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Beautiful Materials

@beautiful.material

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Internationally acclaimed multi-disciplinary artist, designer & curator. Created 160 dynamic public artwork in museums & landscapes around the world.

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One doz Beautiful Materials Cards.

A few weeks ago, I walked into my local Post Office, to express what has been on my mind for years, that it is an amazing space for showing work with a regular audience. I noticed that the area for displaying cards was empty, a perfect place to start. A conversation later it was on. I have created a special limited edition (48) of One doz designs Beautiful Materials Cards, these can be purchased for £3.60 while supplies last.

Thank you to Craigpark Post Office 500 Alexandra Parade, Glasgow G31 3BQ for being open to collaborate with me. Just one conversation and an open mind away.

#artcards #artinpostoffice #postoffice #beautifulmaterial #limitededitons

Photo by @nicola.r.atkinson taken in Alexander Parade by @beautiful.material

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10 days ago

‘What can be a Portrait?’ by @nicola.r.atkinson until 16 August 2026

Do you find that most artists are at some point in their life asked to draw a stranger's portrait? Sitting in the back of a taxi when asked what you do. Can you draw me? Funny that it seems that now, with all ready tools, what is still a value is the hand drawing of someone’s face.

Going several steps further, ‘What can be a Portrait?’ series is not from sitters, only from the collected memory of faces and will capture. I hope someone’s frustration and expression in the world.

As you look into the two large rooms in the BM Model Gallery (1:10 scale) the painting series are about the same scale as your face. Looking at each other and you. The corridor acts as a transition, upholstered to scale, are the thousands of faces, on the walls and underfoot as if buried and strangely decorative... I think.

Materials: Contract Upholstery FR 350gsm, Masonry paint, recycled MDF & Plywood

Site : Beautiful Materials Model Gallery , City Park taken in City Park by @beautiful.material

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2 months ago

With my old loved bike outside my art studio in City Park in the Glasgow heat.

Thank you @mr.neil.scott for this dramatic shot. taken in City Park by @beautiful.material

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3 months ago

The broom and the painting and the studio and the artist.

Art @nicola.r.atkinson
Studio @outerspaces.scotland taken in City Park by @beautiful.material

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3 months ago

I love Glasgow weather and my red umbrella. It is interesting how everyday objects bought into the studio can give new perspectives on current working progress.

@nicola.r.atkinson

Thank you
@outerspaces.scotland

#Glasgow #redumbrella #studio #art #painting taken in City Park by @beautiful.material

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4 months ago

Beautiful Materials Model Gallery is the smallest gallery in the east end of Glasgow

IDEA: It seems that there are not enough formal places for artists to exhibit artworks in Scotland. I wonder if one of the solutions is to have a MODEL GALLERY. Where you can imagine you are a giant within the walls.

SOLUTION: An opportunity came about through my solo show in Linlithgow last year, where I created a model of the Burgh Halls Gallery. It has now been in the Beautiful Materials Gallery in Newton Means and had four exhibitions within it.

PRODUCTION: The MODEL GALLERY is 1864mm x 876mm with walls 364mm high and made from wood & MDF.

LOCATION: CITY PARK - 368 Alexandra Parade, Glasgow G31 3AU South entrance on the third floor.

By appointment during the day please DM

THANK YOU: The artists Nicola Atkinson Artist & Curator, Outerspaces and the staff at City Park. @outerspaces.scotland and Alan @podbox for the beautiful model. taken in City Park by @beautiful.material

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5 months ago

Thank you to everyone who participated and visited and made the Beautiful Materials Gallery in Newton Mearns possible and brilliant place to come every Saturday.

Alex Allan, Alison Templeton, Caron McKenna, Despoina Isaia, Eilidh Weir, Joanna Rucklidge, Nicola Atkinson, Rosie Cunningham, Sadie Smith, Lorna and Madeleine Swinney, Agata Pietrusz, Alex Howey, Alison McBride, Michael Dudgeon, David Bellingham, Elisaveta Conlan, Anne Corrance Monk, Emily Walkingshaw, Greer Pester, Iris Kufert-Rivo, Iain Irving, Jemima Dansey-Wright, Jo Alice, John Nicol, Jonathan Swain, Kevin Harman, Louise Shambrook Mark Purves, Matilda Reid, Natalia Manczak, Olive Pearson, Pablo Llopis, Sara Alonso, Sarah Bissell, Saskia Pomeroy, Seth Howe, Sian Patterson, Spencer Dent, Stuart Kerr, Vicki Fleck, Marney Walker, Rowena Comrie, Celine Mcilmunn, Belle and Sebastian,, Stuart Murdoch, Stevie Jackson, Sarah Martin, Chris Geddes, Richard Colburn, Bobby Kildea, Dave McGowan,Samm Anga, Bill Breckenridge, Robert Brady, Lois Green, Armida Taylor, Ömür Şahin Keyif, Kelda Ralston, Outerspaces Team, Avenue Shopping Center

@isaiades @eilidhweircomehere @illustrationetc @alexjallan @sadie_smith_studio @lorna_swinney @joanna.rucklidge @alison6635 @caronmckenna @_spencerdent @agata_pietrusz @alexhoweyart @alisonmcbride.art @michaeldudgeonartwork
@davidbellingham_ @elisaconlanart @a.c.m.o.n.k @spit.silver @greerpester @ikrstudio @iain_irving_ @jemimadanseyw @joaliceart @john.nicol.80 @jonathan.swain @kwharman @louiseshambrookart @mdapurves @mathilldah @natalimanczak @olivepearsondesigns @llopisphoto @illustrationetc @saraalonsovisualart @thegutterpress @saskia_pomeroy @sethhowe_art @sian.patterson @stuart.kerr @vbgannet @aestheticpreference @rowenacomrie @bellesglasgow @outerspaces.scotland @nicola.r.atkinson @lois_a_green
@sammofsound

Look out for new ideas and projects here from Beautiful Materials. Nicola Atkinson Artist and Curator

Photo of Nicola by @harrisonwreid taken in The Avenue Shopping Centre by @beautiful.material

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5 months ago

A great visit to the Beautiful Materials Gallery from the @projectability walking group. Visiting @celine.mcilmunn exhibition in the model Gallery, @louiseshambrookart artwork and all becoming custodian of @nicola.r.atkinson artwork from 2009 -2019.

@outerspaces.scotland
@avenue_shopping
@hammondassociatesltd

Thank you to @_spencerdent

Photo by @celine.mcilmunn and @nicola.r.atkinson by @beautiful.material

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5 months ago

Become a custodian of wee chairs. These were part of exhibition 10 Dec 2011 - 12 Jan 2012
Nicola Atkinson Stevie Jackson Lee Ivett 2026 E. 1st, Boyle Heights.

Exhibition text :

WEE series of public work brings together Nicola Atkinson artist and curator, Stevie Jackson musician and songwriter with the band Belle & Sebastian and Lee Ivett, architect and urban designer, all based in Glasgow. Nicola has collaborated with them separately on numerous works: public art, music, installation, shop, dance sets, design, and environmental actions since 2005.

We arrive here in Boyle Heights as a collective to present several wee interventions including singing and exchanging objects/ structures for discussion about the impact of working in a wee way. Historically we were inspired by the subsistence farming of the crofting communities in Scotland, which is almost lost. The movement of the ‘improvement’ in the early 20th Century, that heralded the industrial revolution, was a catalyst for the breakdown of crofting communities and their traditional lifestyle. This was a lifestyle based around small-scale, localised agriculture, productivity and culture which was to be replaced by a move towards larger scale production of the land, mass production, growth of the city, industrialised manufacturing and globalisation.

With contemporary concerns regarding the sustainability of modern lifestyles, there is a growing number of people exploring a move away from larger scale development and back towards a smaller more localised scale of production in an effort to re-create sustainable communities and values.

Stevie and Nicola have created new Scottish work songs with the themes of present day toil of production in the tradition of the crofters work tweed songs.

Lee and Nicola’s installation takes on a useful form of exchange such as hand formed objects, which will act as a catalyst. Their installation is a proposal of ideas about how sustainability can be achieved by both the individual and the collective in a manner that is suggestive and reflective of current trends that advocate a move back towards localism in terms of agriculture, production, arts and employment. by @beautiful.material

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5 months ago

Beautiful Materials Gallery will close its doors this Sunday May 3rd, we will be open this week from Thurs - Sunday 11 - 4pm. The Gallery space is being returned to being a shop again, and new tenants are moving in.

I have always understood the temporary nature of the space and I am so lucky to have been given this amazing opportunity.

I wanted to thank you for reading this, the artist’s and everyone at the Outer Spaces for kindness and support and Avenue Shopping Centre for making me feel welcome for the last 6 months.

I have had the best time in Newton Mearns, working and bringing so many different artists and makers (50 in total) into the space and positively engaging with the community.

A few weeks ago, I felt like I really belonged and was part of the everyday life of the Avenue Shopping Centre. I was having regular visitors of all ages, who felt really comfortable to go into the gallery and just to look at art. I also got amazing press for Beautiful Materials Gallery and many great art reviews.

I will be very sad to leave and which is a good thing because it has meaning.

Beautiful Materials will continue doing public art, events, exhibitions, music, and more. Please check here and the website.

Thank you again. Best wishes

Nicola Atkinson

Artist, Director & Curator, Beautiful Materials

@nicola.r.atkinson
@outerspaces.scotland
@hammondassociatesltd
@avenue_shopping taken in The Avenue Shopping Centre by @beautiful.material

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6 months ago

Meet the three new art custodians who all work at the Avenue shopping centre. Where the Beautiful Materials Gallery is currently based.

Please drop by this Thursday until Sunday 11 -4, where you can also become a custodian of @nicola.r.atkinson artwork . (1000’s still available).

There are 360 custodians out there (so far )to look after and hopefully treasure in the coming years the artwork. So thrill this has captured people imagination.

Thank you @hammondassociatesltd @avenue_shopping @outerspaces

And to the wonderful artists @louiseshambrookart @celine.mcilmunn

And @_spencerdent by @beautiful.material

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6 months ago

@Nicola.r.atkinson holding on to stuff. Become a custodian of her artwork. Drop by Beautiful Materials Gallery.

...

Nicola Atkinson’s STUFF 2026, exhibition in the Main Gallery serves as a meditation on the physical and emotional weight of material possessions. At its core, her artwork confronts a universal dilemma: what are we supposed to do with the things we make, the objects we inherit, and the constant influx of new items?.

The inspiration for this introspective body of work arose from a convergence of life transitions. Following the passing of her uncle, Atkinson was tasked with the responsibility of managing the objects he accumulated over a lifetime. Simultaneously, she faced the challenge of sorting through her own extensive archive of 150 artworks while relocating her studio to a gutted, redundant office space in March 2026. These events elicited a mixture of emotions—the distinct joy of uncovering forgotten pieces from her past, paired directly with the burden of clinging to so much physical history.

This tension is physically manifested in the gallery space, which displays hundreds of Atkinson’s ceramic artworks created between 2009 and 2018. In addition to her older works, the exhibition features large, painted plywood cable reels. Originally left behind by an electrical installation team in her new studio, Atkinson resourcefully repurposed them unconventional canvases, breathing new life into them and saving them from the landfill.

Thank you to @outerspaces.scotland @_spencerdent
@avenue_shopping @hammondassociatesltd by @beautiful.material

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6 months ago