VESSELS Conservations about Materials by Nicola Atkinson

VESSELS Conservations about Materials

15 November - 6 December 2025

Open every Saturday 10 - 4pm Avenues Shopping Centre G77 6AA

Come and meet Nicola Atkinson, artist and curator. She exhibits never before seen the 45 small scale paintings that inform her recent successful solo show in Linlithgow Burghs Halls built in 1670. In the window exhibition space, her two meter Vessel artwork velvet and georgette hangs gently. Another feature in the gallery is the miniature model of the fabulous Linlithgow Burghs Halls , where 31 wee velvet vessels paintings can be viewed here. It was created by Nicola as part of her show there; she became interested in how we see things everyday. It seems that we are now able to view the whole world in miniature on our phones, why not art.

‘The centrality of the vessel in this exhibition also reflects Atkinson’s interest in the discipline and history of ceramics. And just as most ceramic forms have been glazed and fired before arriving at their final, permanent shape, so Atkinson’s printed images have undergone a process of material transformation that goes beyond simple manipulation at her own hand. Beginning as small-scale paintings on re purposed wood panels—which themselves began as discarded loom components—they have been enlarged and reproduced onto unstretched sheets of fabric to create a group of hanging banners. Despite the peculiarities of this concluding format, however, the gestural quality and translucent coloration of the original renderings prevents the works from appearing rigidly heraldic—they’re too individual and too irregular for that. Instead, they feel closer to ornamental tapestries, or even to the accidental compositions that appear on ground sheets in the course of interior decoration.’ Excerpts from essay by Michael Wilson

‘I started thinking about how one perceives abstract work, and I thought it’d be really interesting to do something that would have the same intensity as abstract work, but have some object or thing that you could place within that. So when you’re looking at it, you see something, and then you’ll have the next level where you’ll be able to kind of see the paint or the colour and stuff like that. So something that would hold that abstract idea or content. And I came up with the vessel in relation to my own background of ceramics. I liked, in a kind of ticklish way, the idea that this is an object which holds things like liquid, but actually it’s a painting, but it does have this function. But it doesn’t have a function, but it does have a function because it’s a painting.’ Excerpts from Nicola Atkinson interview

Internationally acclaimed, multi-disciplinary artist Nicola specialises in artworks that focus on place-making, social cohesion and community engagement and has worked on 145 artworks on permanent display in museums around the world.

Also check out other Arts events in Newton Mearns, Exhibitions in Newton Mearns, Fine Arts events in Newton Mearns.