To hold is to carry, to care, to contain. It is an act both ordinary and profound, a gesture of attention that can be as simple as cradling a cup, or as complex as bearing memory, grief, or responsibility.
Holding Conversations explores this rich and layered act through the lens of contemporary craft and visual art, positioning the vessel not only as a physical form, but as a potent metaphor for encounter, exchange, and embodiment.

The exhibition seeks to bring together artists and makers working across material practices who have been commissioned to create vessels that respond to the theme of holding physically, emotionally, and conceptually. These vessels are not intended for display behind glass or at a distance. They are made to be touched, passed, engaged with. In doing so, they invite a different kind of looking: a sensory, participatory encounter that activates the object as a site of dialogue between artist, artwork, and audience.

The exhibition also questions the power dynamics of who holds what, and why. Museums,institutions, and collectors have long defined what is held and preserved, and what is allowed to pass. In contrast, Holding Conversations foregrounds a more equitable and embodied model, one that values shared authorship, accessibility, and the emotional dimensions of making. Ultimately, Holding Conversations holds space, quite literally, for conversations to be carried, shared, and continued. Through objects that invite touch, through forms that resist hierarchy, and through practices that prioritise connection over containment, this exhibition asks us not just to look, but to feel, to care, and to carry forward the dialogues that emerge.

Exhibition Dates: 11 – 21 February 2026 (closing at 12pm on the 21st)
Opening times: 9-5pm (Sunday 9-4pm)

Custom Lane Gallery
Leith, Edinburgh
EH6 6AL

Artworks are for sale via email treasurer@visualartsscotland.org

Holding Conversations is an ongoing project that takes the form of an evolving touring exhibition. The project
explores the intersection of visual art and contemporary craft, the two pillars of Visual Art Scotland’s disciplines.

Annabelle Adie, Alexandra Bell, Sally Beaton, James Birbeck, Paula V Bloom, Cally Booker, Felicity Bristow,
Eleanor Buffam, Will Carey, Charles Young, Gillian Cooper, Lorenzo Dalberto, Kirsty Dalton, Eddy
Dreadnought, Volha Druhakova, Fionn Duffy, Jackie Flanagan, Flore Gardner, Jo Gifford, Richard
Goldsworthy, Puyi Guo, Kathryn Hanna, Vicky Higginson, Lynne Hocking, Sarah Hurn, Erin McQuarrie, Ese
Johnson, Ruth Elizabeth Jones, Hannah Keddie, Julliet King, Hannah Knechtli, Lin Li, Becky Little, Alina
Litvinova, Tracy Mackenna, Thomas Main, Fran Marquis, Anne Marquiss, Sarah McCusker, Jo McDonald,
Fiona McLachlan Powell, Kevin Morris, Anna Nichols, Maija Nygren, Sana Obaid, Trish Omeara, Sara
Oussaiden, Kate Percival, Heather Potten, Caitlin Robb, Delphine Roques, Rowan Roscher, Roxy Russell, Sue
Savege, Scottish Seascapes, Scott Smith, Jade Stout, Monika Walendziak, Helen Walsh, Claire White,
Lingqiu Xiao, Nils Aksnes

Holding Conversations Part Two
To hold is to carry, to care, to contain. It is an act both ordinary and profound, a gesture of attention that can be
as simple as cradling a cup, or as complex as bearing memory, grief, or responsibility. Holding Conversations
explores this rich and layered act through the lens of contemporary craft and visual art, positioning the vessel
not only as a physical form, but as a potent metaphor for encounter, exchange, and embodiment.
The exhibition seeks to bring together artists and makers working across material practices who have been
commissioned to create vessels that respond to the theme of holding physically, emotionally, and conceptually.
These vessels are not intended for display behind glass or at a distance. They are made to be touched, passed,
engaged with. In doing so, they invite a different kind of looking: a sensory, participatory encounter that activates
the object as a site of dialogue between artist, artwork, and audience.
In the act of holding, distinctions between viewer and maker begin to dissolve. The vessel becomes not just an
object to be seen, but a space to be shared, an invitation to intimacy, reflection, relation. Through form, material,
and gesture, what does it mean to hold something or someone?
Visual Arts Scotland invited members to submit new work for Holding Conversations: Part Two, the next
iteration of our ongoing exhibition project exploring the vessel as both object and metaphor. Building on the
success of Part One, this exhibition continues to investigate the act of holding physically, emotionally, and
symbolically through contemporary craft and visual art. All works were conceived with Holding Conversations’
ethos in mind: tactile, materially curious, and accessible to audiences through touch, use, or imaginative
engagement.

Holding Conversations Part One – V&A Dundee – 25th-27th July 2025.
As part of the VAS x Tea Green Events partnership, the Inches Carr Exhibition Showcase Artists were invited to
partake by creating vessels that embody their individual practices while responding to the exhibition’s core
theme: the dialogue between artist, object, and audience. This collection was then exhibited at Dalkeith Palace
in August 2025.
Carol Sinclair, Charles Young, Erin McQuarrie, Flore Gardner, Fionn Duffy, Felicity Bristow,Hannah Keddie,
Jennifer Alford, Kathryn Hanna, Kevin Andrew Morris, Lynne Hocking, Richard Goldsworthy, Nils Aksnes,
Scott Smith.
Through a uniquely intimate and physical mode of engagement, the act of holding. Centering on the vessel as
both object and metaphor, the exhibitions in different formats invite audiences to connect with contemporary
artwork not only visually, but through the sensory and emotional experience of touch. These vessels are not
intended to be observed at a distance or kept behind glass. Instead, they are meant to be held, passed, and
personally engaged with, fostering a tangible conversation between the artwork and its holder.
By placing the vessel, form deeply rooted in both function and symbolism, at the center of this encounter,
Holding Conversations bridges visual art and craft. It challenges traditional hierarchies and distinctions between
the disciplines, and instead offers a shared, embodied space where contemporary practices speak through form,
material, and gesture.

Holding Conversations – Part Three – Moving forward.
The exhibition series also seeks to question the power dynamics of who holds what, and why. Museums,
institutions, and collectors have long defined what is held and preserved, and what is allowed to pass. In
contrast, Holding Conversations foregrounds a more equitable and embodied model, one that values shared
authorship, accessibility, and the emotional dimensions of making.
Holding can be a quiet form of resistance. It can speak of preservation, protest, protection. It can suggest
responsibility toward others, toward the environment, toward histories that are often silenced. In some cases,
the act of holding becomes a way of being held: by a memory, a material, a community, a practice. These vessels
hold not just contents, but stories sometimes visible, sometimes invisible; some told through the marks of the
hand, others through the weight of what remains unsaid.
Ultimately, Holding Conversations holds space, quite literally, for conversations to be carried, shared, and
continued. Through objects that invite touch, through forms that resist hierarchy, and through practices that
prioritise connection over containment, these exhibitions ask us not just to look, but to feel, to care, and to carry
forward the dialogues that emerge.

If you are interested in participating in future iterations of the Holding Conversations touring exhibition series,
please contact admin@visualartsscotland.org for more information.

Visual Arts Scotland presents in addition to our annual open exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy Building,
a diverse programme of exhibitions, residencies, awards and further opportunities for our 1,400+ membership
base of Artists and Makers. Should you wish to discuss membership with vas please contact Flic at
admin@visualartsscotland.org or Charles at treasurer@visualartsscotland.org