Dundee poet and botanist inspires new exhibition

A NEW exhibition inspired by a 19th-Century poet and botanist from Dundee opens today.

Hosted at Dundee Botanic Garden’s Green Gallery, I Hear You Mr Gardiner runs until April 26 and will have its official opening on Friday.

The garden’s artist in residence, Emma Rankin, has celebrated the life and work of the Dundonian poet William Gardiner.

Born in 1809 to a potter and a gardener, William was apprenticed to an umbrella maker aged 10 before going on to study poetry and botany. He died aged 43 in 1852, but wrote books and poems about local nature.

Emma said: “It’s been a yearand-a-half in the making. This is the first exhibition of two – the next half of this is in autumn.

“It looks at Margaret Fairlie who was the first Scottish professor in a Scottish university role. She worked at Dundee Royal Infirmary.

“She’s another lesser known person of massive significance from Dundee.

“They were the two I wanted to highlight through this. I’ve done a lot of research into both.”

As part of the exhibition, Emma will be running workshops.

This includes a sculpting session for children and a storytelling session for older Dundonians to reminisce about days gone by.

Emma will also be running a workshop with Painstorm (Partnership for Assessment and Investigation of Neuropathic Pain: Studies Tracking Outcomes, Risks and Mechanisms) which will see participants create visual images about experiences with pain.

Another workshop, looking at the relationship between poetry and visual arts, will also be held to celebrate the launch of Blair H Smith’s new book of poetry and prose, Stranger Within, which featured artwork by Emma.

Artist Emma Rankin.