Craignish artist celebrated for glass versions of Ghost Orchid

Yesterday’s edition of The Herald (16th April 2011) featured Siobhan Healy, a Scottish artist whose work is currently being celebrated at Glasgow’s glorious Botanic Gardens.

Siobhan now works in Glasgow but went to school at Craignish – an example of Argyll’s successful rural schools its own council is trying to close.

She has made glass copies of the recently discovered and daintily leafless Chost Orchid., declared extinct 23 years ago.

With no living specimens available to work from, Siobhan had to guide her understanding of the plant from dried specimens held in the Botanic Gardens’ herbarium. Her choice of the medium of glass is particularly sensitive to the character of the little Ghost Orchid..

These are on show at the Botanic Gardens during this weekend’s annual Orchid Fair, showing around 6,000 varieties.