Botanica
Fabula
Amanda Edmiston
Herbal storytelling
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Handing On
Handing On
In 2021 mother and daughter storytellers: Jean and Amanda Edmiston, were generously awarded an Andy Hunter Bursary to create a multi-faceted project: Handing On.
Handing On is a project created around a personal journey undertaken by Jean and Amanda to distil and create a tangible form that makes their interdisciplinary storytelling practice something that can be shared.
The project will comprise a series of online elements, workshops, mentoring opportunities and connections.
And a showcase performance at The Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh thanks to a commission from the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2021.
This page will grow and develop over the next few months, with places to tap into the work and follow the projects development so do come back and check in as we add more material or catch up with what we're doing on social media by following the hashtags #handingon and #botanicafabula
To Hand on
To teach
share
create
Treasure memories
To create value in an everyday or overlooked small item
because of the story it holds.
To share love and wisdom
To facilitate transitions.
To carry onwards beyond transitional times.
To Hand on
To teach
share
create
Treasure memories
To create value in an everyday or overlooked small item
because of the story it holds.
To share love and wisdom
To facilitate transitions.
To carry onwards beyond transitional times.
Handing On,
Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2021
Handing On,
Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2021
We are delighted to be able to share the news that a performance element of the Handing On project has been commissioned for this year's Scottish International Storytelling Festival, with a specially created, unique film element from brilliant Bash Art Creative.
Places are limited but available now for Saturday 30th October at 7.30pm at The Netherbow theatre at The Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh, with an online workshop on 26th October at The National Library of Scotland!
Jean Edmiston
Was born in Aberdeen in 1946. Her sculptor father’s passion for the natural landscape and its stories meant the family went long walks in all weathers, exploring!
Out of this childhood grew her own love for stories, place and art.
One of Jeans enduring passions is working with textiles: dyeing, printing and creating clothes. During the '70's and '80's she developed a successful business with a retail outlet in York ‘Showspace’.
But life events in late ‘80s meant sudden change for Jean, and she had to find new creative ways to survive. She discovered storytelling with Mary Medlicott as her guide and mentor.
Now with over 30 years’ experience of working full time as a storyteller and writer with community projects, schools, arts organisations, museums, she is 'considering' retirement!
Jean says:
‘I have been fortunate and privileged to work over the years with some wonderful people and amazing artists, now I am officially retired, but will always be a storyteller, always creative, and working with my fabulous daughter developing a new project and ‘Handing On’.
Amanda Edmiston, Botanica Fabula.
Was brought up telling stories; she first learnt about plants and recipes from her gran who still remembered traditional remedies and folklore and has been mentored by her mum: Jean, who has been a storyteller for over 30 years.
After studying herbal medicine, Amanda found it natural to start bringing together stories, plants, and magical places together, drawing on the Scottish storytelling tradition, but in her own unique way.
She has been showcasing her work for the past 10 years, creating combinations of stories and art for projects including the Ruglen Ropewalk with Grow 73 and The Very Curious Herbal.
Amanda says:
“I've always been fascinated by plants and the stories around them, I love how their use reveals the way we connect to each other and our natural environment.
I love to weave together facts, folklore, traditional tales, history and herbal remedies using traditional storytelling techniques, which I then combine, creating a rich multi-sensory tapestry".
In 1953 my maternal grandfather, sculptor Richard Ross Robertson carved ‘Freedom (with her dove of peace)’ for the rose garden at Hazelhead park in Aberdeen…
…one of my earliest memories is of the fire-sparks arcing as he sharpened his chisels in his studio… carving stories from stone and landscape explaining the places we visited…stories that my mother Jean Edmiston continued…
We went back to Aberdeen this summer as part of the process of writing 'Handing On' and went to visit Freedom and show her to my children as part of considering which stories to ring into the project...
Weaving stories we had been told by my mum's father, my grandfather, into the performance piece, stories he'd told as he carved in his studio...stories he'd told as we walked through the rose gardens his sculptures watched over.
As you step into the theatre for Handing On...you may just pick up a little hint of the fragrance of those gardens...inhale the scent, remember the stories the aromas carry, your sense hold memories of stories, stories that hold value...
Creating Handing On
Changing worlds, Forvie Sands~Creating stories and revisiting memories for Handing On August 2021
Changing worlds, Forvie Sands~Creating stories and revisiting memories for Handing On August 2021
Creating the stories and revisiting the places, the memories that are beginning to form Handing ON.
The stories that belong to the objects are what creates the value
Stories make things worth more than gold.
Once this railway carriage carried people in journeys.
To see family and friends, to reunite lovers, to take people away from danger, to find new things and places, to take them to relax by the sea.
It found its way to Forvie sands where for years my mum remembers the ranger who looked after the reserve lived there, checking folk cared for this magical place, collecting discarded birds eggs to explain the ecology to visitors.
Now it is as wind blown as the dunes themselves... the carriage, now discarded itself, shares a speck of its rust to add to the mordant and leads us to the first plants that will dye the cloth that will help tell the story of Handing On.