Joan Eardley is one of Scotland’s most popular and influential twentieth century artists. Her powerful and expressive paintings transformed her everyday surroundings, from Glasgow’s street children to the rugged Kincardineshire coastline.   

In this three-part audio series produced by the National Galleries of Scotland to mark the artist’s centenary year, painter and broadcaster Lachlan Goudie is joined by figures from the art world and beyond to try to better understand the character of this ground-breaking artist whose incredible body of work has endured long beyond her lifetime and continues to inspire new generations of artists.  

In this episode, Lachlan explores how Joan Eardley approached the sea as a subject and the importance of the village of Catterline in the artist's life with journalist Jan Patience, artist Dawnne McGeachy and former Catterline resident Ron Stephen.

Joan Eardley | Painting Catterline and the sea

Joan Eardley is one of Scotland’s most popular and influential twentieth century artists. Her powerful and expressive paintings transformed her everyday surroundings, from Glasgow’s street children to the rugged Kincardineshire coastline.

In this three-part audio series produced by the National Galleries of Scotland to mark the artist’s centenary year, painter and broadcaster Lachlan Goudie is joined by figures from the art world and beyond to try to better understand the character of this ground-breaking artist whose incredible body of work has endured long beyond her lifetime and continues to inspire new generations of artists.

In this episode, host Lachlan Goudie is joined by Joan Eardley's niece, the Bearsden-based ceramicist Anne Morrison-Hudson and archivist Kirstie Meehan and curator Leila Riszko from the National Galleries of Scotland to ask what we know of Joan Eardley's character.

The conversation touches on the apparent contrast in Eardley’s character, as a shy, reserved person who expresses herself with such intense passion on canvas. Noting the emotional stresses of her personal life and their impact on her painting, the panel consider Eardley’s experiences as a gay woman in a time when many people of her generation were not open about their sexuality. Lachlan also asks about Eardley’s work ethic and her motivations as an artist.

Joan Eardley | Character

In this third and final episode, host Lachlan Goudie talks about Joan Eardley's choice of materials and technique with conservator Lesley Stevenson of the National Galleries of Scotland. During their conversation, the panellists consider Eardley’s use of weathered hardboard and homemade paint, and marvel at the artist’s decision to preserve her surroundings for all time by attaching grass and flowerheads to some of her paintings. 

Also in this episode, Lachlan tries to contextualise Eardley’s work in relation to what was happening elsewhere in the world at the time with contemporary artist Jock McFadyen. A Royal Academician, Jock chose two Eardley paintings to feature in his recent exhibition Jock McFadyen Goes to the Pictures at the Scottish Gallery. Lachlan and Jock refer to the CoBrA group in this conversation. Formed in 1948, CoBrA was a group of Expressionist artists active in the late 1940s and 1950s. The name is derived from the letters of the capital cities of the countries of the artists involved - Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam.

Joan Eardley | Material and Process

In this episode of New Arrivals, a series of podcasts introducing the artists behind some of the recent additions to the collection at the National Galleries of Scotland, curator Patrick Elliott finds out more about artist Leonora Carrington’s life by speaking with her son Harold Weisz.

New Arrivals | Leonora Carrington

In this episode of New Arrivals, Curator Lucy Askew and artist France-Lise McGurn discuss the atmospheric, large-scale diptych 'Bachelorette'. Completed in the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, 'Bachelorette' entered the Scottish collection in late 2021.

New Arrivals | France-Lise McGurn

In this episode of New Arrivals, Curator Keith Hartley and painter Peter Doig discuss Doig's work 'At the Edge of Town'. Completed between 1986-1988, 'At the Edge of Town' entered the Scottish collection in late 2021.

New Arrivals | Peter Doig

Hear a short recording of Esther Inglis reading, in Scots, a sonnet dedicated to her by the Netherlandish calligrapher Jan Van de Velde - Sonnet to the Only Paragon, and Matcheles Mistresse of the Golden Pen. Esther Inglis (before 1607). Esther Inglis is voiced by the actor-poet Gerda Stevenson.

The recording was created as part of a collaborative project funded by the University of Edinburgh. Recording and editing by Dr James Cook (The University of Edinburgh), in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland, Dr Catriona Murray (The University of Edinburgh), Dr Anna Groundwater (National Museums Scotland) and Jamie Reid-Baxter. Copyright Dr James Cook.

Esther Inglis

Enjoy a selection of audio descriptions of artworks at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Taking over the top level of Modern One, this display, entitled ‘Conversations with the Collection’ is a celebration of Scottish and international modern and contemporary art.  

Highlighting many works that have rarely (if ever) been shown before, the display will include intriguing juxtapositions between artworks from different time periods and geographical locations, unearthing evocative stories and unexpected connections between artists.   

This guide, which has been developed specifically for blind and partially sighted people, features detailed descriptions of eight artworks 

Each description is between 2 and 4 minutes long. Gallery staff are available to help you locate any of the paintings.  

The audio guide is about 25 minutes long.

Roger Brown | Misty Morning (1975)

Enjoy a selection of audio descriptions of artworks at the Modern. Taking over the top level of Modern One, this display, entitled ‘Conversations with the Collection’ is a celebration of Scottish and international modern and contemporary art.  

Highlighting many works that have rarely (if ever) been shown before, the display will include intriguing juxtapositions between artworks from different time periods and geographical locations, unearthing evocative stories and unexpected connections between artists.   

This guide, which has been developed specifically for blind and partially sighted people, features detailed descriptions of eight artworks 

Each description is between 2 and 4 minutes long. Gallery staff are available to help you locate any of the paintings.  

The audio guide is about 20 minutes long.

Introduction

Discover Edinburgh through art with our City Walking Tour. This podcast series travels along the historic Royal Mile by exploring stories and places connected to Scottish artworks in the National Galleries of Scotland collection.

You can explore the artworks on this tour at https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/features/edinburgh-through-art-city-walking-tour.

Dr Elsie Maud Inglis Hospice, 219 High Street

Room 14 | Helen Frankenthaler, Saturn, (1963)

Welcome to Room 14, Experiencing Colour. This room showcases the emotive and immersive power of colour and art throughout the 20th century. Here we present a conversation between Wendy, Bill and Tessa. Wendy and Bill are regular participants in our dementia friendly gallery social program. Both are supporters of people living with dementia, and they visit the galleries every month to participate in relaxed and sociable art sessions. Tessa Asquith-Lamb is a visual artist who delivers the program. Together, they discuss two artworks in this room. 'Misty Morning' by Roger Brown and 'Saturn' by Helen Frankenthaler.

Room 14 | Experiencing Colour (introduction)

Welcome to Conversations with the Collection: A Conversation Piece, and thank you for joining us on this audio tour. For this tour, we have invited guests to share their thoughts on a selection of artworks from the display, not knowing in advance which artworks they would be discussing. These responses are honest, real and unscripted. 

Through these informal interviews, we hope to open up our collection to different opinions and reactions. The images visible on your smartphone screen correspond to the stops on the tour. We have provided a picture of the artworks that are being discussed in each track. You can pause, skip and rewind tracks at each stop.

Audio described introduction the sculpture park at the Modern

Audio described introduction to Modern One

Audio described introduction to Modern Two

John Singer Sargent, ‘Lady Agnew of Lochnaw’, 1892, (National Galleries of Scotland).

This audio tour was produced for the exhibition American Impressionism: A New Vision, on display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art from 19th July to 19th October 2014. Download all 13 episodes.

Audio Guide | John Singer Sargent, ‘Lady Agnew of Lochnaw’

Welcome to stop 3. Upon entering the room, on the far wall is Rubbing/Loving Project: Bathroom, which is part of a series of artworks that Do Ho made between 2014-2023. The artwork takes up most of the wall upon which it is displayed. It consists of eight wooden cases that hang from the wall, closely grouped together. The cases differ in depth, size and shape and all include light blue paper rubbings or 3D shapes of objects that can be found in a bathroom. These are actually direct rubbings taken from the objects and surfaces of the artist’s apartment in New York.
After removing all his furniture and personal belongings, the artist covered the interior walls of his home with a thick paper called vellum and then painstakingly rubbed coloured pencil and graphite over the surfaces, creating textural tracings.

On the right-hand side there are two large rectangular cases hung vertically with rubbings of his bathroom walls in blue colour. Traces of the square tiles and the light switches are still visible. On the top left, there is another large rectangular case hung horizontally which includes rubbings of the bathroom’s tiled floor.
Directly under this, there are five smaller cases (three on top and two below) that project further from the wall all containing 3D paper renderings of objects that can be found in the bathroom.
The top three cases contain from left to right, paper traces of a round ceiling light and a square bathroom vent, rubbings of bathroom accessories and fittings such as soap dishes and robe hooks as well as 3D rubbings of the sink and its basin.
The lower two cases include from left to right - 3D rubbings of the toilet seat, the top of a toilet tank and the toilet bowl as well as a full size rubbing of the bathtub.

The artist has said that for him ‘Rubbing is like writing a diary’. Within this process, Do Ho reminds us that our own memories of any time are always partial and fragmentary.

Do Ho Suh | Rubbing/Loving Project, 2014-2023

Welcome to stop 2. Staircase/s is a work on handmade cotton paper, created by Do Ho in 2019. It is a towering, rectangular artwork, rising almost three metres from the skirting board to the ceiling cornice.

This striking artwork depicts a fantastical, multi-coloured image of a staircase that appears to float as it zigzags up the centre of the bright white paper. The staircase is like a colourful line drawing, but on closer inspection all the lines are made from lengths of coloured thread, embedded in the white paper.

Beginning at the base of the composition, just left of centre - the staircase with banister emerges from behind a small red open doorway. Do Ho hasn't depicted the building that the staircase belongs to, or any other architectural structure. As the staircase climbs and zig zags up the white surface of the paper, it moves through the spectrum of colours, changing from red at the bottom, through yellow and green in the middle, to blue and violet at the top.

All the way up the image, wavy lines of thread emanate from the staircase and float out towards the right. Here they collect - an unruly mass of swirling, multicoloured loose ends - along the full length of the image on the right-hand side.

This dazzling artwork is formed from the repetition of the staircase in Do Ho’s New York apartment building. One of the most thrilling of his innovative thread drawings, it combines scale, speed and precision. Do Ho worked with 10 people across its huge surface area.

Do Ho Suh | Staircase/s, 2019

Welcome to stop 1. My Homes is a work on handmade cotton paper, created by Do Ho in 2010. It is a large rectangular artwork, measuring 132 cm high x 166 cm wide.

The surface of the bright white paper is covered with 40 sketchy, colourful line-drawings of houses that appear to be in motion. The drawings are made with lengths of coloured thread that have been embedded in the paper.

The thread drawings are child-like and simple in composition. Each house is made using a single colour of thread – red, brown, yellow, blue or green. The houses are square and topped with a simple sloped roof. Most have a single window in their centre and feature a small chimney.

All of the houses appear to be moving, mostly from left to right across the composition. Do Ho calls them “moveable homes”. Most have sprouted single or multiple pairs of legs, while three of the houses are attached to or being carried by human figures. Halfway up the right side of the composition there are two houses on wheels and just below them, two more houses have taken the form of ships. In the top right corner, five human figures attached to house-parachutes are dropping into the artwork from above. The sketchiness and movement of the drawings is further exaggerated by spidery trails of thread that emerge from most of the houses.

Across the centre of the paper, the place names Seoul, LA (Los Angeles), NY (New York) and London appear - all places where Do Ho has made his home or made artwork. On the right, the phrase 'running home' sits below a house on wheels and above this, the word 'Paratrooper' sits underneath one of the parachute houses.
This artwork was made using an innovative process unique to Do Ho. Each house originates as a sketchbook drawing, sometimes made years earlier. The sketches are embroidered onto soluble tissue, which dissolves in water before being floated across a vast tray of paper pulp. Water is vacuumed out from the tray and the threads bond to the freshly made piece of paper. Traces of this process are left in the spidery threads that float out from most houses.

Do Ho Suh | My Homes

Enjoy a free descriptive audio tour of selected artworks by Do Ho Suh at Modern One. Exploring questions about home and identity, the exhibition Do Ho Suh | Tracing Time will present the artist’s compelling thread drawings, architectural rubbings, paper sculptures, cyanotypes, printmaking and watercolours as well as an immersive installation.

This tour has been developed specifically for blind and partially sighted people, but it includes information that can be enjoyed by all visitors. It features detailed descriptions of six artworks and can be accessed via Soundcloud and Smartify. The selected artworks can be found in galleries 1, 2, 5, 6, 8 and 10. Next to each artwork on the tour there will be a large AD symbol and a QR code located below the artwork label. If using the Smartify app, descriptions can be accessed by scanning the QR code or the artwork itself with your phone.

Members of our gallery team are happy to help you locate any artworks. This six-stop audio tour begins in gallery 1 and takes approximately 25 minutes. It does not have to be followed in any particular order. We hope you enjoy it!

Do Ho Suh | Introduction

TRANSCRIPTION

Bill: I immediately thought it was trees and more trees and more trees disappearing into the distance. I probably now think they are hills, actually, but that's the impression I got to start with, that they were hill with trees on them.
Wendy: I think when I first looked at it, I thought it looked like a load of bushes. It’s the sort of painting I think I probably would walk past by and think, yeah, I'm not sure I like that very much! But it is interesting when you when you linger, how much more you pick out. And so, yes, I can see all the detail now of the headlights shining behind, just emerging from each little hill. Yeah. And then the more I looked at it, the more I felt it was a really fun picture that I think would go really well in a children's storybook.
Tessa: So a misty morning with a truck going through the hills on a very sort of bendy banana shaped road down at the bottom with headlights going down. And we noticed when we were looking at it that there's headlights on the other side of that road as if there's a truck coming in the opposite direction. And what about when you noticed what was in the cab?
Wendy: That's a really cheerful, fun bit because there's all these lovely sort of hills just gradually fading away into the mist and getting paler and paler. And that's all very beautiful and arty. And then here comes a truck and the cab and then there's two very cheerful little silhouette figures, obviously chatting away, quite happy, and somebody giving a cheery wave.
Tessa: So the artist used to put these yellow backgrounds and silhouettes in lots of his works with people in silhouette. Did you notice them straightaway or did it take you a while?
Bill: No, I certainly noticed them right away. The thing that almost jars against me a little bit, I don't know why, but everything is quite flowery and fluffy and there's lots of smooth lines and the lorry is very angular, very flat. It almost grates against the rest of what's in the picture, but that's probably a good thing. Or maybe it's not.
Tessa: But I like what you say about, you know, it jars a little bit because it is quite a beautiful sort of coloured fans going into the distance. But then real life isn't always beautiful. There's always a truck, you know, in your perfect landscape, picture, there's always, you know, something industrial or something part of real life in there as well.
Bill: There's one thing a bit weird about it though, is that all the hills are the same size. And you would imagine if you were looking at a scene with lots of hills in it, the hills get smaller. Yes, they get fader as they're going away in the distance, but they're all the same size. So in reality, if you were looking at a real image there, a real a panorama, the hills must be getting bigger as you're going away because they're staying the same sizes as the hills in front.
Tessa: Yea and the headlights are all the same size as well…
Wendy: And so that's where it does become very stylized, that it could be, you know, a pattern for a curtain or a floor or something like that, couldn't it, because it's all very, very regular and the landscape has been made into, into, into a pattern. And it is a very yes, at first glance it's a very deserted, barren landscape, isn't it? But then once you start noticing all those headlights emerging from every single hill, you think, gosh, yes, that's quite a busy road, isn't it? There's lots of trucks buzzing along, but that's not the first impression you get of this sort of deserted, unspoilt landscape.

Room 14 | Roger Brown, Misty Morning, (1975)

Welcome to Room 15, Architecture and Abstraction. This room looks at how artists explore our built environment and how the relationship between art and architecture shifted following the chaos and destruction of the Second World War. Here we present a conversation between Sam and three members of CARDS from Rowan Alba, an Edinburgh based homeless charity that works with people who have a problematic relationship with alcohol. The CARDS group meet regularly at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery for Sociable Creative sessions, led by Sam Rutherford, a visual artist whose particular interest is in art, education and community projects. Together, they discuss two artworks in the room, Electrical Landscape by Prunella Clough and Red Roofs by Margaret Morris.

Room 15 | Architecture and Abstraction (introduction)

TRANSCRIPTION

Sam: Did it make anybody feel a certain way when they looked at this artwork? Did it kind of, I don't know, were you drawn towards it?
Participant George: I thought it looked like a circuit board for a television.
Sam: Any other thoughts on it? Billy what were you thinking when you saw it?
Billy: Well, relating to the artist having done aerial photographs for the flying corp, or whatever, the RAF, it sort of, could look like an aerial photograph. There’s a roof there, there’s, maybe being abstract, I thought I saw a car as well. An old fifties car in the middle there, up sort of top left.
Sam: When we were there and we were chatting a wee bit about abstract art, there was a bit of a conversation about how it's almost like our brains are trying to find something.
Billy: Yeah, that's because I think the brains or we try and look for patterns.
Shari: Yea you see that when I look at it, I see it and all those different compartments and each one's completely different to the next, but they all kind of add up in a way.
Sam: I mean, the two words in the title, cause it kind of gives us some clues, ‘Electrical’ and ‘Landscape’, I suppose, if we just think of a landscape, it's not, well, is it pretty? Is it a warm or a cold feeling as you look at this artwork?
George: Makes you feel warm.
Sam: Does it relate at all to how you feel looking down on where you live? Does it, does it feel relatable?
Billy: Maybe in the past when I've lived sort of near electron pylons and things and industrial sort of grounds.
Shari: Yeah, I was going to say it does kind of, for me, I mean I live down in docks, you know, and there's still like old cranes, metal, you know, the steel cranes and stuff. So yeah, there are, I mean obviously been there for decades, you know, but are still part of the infrastructure that the place is now.
George: If I was in the top floor of one of them where I used to live, I’d be looking down on the whole of Edinburgh. It was 32 floors high and it's just amazing.
Sam: Suppose because we’re all kind of told exactly what’s happening, does that, how does that make you feel, does it kind of bring you in more?
Shari: Could I live with it more? Eh, I think in…I don't know whether you need to understand it. I'm thinking maybe with a bit more understanding, yeah, but I don’t think you need that because then it seems so blatantly obvious sometimes, so yea you could live with something quite comfortably. Whereas the unknowns that bit more unpredictable. It’s sort of kind of different every time you look at it.
Billy: Well I could live with it and I would definitely keep thinking about it, whether it was one complete piece or taken from ideas from separate pieces, whether it was one piece of machinery, whether it was an aerial view, whether it was, you know, the imagination… the taking over and just yeah I’ll definitely keep thinking about.

Room 15 | Prunella Clough, Electrical Landscape (1960)

TRANSCRIPTION

Sam: What's your first impressions of this?
Shari: It comes. to me, it comes across very cottagey and quite predictable. But I haven't actually stood and looked at it properly really, to be honest.
George: To me it looks like Cruden Bay because all the cottages are close together. And it looks like, eh, part of old Aberdeen as well. It does look like a fishing village to me.
Shari: Yeah, that little bit of peace down in New Haven, across the little houses that are there. But they're obviously not colourful.
George: I think that has got a bit of Scotland about it.
Billy: It just, it interests me, maybe the use of the, the shapes. It seems to stick with, like rectangles or squares or triangles. And the one where it looks like there's an open roof in the middle, there's a big triangle there. And I would just like to know whether the artists maybe started there with just a single triangle.
Sam: Yea, I’d never thought of that. So is that often something in your mind Billy, where the artist started on the canvas?
Billy: Yeah, I think I do, because when I draw or do something, I usually start with the eye. I don't know how other, maybe true artist start with the whole face and then compose, but I usually start with the eyes, which is –
Shari: Is that because you can look into something and you know you can see, you can see it, you know what's going to come up off the paper or canvas or whatever?
Billy: To be honest maybe that's it, maybe that’s what I'm looking at the triangle. I want to know what's inside that dark bit there, what life is going on inside there. But I like the contrast with buildings and then some sort of nature, the greenery and the it sort of seems like the wood of the trees. And then there's a little black bit down at the very bottom, it just keeps me coming back because I keep wondering whether it's a cat or a person –
Shari: Over there?
Billy: Yeah, and it's really annoying me.
Sam: And in terms of who relates to, aye, just to your life, your experience, does this feel relatable?
George: I still think it looks like somewhere I've been.
Sam: So somewhere you've been rather than somewhere you’ve lived?
Shari: But then it's also smacks of, for me the fishermen's houses down in New Haven because my family were fishermen, you know, and I used to go and see my grandfather's brother down there. You know, and he had a wee house that I could have emotional connection to at times, that sort of thing.
Billy: But it is, it's funny you mentioned fishing, I mentioned the fishing village. So it’s sort of like I wanted to see what's in the centre. Like you were asking, maybe are you wondering what's inside the houses. No, I'm wondering what's happening everywhere else apart from inside which is weird.
Shari: From a personal point of view, I prefer larger scaled paintings, but it has interested me to sit and study that. Bu you know, there's room for smaller as well.
Billy: It'd be easier to fit in the bathroom than the Lichtenstein!

Room 15 | Margaret Morris, Red Roofs (Dieppe) (1922)

Audio description of Vermeer's Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, About 1654 - 1655

Johannes Vermeer, Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, About 1654 - 1655

Jim McMahon is a Scottish National Party Councillor for Cumnock and New Cumnock and a former miner. In this interview he talks about his family, his mother’s role and starting his mining career. He describes his mining helmets and experiences of working underground. Jim’s powerful account of The Miners’ Strike 1984-85 includes justice for arrested miners, the impact of the end of coal on Ayrshire communities, and lasting respect for older miners.

Jim McMahon (full interview)

Giants playing dice, Roman soldiers and machine-men…

Join Artist, Juliana Capes as she takes us on a touch tour of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art's sculpture park. Listen as some of our most famous artworks are described through touch and sound, telling us more about the ideas, process and materials behind these inspiring sculptures.

Starting at the Gallery of Modern Art One with Tracey Emin’s Roman Standard we will work our way through the grounds, finishing at the Gallery of Modern Art Two and Eduardo Paolozzi’s Master of the Universe.

This podcast was recorded at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, as part of a programme of touch tours for Visually Impaired audiences. If you'd like to learn more about our talks and tours programme, you can find it at www.nationalgalleries.org/learn/visual-impairment

Image: Dan Graham, Two Two-Way Mirrored Parallelograms Joined with One Side Balanced Spiral Welded Mesh, © The Artist, Photographed by Lisa Flemming

Audio described tour | Eduardo Paolozzi, 'Master of the Universe'

On the Scottish National Gallery's highlights tour, you will have the chance to discover key works of art and delve deeper into their hidden details, stories and interpretations. The selected highlights range over 500 years and are all part of the National Galleries of Scotland's world-class collection.

Thomas Gainsborough, Mary Cathcart, The Honourable Mrs Graham

Welcome to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art highlights tour for the collection displays at Modern One. These selected highlights include some of our most famous works, as well as ones you might be less familiar with. Many of them are among the most significant artworks made during the last century.

Jenny Saville, Aleppo

The National Galleries of Scotland cares for, develops, researches and displays the national collection of Scottish and international art and, with a lively and innovative programme of activities, exhibitions, education and publications, aims to engage, inform and inspire the broadest possible public.

National Galleries of Scotland

Popular tracks