Glasgow Gallivanting: August 2025

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Peace Garden benches for Jude

On 6th August, the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima Day, Glasgow’s Lord Provost and the Consul General of Japan officially opened a Peace Garden within the Botanic Gardens. The new civic space, dedicated to peace, remembrance and education, was designed by local school children and will eventually include, when it is hardy enough, a ginkgo tree germinated from seeds from a tree which survived Hiroshima.

Lord Provost’s Peace Garden
Lord Provost’s Peace Garden

This is now a lovely area of the gardens, near a small pond and another monument, the Commonwealth Tree commissioned by the Incorporation of Gardeners of Glasgow to commemorate the Commonwealth Games of 2014.

Pond
Commonwealth Tree

We visited three small exhibitions at the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery of which my favourite was Bird, Tree, Bell, Fish, Ring in which a selection of items from the Hunterian’s collections were chosen to represent the symbols on the Glasgow coat of arms.

Bird, Tree, Bell, Fish, Ring
Bird, Tree, Bell, Fish, Ring
Bird, Tree, Bell, Fish, Ring

However, in terms of exhibitions the highlight of the month was a day trip to Dundee. At the V&A we visited both Garden futures: designing with nature and Thread memory: embroidery from Palestine before heading up to the McManus to see Border crossings: ten Scottish masters of modern art. As if that wasn’t enough, there was another interesting exhibition, Mella Shaw: Sounding line, which I hadn’t known about. Each of these is worthy of a post to itself but I’ve just picked a few highlights, and if you are interested please click the links above.

Garden futures had a wide range of topics with examples from art, design, community activism, and science. One of my highlights was this tapestry because we saw it being made on one of our visits to Dovecot Studios.

Designed by Farshid Moussavi 2025
Designed by Farshid Moussavi 2025

The Palestinian embroidery exhibition was very moving and included one of the clearest explanations of Palestinian history and the establishment of Israel that I have read. There was also information about Dundee’s twinning with the Palestinian city of Nablus, considered a radical act when it was established in 1980. However, the main thread (pardon the pun) was tatreez, the elaborate hand-embroidery found on Palestinian dress. I didn’t know, for example, that each area had its own motifs so that you could tell where someone was from by their clothing. However, after the Nakba (the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war) this regional specificity faded with the mingling of women from different villages in refugee camps. It’s a tragedy what has been lost, and I’m not just talking about embroidery.

Ramallah area
Central display

From the V&A we headed to the McManus and the ten Scottish masters of modern art. I didn’t take any pictures of the actual works here, but this diagram showing the links between the artists amused me. It seems that to be a master of modern art it’s a good idea to be called William! More seriously, it showed up my ignorance because I could not have told you anything about any of the Williams. I had heard of the others but could only have confidently identified work by Barns-Graham and Paolozzi. Suffice to say, I learned a lot.

Ten Scottish Masters of Modern Art

In the room next door was an unexpected treat, Mella Shaw’s Sounding line, which explores the effects of marine sonar on whales’ ability to echolocate. I have certainly noticed a lot more news stories about beached whales, usually dead or dying. What an invasive species we are! The photographs and film of South Uist, one of our favourite places, were beautiful.

Exhibition overview
Info panel

We had a great day out in Dundee – quiet trains and no crowds at a time when Edinburgh is heaving with festival goers. Definitely a recommended alternative! And a bonus on the way home was seeing the Royal Scotsman at the next platform. You can book a two night tour for about £5800 pp should you be interested.

Train
Badge

In street art this month I spotted this little boy, whose car has several penalty notices attached to the windscreen, attacking a parking restrictions sign. The mural appeared earlier this year and is thought to be by Rebel Bear, sometimes known as the Scottish Banksy. Some very odd signs have been appearing around Glasgow lately – and the penguins are back! They had been away since Easter apparently and were surprised to find how tall their sunflowers had grown. Or so it says on social media.

Parking mural on Great George Street
Don’t be a dick
Penguins with sunflower

In women’s history news, I was delighted to be summoned to Maryhill Burgh Halls and presented with a “shadow box” made by Helena, one of the lovely volunteers, to commemorate my Jessie Stephen exhibition. I was very touched at her thoughtfulness.

Front of box
Back of box

I have led two women’s history walks and attended one of someone else’s which required a trip to Edinburgh with my friend Esther. We were careful to plan this for after the festival madness, but the city was still heaving. Ruth Boreham‘s Scottish Women Writers tour was excellent: here’s our happy little band below, alongside a flagstone commemorating poet Elizabeth Melville, the first Scots woman to see her work in print in 1603.

Photo © Ruth Boreham
Flagstone for Elizabeth Melville

Of course, John has been cycling a lot as usual. As always, he has provided me with a selection of beautiful views, but here’s something a bit different. Caving! This is Cleeves Cove near Dalry in Ayrshire. Apparently it was not universally popular with all the cyclists, but at least they had the sense not to take their bikes down.

Entrance
Passageway
Stalagtites

And finally, my aunt had her 92nd birthday this month. Here she is with me and my cousin enjoying a celebratory afternoon tea. I think you’ll agree she does not look her age!

Annabel, Anabel and Tracy

Happy September!

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  2. Pingback: This week’s small pleasures #456 – Thistles and Kiwis

  5. Glad to see the penguins back! The peace garden looks lovely. All the exhibitions sound well worth visiting, especially the one about Palestinian embroidery. I hadn’t realised the motifs represented where people were from. And happy belated birthday to your aunt! She looks incredible for her age.

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  10. Wow. There is a lot packed into here! The Palestinian clothing was very interesting, as was the thank you gift for your efforts. I always learn so much from your posts about women’s issues when I read your posts as you always manage to weave the theme into your activities and your posts so thanks.

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  17. That afternoon tea looks delicious – and that public notice sign is hilarious. If only everyone would follow that advice. I couldn’t agree more with you about the human race being an invasive species. I just wish we could learn from the past and our mistakes as a species.

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  18. Congratulations to your Aunt on her birthday. Looks like a delicious spread for her tea party. A very interesting and thought provoking post with many links so further reading is needed! Dundee sounds an amazing city to visit….Scotland seems to be full of these towns and cities packed full of history, museums and art works which you bring to light in your posts. Thank you.

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  19. Many happy returns to your Aunt! She certainly does look very youthful for her age. Does she sleep inside tupperware to keep her so fresh?

    What a wonderfully, touching gift your shadow box is. No gift is more treasured than something someone has invested their time and skills in all with you in mind. Your observations about the Palestinian embroidery are incredibly poignant, just one example to illustrate the tragedy of all that is being lost.

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  21. The Palestinian embroidery exhibition sounds really worth seeing – I wonder if it will come to the London V&A? I’ll keep my eyes open. I’m always interested in traditions around textiles and embroidery, especially when they are so rooted in place, and the fact that these are from Palestine adds particular poignancy at the moment. Great to see the penguins back, and I love that public service notice! Oh, and your aunt looks incredible for her age 😲

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    • Acccording to the website the Palestinian embroidery exhibition “is made in partnership with Art Jameel, the Palestinian Museum, V&A South Kensington and V&A Dundee” so it might. There was a section on the Dundee twinning but not so big that it would leave a noticeable gap. It’s definitely worth seeing – beautiful and sad at the same time.

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  22. I’ve been through Cleeves Cove decades ago. Fairly muddy and low roof/tight I remember. You mention public transport to Dundee. I’m feeling a tad unlucky, as I’ve only been on three short bus trips to the local shops for messages yet ended up with covid ( my car is in the garage) and it was pretty bad this time as the last jab I had was well over a year ago. Recovering slowly now though. Bob. BSS.

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  27. Nice to see the penguins with their very tall sunflower and I love the tapestry, it’s beautiful. What a lovely thoughtful gift you got for doing the Jessie Stephen exhibition, you were obviously very much appreciated, and no, your aunt definitely doesn’t look her age 😊

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