We are excited to announce a new artwork commission for the exterior of the Travelling Gallery vehicle. Glasgow-based artist Laura Aldridge will be working with us over the coming months to develop this significant new work.

Since the gallery’s inception, the exterior wrap of the bus has been an important and vibrant part of the Travelling Gallery. Viewed by many thousands on the motorways, B-roads, ferry terminals and lay-bys along our routes, the artwork visually frames so much of what we do; intriguing, engaging and encouraging members of the public to come on board.

Vibrant and tactile, Laura’s work takes many forms and scales from wall-based reliefs to sculptural installations. Her work combines a playful exploration of materials and processes, with a deliberate consideration of our sensory understanding of information and imagery. She works across textiles, glass, and ceramics, and with processes such as printing, casting and dyeing, arranging and building images, objects and environments that appear to push the limitations and boundaries of what can be done with humble, everyday items, and how they can be animated and reimagined.

Laura Aldridge said: “I’m incredibly excited to be developing this commission for the Travelling Gallery. It feels very special to think about the work moving through Scotland’s landscapes, towns and communities, existing in dialogue with the places and people it encounters along the way. The Travelling Gallery is such a brilliant and vital public space for contemporary art, bringing unexpected encounters with artworks directly to people, and I’m really interested in thinking about the bus itself as a moving sculptural surface – an artwork that shifts and changes through travel, light, weather and movement.”

This commission was made possible with Art Fund Support as well as support from the Friends of the City Art Centre and Museums of Edinburgh.