RBGE Creative Programmes

RBGE Creative Programmes A unique place for contemporary art, exhibitions + events, embedded within the world of plants.

Discover more about our Earth Matters exhibition this July with our FREE Spotlight Talks. These short sessions, led by o...
09/06/2026

Discover more about our Earth Matters exhibition this July with our FREE Spotlight Talks. These short sessions, led by our knowledgeable volunteers, offer fascinating insights into different exhibition themes and stories.

Book your tickets via this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/spotlight-talks-4382793
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📅Thursday 9, Wednesday 15, Saturday 25 July
🕙 2.00 - 2.30 pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free
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Image: Earth Matters Exhibition, Inverleith House. Photo: Lynsey Wilson.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

A creative partnership with Susanna Beaumont, Exhibition Scotland, Earth Matters is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and Edinburgh Geological Society, with special thanks to the James Hutton Institute. The exhibition is part of Edinburgh Science Festival, Edinburgh Art Festival, RSA200: Celebrating together, and James Hutton Tercentenary 2026.

Happy Birthday Wilhelmina Barns-Graham! Born in St Andrews on this day in 1912. 🎨 For this we have chosen one of two w...
08/06/2026

Happy Birthday Wilhelmina Barns-Graham! Born in St Andrews on this day in 1912. 🎨

For this we have chosen one of two works by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham RSA that are currently on show in our exhibition Earth Matters. This is September Orkney, a gouache painting from 1985-86.

Throughout her career, Barns-Graham was drawn to coastlines and beaches. For many years, she lived as part of the artist community in St Ives, Cornwall. However, in the 1980s, she spent time working in Orkney, painting its beautiful fields and shorelines. September Orkney shows a colourful patchwork of fields – a reminder that field sizes were once smaller and more irregular than they are today.

Come and see Barns-Graham's paintings at Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and learn more about the artist by streaming the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham episode of the podcast DES Talks with Susanna Beaumont (curator of Earth Matters) here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6kcDBHUJTeuanoxkznH7BJ
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🌱 Earth Matters
📅 20 Mar – 1 Nov 2026
⏰ Open daily 10:30 – 16:30
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free Exhibition
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Image: Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, September Orkney, 1985-86.
Photo: Lynsey Wilson.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

A creative partnership with Susanna Beaumont, Design Exhibition Scotland, Earth Matters is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and Edinburgh Geological Society, with special thanks to the James Hutton Institute. The exhibition is part of Edinburgh Science Festival, Edinburgh Art Festival, RSA200: Celebrating Together, and James Hutton Tercentenary 2026.

🎉 Happy 300th Birthday to James Hutton! Born in Edinburgh on this day in 1726. 🎂 James Hutton, physician, farmer and wri...
03/06/2026

🎉 Happy 300th Birthday to James Hutton! Born in Edinburgh on this day in 1726. 🎂

James Hutton, physician, farmer and writer, is best known as the 'father of modern geology’. Famously, his observation of unconformities in rock formations at Siccar Point on the East Coast of Scotland signified the ‘Deep Time’ of our Earth or, in the words of his friend John Playfair, ‘that we find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end’.

The exhibition Earth Matters at Inverleith House celebrates the James Hutton Tercentenary by showcasing important historic artefacts and works by contemporary artists and creatives inspired by Hutton.

On James Hutton’s birthday, our Earth Matters is this 1787 portrait of Hutton by the Scottish caricaturist John Kay. It depicts Hutton, rock hammer in hand, at Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh. If you look closely at the rocks on the righthand side, you will see three male faces in profile; Hutton is literally chipping away at the old guard and their beliefs. The building in the bottom left corner likely represents Hutton’s house at St John’s Hill, which overlooked Salisbury Crags, where he lived from 1770 until his death in 1797.

Visit Earth Matters to learn more about Hutton and his legacy today!

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🌱 Earth Matters
📅 20 Mar – 1 Nov 2026
⏰ Open daily 10:30 – 16:30
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free Exhibition
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Image: John Kay, Dr James Hutton, 1787. Photo: Museums & Galleries Edinburgh – City Art Centre
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

A creative partnership with Susanna Beaumont, Design Exhibition Scotland, Earth Matters is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and Edinburgh Geological Society, with special thanks to the James Hutton Institute. The exhibition is part of Edinburgh Science Festival, Edinburgh Art Festival, RSA200: Celebrating Together, and James Hutton Tercentenary 2026.

Happy National Volunteer Week! 🌟 A big, huge thank you to volunteers everywhere but especially our amazing Creative Prog...
02/06/2026

Happy National Volunteer Week! 🌟

A big, huge thank you to volunteers everywhere but especially our amazing Creative Programmes Volunteers without whom our gallery would not be the same! Whether it’s chatting to visitors, helping with events or giving talks, they bring their warmth and friendliness into the gallery every day. 💛

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

This is Constanza Dessain’s Studio Compost. It is made up of twenty-one prints which preserve fruit and vegetables in ...
29/05/2026

This is Constanza Dessain’s Studio Compost. It is made up of twenty-one prints which preserve fruit and vegetables in acetate and gelatine between glass panes.

Studio Compost celebrates the unseen transformations that take place in our bins, as Dessain’s prints record processes of osmosis, leakage, rot and desiccation. These works honour the plants and animals that replenish our soil by dying, and the bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms that help decompose them, creating beautiful and intricate patterns and shapes.

You can view Studio Compost in our exhibition Earth Matters at Inverleith House until 1 November.
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🌱 Earth Matters
📅 20 Mar – 1 Nov 2026
⏰ Open daily 10:30 – 16:30
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free Exhibition
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Image: Constanza Dessain, Studio Compost, 2025-26
Photos: Lynsey Wilson and Charlotte Büchner.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

A creative partnership with Susanna Beaumont, Design Exhibition Scotland, Earth Matters is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and Edinburgh Geological Society, with special thanks to the James Hutton Institute. The exhibition is part of Edinburgh Science Festival, Edinburgh Art Festival, RSA200: Celebrating Together and James Hutton Tercentenary 2026.

We are delighted to launch an open call to artists, makers and designers, based in the United Kingdom and Ireland, to su...
28/05/2026

We are delighted to launch an open call to artists, makers and designers, based in the United Kingdom and Ireland, to submit expressions of interest to exhibit in Flower Power. The exhibition will run 19 March – 31 October 2027 in Inverleith House Gallery, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Flower Power will be a group show featuring contemporary creatives, from a broad range of disciplines, including sculpture, photography, fashion, music and floral installations. The exhibition will draw on the Botanics’ collections, including botanical illustrations and herbarium specimens, and bring research to life, such as our current work on pollination ecology. 🌺

The deadline for submissions is 9am on Monday 15 June 2026.

🔗 To find out more about the exhibition and how to apply, follow this link: https://www.rbge.org.uk/about-us/jobs-and-volunteering/vacancies/flower-power-open-call/

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Image: Meconopsis (Himalayan poppies) in Dawyck Botanic Garden, 2024. Photo: Eilidh Cameron.

Final month to visit Herbology! 🌸 Founded as a physic garden in 1670, the Botanics’ history is rooted in the growth, stu...
28/05/2026

Final month to visit Herbology! 🌸

Founded as a physic garden in 1670, the Botanics’ history is rooted in the growth, study and use of herbs for medicinal purposes. This exhibition celebrates 20 years of our contemporary herbology course and the enduring healing and cultural power of plants.

Here’s what visitors are saying:
🌸 ‘Really beautiful and informative – I always get inspiration coming here but this exhibition especially!’
🌸 ‘Beautifully laid out and put together. The dried flower display at the entrance is lovely. Interesting to see the Botanics in a different light.’
🌸 ‘So lovely to see a display like this, keep spreading the joy and magic – always.’

See Herbology before it ends on 28 June!

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📍 John Hope Gateway
📅 13 February - 28 June
⏰ 10 am - 5 pm daily

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Image: Herbology, installation view in the John Hope Gateway, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2026. Photo: Lynsey Wilson.

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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

EAF26: Hidden histories. Transformed venues. Radical artistic voices. The programme for the UK’s largest annual festival...
28/05/2026

EAF26: Hidden histories. Transformed venues. Radical artistic voices.

The programme for the UK’s largest annual festival of visual art is now live to explore! Returning to Edinburgh from 14—30 August, the festival is a dedicated platform for visual art during Edinburgh’s festival season. Spread across the entire city, EAF brings together 45 galleries, museums and community spaces with a programme of specially commissioned work and inspiring events.

We are delighted to partner with Edinburgh Art Festival again this year and share the news that the full festival programme is now live to book: see the whole programme, explore all of the Partner Galleries, and book tickets, now at edinburghartfestival.com.

Discover the Garden's art this summer! Explore our extensive outdoor artwork collection around the Botanics, guided by o...
26/05/2026

Discover the Garden's art this summer!

Explore our extensive outdoor artwork collection around the Botanics, guided by one of our Creative Programmes staff. You will learn all about works by the likes of Barbara Hepworth, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Andy Goldsworthy, and many more!

Book your ticket now for June, July and August: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/art-walks-4244933
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📅 Fridays 26 June, 27 July, 21 August
⏰ 2.30 – 3.30 pm
🎟️ £11.55
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Image: Más Arte Más Acción, Around a Tree, 2024. Photo: Ellen Watters.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

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Arboretum Place/Inverleith Row Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Edinburgh
EH35LR

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