Project Gather – Beach clean classes and exhibition

Career

Before I retired in 2016 I was a lecturer. Working in education enabled me to research and to publish, and to do what I enjoyed most, which was to travel and meet fellow academics from around the world. I attended conferences in Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Israel and China. 

Retirement gave me more opportunities to travel, and time to return to photography, which I’d been passionate about in the days of film, darkrooms and noxious chemicals.  Over 25 years had elapsed since I took part in amateur photography. I had a lot of catching up to do!

Exhibitions

I have held three exhibitions for charity this year. Two of them raised funds for Survivors of Bereavement through Suicide (SOBS), while the third, run in partnership with another photographer, Margaret Elliot, raised funds for displaced people from Ukraine living Dumfries. 

Professionally, Carol spent her career (not counting a summer job peeling prawns!)  as a teacher and lecturer in primary, secondary and tertiary education.    However, now retired she spends her time fully indulging her passion for crafts.

As a child, she would happily potter in her father’s shed, banging nails into bits of wood; making clothes for her dolls on her toy sewing machine; or, helping her mum with floral art (yes, she does know the difference between her ikebana and Hogarth curve).  As an adult she continued to craft, mainly embroidery and sewing, but was always eager to try something new.

“I used to be a little jealous of my son when I would take him to his Saturday art group.  I wanted to join in and couldn’t understand why there wasn’t something similar for the adults.  Since then, I’ve always been on the look out for workshops where I can learn new skills.  In 2024, I travelled to India to learn chalk painting techniques with Annie Sloan, and most recently did a workshop on glass blowing in Murano, Venice.”

Carol is an open studio member at Clayworks in Dumfries and attends weekly stained-glass sessions with local glass artist, Lorrie Kyle.  She is a member of u3a and leads a craft group where she introduces members to a new craft every month.  She has been described as a serial crafter, although she prefers the term crafting butterfly (flitting from craft to craft!).  She has participated in workshops in bookbinding, silver smithing, mosaics, willow weaving, fused glass and folk-art painting, as well as being self-taught in many other crafts.

Carol loves to share her enthusiasm for craft, especially with beginners.  Her philosophy is ‘how hard can it be?’ and even if the end product isn’t what you expected, it’s about having a go and enjoying the process. 

Keith Walker is a former Primary and Secondary Science teacher, retired Outdoor Learning Development Officer with the Education department of Dumfries and Galloway Council and current chair of a local camera club. In his role as an Outdoor Learning Development Officer, he was tasked with delivering training to both staff and students. This involved not only the development of basic outdoor skills (tool use, outdoor cooking, knot tying, shelter building etc.) but also emphasised the importance of communication and teamwork. Sessions were very much designed to be “hands on”. Keith is also passionate about the use of photography to help people record and understand the world around them, and in particular the use of mobile phone photography.