Travelling Gallery launches its Autumn Tour – Shapes of Water

Travelling Gallery today (Tuesday 31 August) announced the relaunch of its Spring 2020 exhibition, Shapes of Water, which was paused due to the pandemic. The new autumn tour will take place from 2 September to November across Scotland.

Travelling Gallery, an exciting event supported by EventScotland through Scotland's Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21 and Scotland's Events Recovery Fund, has invited three thought-provoking and exciting young artists to produce new work reflecting their individual perspectives on our relationship with coasts and waters.

The mobile art gallery - which drives contemporary art to all corners of the country - will feature an exhibition of drawings, riso prints, audio and film work from the three artists when it takes to the road later this week.

Its Autumn tour will begin outside Edinburgh's City Art Centre on Thursday 2 September before visiting venues across the country.

Suzie Eggins works across drawing, printmaking and sculpture and uses her imagination as a microscope to examine the cells and structures of our natural environment to create beautiful geometric drawings and installations. For Shapes of Water, Eggins turns her attention to Scotland's water and explores the idea that our thoughts and emotions can affect our environment.

Amy Gear is a mixed media artist based in Shetland and characteristically uses her Shetland dialect to outline her artistic practice, using local words to describe the coast and landscape. Her drawings and paintings go beyond the traditional ideals of a beautiful landscape and instead explore the connections between body and land. For Shapes of Water, Amy departs from a piece of writing inspired by her Shetland Grandparents describing the comfort in witnessing steely storms and angry waves; knowing that the unrest will benefit the buoyant sea life. The resulting artwork is a playful and cherished tribute to family and the sea.

Rhona Mühlebach is a Swiss filmmaker based in Glasgow and her films capture the atmospheric Scottish landscape placing intriguing narratives into the natural environment. For Shapes of Water, Mühlebach is making a stylish crime thriller set in Galloway Forest Park and investigating Sudden Oak Death which can be transmitted by rainwater and carried via rivers and streams.

Speaking of the exhibition, David Patterson, Curatorial and Conservation Manager, said:

We're thrilled to be back on tour again, and to be able to showcase new work by three exciting young artists, all based in Scotland. We greatly appreciate the ongoing support of EventScotland through the Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21 and Scotland's Event Recovery Fund.

Convener of Culture and Communities at the City of Edinburgh Council, Councillor Donald Wilson, added:

I'm delighted that the Travelling Gallery will be hitting the road, picking up where it left off last year and taking this fantastic exhibition to audiences around Scotland. Once again, the Travelling Gallery has devised a fascinating and varied exhibition which I'm sure will appeal to visitors across the country.

Vice Convener of Culture and Communities at the City of Edinburgh Council, Councillor Amy McNeese-Mechan, added:

As a Council we are committed to making art and culture as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. This is the ethos of the gallery itself and through supporting this mobile gallery, art is brought straight into the hearts of town centres. I hope everyone takes the opportunity to pay the exhibition a visit.

Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events at VisitScotland, said:

We are pleased to be supporting Travelling Gallery's Shapes of Water exhibition as part of Year of Coasts and Waters 20/21. Scotland offers the perfect stage to celebrate our coasts and waterways and this unique exhibition will give audiences an opportunity to experience these inspirational artworks as the mobile art gallery tours Scotland.

The current Scottish Government Covid 19 guidance will be adhered to throughout the tour. In order to keep staff and visitors safe currently 2 visitors or 1 household can visit the gallery at a time, and all visitors will need to leave contact details. The gallery door will be open and the fan running to increase ventilation, and staff will clean touchpoints regularly between visitors.

Tour dates
Exhibition Launch - Thursday 2 September - City Art Centre Edinburgh
Saturday 4 September - Portobello High Street ( Porty Art Walk)
Monday 6 September - The Ripple Project, Restalrig Road South, Edinburgh
Saturday 11 September - Portobello High Street ( Porty Art Walk)
Tuesday 15 September - North Edinburgh Arts
Friday 17 September - WHALE, Wester Hailes, Edinburgh
Thursday 14 - Mon 18 October - Summerlee Museum, Coatbridge
Friday 22nd October - Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh
Monday 1/2 November - East Renfrewshire

More dates will be added to the tour.

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