DES Talks with Susanna Beaumont

Welcome to our conversation with two artists who work with fabric, thread, form and colour. The Edinburgh-based Louise Bennetts and Laura Lees both delight in textiles and stitching, frequently inspired by the architecture that surrounds them, weaving in memory of place and the urban landscape.
In their conversation with Susanna, they share stories from their early years - Louise studied at Edinburgh College of Art and Royal College of Art; Laura studied tapestry at Duncan of Jordanstone in Dundee - and how moving from Scotland to London and back to Edinburgh has inspired a delight in exploring an ever-changing urban landscape. Susanna talks to Louise in her exhibition, Urban Fabric at Leith's Custom Lane and explores Laura's show at Bard.
Laura's exhibition Wish You Were Here is at Bard, Edinburgh until 18th July.
Louise's site-specific commission, The Unconformities is on show in Earth Matters, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh until 1st November.

Thanks so much for listening to our conversation. Please do spread the word, share, subscribe and rate and rave -we really want to share these conversations far and wide! 

And don’t forget to explore our previous podcasts such as Viv Lee and Jonathan Wade talking clay and the making of Earth Becoming for Earth Matters or Susanna's conversation with celebrated film maker Mark Cousins about his film, A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things celebrating the artist, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. 
And coming soon, Susanna heads to Orkney to visit the celebrated Pier Arts Centre, explores Hospitalfield in Arbroath and speaks to the artist, Florence Peake and hears from weavers and artists at Edinburgh's Dovecot Studio. 
 
Huge thanks to musician Malin Lewis for Cycle Lane which accompanies DES Talks and Ryan Scott Media for production. 
Image - Laura Lees, Tennent's Lager postcard

Welcome to a recording of a discussion held at the National Galleries of Scotland, celebrating the tercentenary of the birth of the Edinburgh-born geologist, writer and farmer, James Hutton (1726–1797), and the exhibition inspired by Hutton, Earth Matters at Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
The panel discussion explores Hutton's influence on contemporary creative thinking and art. Glasgow-based designer and maker Stefanie Ying Lin Cheong who works with found rocks and soil and Dr Katie Strang, curator of rock and minerals at The Hunterian, Glasgow, discuss their ideas and explorations with Susanna Beaumont (Design Exhibition Scotland) curator of Earth Matters, an exhibition which forms part of a year long James Hutton Tercentenary 2026 programme of events.
You can watch the discussion via our YouTube platform. The live captions on screen are automatically generated by YouTube and are sometimes not accurate.
This panel discussion was held at Hawthorden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries of Scotland as part of the Learning Team programme of lunchtime lectures, so many thanks to NGS and the team for allowing us to share this discussion.
Earth Matters runs until 1st November at Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, open daily 10.30-4.30pm, free.
Image
Under the City
Stefanie Ying Lin Cheong
2026
Photograph Ruth Clark

Welcome to this conversation with Tania Kovats and Siobhan McLaughlin, two outstanding artists who have a deep curiosity in land and sea. We explore their ideas and influences and talk mapping, colour, geology, landscapes and the past and the present.
And in particular we chat about their work in two exhibitions currently on in Edinburgh - Tania is showing in Earth Matters, an exhibition inspired by the life and work of the Edinburgh born geologist and farmer who was born 300 years ago this year, which is at Inverleith House Gallery, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, while Siobhan is showing in Extraction, a group show at Jupiter Artland which explores energy systems and their impact on culture and landscape.
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Tania is based in Devon. Her practice explores through sculpture, drawing and writing how our the land and seas around us have been shaped and formed. Her permanent artwork River is at Jupiter Artland and in 2014 she exhibited Oceans at Edinburgh's Fruitmarket. Her drinking fountain WELL, commissioned by Design Exhibition Scotland, is installed at Old Admiralty Building, Whitehall and the Fruitmarket. She is the author of The Drawing Book, 2017 and Drawing Water, 2014. 
Tania is currently showing in the following exhibitions - 
Into the Time Horizon Nevada Museum of Art 
Komij Mour Ijin/Our Life is Here National Maritime Museum, Greenwich London
Cosmos The art of observing space RWA Bristol/Aberdeen Art Gallery
Drawing Room Biennale, London

Siobhan studied at Edinburgh College of Art graduating in 2019. She works with remnant textiles and gathered earth pigments,  practice connects experiences of the landscape layered with memories and connections to people, the body, and time. Exploring themes of place, care and sustainability through painting, printmaking and installation, I consider how past and current activities leave impressions on our ecologies.
Siobhan is currently showing in the following exhibitions - 
Ten Good Years, The Heong Gallery, Cambridge until 11th October 
Zum Paradies, Villa Schoeningen, Berlin, 31st May until 21st August 

Extraction is at Jupiter until 26 July.
Earth Matters is at Inverleith House Gallery until 1 November

Image Tania Kovats The Book of Earth, 2026 Watercolour, ink and acrylic on Soil Survey of Scotland maps
On show in Earth Matters.

Thanks so much for listening to our conversation. Please do spread the word, share, subscribe and rate and rave -we really want to share these conversations far and wide! 

And don’t forget to explore our previous podcasts such as Viv Lee and Jonathan Wade talking clay and the making of Earth Becoming for Earth Matters or my conversation with celebrated film maker Mark Cousins about his film, A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things celebrating the artist, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. 
 
Huge thanks to musician Malin Lewis for Cycle Lane which accompanies DES Talks and Ryan Scott Media for production.

Catch up with a panel discussion recorded at Edinburgh's Fruitmarket last month marking Earth Day. Chaired by Susanna 'glancing backwards into a time that far predates us' is a lively conversation celebrating two exhibitions: Ilana Halperin's What Is Us and What Is Earth (Fruitmarket) and Earth Matters (Inverleith House Gallery, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh) and the life and work of James Hutton, the Edinburgh-born geologist and farmer who was born 300 years ago this year. 

Artists Ilana Halperin and Louise Bennetts, writer and performer Karine Polwart, and soil scientist Colin Campbell (Chief Executive of the James Hutton Institute) discuss Hutton’s legacy in the context of contemporary creative practice. Ilana's exhibition (closing 17th May) touches upon Hutton's radical rethinking about the creation of the Earth and Earth Matters brings together the work of over 30 artists to delve into the ground beneath our feet. Louise talks about her textile work which was inspired by drawings by Hutton's friend and contemporary John Clerk of Eldin. While Karine Polwart inspired by Hutton's visit to Siccar Point, a rocky promontory on the Berwickshire east coast, sings her beautiful ballad, Still As Your Sleeping. And Colin shares his deep knowledge of Hutton's life and the theory of unconformity which provided evidence that Earth was far older than previously imagined.

Ilana Halperin was born in New York and lives Glasgow. Her work explores the relationship between geology and daily life. She combines fieldwork in diverse locations – on volcanoes in Hawaii, caves in France, geothermal springs in Japan, and in museums, archives and laboratories, with an active studio-based practice.

Louise Bennetts is an Edinburgh-based fashion and textiles designer, researcher and maker. She works independently across varied projects, with a particular interest in alternative textile systems, applications, and sustainable material innovation.
Karine Polwart is a writer, musician, and storyteller whose work evokes a richness of place, hidden histories, scientific enquiry and folklore. Karine is currently Dr Gavin Wallace Fellow for 2025–26 via the Fruitmarket, Edinburgh and Creative Scotland. Her research and writing under the brief ‘Attached to Land’ is focused on the coastal edge lands and stone ridges of of the Forth Valley, East Lothian and Borders.

Colin Campbell is Chief Executive of the James Hutton Institute, which leads research on land and sustainable management. His science focuses on soil ecology. The institute reflects the enduring spirit of Enlightenment science and an appreciation of Hutton’s
intellectual legacy: rigorous observation, critical reasoning, and a commitment to applying knowledge for the public good.
Susanna Beaumont is a curator and creative produced based in Edinburgh. Projects include the touring exhibition, Ash Rise for Scottish Furniture Makers Association; guest curator for Craft Scotland's presentation for Collect, London and Design for our Times at V&A Dundee. For the last year she has worked with Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on Earth Matters. She launched DES Talks podcast in 2025. 
Image James Hutton, 1776 by Sir Henry Raeburn. National Galleries of Scotland. 
Thanks to Edinburgh Geological Society for their generous support and to Fruitmarket and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Welcome to DES Talks, our podcast exploring creativity across Scotland, presented by Susanna Beaumont. 
 
She looks forward to sharing with you inspiring conversations with some of the most adventurous, curious and brilliant designers, artists, makers and curators. We talk ideas and inspiration, challenges and influences, the contemporary and the historic. 

In this episode, we explore the life and work of the brilliant artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham with Rob Airey, director of the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust and Mark Cousins, the renowned Edinburgh-based Northern Irish filmmaker. We discuss her work and the making of Mark's extraordinary film, A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things, which celebrates her life and mind.
Willie, as she was known throughout her life, was born in St Andrews in 1912 and studied at Edinburgh College of Art and went on to live in Cornwall's St Ives within its celebrated community of artists and writers. Exploring landscape and pushing towards abstraction, it was a trip to Switzerland in 1949 to climb the Grindelwald glacier that promoted Willie to dive ever more deeply into texture, colour and form. She died in 2004.
Explore Willie's work on the Barns-Graham Trust website.
Watch A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things on BFI player. There is soon to be released a Blu-Ray / DVD version of the film.
Read Mark Cousins interviewed by the BFI.
Earth Matters at Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh until 1 November
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - Nature in Motion at Museum Belvédère, the Netherlands 20 June - 20 September 2026
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham at Tate St Ives 24 October 2026  - 11 April 2027
Thanks so much for listening to DES Talks. Please do spread the word, share, subscribe and rate and rave! We really want to share these conversations far and wide. 

And don’t forget to explore our previous 12 podcasts such as Viv Lee and Jonathan Wade talking clay and the making of Earth Becoming for Earth Matters, the exhibition I curated with Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh at Inverleith House or our conversation on the work of Donald Locke, the Guyanese artist who studied at Edinburgh College of Art in the 1960s whose solo show is currently on at Camden Arts Centre, London. 
 
Huge thanks to musician Malin Lewis for Cycle Lane which accompanies DES Talks and Ryan Scott Media for production.