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Weaving Remembrance of the Scottish Witch Hunts
Voices and Visions of the Witch
Visual and Literary Art Exhibition
by the Creative Coven
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4th of June till the 11th of August 2025
Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries
1-7 Abbot Street
Dunfermline
KY12 7NL
A collection of multi-media art, poetry and prose curated by Rowan Morrison, with work from a coven of artists whose creativity weaves remembrance of the barbarous Scottish witch hunts.
Partially composed of persona poems and narrations from the otherworld, it recounts the suffering endured by those accused of witchcraft. These are offered without ‘factual’ commentary to allow the audience to interpret this dark period, without the bias of a history written by the patriarchal elite. This method aims to unveil aspects of the human soul by resurrecting experiences of the witch hunts to give an intimate voice to the voiceless.
The accompanying eclectic artwork includes a seven-foot wicker devil who awaits your shameful kiss, intuitive multi-media pieces such as the emotive Maiden, Mother and Crone sculptures, the large-scale Burning Witch painting, a miniature coven of 13 Witch Children, archetypal watercolours and transformational art pieces in glass bottles. The Red Thread of Persecution will take you on a dark journey through the smouldering abyss of the burning times, to view the channelled portraits and death masks of accused witches.
Pieces inspired by the Unknown Witch project and the Linen Memorial of Witch Persecution in Scotland will be on show. These hallowed panels, which contain almost four thousand names, lay bare the scale of injustice endured by the daughters and sons of this green and purple land.
This innovative visual and literary art exhibition will take you back to a time when the skies above Scotland were lit with flames, fuelled by the flesh of burning women.
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Buy tickets – The Creative Coven
THE EXHIBITION EVENT
Giving Voice to the WITCH through story, song, spoken word and art.
HEAR THEM, SEE THEM, REMEMBER THEM!
7th of June 2025
Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries
1-7 Abbot Street
Dunfermline
KY12 7NL
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1:00 - DOORS OPEN
Ticket holders will be given a colour exhibition catalogue that contains visual and literary art and an A4 print.
The Unknown Witch will be shown while the audience takes their seats. This short film is a collection of 625 portraits that give an image to the accused witches without a name.
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1:20 - THE COVEN
A lifting of the veil with brief introductions to the creatives whose work is inspired by the Scottish witch hunts.
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1:30 – GIVING VOICE TO THE WITCH THROUGH THE ART OF STORYTELLING.
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Storyteller Jane Mather will begin the event with the heartbreaking Recantation of Gellis Duncan and a witch’s tale.
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1:45 - GIVING VOICE TO THE WITCH THROUGH THE SPOKEN WORD.
Marianne Berghuis, Samantha Neill and Helen Wright will share spoken word pieces from the exhibition that were written to remember those who suffered for the crime of witchcraft.
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1:55 – GIVING VOICE TO THE WITCH THROUGH SONG
Eve Davidson, whose lyrics humanise the accused witch, will enchant you with her haunting lyrics that are a memorial to the accused women of Fife.
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2:10 – GIVING VOICE TO THE WITCH THROUGH ART
Karen Strang, an award-winning artist and performer, will be painting live images of persecution to accompany a visceral story, the execution of Catherine Mitchell. This piece is inspired by the true story of witch persecution in Fife and will be told by Rowan Morrison, author of The Witches of Culross.
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2:30 – GIVING VOICE TO THE WITCH THROUGH THE SPOKEN WORD
Linda Morrow, Crabbit Carlin and Laurah Hunter Smitt will share more pieces from the exhibition that were written to remember those who suffered for the crime of witchcraft.
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2:40 – MEMORIAL SONG
Eva Davidson will lead a song that will weave a silver thread of remembrance around the moon.
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2:45 – MEET THE ARTISTS
An intimate opportunity to meet the artists behind the exhibition in the Canmore Room and downstairs in the Community Gallery. Books, prints and curious creations will be available to purchase directly from the coven behind Voices and Visions of the WITCH.
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3:30 – EVENT ENDING
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PLEASE NOTE:
The running order may be subject to change if there are circumstances beyond our control.
There are NO ticket refunds, but you can gift your tickets if you cannot attend the event.
The venue is accessible, and seats for wheelchair users can be reserved by emailing rowan.storyteller@outlook.com
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COVEN BIOGRAPHIES
Rowan Morrison is a storyteller, author and artist who has given voice to the accused witches of Scotland through oral and written stories, songs, performance art, and memorial events. Rowan will exhibit visual and literary art that explores historical witch persecution through her channelled voices and visions of the witch series. This includes adult and child portraits of the accused, Lilias Aide’s death mask and her Witches’ Blood interpretive art piece.
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Karen Strang is an award-winning visual artist who graduated from the Glasgow School of Art and studied further at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Over the years, she has created many works of art inspired by the Scottish witch hunts and has painted live images of persecution as a performance artist. Karen will exhibit her iconic large-scale image of the Burning Witch and a poignant portrait of Katherine, one of the many women executed for witchcraft in Culross.
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Katy Bremer is an artist and basket weaver. She studied contemporary art in Glasgow and combines traditional willow basketry techniques to make more experimental pieces. Her interest in the witch trials grew as she moved to Fife, where it was impossible to ignore the rich history and folklore present on her doorstep. Katy will exhibit her seven-foot wicker devil. This large multi-media exhibition piece will await your shameful kiss as you enter the baneful world of the Scottish witch hunts.
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Linda Morrow is a self-taught artist with a background in theatrical costume. She paints and creates art that reflects her spiritual path. Her powerful witch heads are visceral memorials to Scotland’s accused. Linda will show her Child, Maiden, Mother, Crone sculptures, a symbolic representation of all women who suffered during this dark period, along with two sculptures of accused witches whose faces are full of untold stories of persecution.
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Helen Wright has a degree in Fine Art Sculpture and worked as an art and design teacher. After moving to Auldearn in 2006, she became aware that there was no public memorial to Isobel Gowdie. In 2021, created an innovative mural on a public-facing wall that depicts the story of the Witch of Auldearn. Helen will exhibit two new paintings and poetry inspired by Isobel, whose confessions are the most studied in the Scottish witch trials.
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Crabbit Carlin is an artist and maker who is in the process of re-imagining an art practice inspired by beliefs, nature, history and the human experience. Laura will exhibit The Great Wheel, a watercolour that pays homage to the archetypal spinning crone and Daisy, a delicate portrait of an unknown witch in chalk, pastel and gouache. The glass cabinet in the gallery will be home to her miniature sculptures that explore themes of transformation in witchcraft.
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Jane Mather is a storyteller and woodland leader with a background in community work. She is a guardian of a healing well and shares traditional Scottish stories and legends that evoke wild landscapes and inspire nature connection. Jane’s recent work focuses on themes of remembrance and weaving traditional stories into new narratives. She will exhibit a multi-media art piece that represents multifaceted fragments of loss not only for the accused witches but for the generations that came after them.
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Eve Davidson’s music blends haunting melodies, rhythmic guitar, and emotionally charged lyrics, weaving Scottish melancholy with grunge undertones. Her sound is both raw and evocative. Eve’s upcoming second EP, Wytchwound—set for release in October 2025—is centred around the women accused of witchcraft in Fife. The first track, ‘Chasing’, reflects her journey of uncovering these women’s stories. This exhibition features lyrics from ‘Chasing.
FOLLOW US ON
www.facebook.com/groups/creativecovenscotland
https://www.instagram.com/coven1563
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WITCHES OF CULROSS - AMAZON BOOK REVIEW
This book is a very powerful read. It truly brings alive the terrible time of the witch trials in a visceral way as it not only brings to life the harsh realities of life in those times but also the unforgivable injustices that happened against the accused. It is a story that has long needed to be told and very much needs to be read. The storytelling is vivid and also beautiful as it captures some of the old ways and language of rural Scotland in its telling. I couldn't put it down until I finished it. This really is a must read book.