Beautiful Materials | A solo exhibition of new works by Nicola Atkinson

Friday 23 May to Sunday 21 September 2025

At its heart the exhibition of new works by Nicola Atkinson, Beautiful Materials, asks - How do we look at art and its materials and what are its boundaries?

Here in the exhibition the vessel is a container for ideas, and materials, but perhaps we too are also containers in some ways.  Nicola puts the visitor front and centre in an active role of questioning art, how we digest what is around us, how we take part and then, what does it all mean.  Themes of containment, scale and transformation pervade every surface. 

Some experience of the artwork can only be in person, in the Gallery, this is where the tactile scale of the hanging velvet and georgette artwork is truly present.  The vessels have gone on a journey of material metamorphosis from painting on wood, to printing on beautiful fabrics.  The artist extends what is the exhibition proper, out through the window of the Linlithgow Burgh Halls Gallery Space onto the Bus Shelter on main street.  You can experience the artwork further at the artists' talk, in your home, by wearing it, by listening on your phone and in a book.  She has published a stunning pocket-sized book to accompany the exhibition, which you can acquire at Far From the Madding Crowd bookshop, Linlithgow.

Nicola is an internationally acclaimed multi-disciplinary artist.  Her luminous public artwork specialises in place-making, social cohesion and community engagement and is permanently housed in museums around the world.  She has had numerous exhibitions in international venues including Long Beach Museum of Art, CA, USA;  Tramway and The Lighthouse, Glasgow, Scotland;  Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba;  Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands;  The Museum of Modern Art, NY, USA and the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK.

Nicola Atkinson thanks the following:  Alan Hawthorne; Basharat Khan; Barbara McCarren; Bill Breckenridge; Camille Archer, Graham Taylor; Harrison Reid; Ju Row Farr; Kim Noble; Lesley Brown; Lorna Cunningham; Lorna Swinney; Lynsey Moyes; Marney Walker; Michael Wilson; Peter Allam; Rosemary Cunningham; Sally Pattle; Sarah Bissell-Hobbs; Seth Howe; Spencer Dent; Stevie Jackson; Stuart Kerr and Tom Hickmore.  Outer Spaces (opens new window) for my studio space.

To learn more about art by Nicola Atkinson please visit - beautifulmaterials.co (opens new window) 

ASSOCIATED EVENTS

Linlithgow Bus Shelter
Date: Thursday 8 May to Sunday 21 September
Location:  Main Street, Linlithgow

A bus shelter can be a thoughtful place, thinking about the journey ahead, when the bus is coming and beyond.  It is a shared space in the world, where a captive audience occurs to experience art. Inspired after Nicola Atkinson recent public art works on three bus shelters in Winchburgh, this work features transparent colourful vinyl and drawings.

There are two significance of this particular bus shelter location, one is that you can see this Linlithgow Bus Shelter from the gallery windows, connecting the interior with exterior, and extending the boundaries of the exhibition. The other one is that this is the site where chloroforms were invented which enable the alleviation of human suffering.  For safe indentation this was housed in blue glass vessels.

Artist Reception - Nicola Atkinson Beautiful Materials
Date:  Thursday 22 May, 7 - 9pm.  Free event - online booking essential (opens new window)
Location:  Gallery 

Come celebrate at the artist reception in the Gallery.  Committed to delivering artworks that inspire, her work is organic and generative, prompting action, interaction and response.  Here in the exhibition the vessel is a container for ideas, and materials, but perhaps we too are also containers in some ways.  Nicola puts the visitor front and centre in an active role of questioning art, how we digest what is around us, how we take part and then, what does it mean.

Artist Talk - Nicola Atkinson Beautiful Materials  
Date:  Wednesday 18 June, 6:30 - 7:30pm.  Free event - online booking essential (opens new window)  
Location:  Gallery

Nicola Atkinson will reflect on working as an artist in Scotland and the world.  There are opportunities to make work everywhere and Nicola's unrestrained approach to site and place and audience inspires people around the world.  Her dynamic and beautiful public artwork specialises in place-making, social cohesion and community engagement and is displayed in museums and landscapes around the world including Scotland, the USA and Cuba.

Vessels On Loan
Dates:  Please see below
Location:  Gallery.  Free event - reserve a spot (opens new window)  

In a recent survey for museums, it said that a person spends on average 28 seconds looking at a piece of art.  This exhibition offers the visitor an opportunity to have a little more time with an artwork, to understand how the relationship to it can grow or change, in the comfort of their own home.

"As an artist I spend a lot of time living with my own work after I have made it.  I hope that this will enhance the experiences of the Beautiful Materials exhibition, by connecting your home to the Linlithgow Burgh Halls Gallery Space" Nicola Atkinson.

The residents of Linlithgow and the surrounding area can borrow one of the Beautiful Materials art pieces for the duration of the exhibition.

• SELECT - Friday 23 May to Wednesday 18 June - Select the artwork, which is numbered in the scale model of the gallery, located in the Gallery.
• PICK UP - Wednesday 2 and Wednesday 16 July, 7 - 9pm - Pick up the framed artwork from the artist at the Gallery.  The artwork is a choice of a vessel on velvet, in a 25cm x 25cm white box frame and can be hung or sit on a shelf.  This is a chance to spend more time with the artwork in your own home. 
• DROP OFF - Saturday 20 September, 12 - 4pm - Drop off to the artist in the Gallery.

Book Signing - Beautiful Materials Publishing
Date:  Friday 4 July, 12 - 1pm.  Free event - online booking essential (opens new window)
Location:  Far From the Madding Crowd Bookshop, 20 High St, Linlithgow, EH49 7AE

Nicola Atkinson will share her experience on the progress of her artwork and sign copies of the book.  Published by Beautiful Materials Publishing, a publishing company founded by Nicola Atkinson, it is a pocket-sized book, with beautiful reproductions of the artwork featured in the exhibition Beautiful Materials at Linlithgow Burgh Halls Gallery Space.  It contains a collection of the vessel's paintings and an insightful interview with the artist by Lynsey Moyes, who is a radio producer who has created audio arts content for BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio 4 and the Glasgow International Arts Festival. An essay by writer Michael Wilson who is the author of How to Read Contemporary Art: Experiencing the Art of the 21st Century and his writing has featured in Artforum, Art Monthly and Frieze.

Beautiful Materials book can be purchased for £10 at: Far From the Madding Crowd bookshop (23 May until 21 September).  maddingcrowdlinlithgow.com (opens new window)

Wear Art Music - Music is a collaboration between Nicola Atkinson & Stevie Jackson
Date:  Saturday 23 August, 1 - 3pm.  Free event - online booking essential (opens new window)  
Location:  Gallery

Bringing colour and expression to everyday life, the works in this event by Nicola Atkinson, take art off the wall and into the hands of the participant.  Come spend a wonderful afternoon trying on Nicola Atkinson's scarves and watch models invited from the people of Linlithgow, wearing her individually made extraordinary garments inspired by the vessels in the exhibition. Set to an ambient original soundtrack, the music from a collaboration between the artist and Stevie Jackson, Belle and Sebastian.

You and others can participate by wearing the scarves, experiencing the energy of the rich bold colours, the opulence of velvet, and the movement of the translucent Georgette fabrics. Made with a zero-waste approach to pattern cutting, this is a unique chance to wear the artists' work.

Virtual tour of the exhibition - to be added in June 2025