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The National
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The National
The events across Scotland you need to know about this June
GARDEN OF DELIGHTS Even those who recoil at the thought of weeding and dragging out the mower on a weekly basis can be inspired by the latest major exhibition at V&A Dundee. Garden Futures: Designing with Nature won't exactly provide inspiration for your next remodel but it will open your eyes to the possibilities of what an outdoor space can be. As well as looking at how garden design has developed around the world, often in the most unexpected places, it examines how important having an outside space is to us. This is Scotland's design museum and some of the ideas will be challenging – but looking at the future of gardens goes hand in hand with looking at a greener, more environmentally friendly future. There are examples of innovative garden design from around the globe and work by international designers and landscape architects. (Image: Howard Sooley) Artists have always been inspired by nature and the outdoors and Garden Futures also showcases visual art inspired by our green spaces. The exhibition also pays tribute to community garden projects across Scotland, from the Maxwell Community Garden, part of the Grow Dundee food growing and community garden network, and Oban's Seaweed Gardens. From William Morris to Derek Jarman, there are names with their own individual take on what a garden is and what it can be. There are also ceramics, fashion, painting, textiles, sculpture, interior design, drawings and photographs. Until January 25, 2026 ALL THAT JAZZ June is great month for jazzers. Not only do the hepcats roll into Glasgow, they also head south to Kirkcudbright. From June 18 to 22, Glasgow welcomes its jazz festival, from Santana at the OVO Hydro to the Colin Steele Quartet playing The Blue Nile (extra show added due to demand) to Marianne McGregor and favourite Brian Kellock. Kirkcudbright Jazz Festival is the place to be if New Orleans, Dixieland and Swing jazz is your favourite jam. Kirkcudbright: June 12–15. Glasgow: June 18–22 (Image: Nan Shephard) NAN SHEPHERD: NAKED AND UNASHAMED Whether you recognise Nan Shepherd from a Scottish £5 banknote or not, her story is unmissable and told in a play running at Pitlochry Festival Theatre's Studio until June 14. The Scottish naturalist was also a poet and writer and had an extraordinary life. She is responsible for the classic text The Living Mountain. But it almost stayed undiscovered – lying in a drawer for more than three decades. Writers Richard Baron and Ellie Zeegen bring all of that to life. Running until June 14 PORTRAIT: INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION This fascinating six-week long exhibition focusing on portraiture, currently running at the Glasgow Gallery of Photography, ends on June 20. The High Street gallery offers some surprising takes on a familiar style and the good news is that the gallery offers all of this for free entry. Until June 20 HIDDEN DOOR FESTIVAL The Hidden Door Festival has spent the past 15 years championing new music, theatre, dance and art. It has also found increasingly interesting locations. It's a charity, fully run by volunteers, with everything funded through ticket sales. This year the site is a former industrial site. It's a huge former paper and cardboard box factory, spread over 15 acres and with warehouses, factory floors, offices and outhouses. Since Saica's relocation to Livingston, proposals are being developed for the site but Hidden Door has access right until the end of 2025. June 11–15 WESTFEST Valiantly flying the flag for real community-led events, Westfest Dundee has made a fabulous success from a one-day event, Westfest Sunday, which keeps the concept simple and local. It takes place on Magdalen Green, within site of the Tay and the rail bridge and centres around the Victorian bandstand. A music programme that always includes local schools and keeps the crowds dancing, it's a properly child-friendly event and gives local businesses and charities a high profile for the day. Westfest Dundee – Sunday, June 1 NEIGHBOURHOOD VARIETY SHOW – SAUCHIEHALL STREET The Neighbourhood Variety Show is a performance project, part of the National Theatre of Scotland's Project in North Glasgow. Essentially, the aim of the project is to take a closer look at how artists can collaborate with and enrich their neighbourhood – and it offers a range of artists willing to perform. The Neighbourhood Variety Show: Sauchiehall Street is created by Eoin McKenzie. The first show from the project was in Springburn last year, and the next show takes place on June 5 in association with The Garage. NTS and McKenzie are working in association with Sauchiehall Street: Culture and Heritage District, a 10-year plan to renew the famous street. The Garage. Thursday, June 5. (Image: Betty Boo) BETTY BOO Without doubt one of the most interesting and talented popsters of the late 80s and early 90s is heading out as her alter ego after Alison Moira Clarkson has spent so many years penning major pop hits for other artists. With the rerelease of her acclaimed and popular albums Boomania and GRRR! It's Betty Boo, the shows are sure to be eneregetic and 'pretty pop-tastic'. There will also be bigger shows later in the year but this is your chance to see her in more intimate settings. Glasgow: Wednesday, June 25, Hug & Pint Edinburgh: Thursday June 26 Voodoo Rooms
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
The events across Scotland you need to know about this June
Even those who recoil at the thought of weeding and dragging out the mower on a weekly basis can be inspired by the latest major exhibition at V&A Dundee. Garden Futures: Designing with Nature won't exactly provide inspiration for your next remodel but it will open your eyes to the possibilities of what an outdoor space can be. As well as looking at how garden design has developed around the world, often in the most unexpected places, it examines how important having an outside space is to us. This is Scotland's design museum and some of the ideas will be challenging – but looking at the future of gardens goes hand in hand with looking at a greener, more environmentally friendly future. There are examples of innovative garden design from around the globe and work by international designers and landscape architects. (Image: Howard Sooley) Artists have always been inspired by nature and the outdoors and Garden Futures also showcases visual art inspired by our green spaces. The exhibition also pays tribute to community garden projects across Scotland, from the Maxwell Community Garden, part of the Grow Dundee food growing and community garden network, and Oban's Seaweed Gardens. From William Morris to Derek Jarman, there are names with their own individual take on what a garden is and what it can be. There are also ceramics, fashion, painting, textiles, sculpture, interior design, drawings and photographs. Until January 25, 2026 ALL THAT JAZZ June is great month for jazzers. Not only do the hepcats roll into Glasgow, they also head south to Kirkcudbright. From June 18 to 22, Glasgow welcomes its jazz festival, from Santana at the OVO Hydro to the Colin Steele Quartet playing The Blue Nile (extra show added due to demand) to Marianne McGregor and favourite Brian Kellock. Kirkcudbright Jazz Festival is the place to be if New Orleans, Dixieland and Swing jazz is your favourite jam. Kirkcudbright: June 12–15. Glasgow: June 18–22 (Image: Nan Shephard) NAN SHEPHERD: NAKED AND UNASHAMED Whether you recognise Nan Shepherd from a Scottish £5 banknote or not, her story is unmissable and told in a play running at Pitlochry Festival Theatre's Studio until June 14. The Scottish naturalist was also a poet and writer and had an extraordinary life. She is responsible for the classic text The Living Mountain. But it almost stayed undiscovered – lying in a drawer for more than three decades. Writers Richard Baron and Ellie Zeegen bring all of that to life. Running until June 14 PORTRAIT: INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION This fascinating six-week long exhibition focusing on portraiture, currently running at the Glasgow Gallery of Photography, ends on June 20. The High Street gallery offers some surprising takes on a familiar style and the good news is that the gallery offers all of this for free entry. Until June 20 HIDDEN DOOR FESTIVAL The Hidden Door Festival has spent the past 15 years championing new music, theatre, dance and art. It has also found increasingly interesting locations. It's a charity, fully run by volunteers, with everything funded through ticket sales. This year the site is a former industrial site. It's a huge former paper and cardboard box factory, spread over 15 acres and with warehouses, factory floors, offices and outhouses. Since Saica's relocation to Livingston, proposals are being developed for the site but Hidden Door has access right until the end of 2025. June 11–15 WESTFEST Valiantly flying the flag for real community-led events, Westfest Dundee has made a fabulous success from a one-day event, Westfest Sunday, which keeps the concept simple and local. It takes place on Magdalen Green, within site of the Tay and the rail bridge and centres around the Victorian bandstand. A music programme that always includes local schools and keeps the crowds dancing, it's a properly child-friendly event and gives local businesses and charities a high profile for the day. Westfest Dundee – Sunday, June 1 NEIGHBOURHOOD VARIETY SHOW – SAUCHIEHALL STREET The Neighbourhood Variety Show is a performance project, part of the National Theatre of Scotland's Project in North Glasgow. Essentially, the aim of the project is to take a closer look at how artists can collaborate with and enrich their neighbourhood – and it offers a range of artists willing to perform. The Neighbourhood Variety Show: Sauchiehall Street is created by Eoin McKenzie. The first show from the project was in Springburn last year, and the next show takes place on June 5 in association with The Garage. NTS and McKenzie are working in association with Sauchiehall Street: Culture and Heritage District, a 10-year plan to renew the famous street. The Garage. Thursday, June 5. (Image: Betty Boo) BETTY BOO Without doubt one of the most interesting and talented popsters of the late 80s and early 90s is heading out as her alter ego after Alison Moira Clarkson has spent so many years penning major pop hits for other artists. With the rerelease of her acclaimed and popular albums Boomania and GRRR! It's Betty Boo, the shows are sure to be eneregetic and 'pretty pop-tastic'. There will also be bigger shows later in the year but this is your chance to see her in more intimate settings. Glasgow: Wednesday, June 25, Hug & Pint Edinburgh: Thursday June 26 Voodoo Rooms
Daily Record
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
North Lanarkshire Council's arts development team hosting special event at Ravenscraig
Join artists on Tuesday, June 10, as they explore Ravenscraig through an interactive artwork, followed by an outdoor film screening of 'Boundary Layers', telling the story of Ravenscraig's past and present. North Lanarkshire Council's arts development team are inviting residents to a unique evening of creativity, community and conversation on the site of Ravenscraig. Join artists on Tuesday, June 10, as they explore Ravenscraig through an interactive artwork, followed by an outdoor film screening of 'Boundary Layers', telling the story of Ravenscraig's past and present. The event will begin with artists Frank McElhinney and Hamshya Rajkumar of Tine Collective for an interactive and sensory Artwalk through Ravenscraig. Once Scotland's largest steelworks, this landscape now represents a mix of post-industrial history and nature's quiet resilience. This creative workshop encourages participants to observe and respond directly to the site, alongside the artists, in a truly immersive experience. As the evening sets in, viewers can feast their eyes on a special outdoor screening of Boundary Layers by writer and artist Amanda Thomson, which is a 16-minute film responding to Ravenscraig's past and present. The film is a component part of the exhibition, 'A Fragile Correspondence' (currently on show at V&A Dundee), co-curated by Architecture Fringe, ISM and Slash_Other as part of the Scotland + Venice contribution to the Architectural Biennale in 2023. Amanda will introduce the screening alongside project partners, giving an insight into the film's inspirations and themes; landscape, language and transformation. Ann Louise Kieran, Visual Arts Development Officer at North Lanarkshire Council, said: 'We are delighted to host another public event which highlights the wonderful project, A Fragile Correspondence and the integral role Ravenscraig plays in talking about land, language, place and cultural identity when addressing the issue of climate change. 'We are incredibly grateful to the project curators, artists and partners in creating the work. Huge thanks also goes to Lanarkshire Climate Action Hub, who gave vital support to this event. 'The event is a once in a generation opportunity for NL communities to come together to create another important marker in Ravenscraig's evolving story.' A free coach service will run from Motherwell Train Station to Ravenscraig for audiences to access free travel to Ravenscraig for the film screening. *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here. And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here.
The Herald Scotland
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Review: I went to new V&A gardens show and was intrigued by what I saw
April is the cruellest month, at least as far as poet TS Eliot was concerned, but the one which follows in the calendar is just dandy for gardens and gardeners – which makes it the perfect time for an exhibition honouring both. But Garden Futures, opening at V&A Dundee this weekend, is far more than just a horticultural show in gallery form. The idea of the garden as idyll or sanctuary has deep roots in myriad human belief systems so that's explored. So too the proliferation of plant species through the forces of colonialism. We also learn about gardening as a political act in urban settings or as a balm for mental, spiritual and physical health. About how plants and gardens interface with arts, crafts and in particular science and design. And how cultivation and cultivation programmes can intersect with war and geo-politics in ways both good and bad. On that front there is a sizeable, timely and moving section on Israel-Palestine, and the deliberate and methodical displacement of Palestinians. Elsewhere there's a survey of new and radical philosophical approaches to the natural world, such as affording rights to plants and natural elements such as rivers. About low- and high-tech advances in plant propagation, some involving the University of California's wonderfully named Morphing Matter Lab. About how fashion and design continue to find new inspiration from the plant world, for instance through trainers whose soles catch and move seeds. A 17th century Persian ceramic at Garden Futures (Image: Grant Anderson) Helping launch the exhibition on the day I visit there's even a drag queen with a botanical bent – Daisy Desire, horticulturalist by day, drag queen by night. In other words there's far more to unpack here than you could fit in a wheelbarrow. So while the exhibition itself deserves a couple of hours, absorbing and processing it all will be the work of days or even weeks. Gardeners, of course, spend a lifetime thinking about plants and, by extension, the natural world. But they necessarily get their hands dirty too, so appropriately the exhibition opens with a room filled with tools. There are spades, forks, rakes, trowels, scythes, shears, saws and other items whose use I can only guess at. But that lack of knowledge detaches form from function and gives the objects a pleasingly sculptural quality. Other items here include a cat-shaped bird scarer from 1900 and – every home should have one – a glass cucumber straightener from the same period. Form and function meet in different ways elsewhere in this opening room with the inclusion of a range of garden furniture. You'll have seen similar items in your local garden centre though these are the original designs on which they are based. There's a Lloyd Loom wicker chair from 1931. A lounger made in 1938 from slats of lacquered birch by brilliant Finnish designer Aino Aalto, wife of architect Alvar Aalto. Another in chrome and vivid yellow plastic from a decade later, dubbed the Spaghetti Chair lounger and designed by Huldreich Altorfer. Moving into a room showing artworks inspired by gardens and plants there's some neat juxtaposition. Opposite a huge 17th century wall panel composed of yellow and blue ceramic tiles and originally sited in Ishfahan in modern-day Iran you'll find Requiem, a tall sculpture in walnut by Barbara Hepworth. An abstracted arboreal form, it once stood outdoors in the garden of her studio in St Ives. Read more In Room Six, politics intrudes with a display of 70 or so images from Garden State, photographer Corinne Silva's three year project to photograph private and public gardens in 22 Israeli settlements, some in the occupied West Bank. The images literally colonise the walls, presented in small clusters here and there around the room. There's also a selection of books, and among them you'll find Occupation Of The Territories. It's made up of first person testimony from Israel soldiers who served in Gaza and the West Bank between the start of the second Intifada and 2010. One chapter is titled: 'They would close the stores as collective punishment.' You can't miss the relevance. Here we also meet New York-based community activist Liz Christy, who as much as anyone birthed the guerilla gardening movement with a series of interventions in the 1970s which greened urban spaces in the Big Apple. Sadly there's less focus given to another female gardener of note, Victorian horticulturalist and all-round dudette Gertrude Jekyll – she's relegated to a panel in a corridor – but you can't have everything. And at least there are sections on two more recent figures who have folded a love of gardening into their radical creative practices: Antiguan-American author, essayist and activist Jamaica Kincaid, and film-maker and artist Derek Jarman. That accounts for gardens past and present. The gardens of the future which the show's title nods to take up the second half of the exhibition. When philosophy is discussed here it's untethered from religion and ancient belief systems and hitched instead to ideas borrowed largely from environmentalism and activism. The art is less about representation and more about association or out-of-the box thinking. Fashion is co-opted to the task of helping nature. And the digits involved tend to be zeroes and ones rather than fingers operating secateurs or seed dibbers. Céline Baumann's work Parliament of Plants (Image: Céline Baumann) For concrete examples check out The Parliament Of Plants, an unsettling work by artist and landscape architect Céline Baumann underpinned by the idea of giving plants democratic rights. Or Sanne Vaassen's Garden Journal Through Colour, a huge, wall-mounted work in paper which splits the year not into days and weeks but into the different colours present in the artist's garden. Or product designer Kiki Grammatopoulos's rewilding trainers, which use something called bio-mimicry to help wearers spread plants and seeds. Or how about Garden, a video game designed by Dundee-based company Biome Collective? It's set in a universe of singing plants threatened by a darkness spreading rot and decay. Dundee features elsewhere in the exhibition. There's also a section on the Maggie's centre, Frank Gehry's award-winning building at Ninewells Hospital for the support of people with cancer. And we see an artist's impressions of what the Eden Project proposed for the former gas works on East Dock Street might look like. Fingers crossed for that one. Kengo Kuma, the Japanese architect who designed V&A Dundee, was inspired in his design by the jagged cliffs of Scotland's east coast. I fondly imagine him knocking it together on a Scotrail service chuntering through Inverkeithing, Burntisland and Markinch. Who knows. Either way, for the rest of this year's it's not geology or topography which will occupy his building's interior but botany and horticulture – not stones and rocks but vibrant life. It's about as big a subject as you can find, but it's clearly and cleverly presented here. That's not to say you won't leave Garden Futures with your head spinning, though. Garden Futures: Designing With Nature opens at V&A Dundee on May 17 and runs until January 25, 2026
Daily Mirror
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Monty Don despairs for his children as they 'can't afford' garden
Monty Don, who has become a firm favourite on our screens as a presenter on BBC's Gardeners' World, admitted he realises how "lucky" he was to have had a garden at a young age Monty Don has opened up about feeling "lucky" to have his own garden, acknowledging that his own children "can't afford" one. The 69-year-old BBC Gardeners' World presenter started honing his green-fingered skills as a teenager in Hampshire, where he and his brothers were often found mowing the lawn or picking strawberries from their family's garden. Before making his mark in the UK, Monty ventured to France, immersing himself in the art of gardening in Aix-en-Provence, only to return for further studies at the University of Cambridge. It was there that he crossed paths with his future wife Sarah and the pair eventually made their home in London. In the capital, Monty and Sarah nurtured an impressive garden, something that Monty now describes as "very unusual" for the time. His remarkable garden didn't go unnoticed and attracted the attention of a photographer, leading to magazine features and Monty's initial steps into the limelight. Reflecting on those days, the Gardeners' World presenter feels fortunate to have been part of a generation where owning a garden as a young person was within reach, reports Yorkshire Live. Back in the 1970s, the average house price in London started at about £4,480, the equivalent to roughly £60,500 in today's money, and rose to around £19,925 by 1979, approximately £96,600 now. Fast forward to 2025, and the average London home stands at a staggering £556,000, with semi-detached properties hitting the £714,000 mark. Speaking on the V&A Dundee podcast, Monty shared that his adult children - Adam, Tom, and Freya - are unable to afford the same privileges he had in his youth. Monty said: "I don't really feel that I suddenly got inspiration, in so much that I realised, as I got older, between the age of 17 and 27, that increasingly other things than being in the garden, were in the way of being in the garden, and I needed it. I don't want to sound precious about it but I really needed it. "It wasn't a question of feeling inspired to go be creative, it was a question of going to the garden to save my mind. I was really lucky because I am of a generation where we could afford, in our twenties, to buy a house or rent a house and live on our own and have a garden. My children can't afford to do that. "I had a garden of my own at the age of 25 and so I think that now, we must find out what it is, if you love plants then grow plants. I personally love planting and making spaces, and what plants I use are less interesting than the overall effect." After relocating from London, Monty settled at Longmeadow in Herefordshire in 1991, which despite its initial neglect has become the beloved backdrop for Gardeners' World. There, Monty shares with viewers how he has cultivated the two-acre garden. With a welcome return to our screens, Monty is set to host the RHS Chelsea Flower show coverage on BBC Two starting at 8 pm tonight (May 21). This year, he is also presenting his first-ever dog-centred garden at the show in collaboration with BBC Radio 2.
