Edinburgh’s Gifted Sculptures are made from old books and lots (and lots) of glue. They started appearing in the Poetry Library in 2011 and there are now ten Gifted Sculptures and a book about them. I went to the touring exhibition in its last couple of days – finishes tomorrow – at the poetry library.

http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/connect/blog/gifted-edinburgh-book-sculptures-tour-2012

The Edinburgh Poetry Library is well down the royal Mile. Opposite the Canongate church with its statue of Fergusson on the pavement there’s an inviting pend – go there. No 35 bus has a handy stop on each side of the road.

The Gifted statues are exquisite and to my untutored eye must have taken hours of painstaking work. Cutting, arranging, glueing at a micro level while bearing the overall compostition in mind looks wholly absorbing. Does the artist have an other life? Who is the artist?

Well, that touch of mystery adds a little relish to the whole wonderful exhibition. I found the Jekyll and Hyde one theatrical as Stevenson’s story leapt out of the arrangement of figures. Anyone else remember the CSI story of the miniature killer?

Back on the High Street, there’s a hug bundle of black bags and stuff stretched out along a bench. Is it rubbish or is there a man sleeping inside the eight-foot coccoon? Edinburgh’s High Street continues to intrigue.