Catch up with a panel discussion recorded at Edinburgh's Fruitmarket last month marking Earth Day. Chaired by Susanna 'glancing backwards into a time that far predates us' is a lively conversation celebrating two exhibitions: Ilana Halperin's What Is Us and What Is Earth (Fruitmarket) and Earth Matters (Inverleith House Gallery, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh) and the life and work of James Hutton, the Edinburgh-born geologist and farmer who was born 300 years ago this year.

Artists Ilana Halperin and Louise Bennetts, writer and performer Karine Polwart, and soil scientist Colin Campbell (Chief Executive of the James Hutton Institute) discuss Hutton’s legacy in the context of contemporary creative practice. Ilana's exhibition (closing 17th May) touches upon Hutton's radical rethinking about the creation of the Earth and Earth Matters brings together the work of over 30 artists to delve into the ground beneath our feet. Louise talks about her textile work which was inspired by drawings by Hutton's friend and contemporary John Clerk of Eldin. While Karine Polwart inspired by Hutton's visit to Siccar Point, a rocky promontory on the Berwickshire east coast, sings her beautiful ballad, Still As Your Sleeping. And Colin shares his deep knowledge of Hutton's life and the theory of unconformity which provided evidence that Earth was far older than previously imagined.

Ilana Halperin was born in New York and lives Glasgow. Her work explores the relationship between geology and daily life. She combines fieldwork in diverse locations – on volcanoes in Hawaii, caves in France, geothermal springs in Japan, and in museums, archives and laboratories, with an active studio-based practice.

Louise Bennetts is an Edinburgh-based fashion and textiles designer, researcher and maker. She works independently across varied projects, with a particular interest in alternative textile systems, applications, and sustainable material innovation.

Karine Polwart is a writer, musician, and storyteller whose work evokes a richness of place, hidden histories, scientific enquiry and folklore. Karine is currently Dr Gavin Wallace Fellow for 2025–26 via the Fruitmarket, Edinburgh and Creative Scotland. Her research and writing under the brief ‘Attached to Land’ is focused on the coastal edge lands and stone ridges of of the Forth Valley, East Lothian and Borders.

Colin Campbell is Chief Executive of the James Hutton Institute, which leads research on land and sustainable management. His science focuses on soil ecology. The institute reflects the enduring spirit of Enlightenment science and an appreciation of Hutton’s

intellectual legacy: rigorous observation, critical reasoning, and a commitment to applying knowledge for the public good.

Susanna Beaumont is a curator and creative produced based in Edinburgh. Projects include the touring exhibition, Ash Rise for Scottish Furniture Makers Association; guest curator for Craft Scotland's presentation for Collect, London and Design for our Times at V&A Dundee. For the last year she has worked with Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on Earth Matters. She launched DES Talks podcast in 2025.

Image James Hutton, 1776 by Sir Henry Raeburn. National Galleries of Scotland.

Thanks to Edinburgh Geological Society for their generous support and to Fruitmarket and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Welcome to DES Talks, our podcast exploring creativity across Scotland, presented by Susanna Beaumont.

She looks forward to sharing with you inspiring conversations with some of the most adventurous, curious and brilliant designers, artists, makers and curators. We talk ideas and inspiration, challenges and influences, the contemporary and the historic.

In this episode, we explore the life and work of the brilliant artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham with Rob Airey, director of the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust and Mark Cousins, the renowned Edinburgh-based Northern Irish filmmaker. We discuss her work and the making of Mark's extraordinary film, A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things, which celebrates her life and mind.

Willie, as she was known throughout her life, was born in St Andrews in 1912 and studied at Edinburgh College of Art and went on to live in Cornwall's St Ives within its celebrated community of artists and writers. Exploring landscape and pushing towards abstraction, it was a trip to Switzerland in 1949 to climb the Grindelwald glacier that promoted Willie to dive ever more deeply into texture, colour and form. She died in 2004.

Explore Willie's work on the Barns-Graham Trust website.
Watch A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things on BFI player. There is soon to be released a Blu-Ray / DVD version of the film.
Read Mark Cousins interviewed by the BFI.
Earth Matters at Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh until 1 November
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - Nature in Motion at Museum Belvédère, the Netherlands 20 June - 20 September 2026
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham at Tate St Ives 24 October 2026 - 11 April 2027

Thanks so much for listening to DES Talks. Please do spread the word, share, subscribe and rate and rave! We really want to share these conversations far and wide.

And don’t forget to explore our previous 12 podcasts such as Viv Lee and Jonathan Wade talking clay and the making of Earth Becoming for Earth Matters, the exhibition I curated with Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh at Inverleith House or our conversation on the work of Donald Locke, the Guyanese artist who studied at Edinburgh College of Art in the 1960s whose solo show is currently on at Camden Arts Centre, London.

Huge thanks to musician Malin Lewis for Cycle Lane which accompanies DES Talks and Ryan Scott Media for production.

Welcome to DES Talks, Design Exhibition Scotland’s lively exploration of making and creating. We talk ideas and inspiration, challenges and influences and of course the joy of creativity with artists, makers, designers and curators from across Scotland.

In this episode Susanna meets makers Viv Lee and Jonathan Wade in their workshop within Glasgow Ceramic Studio. We talk about their recent residency at the Hugo Burge Foundation in the Scottish Borders where they collected wild clay and explored a landscape once farmed by the 18th century revolutionary thinker, James Hutton and author of the Theory of the Earth. We talk about their early years - Viv grew up in Hong Kong and was always happiest outdoors. Later she studied law in London and it was not until she studied at Glasgow School of Art in her thirties, that she first encountered clay. Whereas Jonathan who grew up in rural England encountered clay at an early age, thanks to an art teacher at school and went on to study at the Royal College of Art.

Both Viv and Jonathan talk about their own practices - Studio Viv Lee & Ingot Objects - but how collaborating together can unleash new possibilities and an exciting sense of adventure. This is the only the second time they have collaborated on a project, the first being for Bard, a craft gallery in Leith, Edinburgh a few years ago.

And we chat about their new work Earth Becoming. A series of wild clay lidded boxes and their delight in working closely with clay they have collected with their own hands.

Earth Becoming is soon to be seen at Earth Matters, an exhibition curated by Susanna and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh which celebrates Hutton in the tercentenary year of his birth. Earth Matters at Inverleith House runs from 20 March to 1 November.

https://www.studiovivlee.com/
https://www.ingot-objects.com/

Thank you so much listening to DES Talks. Please do spread the word, share, subscribe and rate and rave! We really want to spread DES Talks far and wide. And don’t forget to explore our previous podcasts such as our conversation about the work of Donald Locke, the Guyanese artist who studied at Edinburgh College of Art in the 1960s or our exploration of Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine which is currently on at V&A Dundee or hear more about the life and fabulous outfits of textile designer, Bernat Klein who lived in the Scottish Borders.

Huge thanks to musician Malin Lewis for Cycle Lane which accompanies DES Talks and Ryan Scott Media for production.