Art Tour: A brief guide to Glasgow's galleries

On King Street in the Trongate, artist-led space Transmission (28 King St) hosts exhibitions, performances and screenings – check their Instagram page or website for updates on new happenings. A few doors down, in the Trongate 103 complex (103 Trongate), Glasgow Print Studio holds year-round exhibitions of artists working with printmaking, including works by their own members. The Weight of Air and Memory, the first solo exhibition by artist Seher Shah, runs until the end of July. In the same building, Street Level Photoworks specialises in exhibiting artists working with photography. Until 16 July, Margaret Mitchell’s An Ordinary Eden documents the past and current experiences of homeless people. Also in Trongate 103, Project Ability is a charity that supports people with learning disabilities to create and experience visual art – their space is also home to an accompanying exhibition space and shop, which provide exhibition opportunities for artists that the organisation works with. 

Nearby is The Briggait (141 Bridgegate), an ornate building which used to be the city’s fish market. The building is home to multiple exhibition spaces, and you can catch an exhibition of paintings titled Violin Making Story by Linus Andersson and Bing Chen here until 7 July. The three spaces that form The Modern Institute – 14 Osborne Street and 3 Aird’s Lane – are just a stone's throw away from here. An exhibition of new paintings by Cathy Wilkes, who represented Britain at the 2019 Venice Biennale, will inhabit the gallery’s main space on Osborne Street over the summer. 

Elsewhere in the city centre, The Gallery of Modern Art (Royal Exchange Sq) is hosting an exhibition by Helen de Main and Mandy McIntosh titled Repeat Patterns. Here, the two artists discuss government changes to the welfare state and the implications for women, through collaborative printmaking practices. The Centre for Contemporary Arts (350 Sauchiehall St) hosts a dynamic, multi-disciplinary programme stretching across film, performance, theatre and visual arts. This summer the main gallery space will be home to Pinkie Maclure’s exhibition The Lost Congregation, where the artist will transform the space into an otherworldly church with stained glass windows depicting scenes of wasteful consumerism. The show continues until 12 August. 

The Modern Institute on Osborne Street. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Close to the iconic Barras Market, Many Studios (3 Ross St) is a hub for artists and designers in the city, and recently became home to Market Gallery. The artist-led space hosts regular exhibitions and residencies – check their website for upcoming events. Close by in Bridgeton is David Dale Gallery (161 Broad St), and the iconic Glasgow Women’s Library (23 Landressy St), which has an active roster of events, workshops and exhibitions. Until 30 July, you can see Rabiya Choudhry’s illuminated artwork on the building’s facade: part of a commission by The Common Guild. Further east, at Platform in Easterhouse (1000 Westerhouse Rd), the resilience and strength of this East End community is celebrated in East End Portraits, a series of photographs by Saskia Coulson and Colin Tennant – you can catch the exhibition until 19 August. 

Heading south of the river, Govanhill in the city’s Southside is home to a number of galleries, including new space Broadside (123 Allison St) and three galleries in the recently opened 20 Albert Road complex – A-M-G5, Cento and ivory tars. Heading further south, the recently refurbished Burrell Collection is home to an expansive range of artworks – from Edgar Degas to Paul Cézanne – all in a beautiful setting in Pollok Park.