Shoogly Holm
Shoogly Holm Update: November 2025
If you are a snorkeller or diver and are interested to get involved in monitoring the Shoogly Holm mooring and sculpture please contact Katy Firth at k.firth@stromnessmuseum.org.uk
Jenny Pope has updated information about the project on her own website at: Jenny Pope - Shoogly Holm
Shoogly Holm Update: September 2025
Jenny Pope visited Orkney again in September 2025 to finish constructing the concrete and clay mooring for Shoogly Holm. Jenny began by fixing over 130 small clay sculpted pieces to concrete bases within the EMEC-donated steel frame. The clay forms were created in July by members of the community, including participants at Blide Trust workshops. Together they form an ‘underwater bug hotel’ providing many different shapes and textures for marine life to attach to and settle on.
With a ceremonial send off on Saturday 20 September, the Shoogly Holm mooring was towed from the beach to a position just off shore of the museum by James Burgon of the UHI Nav School and Malcolm Thomson of Sula Diving. They were assisted by Baptiste Mathie-Claverie from EMEC. There were poetry readings by Ali Skene and Anne Bevan and a few words to toast the mooring by Gareth Davies, Jenny Pope and Katy Firth.
Divers Angeles Fernandez Pena and Karen Borswarva visited the mooring underwater to get ‘Day Zero’ footage and photos. Everyone involved is excited to see what colonises the sculpture in the coming months. Karen Boswarva of Seasearch Orkney & Shetland is organising a series of monthly monitoring events and divers and snorkellers can contact Karen to get involved. Jenny also carried out creative and wellbeing workshops and along with Katy, a Shoreline Ramble, for members of the Blide Trust. One of Jenny’s art workshops involved creating new imagined life forms which might colonise the mooring.
Jenny is working in her studio over the winter to make the floating part, using some sailmaking techniques learnt with Mark Shiner at The UHI Nav school. She will then be returning in Spring 2026 to install the floating element of Shoogly Holm. Watch this space for opportunities to get involved.
Shoogly Holm is a floating sculpture created by artist Jenny Pope, designed to be a habitat for marine life and a source of citizen science data for Stromness Museum and the Orkney International Science Festival. The project is a collaboration between Jenny Pope, Stromness Museum, Orkney Blide Trust, and the Orkney International Science Festival.
The Shoogly Holm project involves several key aspects:
Artistic Creation
Jenny Pope is creating a floating sculpture that will be placed in the waters near Stromness.
Habitat Creation
The sculpture is designed to attract and support marine life, providing a haven for various species.
Citizen Science
The project aims to gather data about the marine life that colonizes the sculpture, contributing to the museum's and the festival's scientific research.
Public Engagement
There will be opportunities for the public to learn about the project, participate in related workshops, and contribute to the data collection.
The project has received funding from Creative Scotland.
