Dear Earth
We are marking our 20th anniversary in 2026 with Dear Earth, an exhibition exploring how artists are responding to the increased fragility of the world around us.
Tag: fife contemporary art & craft
A Cairngorm Love Affair: Kirkcaldy Edition
In this second part of our collaboration with Alan Grieve and Eddie Summerton, we bring A Cairngorm Love Affair to Kirkcaldy Galleries.
A Cairngorm Love Affair supposes a meeting between two writers closely associated with the Cairngorms, Nan Shepherd and Sydney Scroggie. A humorous and irreverent exploration of memories and mythologies of landscape, this new work imagines the worlds of these two writers colliding in an imagined space of screen, sound and shopping.
Alan and Eddie exhibit individually, nationally and internationally and also operate together as the art group A+E. Produced by Fife Contemporary for their 20th anniversary year this new work premiered as part of the StAnza International Poetry Festival and has evolved again into a new edition as part of Dear Earth at Kirkcaldy Galleries.
Learn more about the artists Eddie Summerton, Alan Grieve.
A Cairngorm Love Affair
Kirkcaldy Galleries
20 August – 13 September 2026
Open Daily Monday – Friday: 10am to 5pm (until 7pm Thursdays)
Saturday: 10am to 4pm
Sunday: 12am to 4pm
Presented as part of Dear Earth, continuing at Kirkcaldy Galleries until 13 September.
Explore Kirkcaldy Galleries
War Memorial Gardens, Kirkcaldy, KY1 1YG.
Key access points:
- Ramp to front entrance
- Automatic doors
- Lift to first floor
- Accessible toilets
- Changing places room
- Dementia friendly signage
- Induction loops
- Wheelchair available on request
- Access materials e.g. ear defenders, fidget toys, emotion fans
Kirkcaldy Galleries | AccessAble
https://www.accessable.co.uk/visit-scotland/access-guides/kirkcaldy-galleries
Kirkcaldy Galleries | Visual Story
https://www.onfife.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/KG-Visual-Story.docx
Getting there by Train: Kirkcaldy Galleries is a 2 minute walk from Kirkcaldy Train Station – find timetables, routes, and journey options here.
Getting there by Bus: Kirkcaldy Galleries is a 6 minute walk from Kirkcaldy Bus Station. Stagecoach Buses run frequently between Kirkcaldy Bus Station and destinations around Scotland – plan your journey here.
Cairngorm Wildfires
A significant area of the Cairngorm mountains have been on fire since 15th July 2026. More information can be found here:
Fife Contemporary at StAnza 2026
This year Fife Contemporary are collaborating once again with StAnza: Scotland’s International Poetry Festival to present key exhibitions as part of their festival programme.
2026 will see the premiere of a new collaboration between Alan Grieve and Eddie Summerton. Alan and Eddie exhibit individually, nationally and internationally and also operate together as the art group A+E. They present a new work A Cairngorm Love Affair, a humorous and irreverent exploration of memories and mythologies of landscape. Produced by Fife Contemporary for their 20th anniversary year, this new work will premiere as part of the StAnza International Poetry Festival and evolve again as part of Dear Earth at Kirkcaldy Galleries in September.
We will also be showcasing the work of emerging artist, Natalia Bocian at this years festival. Natalia’s paintings explore the global climate crisis through local trauma and catastrophe. The paintings in Powódź/Flood are based on a real flood that happened in her home city in Poland in 1997.
To find out more about the individual artists, and the exhibitions and events we are presenting at StAnza this year, see the listings below.
A Cairngorm Love Affair
Alan Grieve & Eddie Summerton
Byre Theatre: Level 4 Foyer
13 March – 31 March 2026
Open Daily 10am to 10pm
Powódź/Flood
Natalia Bocian
Laidlaw Music Centre
13 March – 31 March 2026
Open Monday – Thursday: 9am to 10pm
Friday: 9am to 8pm
Saturday: 9am to 4pm
Sunday: 10am to 5pm
The StAnza Poetry Festival is based at The Byre Theatre, St Andrews and other venues across the town. The principal festival weekend this year runs from 13 – 15 March 2026. The full programme of events can be found on their website stanzapoetry.org.
This year our featured artists are Eddie Summerton, Alan Grieve, Natalia Bocian.
Getting there by Bus: St Andrews Town Centre is a 5 minute walk from St Andrews Bus Station. Stagecoach Buses run frequently between St Andrews and destinations around Scotland – plan your journey here.
Header image: Natalia Bocian, Odra, 2025. Photo courtesy of the artist
Dear Earth
Fife Contemporary is marking its 20th anniversary in 2026 with Dear Earth, an exhibition exploring how artists are responding to the increased fragility of the world around us.
For the past 20 years Fife Contemporary have been producing exhibitions of contemporary art and craft for artists and for the public in Fife. Across this time attention to sustainability and care for the planet has permeated our programme, which has often featured artists exploring sustainable practices and addressing themes such as climate justice, overconsumption and environmental change.
Now open at Kirkcaldy Galleries, the Dear Earth exhibition is a message from nine artists to the planet we live on. Ranging from photography, printmaking, ceramic, found-objects and crafted installations, the works in Dear Earth address the impact of human activity and the declining health of our planet.
We now live alongside the climate emergency, environmental pollution, loss of biodiversity, and the growing political and social polarisation and conflict that it brings. A sense of increasing concern for the future is becoming the norm, and artists’ practice is inevitably affected by this ever-present sense of turmoil.
The artists in Dear Earth aren’t resigned to despair but instead embrace a sense of discomfort which looks to a future with creativity and purpose in mind. Each work in this exhibition reflects care for the planet and the value of our efforts to save and understand it, offering a glimpse of hope and positive change.
Dear Earth features work by Ade Adesina, Helen O’Brien, Jeni Reid, Jenny Pope, Naomi Mcintosh, Scott Hunter, Susie Johnston, Will Carey and Zoe Hamill. Each of these artists have reflected on their own relationship to a fragile and precarious world, and through their practice have found a way to respond. Brought together with different perspectives from across Scotland, they explore an experience many of us can relate to.
The works in this exhibition offer some reassurance, accepting the idea that it is ok to be unsure about the future while we continue to find a way through. Next to the main exhibition space, at the top of the stairs, a Climate Care Corner presents work by Katie Fowlie and provides a space for further support, information and reflection.
Image: Scott Hunter, Bloom, 2024. Photo courtesy of the artist
Exhibition Dates
Kirkcaldy Galleries
21 March – 13 September 2026
Open daily, Mon – Fri: 10am to 5pm (until 7pm Thurs)
Sat: 10am to 4pm
Sun: 12am to 4pm
St Andrews Museum
30 September 2026 – 6 March 2027
Open Wed – Sat: 10:30am to 4pm
Explore Kirkcaldy Galleries
War Memorial Gardens, Kirkcaldy, KY1 1YG.
Key access points:
- Ramp to front entrance
- Automatic doors
- Lift to first floor
- Accessible toilets
- Changing places room
- Dementia friendly signage
- Induction loops
- Wheelchair available on request
- Access materials e.g. ear defenders, fidget toys, emotion fans
Kirkcaldy Galleries | AccessAble
https://www.accessable.co.uk/visit-scotland/access-guides/kirkcaldy-galleries
Kirkcaldy Galleries | Visual Story
https://www.onfife.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/KG-Visual-Story.docx
Getting there by Train: Kirkcaldy Galleries is a 2 minute walk from Kirkcaldy Train Station – find timetables, routes, and journey options here.
Getting there by Bus: Kirkcaldy Galleries is a 6 minute walk from Kirkcaldy Bus Station. Stagecoach Buses run frequently between Kirkcaldy Bus Station and destinations around Scotland – plan your journey here.
Dear Earth has been curated and produced by Fife Contemporary to mark our 20th anniversary year. In addition to the artists in this exhibition, we are celebrating this landmark year with a wider Satellite Programme including new commissions, workshops, activities and pop-up events to run throughout their anniversary year. The exhibition and Satellite Programme launched with a packed opening on 21 March at Kirkcaldy Galleries, including a Plantograms Workshops with Zoe Hamill and an Artist In-Conversation Event with Mella Shaw and Stefanie Ying Lin Cheong discussing sustainability in artists’ practice.
The full list of Satellite Programme artists includes Alan Grieve and Eddie Summerton, Annie Lord, Christina Riley, Jonathan Baxter, Katie Fowlie, Mella Shaw, Stefanie Ying Lin Cheong and more to be announced soon. Keep an eye on the Satellite Programme events below, join our mailing list, or follow us @fifecontemp to find out more.
Header image: Ade Adesina, Parallel, 2020. Photo courtesy of the artist
Satellite Programme Events
Drawing from Apple Trees: A Charcoal Making and Sketching Workshop
Gather in the orchard to make apple-wood charcoal, sketch among the trees, and share a relaxed creative day with artist Annie Lord.
Crafted Selves: The Unfinished Conversation
Curated by Cat Dunn and programmed by Fife Contemporary, the exhibition Crafted Selves: The Unfinished Conversation showcased the work of thirteen Scotland based artists exploring dual identities in their work.
The exhibition featured artists Adil Iqbal, Alberta Whittle, Ashanti Harris, Eden Dodd, Emelia Kerr Beale, Harvey Dimond, Joy Baek, Li Huang, Rae-Yen Song, Sara Pakdel-Cherry, Sekai Machache, Tilda Williams-Kelly and Viv Lee.
Crafted Selves: The Unfinished Conversation takes its title from a continuing discourse between curator Cat Dunn and the 13 Scotland based artists featured – What does it mean to have a dual identity, and how is this sense of self reflected in work being made by Scottish craft artists today?
Working in sculpture, painting, ceramics, textiles, installation, moving image films and creative writing responses, the artists all in some way carry a dual identity. Many have a sense of their own self born from having a cultural heritage which is both Scottish and one which is rooted in another cultural home. The show also explores other dualisms and expressions of identity, including artists who express their, sexuality, disability, or trans and non-binary selves through their work.
As a Bajan-Scottish artist turned curator, Cat Dunn brings her unique understanding of what it means to maintain a dual-identity, the challenges that can be faced as an artist of colour, as well as the strength it can bring.
Being dual identifiable carries a sense of pride and strength. While there can be sorrow and pain, there is also joy. Having a dual identity can be used to celebrate one’s social identity, or it can be used as a platform to express and teach others what life can be like from a different perspective. I am incredibly proud to merge my two cultures as it makes me unique. – Cat Dunn
Cat Dunn is a social justice researcher/producer, activist, and artist. Her work seeks to engage and create dialogue about identity as seen through marginalised communities, and engages additional inclusive subjects such as the civil rights movement, slavery, racism, and feminism, often investigating those aspects that are all too frequently hidden or misrepresented. The overall basis of her practice is grounded on creating or adding to Black Space, where inclusivity and diversity are key. Dunn holds an MLitt Curatorial Practice (Contemporary Art) with Distinction from The Glasgow School of Art and The University of Glasgow, and a BA Hons in Jewellery Design and Silversmithing from The Glasgow School of Art. She is a doctoral candidate at DJCAD. She has been a trustee for Transmission Gallery, mentor with Thistles & Dandelions, and started the GSA PoC Collective to challenge/change the curriculum to bring about a more inclusive environment.
Header image: Emelia Kerr Beale, trust for support, 2022. Install view at French Institute. Photo by Sally Jubb Photography.
Associated Events
Alberta Whittle: The Axe Forgets, But The Tree Remembers
As part of the exhibition Crafted Selves: The Unfinished Conversation, Fife Contemporary is pleased to present the …
Crafted Selves: Curator Tours
Curator Cat Dunn speaks with artists from Crafted Selves: The Unfinished Conversation on the day of its opening at St Andrews Museum, Saturday 14 October 2024.
Join one of two tours through the exhibition on the day, with Curator Cat Dunn speaking with artists Ashanti Harris at 2pm, and Joy Baek at 3pm. Hear the artists discuss their work in-person; what drives their craft, and how does it reflect their dual-identity as artists working in Scotland today?
Ashanti Harris is a visual artist, teacher and researcher. Her work includes dance, performance and installation and focuses on the social implications of the movements of people across cultural and historical borders.
Joy Baek is a Korean artist based in Glasgow. She uses her ceramic and metal-work installations to elevate the voices of marginalised women in Scottish and Korean society.
The exhibition Crafted Selves: The Unfinished Conversation takes its title from a continuing discourse between curator Cat Dunn and the 13 Scotland based artists featured. Working in sculpture, painting, ceramics, textiles, installation, moving image films and creative writing responses, the artists all in some way carry a dual identity. Many have a sense of their own self born from having a cultural heritage which is both Scottish and one which is rooted in another cultural home. The exhibition also explores other dualisms and expressions of identity, including artists who express their sexuality, disability, or trans and non-binary selves through their work.
Saturday 14th October 2024, 2pm or 3pm
Free | Suitable for ages
St Andrews Museum
KY16 9DP
Header image: Ashanti Harris, Emi Ori Cse in Copper. Photo by Matthew Arthur Williams
Associated Events
Crafted Selves: The Unfinished Conversation
Curated by Cat Dunn and programmed by Fife Contemporary, the exhibition Crafted Selves: The Unfinished Conversation …
Toby Paterson exhibition soon to open in Fife
FCA&C are delighted to be opening the first of the GENERATION exhibitions – celebrating the best of Scottish art from the last 25 years – on Saturday 26 April, 2-4pm, at Kirkcaldy Galleries, Fife. Continue reading “Toby Paterson exhibition soon to open in Fife”
Posted in Fife Contemporary Blog
treat Winter Pop Up in St Andrews
By the time FCA&C’s treat Winter Craft Pop Up event takes place – Sat 14 December – most of us will be well scunnered by the Christmas rush. So why not pop along to St Andrews Museum between 11am and 3pm, partake of something fizzy to get yourself in the mood, and enjoy some leisurely last minute Christmas shopping? Continue reading “treat Winter Pop Up in St Andrews”
Posted in Fife Contemporary Blog
FCA&C brings Crafts Council exhibition to Fife
FCA&C is delighted to be bringing Added Value?, a Crafts Council touring exhibition, to St Andrews Museum as its final exhibition of 2013. This will be the exhibition’s only showing in Scotland. Continue reading “FCA&C brings Crafts Council exhibition to Fife”
Posted in Fife Contemporary Blog
'Next Steps' Moyra gets all fired up!
Ceramic artist Moyra Stewart, winner of Fife’s first Next Steps award, funded through Fife Council and Creative Scotland and administered by Fife Cultural Trust and Fife Contemporary Art & Craft, can be seen in the dramatic picture below about to plunge a large, ceramic vessel into a fiery bin. Continue reading “'Next Steps' Moyra gets all fired up!”
Posted in Fife Contemporary Blog
FCA&C Xmas and New Year closures
Here we are again at the end of another year – who’d have thought 2011 would’ve passed so quickly!
Continue reading “FCA&C Xmas and New Year closures”
Posted in Fife Contemporary Blog
Farlin – opportunity for Fife craft artists and poets
Call for Interest
Shetland-Fife Poetry & Craft Project
Organised by Shetland Arts and Fife Contemporary Art & Craft in collaboration with StAnza: Scotland’s International Poetry Festival.
Farlin:
a communal container of herring
= a unifying resource of work and nourishment
8 poets and 8 makers from Shetland and Fife will exchange pieces of work: each will then produce a piece (or pieces) in response to the piece they have received.
Each poet will have a partner who is a maker: Fife makers will partner Shetland poets and Shetland makers will partner Fife poets.
Provides opportunity to explore new ideas: to explore your own creativity and the creativity of another artist, through communication and by experiencing their work, allowing them to experience yours.
Experience, communication, exploration, exchange and nourishment – a virtual creative community across the seas.
Using: post, skype, email, phone and social networking.
Contacts for application information:
Shetland: info@shetlandarts.org
Fife: diana.sykes@fcac.co.uk
Deadline for applications: Monday 29 August 2011
Selection to be made by Monday 12 September 2011
Posted in Fife Contemporary Blog
Treat countdown upon us!
With the second last set-up day over, I can honestly say I’ve spent many, many pounds (in my head at the moment) as I unpack and place our wonderful items. There’s something to suit most tastes here – men, women, boys, girls, young, old – whatever! And such a variety! OK, I’m certainly biased – but it’s lovely stuff folks!
Continue reading “Treat countdown upon us!”
Posted in treat Blog
Installation of Causing Chaos underway
It’s all started – the long awaited installation of the Causing Chaos show in St Andrews Museum. I think I know all the work by heart now, I’ve been looking at their images for so long! So, here’s a wee taster of what’s going on.
Continue reading “Installation of Causing Chaos underway”
Posted in Fife Contemporary Blog
Causing Chaos workshops for adults and kids
Six exciting workshops have been devised by FCA&C to link in with their new exhibition, Causing Chaos, which opens at St Andrews Museum this weekend.
Continue reading “Causing Chaos workshops for adults and kids”
Posted in Fife Contemporary Blog
Day Symposium with Causing Chaos exhibition
A special day-long Symposium is being planned to coincide with FCA&C’s next exhibition, ‘Causing Chaos’, curated by artist Claire Barclay and due to open at St Andrews Museum on Sat 11 September 2010.
Continue reading “Day Symposium with Causing Chaos exhibition”
Posted in Fife Contemporary Blog