Using creative work to educate and engage

Using creative work to educate and engage - Knockan Crag (2001)

Creative works can be inspired by geology. But it is also inspiring to see how creative works can help to educate and engage at an iconic locality.

We were fortunate to be part of a walk around Knockan Crag by Jan Breckenridge, currently the Education and Engagement Officer with the NW Highlands Geopark. Jan was a key person in the redesign of the site launched in 2001 which included the commission of new art.

A memorial wall by Don Shelley has stacked samples of the geological layers seen in the region - a labour of love which pre-dated the site redevelopment. The layers dip to the east mimicking he dip slope on the east flanks of surrounding hills. The fundamental problem is evident - how did the older metamorphic rocks come to lie on top of the younger sedimentary rocks?

The walk up to the crag is marked in 100 million year steps. Sculptures by Susheila Jamieson to highlight the fossils such as Pipeworm and trilobites, leading us to image the teeming life in the Cambrian seas as life exploded.

Tilted Globe by Joe Smith is a sphere made from layers of drystone. The layers are not horizontal giving the globe an apparent tilt mirroring the tilt of the Earth. Jan explained that Joe had trained Andy Goldsworthy as they worked together from 1989 to 1993. The work reminds us of the global impact of the revelations at Knockan Crag.

Stones set in the ground have inscribed poetry by Norman McCaig including these resonant lines from A Man in Assynt

Who possesses this landscape?
The man who brought it or
I who am possessed by it?

Jan then took us to the thrust plane and used her hands to demonstrate the movement of rocks. The hand sculptures set into the ground encourage us to touch the thrust plane between the orange limestone below and dark metamorphic rocks above. It is easy to see how those involved in the ‘Highland controversy’ in the 1800s struggled to understand these relationships as the contact between the two layers otherwise looks so ‘normal’.

Climbing up the path, a stone bench is flanked by Hutton’s quote ‘Go to the mountains to read the immeasurable course of time’. The bench provides a welcome respite for those not built for hill walking and an opportunity to contemplate.

The reward for climbing to the top of the hill is ‘Thrust’ imagined by Frances Pelly realised by Joe Smith with Max Nowell. The is a drystone wall partially supported above the ground on a curved metal beam. The near-vertical orientation of stones not geologically correct as the rocks here dip more gently. Nevertheless the work is a good focus for reflection on Earth processes and the broader structure of the thrust and rocks across the region.

The steep steps on the way down are perhaps in a way their own work of art work of art, echoing the work of Julie Brook such as Surrag Path feautured in my last blog.

Jan's excellent tour not only illuminated the geology but showed how the planned use of art in site design can aid in education and engagement regarding key Earth processes.