Scottish Art Highlights: April 2025

On 19 April, Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood arrives at Dundee Contemporary Arts. Bringing together works by over 60 feminist avant-garde and contemporary artists, including VALIE EXPORT, Paula Rego, and Carrie Mae Weems, Acts of Creation confronts the complexities and creativity of caregiving. This free exhibition is on view until 13 July.

Themes of motherhood and childbirth are also explored in Portia Zvavahera’s solo exhibition, Zvakazarurwa, which continues throughout the month at Fruitmarket, Edinburgh. Zvakazarurwa is Shona for 'revelations', the language the artist dreams in. In her striking mixed media method and vibrant colour palette, Zvavahera depicts figures and shapes from her subconscious. Catch Zvakazarurwa before 25 May.

Over to Edinburgh Printmakers, where Impressions: Selected Works from the Jerwood Collection exhibits works by the likes of Eva Rothschild, Bridget Riley and Lucian Freud. The exhibition runs from 4 April until 29 June, coinciding with Story: Selected Works from Edinburgh Printmakers Collection.

From 11 April, Edinburgh’s sculpture park Jupiter Artland reopens for the season. To mark Ian Hamilton Finlay’s centenary, rarely seen works by the late poet and artist will be on display. Finlay’s Little Sparta – his whimsical garden set in the Pentland Hills – inspired Jupiter Artland’s foundation. His works are brought into dialogue with sculptor and environmentalist Andy Goldsworthy with the presentation of Clay Tree Wall in Jupiter’s Upper Steadings Gallery.

At the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, Ciara Phillips presents Undoing it, a new solo exhibition comprising woodcuts, etchings and screenprints. The title speaks to the improvisational nature of printmaking; in her words, the method involves 'a back-and-forth live discussion with the work as it happens.' Undoing it is here until October 2025.

Also in Glasgow, Yuichi Hirako’s Number of Trees continues at The Modern Institute throughout the month. Hirako’s playful approach to sculpture and painting carries an undercurrent of environmental urgency as he addresses our intricate relationship with the natural world.