Open Call for Artists & Makers: Future Folklore; The Art and Craft of Storytelling

Open Call for Artists & Makers: Future Folklore; The Art and Craft of Storytelling
Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr | Presented by Visual Arts Scotland
Deadline for submissions: 28th October 5pm | Submissions via OESS: https://visualartsscotland.oess1.uk/
Exhibition Dates: 28th March 2026 - 30th May 2026 (Four Exhibition rooms)

About the Exhibition
Visual Arts Scotland invites artists and makers to apply for inclusion in Future Folklore: The Craft of
Storytelling, an exhibition exploring how folklore evolves through craft, imagination, and community.
Ayrshire and the wider Scottish landscape is rich with traditions, from selkie myths and fairy stories to
Robert Burns’ Tam o’ Shanter. These tales connect us to land and sea, memory and imagination. Folklore
is never fixed; it changes with each retelling.

This exhibition invites you to reinterpret folklore from the past, uncover hidden or overlooked stories, or
invent the folklore of the future. We are interested in the ways artists and makers use process itself, the
act of making, as a conduit for storytelling, where experimentation, material transformation, and the
traces of practice can become part of the narrative.

In a time of rapid ecological, social, and technological change, stories help us understand who we are
and where we belong. Folklore continues to offer a living framework for exploring identity, resilience,
and imagination. Artists and Makers are uniquely placed to carry these narratives forward. By reworking
ancient myths or creating new ones, artists can help shape how communities respond to change, find
meaning in uncertainty, and imagine alternative futures.

Possible themes:
Reimagining Ayrshire and Scotland’s myths, legends, and ghost stories. Rituals, customs, or “objects of
belief”. Folklore as a lens on ecology, migration, technology, or identity. Craft as storytelling: material,
process, and the residue of making. Performance and live art as a way of re-enacting, reimagining, or
generating folklore.Participatory or collaborative works that invite audiences to contribute their own
stories, voices, or rituals. Contemporary myths emerging from digital culture or everyday community
traditions. (This is not an exhaustive list, just possible starting points)

Note all mediums are welcome, including but not limited to textiles, drawing, painting, sculpture, print,
installation, digital, and collaborative work.

Works to be dropped off/couried to Edinburgh/ Dundee in advance of the exhibition.

You are invited to submit up to Four works in any size for consideration, Please ensure you are a VAS Member with an up-to-date subscription. You can join vas via our website or emailing admin@visualartsscotland.org