Culloden Library hosts colourful Blas Festival event

Stories of highland folklore have inspired a colourful, collaborative work of art that will now be on permanent display at Culloden Library, as a result of a special workshop held last week.

The joint story telling and art workshop was a fringe event for the Blas Festival – a collaboration between Fèisean nan Gàidheal and The Highland Council to celebrate the music, song, culture and language of the Highlands.

Hosted by High Life Highland and made possible with funding from the Scottish Book Trust Live Literature Fund, textile artist and traditional story teller Lizzie McDougall was invited to share her wonderful tales with library goers of all ages. Participants were then encouraged to create a piece of artwork to illustrate the stories.

Lizzie said: “I was delighted to bring stories and art to this year’s Blas Festival, and I incorporated Gaelic songs and traditional stories too. We explored the themes of animals and nature in traditional tales, with white doves for peace; the white rose for the Jacobites; swans for loyalty and the owl for wisdom.” 

The session sparked interesting discussions and members of the audience commented on how they could see these themes running though folklore from other cultures and in modern stories, showing how deeply imbedded the tales are in our culture. Younger members of the audience recognised these themes in Harry Potter. 

Meg Davidson, Network Librarian for Culloden Library said: “It was wonderful to be involved in this collaborative effort with Blas and to see the tangible results in the lovely wall hanging. We are delighted to display artwork that embodies community and stories which are at the heart of libraries.”

Nicola Simpson from The Blas Festival added: “The Blas Festival is delighted to have worked in partnership with the staff at Culloden Library to bring this creative workshop to fruition as part of our 2025 festival programme. Lizzie is a fantastic storyteller. We look forward to working with Highlife Highland library staff in 2026 to develop additional activities.”

The finished piece will now hang in Culloden Library as a permanent celebration of traditional Highland stories.