Taken from Norse mythology, Yggdrasil,is the great Ash tree that holds together heaven, earth and the underworld.  The  branches are in the heavens, trunk in earth and the roots penetrate down to the underworld. Beneath the branches lived the three Norn maidens, who knew the past, present, and future.  The Norn spun together the strands of peoples lives creating their fate. Their pets were two swans who engendered all of the swans in the world.

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Culture History and Nature Together in Contemporary Art

From 21st until 25th July 2008 Auchindrain Museum hosted the Scottish element of a twenty four month European Union, Culture 2000 funded project.

The aim of the project entitled Culture, Heritage & Nature Together in Contemporary Art (CHANTICA) is to provide opportunities for young people drawn from rural areas in the periphery of Europe; who are disadvantaged by being far from the centres of education and culture to travel to other European countries and participate in cultural activities in multi-national teams.

35 young people from the following regions in Europe travelled to Argyll to work at Auchindrain Museum and participate in the Scottish element of the CHANTICA project   more »

We arrived in the early afternoon at the local village hall in Threkeld to find the hall full of bustling activity as all the participants and models were frantically trying to complete their costumes before they went up to the Threkeld Quarry to meet the press and TV reporters. The room was full of all sorts of materials from stone, wire, metal, fabrics and wool and everyone was studiously snipping sewing and glueing their amazing costumes. In the midst was Martin Clark and Di Markham who was in charge of the costume designs. Di is a fashion graduate from Nottinghamshire College of Fashion and Design. She was overseeing all the costumes and had been instrumental in helping all the participants find their inspiration and a theme for their work.    more »

See the programme for the action in Cyprus   more »

We were not separated because we were Slovaks. We did not separate according to nationalities or ability of communication. We worked together, we danced together, we helped to each other, anybody could ask for help to anybody. Young people from five countries had a good time; they prepared fashion show for domestic people but also for themselves. We prepared beautiful costumes and in spite of the fact none of us was model everybody was satisfied and we could see an interest of the audience and we were also pleased to be fashion models.   more »

The week I spent in Cyprus, through C.H.A.N.T.I.C.A, was an unforgettable experience. I learnt new skills, made new friends, and had a brilliant time. I would definitely go on another course and continue work with C.H.A.N.T.I.C.A when I am able to.    more »

I love to work with people especially if they are young – they are often vivid, full of ideas and happy. Their creativity was fantastic. I cannot forget accordionists from Slovenia – full of energy and willing to do anything, but I admired mostly their beautiful accordion playing. Good food, good work, beautiful artworks in the end and fantastic final performance of all of us!   more »

We went to a village called Brusnica where the workshops were to take place. We had a little induction to all the workshops; textiles, masks, shingles, bobbin lace, corn dollies and stone and wire. We had a really great evening, the mayor of Brusnice was there and we had a hilarious night involving lots of wine, singing, slivovich and nastravia! This was when we first realised how much the Slovaks love bursting into traditional music sung in amazing harmonies – it was so nice to see and I love how normal it is, even in the pubs!   more »