Photography teams at National Museums Scotland for all their support and assistance with this project.

You can view the forum’s efforts at their new flickr group www.flickr.com/photos/fifemuseumsforum.

 

Coleopterology to Couture Part 2: the creations take shape!

By Clare McIntyre, Department Administrator, Collections Management

Back in October, Fashion, Textile and Costume students from Edinburgh College of Art visited our entomology store at the collections centre, where they were encouraged to study, photograph and touch the insects.

Here’s a link to the original article.

Butterflies in the National Museums Collection Centre.

A few months on I’ve had the opportunity to see some of the finished art work and to chat about how the stunning designs developed from their initial inspiration.

The group that I visited were third year textiles students. Their project was to design a length of textile based on their observations.  In addition they were to team up with the fashion students to produce fabric for a full garment.  These designs had to be different, but complimentary and form a neat collection.

An example of the insect-inspired prints.

The lengths of textiles were exhibited at the college, as a display of stunning, shimmering, colourful fabrics which have been simply and elegantly hung and draped across mannequins.

The finished outfits from the student collaboration will be shown as part of a fashion show in May, but I was allowed a sneaky peek into the print studio to get an idea of what was being created.

Here are a few examples of the work along with some info and technical tips that the students described to me.

Claire Bryan with her design created using flocking.

Claire’s piece was based on the vein patterns and segments of butterfly wings.  She created it by painting flock sheet with coloured dyes.  The flock is added to the fabric by screen printing glue onto the silk in the shape of the design.  The glue is allowed to dry and then the flock is laid on top.  The whole thing is pressed in a heated press, then the flock sheet is peeled away, it will only stick to the glued area creating the pattern.  The use of the flock against the silk was based on the feel of the insects, as flock has a slightly rough, furry feel which is similar to some of the beetles and also represents the scaly quality of the butterfly wings.

Claire finished the piece with gold thread and hot fix crystals inspired by the jewel beetles from the collection.

Liucija Dervinyte and Nicola Lynch with their designs.

Liucija and Nicolas designs.

Nicola was influenced by the colours, the green, blues and blacks of the beetles.  The design was created using a technique called discharging. The white length of fabric was dyed with the rich jewel colours and then a bleach-like substance is applied which partially removes the dye, allowing the subtle pattern to be created.  At the bottom there is some dense beading reflecting the shapes and scaly qualities of the edges of the butterfly wings.

Liulij’s design was influenced by the transparency of butterfly wings, and their structure.  Some butterflies use interference colouring, which shimmers in different shades of blue as it reflects the sky and camouflages them as they fly. This fed into the choice of colour and texture in the design.  The darker parts have been printed with pigment, which gives them a heavy, more starched quality that contrasts with the lightweight silky, pale blue parts of the design.

Katie Watson and Kristina Lane.

Katie and Kristinas designs.

Katie was interested in the structure of butterfly wings and how they connect. Her design changes perspective to work with draping of the fabric. The material was dip-dyed and has then been printed with a technique called colour discharge. This technique works in a similar way to hair dye, as it bleaches the base colour and adds a new shade, The colour reacts differently to the different types of dye already on the fabric, creating the variety of shades.

Christina used two techniques: foil, which is similar to flocking but using a metallic foil; and Shiburi, which is a Chinese-based technique similar to tie-dying.  The fabric is pleated and folded before being put in the dye, which means the material soaks up different quantities creating patterns with light and shade.  Christina’s method is unusual because the foil was applied first and the Shiburi second; it was then heat set which added all the texture and crinkling, representing the translucent veined quality of insect wings.

Jamie Bruce with his blue quilted design.

Jamie combined butterflies and space…  He said that when he saw some of the specimens they reminded him of pictures of space so he’s incorporated both into his design. The colours are inspired by the jewel beetles, and he then added quilting and embroidery to provide further structure and texture.  For his collaboration he’s working on a piece that uses flashes of very vibrant colour, which is similar to a butterfly using colour to warn of predators as a defence mechanism.

Coral Higgins with her textured pigment print.

Coral created this amazing design based on tiger moths by adding pigment to velvet.  Normally this would be something to be avoided at all costs as it makes the velvet clump and become rough, but it was perfect for this design as it mimicked the feel of some of the beetles in the collection.

This was an unusual project for the students as they all visited the Entomology store together as a group.  They said that the explanations and anecdotes of Richard Lyszkowski (the Assistant Curator of Entomology) , were as inspiring as seeing the real specimens.  I asked if their research could have been done using the internet or books, but they said it was important that they were able to see the size of the insects and to get the close up view through a microscope of the scales and to touch the specimens, as this really added an extra dimension to their work and their ideas.

Students at work in the studio preparing garments for the fashion show.

Students at work in the studio preparing garments for the fashion show.

Students at work in the studio preparing garments for the fashion show.

Lindy Richardson their tutor said that it’s also been different to have mixed art disciplines working together, and that the students have found it really beneficial.  They’ve had to compromise and adapt or try new techniques, which has pushed them creatively.  It’s also a more realistic taste of how the industry would work on projects.

I was extremely impressed by their work and really chuffed that we had been able to inspire them. I previously wondered if they could have been as inventive as nature and years of evolution, and I have to say they’re not far off!

I’m hoping to get the opportunity to attend the fashion show in May and see the final outfits, so watch this space…

Designs and fabrics for one of the final garments.

 

From Stornoway with love

A guest post by Ashley Ferrier and Isabel Maclachlan, Museum nan Eilean

Under our National Partnerships Strategy (2006-2011) we developed four strategic partnerships. These relationships have benefitted National Museums Scotland and all partners to build confidence around lending, exhibitions and sharing skills, as well as informing future models for working in partnership across the museum sector in Scotland.

In December we were joined by two colleagues, Ashley Ferrier and Isabel Maclachlan from Museum nan Eilean in Stornoway as part of our ongoing support and in preparation for the Lewis Chessmen tour to Stornoway in April. Unfortunately with the unexpected arrival of the big freeze things didn’t go quite as smoothly as we’d hoped! Here Ashley tells us about the setbacks and unanticipated successes of the trip:

Being mainly front-of-house, Isabel and I are very rarely released from behind our desks in the galleries of Museum nan Eilean, Stornoway. However, on 30 November we broke free and headed to Stornoway airport, bound for a one day course on Object Handling at National Museums Scotland as part of the Knowledge Exchange Programme…. except our flight was cancelled due to snow in Edinburgh.  ‘How bad can it really be?” we wondered as we headed back to our desks.

VERY bad. Over the next five days our flights were re-booked, cancelled, re-booked, cancelled many times but finally an opportunity presented itself and we were able to land in Edinburgh, all set for some intense training (and a bit of light Christmas shopping)*.

Although the original course had been snowed off the day before, Megan Combe, National Partnerships Officer at National Museums Scotland, made a heroic effort to ensure that our time in Edinburgh wouldn’t be wasted and that we would be able to visit the National Museums Collections Centre in Granton to have condensed training with members of the Collections Care team.

However, with the weather still conspiring against us and Edinburgh’s roads and transport network ground to an unprecedented halt, the trip to Granton was inevitably cancelled. Undeterred, Megan made another round of phone calls and arranged for us to meet a number of staff members who were able to advise us on a variety of things.

It was great to be behind the scenes at National Museums Scotland and to finally meet people that we’ve emailed or spoken to on the phone over recent months. With the upcoming tour of the Lewis Chessmen arriving at Museum nan Eilean in April we had a lot of questions to ask about environmental conditions, treasure trove, loan conditions, marketing and facilities reports, amongst others, but we left reassured and feeling very knowledgeable!

In advance of the Chessmen tour we needed to decant one of our galleries and so it was great to spend time with Sarah Brown, Collections Care Officer,  who shared her expertise on the latest techniques and best practices of handling and packing a variety of artefacts. More importantly, Sarah instructed us in the fine art of making a variety of doughnuts and sausage shapes with acid-free tissue paper!

Sarah demonstrates techniques for packing textiles.

Isabel creates a tissue sausage.

We were able to put into practice what Sarah had taught us as we decanted our upper gallery over January and February, with the help of our colleague Caitriona Maccuish (who was able to use the guidance material from Sarah) and some National Museums Scotland supermen Stuart and Stevie, who made the long journey north in January to pass on their case building expertise (“just gi’e it a guid dunt”).

Ashley and Sarah discuss decant options.

Having the training with the National Museums in Edinburgh made a huge difference to how we approached the decant and we were a lot more confident when handling artefacts, particularly the textiles, because of it.

Without exception all the staff we met were welcoming and generous with their time and advice – and both Isabel and I really appreciated the chance to meet everyone in person. We were disappointed not to make it to the Collections Centre as it sounds amazing but maybe next time!

Many thanks to Megan who went out of her way to make sure that we got as much out our trip as possible, despite the very trying circumstances (not only the snow but transport problems, power cuts and the lack of heating!).  She even baked cakes for us!

* We didn’t get any Christmas shopping done because the shops closed early due to the snow. Thankfully however, not even the snow could prevent the determined duo from their bottle of ‘warming’ Prosecco in the Dome!

Back at Museum nan Eilean, Ashley demonstrates the textile packing techniques she learned from Sarah.

Isabel demonstrates her tissue puff making skills.

 

Collections Care: Diary of some precise, dedicated, serial tissue puff makers

By Laura Walsh, Collections Care Assistant

What do we do in Collections Care? Our purpose is looking after the Museum collections. This is no small feat:  the collection amounts to over 3.5 million objects. To pack and move one of these objects can take a whole day at times, so imagine having to pack and move a whole gallery or a particular room in one of our storage centres!

In our responsibility for moving and handling objects, we must pack some of our most priceless collections, taking objects to and from the Photography and Conservation departments and moving them from site to site. In doing this we need to make sure the object is packed correctly for transportation, which is where particular techniques of packing come into play. Over the last six months, I’d estimate:

Tissue sausages* made = 4,567

Boxes and trays packed = 5,930

Wedges made = 6,003

Tissue puffs** made = 40,012

Tissue puffs consumed (!) = 2

* Tissue sausages – A piece of acid-free tissue folded like a concertina, with flat tissue wrapped around it, so the folded tissue doesn’t rub against the objects.

** Tissue puffs – A piece/couple of pieces of acid free tissues, rolled/scrunched around the edges into a circular cushion/puff/pillow object, then rolled so that the scrunched edges are not touching the object.

Part of our collection: a Korean drum.

To give an example, one of our team packed this drum recently. This is an essential instrument in a Korean shaman ritual, leading the rhythm of these proceedings. As you can see it has many elements to it, including a drum beater wrapped in red nylon and orange string with delicate blue fastenings. It has to be packaged to meet its own individual needs – what materials has it been made with? Where is it going? How is it getting there? Will it stay in its packaging for a long time? What packing materials would be best suited to hold this object?

Box made for the Korean drum.

The solution was to make it its own box from scratch. It has many elements to it that allows the object to be put away, stored, and taken out safely.

The drum packed away in its box.

This is just one of the many objects that we pack in one day. Thank goodness there are nine of us! Look out for more blog posts about objects we have packed…

 

Life in the freezer

By Catherine Haworth, Preventive Conservation Officer

My official job title is Preventive Conservation Officer, but my friends call me the Bug Lady. That’s because one of the things I’m responsible for is all the insect traps in the museum. It’s my job to go round and check them once every three months to see if there are any insects.

Catherine looking at a trap with a clothes moth.

So what am I looking for? My public enemy number one is the clothes moth. You can see one on the trap above. You may have seen them in your home too. They’re small (less than 1cm in length), and golden coloured. They will eat your clothes, as the name suggests, but may also eat your carpets. Unfortunately, unlike some other moths, they don’t fly to the light; in fact they prefer the dark. This means that your wardrobe, or a museum store cupboard, is an ideal home for them.

Another thing we have to look out for is woodworm, which is in fact a beetle, called furniture beetle. It’s the larvae that do the damage as they munch their way through wooden objects. Then when they’ve pupated into adults they leave the wood and we see the characteristic holes which they fly out of.

A dead furniture beetle.

What can we do? If we find an infested object then we put it in our big freezer. Three days at -30°C kills any eggs, larvae and adult insects. But we have to wrap everything in plastic first to protect it from changes in humidity.

The walk in freezer at the National Museums Collection Centre.

Once an object has been treated we can’t put it back until the place it came from has been made pest free. We usually do this by cleaning. Then we continue to monitor and keep our eyes peeled for further unwanted visitors.

 

An A-Z of work experience

A guest post by work experience student Catriona Murray, Dalkeith High School

1. artefacts
2. bugs!!!
3. coffee, conversations, computers, chocolate
4. department meetings, disposals, DATABASES
5. early, like I was every morning!
6. future job ideas
7. good working environment
8. HISTORY!
9. inside view on how the museum works
10. JOKES… lots of them!
11. Knights… suit of armour in Granton stores
12. loans, lighthouses, larva
13. motorcars, moths, MILLIONS of objects
14. NMS, NFA
15. overall a good experience
16. photography, ploughs
17. questions
18. restoring, reading, researching
19. stores, spreadsheets, Starbucks… aah
20. terminology… time to go home!
21. ugly man costume… unusual
22. very different from school
23. work experience week
24. X.FC 8  ( Hunterston brooch )
25. yawn (on my way home from a day’s work)
26. zoology (stuffed elephant)

To sum up my week I’ve had a fantastic experience and I have learnt so much over the small period of time I spent with Collections Management. Everyone has been extremely welcoming and lovely to work with. I have many favourite parts of the week but the bit I enjoyed the most has to be my day down at the National Collection Centre in Granton. I loved being able to see some of the artefacts in the stores and being able to take pictures of some of the objects. I appreciate all that National Museums Scotland has done for letting me take this work experience placement, thank you all so much!

Catriona comes face to face with a suit of armour in the National Museums Collection Centre.

Admiring the cars at the National Museums Collection Centre.

Surrounded by bikes at the Collection Centre.

Helping out in the photography studio.

You can find out more about work experience at National Museums Scotland here.

 

Coleopterology to Couture… or inspirational insects

By Clare McIntyre, Department Administrator, Collections Management

Recently, Costume, Fashion and Textiles students from Edinburgh College of Art have been visiting the Collections Centre to study our insect collections.

This has been a collaboration between Edinburgh Art College,  Scott Neil in Learning and Programmes, Richard Lyszkowski, the Assistant Curator of Entomology, and myself in Collections Management.

Twenty-seven budding Alexander McQueens have spent time swarming over the Entomology collections, with a further 19 still due to visit. The array of colours, shapes and patterns in the insect world are perfect for inspiring designs, especially when combined with Richard’s fascinating facts and anecdotes about insect behaviour.

Students photographing insects at the Collections Centre.

Sketching butterflies from our collection.

We have around two million specimens, from beautiful delicate butterflies to spider-hunting wasps. We’ve recently invested in improved storage for the collection with financial help from the Pelham Clinton fund, and it’s been great to use the new facilities to enable people to see one of the most spectacular collections in the museum.

Spider-hunting wasp.

I’ve helped to facilitate the sessions and have really enjoyed looking at the collection in greater detail. Richard has been brilliant at explaining the differences between species and the survival methods they use.

Sketching butterflies.

I’ve found myself fascinated by beetle wings. They operate on a hydraulic system, where the beetle pumps fluid into the veins of the wing to expand them ready for flight, then drains and intricately folds them up, to tuck into the protective wing casings. All this takes place in an instant, so this power of transformation could be applied to anything from carnival costumes to hi-tech tents and soft-top cars.

Beetles from our collection.

My other favourite insect innovation involves lycaenid butterflies – they include our hairstreak butterflies. The floaty tail pieces on their wings means that when they land on plants and fold their wings back, their rear-end mimics the shape of the antenna on their head, tricking any predators into attacking the wrong end.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the creations that the art students develop as a result of their visit. But I do wonder if the human imagination will prove as creative as natural selection…

 

Teacup, Tea cup or Cup, tea?

By Jo Macrae, Collections Management Assistant

Teacup – Tea cup – Cup, tea:  Same difference, right?

Wrong!

Every museum needs a friendly pedant (or two!) to keep their terminology in line and earlier this month I organised a workshop to help colleagues across Scotland, all members of the Scottish Collections Managers Forum, to do just that.  The Forum is a skills sharing network for those of us in the museum business who care for and document the nation’s many and varied collections.  We usually meet twice a year, but this was our first formal training event and we were very pleased to welcome Dave Forster of ADLiB Information Systems to deliver the training.

Now, it takes a special kind of person to really care what you call a teacup, but I’ve already let the cat out of the bag, I’m a pedant and there are those of us out there who know that it really does matter!  You see, computers aren’t half as clever as they think they are, and they don’t understand that ‘teacup’, ‘tea cup’ and ‘cup, tea’ all mean the same thing.

Even if you’re not working in a computer based database, being consistent in how you record information like object names, categories, materials (and the list goes on) makes all the difference when you’re trying to retrieve information.  If you are lucky enough to have an all singing, all dancing database then you can also create relationships between your terms.  This can help account for different spellings and help to group related terms together.  For instance, having all the different types of metal like copper and iron and lead grouped together under ‘metal’ means that you can find everything that has metal in it without searching for each type individually.

A big thank you goes to Megan Combe, National Partnerships Officer, who helped me with the organising and The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh who provided a free venue.  Last but not least to Dave, who made a potentially mind-bending (and, OK, I’ll admit it, maybe slightly dry) topic understandable and engaging.

So, spare a thought for me and my colleagues who have 124,673 object names to check and standardise, before moving on to 67,481 place names, 8,007 material terms…  It’s ok, we relish a challenge!

Miniature tea set of painted fish bones, consisting of teapot, sugar basin, cream jug and two teacups, made by a German prisoner of war while convalescing in the North Hospital Block, Edinburgh Castle, during the First World War.

 

The Chessmen’s Travels

By Lyn Wall, Loans Manager at National Museums Scotland

What exactly goes on behind the scenes of a project like the touring Chessmen exhibition?  There are many teams in many departments working hard to make sure the exhibition is of the highest quality in terms of design, activities, publications, choosing what objects will be on display and what is written about them.  Here in the Loans section we have the job of making sure that everything is in place both at National Museums Scotland and at the receiving venue to ensure the objects are safe and well cared for once they start their journey on tour. For the chessmen, this involves liaising with venues in Aberdeen, Shetland and Stornoway.

Lewis Chessmen Berserker, King and Warder from National Museums Scotland

When a venue asks to borrow from our collections it sets in motion many activities.  The job of the Loans section is to co-ordinate all of the many people involved in making a loan happen.  Firstly we must ensure the borrowing venue is safe both in terms of security and environmentally.  Many of our collections are sensitive to light, temperature or relative humidity and would be damaged if not kept in the correct conditions.

Once a venue is approved and the objects requested are not required elsewhere, we ask our colleagues in Conservation to assess if the objects need any conservation work before they are packed.  Condition reports are written too so that the objects can be checked regularly for any damage or changes in condition.  Then the objects are packed according to how they will travel – for the Chessmen this means their very own nice cosy travelling case.

Some of the Lewis Chessmen ready to travel!

Once packed and all the paperwork for insurance and loan agreements has been organised the transport must be arranged.  Depending on the loan this could be a large truck or small van, or for overseas travel, a boat or an aeroplane.

To find out more about the Lewis Chessmen Unmasked touring exhibition, visit our website.

 

Turf, stone and Icelandic folklore

By Vicky Evans, Loans Officer

At the end of June, I took part in an Innovation in Cultural Heritage Interpretation (ICHI) exchange in East Iceland funded annually by the European Leonardo da Vinci Programme. Designed for Scottish heritage professionals to gain a better understanding of international developments and working practices in their field, the exchange provided a unique opportunity to discuss project working and partnerships with international colleagues in a spectacular location.

The trip itself was centred around Skálanes, a remote nature reserve in East Iceland which experiments in sustainability and educates visitors on the important connection between nature and people in Icelandic culture. Run from a restored traditional Nordic farmhouse and fairly unique in Iceland, Skálanes is involved in a diverse range of ongoing projects, providing access and facilitating current thinking on ecology, natural history, geology, archaeology, conservation, traditional skills and Icelandic history.

Hands on work at Þórarinsstaðir excavation site.

From this base, the exchange group visited regional museums and reconstructed buildings, exhibitions and local art institutes, as well as meeting a variety of people responsible for the preservation and interpretation of Icelandic heritage and collections. Meeting the exhibition development team at the National Museum of Iceland in Reykjavik was particularly interesting and an opportunity to discuss their capital redevelopment project, which concluded in 2004.

National Museum of Iceland.

Learning about Icelandic culture was naturally a major part of this exchange. Through handling collections at the East Iceland Heritage Museum, learning about turf wall construction, discussing the very real possibility of the existence of mountain trolls, and tentatively sampling dried salt fish, we got a pretty rounded experience of Icelandic life, past and present!

View across the fjord at Skálanes with duck houses in the foreground.

We also got stuck into plenty of hands-on work, consolidating and interpreting the excavation site of an early Christian church at Þórarinsstaðir, and assessing interpretation methods with the archaeological team at Skriðuklaustur (the excavation site of a pre-Reformation monastery). Volunteer groups such as ours are, we discovered, an invaluable resource in Iceland, where domestic volunteer working is virtually non-existent and the Archaeological Heritage Agency of Iceland significantly under-resourced. Working at the practical face of their heritage sector demonstrated how well funded the UK is by comparison, and encouraged much discussion about how we can all work more efficiently and effectively.

View across the fjord at Skálanes with duck houses in the foreground.

The overwhelming response at the end of the exchange was acclaim for the willingness of the Icelandic heritage sector to work in partnership in order to drive projects forward. Despite the lack of volunteer support and central funding, we experienced a culture of initiatives ‘coming from below’, the result of which is a creative and dynamic sector in terms of project working and problem solving; where communities continue the work once ‘the professionals’ are gone. Although community engagement is admittedly new in many areas, local involvement is the key success factor in the completion and continuation of many of their projects.

I have taken away many ideas for future partnership working in Scotland and the UK, and have genuinely been inspired by the proactivity, pragmatism and unique culture I experienced in East Iceland.

Traditional architecture in Seyðisfjörður.

Resident arctic fox cubs at Skálanes.

Cliffside view from the Skálanes Nature Reserve.

Newly hatched ducklings.

The Blue Lagoon, Grindavik.

Fjord Þórarinsstaðir excavation site.

Sunset across the fjord at Skálanes.

Duck pond at Skálanes.

2am at Skálanes.

Photos courtesy of Sheena Irving AV.