{"id":688395,"date":"2026-01-11T07:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T07:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/688395\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T07:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T07:01:11","slug":"landmark-exhibition-celebrating-scottish-art-opens-in-edinburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/688395\/","title":{"rendered":"Landmark exhibition celebrating Scottish art opens in Edinburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The Society of Scottish Artists (SSA) unveiled its 127th Annual Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) in Edinburgh<\/a> on Sunday, aiming to honour the legacy and embrace the future of the two historic institutions.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n The \u201clandmark\u201d exhibition opened on Sunday and features more than 250 pieces of art by 229 artists, including 10 of Scotland\u2019s most promising up-and-coming talents, who were selected to showcase their work through the SSA\u2019s graduate award scheme.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Several works this year highlight themes such as women\u2019s rights and the conflict in Gaza<\/a> and were selected from more than 2000 submissions and include mediums such as film, sculpture, textile, drawing, brickmaking and ceramics.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Orkney and Shetland\u2019s creative life showcased in Edinburgh exhibition<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Frank To, co-president of the SSA, said that it is a \u201cspecial year\u201d for the organisation because they are part of the RSA\u2019s 200th anniversary celebrations and have collaborated with the exhibition to reflect on their shared legacy.\n<\/p>\n

\n This includes not only showing the world of RSA\u2019s first three presidents, Robert Noble, Robert Buchan Nisbet, and James Cadenhead, but also showcasing newer, emerging artists.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe’re kind of in some ways showing artists from the beginnings of the Society of Scottish Artists, all the way up to the kind of the emerging artists who are coming through Scotland,\u201d he said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou’re going to have a merger of both temporary and traditional, and it’s the first time you’ll be able to see the actual history of it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n To continued: \u201cWe want to show the most emerging, the most contemporary art that’s in Scotland right now and have that sort of conversation.\n<\/p>\n

\n He added: \u201cFor us, it is really important to show them, but also give them a platform.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe want to give as well within the building of the Royal Scottish Academy, as you can imagine, it’s a big platform, right in the middle of Edinburgh, we give this platform to give these emerging artists, these graduates, the opportunity to show alongside very established artists as well.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n null (Image: Tina Norris)\n<\/p>\n

\n Christopher Ivor Adam, who graduated from the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee<\/a>, is one of those who will be exhibiting at the event after he was one of the 10 winners of this year\u2019s New Graduate Awards.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n The Paisley<\/a>-born artist and composer\u2019s work spans drawing, painting, printmaking, and filmmaking, and he often explores the lyrical and mythic aspects of human culture, from ancient songs to contemporary fictions, reflecting on our collective desire to belong and make sense of the world.\n<\/p>\n

\n Along with graduate works, multi-disciplinary artist Susan Pearson, based in Shetland<\/a>, will also have work on show after winning this year\u2019s SSA Award.\n<\/p>\n

\n Pearson is best known for making use of foraged materials to investigate the connections between art, archaeology, and philosophy.\n<\/p>\n

\n Her work is inspired by natural forms, landscape, and the human figure, often resulting in ambiguous, dreamlike narratives.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Greenock talent and GSA graduates headline Inverclyde\u2019s Beacon<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Luke Vinnicombe, co-president of SSA, hailed Pearson\u2019s work and said he is excited to have her work on show at this year\u2019s exhibition.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n He\u00a0 said: \u201cIt’s really great to get, artists, who are from all parts of Scotland, so that we can kind of, you know, best represent, the whole of Scotland and since we’re in the Society of Scottish Artists, it’s really great to be able to show as many, artists from different parts of the country as possible.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Vinnicombe went on to explain that topics at the exhibition are \u201cquite varied\u201d and that the SSA is trying to encourage artists to really focus on what they wish to express as they welcome all kinds of freedom of expression.\n<\/p>\n

\n null (Image: Tina Norris)\n<\/p>\n

\n To added: \u201cSome artists may explore things that are political, but there are some works that are quite fun and quite engaging at the same time.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Vinnicombe urged visitors to check out the exhibition because the SSA shows the \u201cmost exciting, newest contemporary art in Scotland\u201d, adding that there will also be a range of artists from abroad.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe give our artists the space to really express themselves as well, so I think that’s really important for us is that we show so many different varieties of artists and the range of diversity of work.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Scots are also being encouraged to check out the exhibition’s 30 by 30 series, which includes work from artists all over the world, where they can purchase original artworks for themselves.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Tickets are \u00a35 entry,\u00a0\u00a34 concession, and are free for under 16s and SSA Members, with free entry for all on Mondays. The exhibition runs from January 11 to February 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Society of Scottish Artists (SSA) unveiled its 127th Annual Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-688395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115875183465984378","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}