Exhibitions
Collaborate! 21st Century Commissions and Creations part I
Explore the creative process behind some of Dovecot's recent creative rug collaborations.
Tapestry Studio Viewing Balcony
Watch the Dovecot weavers at work from the Tapestry Studio Viewing Balcony.
Flaunting Szafki: A retrospective of paintings by Yusef Szafki
Explore the colourful and enigmatic canvases of Scottish painter Yusef Szafki (1950-2021).
KNITWEAR Chanel to Westwood
Explore a major exhibition of inspirational 20th and 21st-century fashion knitwear featuring over 150 pieces from the collection of Mark and Cleo Buttefield.
KNITWEAR Exhibition Tour with Dovecot Studios Curator
Get the lowdown on our current exhibition KNITWEAR Chanel to Westwood with Dovecot Curator Ben Reiss.
Kaffe Fassett The Power of Pattern
Explore the world of influential artist and designer Kaffe Fassett.
2022
Dazzle 2022
Showcasing the best in contemporary jewellery, Dazzle provides a platform for both established and up-and-coming makers.
The Modern Institute: Space Forgets You
Glasgow's The Modern Institute presents an exhibition celebrating the work of international artists, Julia Chiang, Marc Hundley, John Giorno and textile art collective Arrange Whatever Pieces Come Your Way.
RAPHAEL - Magister Raffaello
Experience the life and work of Italian Renaissance artist Raphael in this digital installation and contemporary tapestry marking his 500th anniversary.
Alan Davie: Beginning of a Far-off World
A timely tribute to one of the greatest Scottish artists of the 20th century, featuring rarely seen works from each decade of his career.
The Art of Wallpaper - Morris & Co.
Explore the legacy of William Morris in over 130 original wallpapers from the Morris & Co. archives
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Necklace for an Elephant and Other Stories: The Working Lives of David Poston
2015
Selected 2015 + Dovecot Selects
Selected has showcased over 50 individual makers, both established and emerging, in our annual selling exhibition.
Kwang Young Chun: AGGREGATIONS
Aggregations, the first solo exhibition in Scotland of internationally renowned Korean artist Kwang Young Chun, unites the traditions of making and Eastern philosophy with the artist’s painterly interest in American Abstract Expressionism.
Bernat Klein: A LIFE IN COLOUR
A Life in Colour is a retrospective exhibition featuring tapestries by Bernat Klein woven by Dovecot Studios, alongside other works by the designer whose signature vibrant mohair and tweed textiles were produced in the Scottish Borders for fashion houses in Europe.
Dovecot Tapestry Studio Collection (Viewing Balcony open Thurs and Fri 12-3pm Sat 10.30am-5.30pm)
Magne Furuholmen: Peeling a Glass Onion
Major solo exhibition of works by Norwegian visual artist and musician Magne Furuholmen, with the Glass Onion tapestry as the centrepiece.
Edge and Shore: Acts of Doing
Working within the gallery space at Dovecot, visual artist Helen Carnac and dance artist Laïla Diallo reveal an ever-evolving work that brings together objects, images, film, writing and live making.
2014
Selected 2014
SELECTED unites 27 makers in a selling exhibition of craft and design at Dovecot Studios for the second year running. This elite showcase includes work from some of the most talented makers in Scotland across a number of disciplines including ceramics, jewellery, furniture, textiles, glass and silver.
Edward Bawden and Dovecot Studios: an enduring collaboration
Edward Bawden Dovecot Studios tapestries form part of the Morley College exhibition Edward Bawden Storyteller from 4-26 November. David Weir, Director of Dovecot Studios will talk at Morley on 5 November at 5pm about the nature of tapestry collaboration between artist and artist weaver.
GEM: Contemporary Jewellery and Gemstones from Afghanistan
GEM is an exhibition of jewellery, gem-cutting and contemporary practices from Afghanistan originally produced as part of the British Council’s South Asia season in autumn 2013.
Tumadh | Immersion: Dalziel + Scullion
An exciting and extraordinary new commission from Dovecot will turn the gallery into an immersive space made with sound and tactile qualities being created by Dundee based artists Dalziel + Scullion.
Dazzle: Jewellery
Dazzle jewellery exhibition returning, for the third Dovecot showing, has selected some exciting new designers for what will be its 32nd Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 50 jewellery designers will be showing upwards of 2-3,000 pieces with everything, as usual, for sale.
Current Exchanges: Dovecot and the Australian Tapestry Workshop
Celebrating the continuing connections between the Australian Tapestry Workshop, Melbourne, and Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, this exhibition brings together recent work from both institutions. Although geographically separate, both share a similar philosophy of working closely with contemporary artists to produce tapestries at the cutting edge of artistic practice.
Craigie Aitchison: Paintings, etchings and tapestries
Timothy Taylor Gallery and Dovecot present a selected showcase of oil paintings and etchings from the estate of Craigie Aitchsion CBE RSA RA (1926-2009) alongside tapestries created by Dovecot Studios in collaboration with the artist.
Barnaby Barford
Barnaby Barford is an artist who works primarily with ceramics to create unique narrative pieces. He works with both mass-market and antique found porcelain figurines, cutting up and exchanging elements or adding to them and repainting them, to create sculptures which are often sinister and sardonic but invariably humorous.
Leith School of Art Alumni Exhibition
Leith School of Art is delighted to celebrate 25 years of teaching, supporting and promoting the visual arts in Scotland.
When Men and Mountains Meet: Paul Martin
The exhibition When Men and Mountains Meet by Paul Martin is a distillation of the artist’s lifelong exploration of the nature of nature, and the ways - aesthetic, symbolic, poetic, spiritual – in which we see and understand it. “To
Touring Exhibition: Fleece to Fibre - The Making of the Large Tree Group Tapestry
Broad Horizons: Dovecot Polymaths
An exhibition of works – past and present – from some of the most influential and multi-talented artists who have worked with the Studios.
2013
Selected 2013
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK UNTIL 21 DECEMBER Selected is a new selling exhibition which celebrates contemporary Scottish craft and design.
Jamie Primrose: Reflections on a City
Jamie Primrose is a highly collectable and acclaimed contemporary Scottish artist. Having achieved outstanding success with past sell-out exhibitions of his sought-after paintings, he has now established himself as one of the most exciting talents in the UK.
Dovecot Tapestry and Rug Collection
Daily the Weaving Floor Viewing Balcony is open to the public to view the weaving studio below as well as a curated an ever changing collection of our tapestries and rugs.
David Peat: An Eye on the World
The roots of David Peat's photography lie firmly in the classic street photography genre. Continually inspired by the masters of street photography and their skill at seeing and hunting a meaningful image within a moment in time, Peat has quietly built his own personal portfolio of images during a working life around the world. Voted one of the top exhibitions of 2012 by the List Magazine
Jacki Parry: Resonance - Gathering and Sampling
Paper is central to the conceptual, physical and material activity which drives Jacki Parry’s work. For most of the last 40 years her investigations have been based on developing ideas in paper using it variously as substrate, as independent medium, and in combination with other materials. This exhibition features a diverse collection of works in two and three dimensions spanning the years 2000 – 2012 plus a small selection of earlier paperworks.
Fleece to Fibre: The Making of the Large Tree Group Tapestry
Victoria Crowe’s acclaimed painting, Large Tree Group, was commisioned by Dovecot to be created into a large tapestry using exclusively un-dyed wool sourced from around the country. The finished tapestry, complete after hundreds of hours of careful work by Dovecot's master weavers is at the heart of this exhibition.
Artist Rugs: Dovecot’s Contemporary Rug Collection
Dovecot Studios have been the leading pioneers in tapestry and rug making for over a 100 years. This exhibition showcases Dovecot’s contemporary hand-tufted rugs which are in turn graphic and vibrant, colourful and highly original.
Dazzle: Jewellery
Dazzle returns for a second consecutive year to Dovecot featuring work from over 50 contemporary jewellery designers’ and silversmiths. For the first time in Edinburgh *Dazzle@Dovecot* will also be presenting work by Japanese printmaker Emiko Aida..
Wendy Ramshaw: Rooms of Dreams
Dovecot Studios are delighted to present Wendy Ramshaw: Room of Dreams this spring. As one of Britain’s leading contemporary designers, Wendy Ramshaw is renowned for her stunning jewellery and distinctive, large scale public art. This major exhibition will exhibit key pieces spanning the past fifty years of her acclaimed career - the centrepiece being her magical environment 'Room of Dreams" in which her work , inspired by stories and the world of the imagination, are displayed.
2012
Forever Changes: Michael Brennand-Wood
An exhibition documenting Michael Brennand-Wood’s practice over forty years. Forever Changes will feature many previously unseen, new and important works with the emphasis very firmly on the ideas behind each piece. The exhibition will include installation, sculptural, relief, studio and commission works. It will be accompanied by a fully illustrated publication which will present a biography of the work, exhibitions, events, places and concepts that have shaped Brennand-Wood’s practice.
Carpets of Distinction
Carpets of Distinction is a showroom of six hand-tufted rugs produced by Panel in partnership with Dovecot Studios and the Stoddard Templeton Archive at Glasgow University and The Glasgow School of Art.
Nuno Japanese Textiles
Nuno textiles was founded in 1984 and since 1987 Reiko Sudo, as Artistic Director, has steered Nuno to a position of pre-eminence in Japan and internationally. This exhibition shows how Nuno designs respond to the human form and how Nuno works with textile producers to create designs that reflect the importance of cloth for protecting and adorning the body as well as creating social well being.
Bird Yarns
Bird Yarns brings knitters from Mull and across the UK together with textile artist Deirdre Nelson in response to the changing migration patterns of seabirds across Scotland’s islands. Working with local wool from Ardalanish, Mull, and recycled materials, the knitters will create a flock of ‘lost’ arctic terns on Tobermory Pier and provide them with a Mull welcome of local food, music and poetry. Knitting kits will be developed in partnership with local producers to highlight the plight of migratory birds and celebrate local resources and resourcefulness.
Weaving The Century: Tapestry from Dovecot Studios 1912-2012
This is the first major Dovecot tapestry exhibition to be presented in Scotland for over thirty years. Curated by art historian Dr Elizabeth Cumming and presented across all three of Dovecot’s public gallery spaces. The exhibition features over 60 tapestries, rugs and rarely seen works on loan from major museums and private collections in America and Britain.
Telford College End of Year Show: Showtime
Creative arts students from Edinburgh’s Telford College host their End of Year Show at Dovecot for the third consecutive year.
Amy Duncan (1968-2009): Exhibition
Amy Duncan trained as a tapestry weaver at West Dean Tapestry studio and worked in the UK and Australia. This retrospective exhibition is a celebration of her work and includes a wide range of pieces, from delicate tapestry samples and sketch books, to large pieces which have been loaned for the exhibition by private collections.
Ptolemy Mann: The Architecture of Cloth, Colour and Space
This May, Dovecot Studios will be home to Ptolemy Mann’s Architecture of Cloth, Colour and Space exhibition. The show, Mann’s first solo retrospective exhibition which was initiated by the Ruthin Craft Centre in Wales, will be in Dovecot’s North Gallery from the 4th – 26th May.