THIS week, the team from the Live Borders Museum and Gallery, Tweeddale Museum, bring us further details on their latest exhibition...

Peebles-based artist Irene Campbell, is part of the ‘Lives in a Landscape’ volunteer team at Tweeddale Museum. She brings a unique perspective to this current exhibition - her artistic response to one of the most inspiring collections owned by the museum - a cache of Roman coins from around AD 222 found at Edston Quarry in 1994.

The Edston Hoard of 290 silver Roman coins, part of the museums 16,000 plus collection, underpinned what was already known of Roman centurions based at Lyne Camp, on the marching route between Melrose and Clydesdale, 2,000 years ago.

Irene said: "The hoard of silver coins is both beautiful and intriguing. The detail on each small coin is marvellous. Some are worn and smooth while others look as if they have barely passed from hand to hand.

"I responded to the shape and quantity of the coins rather than focusing on their individual details. I then went on to make a short series of small drawings and these resulted in a roughly-painted, handmade book based on earth colours and the rounded shapes at the heart of the hoard."

Unfortunately when and why these coins were buried or by whom, we will never know, albeit that Irene muses of them being stolen from a Roman paymaster, gained in a murder or even being found, reburied and lost for a second time.

She added: "The hoard is tangible but the story it hides is not, and it is for this reason that I have included ‘ghost prints’ in the book as a response to what one can see but never know about the hoard."

Irene is one of a dedicated team of 13 volunteers involved in the current Lives in a Landscape exhibition at Tweeddale Museum which runs from now until the end of 2018, where visitors can see the Edston Hoard as well as many more fascinating objects from the collection.

To volunteer with this exhibition, contact Live Borders at Tweeddale Museum on 01721 724820.