A host of artists gathered on Findhorn beach on Wednesday night to celebrate the two-week countdown to Scotland’s newest cultural events.
The first ever Findhorn Bay Arts Festival will showcase a variety of attractions from September 24-28.
It is taking place as part of Moray’s Year of Homecoming 2014 and will welcome back home many internationally-renowned musicians including Hopeman-raised Charlie McKerron, Garmouth’s Calum Stewart, and Quee MacArthur from Forres.
Former Findhorn girl Jess Abrams and Forres-based Andrea Turner will bring jazz to Moray audiences, while harpist, Iona Leigh, is also returning home to perform an intimate Sunday afternoon concert.
Landscape painter Maggie New, award-winning landscape photographer Ian Cameron and sculptor Mary Bourne are just some of the visual artists who will be displaying work.
Owen Normand will also return home to Forres from his current home in Berlin, where he works as a figurative painter and illustrator.
Findhorn-based Michael and Maria Start, who worked on Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning Hugo, will also feature with a full programme of automata events, with titles including a Gothic Horror Night, Flying Starts Flea Circus and It’s Alive.
Mrs Start said: “We’re working flat out at the moment, getting brand new exhibits ready for the festival, so it’s great to take a break and get together with so many of the other artistes to feel the buzz of excitement in the run up to the event.”
Festival director Kresanna Aigner said “This is a festival with people and place at its heart, drawing inspiration from and celebrating the many traditions that still shape the lives of our coastal communities.”
Moray poet and storyteller Margot Henderson is collaborating with Findhorn Village Heritage to host Time and Tide – an interactive story walk around Findhorn, discovering the tale hidden in the village’s nooks and crannies.