The Team
Who We Are
Nicole Manley
Environment Artist and Soil Hydrologist
Nicole Manley is an environmental and participatory artist. Her purpose in developing Weathering Earth is to form a greater understanding of our human relationship with the surrounding environment through the unifying quality of human experience. This is done with the aim to deepen meaning and enhance freedom of thought to develop a greater understanding towards how we, as human beings, connect and interact with the natural world. This process is hoped to enhance dialogue to create new ways of thinking towards the very complex issues of climate change.
Nicole is also soil hydrologist for the British Geological Survey, where she combines her scientific field in soils, ecology and hydrology with environmental art.
Victoria Robb
Education Officer
Victoria is the Education Manager at the National Mining Museum Scotland and their project lead for the Midlothian Climate Beacon. Victoria has worked in heritage for over 10 years with various organisations such as the Scottish Maritime Museum, Historic Environment Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland. Her varied projects have included the award winning Apprentice Guides Programme and the youth-led Year of Young People 2018 programme. Victoria has focused on using our past industries and built environment to engage audiences across the whole of Scotland
The Midlothian Climate Beacon
Climate Beacons - cop26
The Climate Beacon project, supported and led by Creative Carbon Scotland, has created seven Climate Beacon’s across Scotland which combine cultural, heritage or arts organisations and climate or environmental organisations to stimulate long-term public engagement in the lead-up to and following COP26 (the 26th UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Glasgow 1-12 November).
The National Mining Museum Scotland in partnership with The British Geological Survey and Environmental Artist Nicole Manley, represent the Midlothian Climate Beacon.
The National Mining Museum Scotland
Exhibition space
National Mining Museum Scotland is a 5-star visitor attraction based at the Lady Victoria Colliery in Newtongrange, Midlothian. General visitors to the Museum can explore two floors of permanent exhibitions and enjoy a guided tour of the Pithead and recreated underground experience from one of our ex-miner Tour Guides or via our self-led audio tours.
The Lady Victoria Colliery was built in 1894 by the Lothian Coal Company. It was a Victorian super-pit and was the deepest in Scotland at the time at 501metres (1200 feet) deep. Coal was extracted and shipped, via steam locomotives and then lorries, to coal power stations, industries, shipping, and for export around the world. Scotland was built on coal – and this legacy lives on today at the Museum.
The Lady Victoria Colliery has stood the test of time and closed as a working colliery in 1981, where it was then taken over by the Scottish Mining Museum Trust and converted into a museum. Years later it became the National Mining Museum Scotland, an independent charity. Our mission as a Museum is to preserve and promote Scotland’s mining history and heritage for current and future generations. We do this through our exhibitions, education programme and varied events. However, we can no longer just tell the story of coal. We must tell the story of Scotland’s energy journey.
The Edinburgh Ceramic Workshop
Practice pottery studio
The Edinburgh Ceramic Workshop (ECW) is an open practice pottery studio in Edinburgh, dedicated to providing learning opportunities and workshop space for anyone with a passion for working creatively with clay.
The ECW is supporting Nicole Manley with a residency in the ceramic studios, enabling her to practice through the medium of clay to develop a deeper understanding of clay as a material that is susceptible to the natural elements like the weather, but can be creatively made extremely durable through the human process of firing and glazing.
ECW also has provided space and support for the discussion of climate change through participatory clay workshops, during and after COP26. The many clay sculptures are part of the Weathering Earth Installation.
The participatory nature of Weathering Earth is very much connected to the participatory nature of the ECW studios, where members, technicians and teachers work together through the medium of clay in a shared space.