21 February - 31 May 2026

George Wyllie RSA (1921-2012)

From The Clyde to Sarajevo & The Venice Lagoon

An exhibition curated by RSA Past President Arthur Watson

Best known for his performative sculptures The Straw Locomotive (1987) and The Paper Boat (1989), this exhibition shows how customs officer and artist George Wyllie, was embraced by the Royal Scottish Academy, and backed by some of Scotland’s most eminent sculptors. It was through Richard Demarco HRSA that Wyllie met Joseph Beuys, working with him in Scotland and Germany. He was also invited to the USA to make work in the studio of sculptor George Rickey.

Work is included in this exhibition by four of George’s co-exhibitors at the first Scottish sculpture open exhibition, Kildrummy castle, Aberdeenshire and at Richard Demarco’s new Scottish art exhibition in Sarajevo. Large works by current Academicians Edward Summerton RSA and Arthur Watson PPRSA bring scale to the exhibition and documentation by Richard Demarco HRSA and Andy Dewar adds context.

The exhibition includes work by Frank Pottinger RSA, Andrew Stenhouse RSA, Gareth Fisher PRSA, Jake Harvey RSA, Fred Bushe RSA and George Wyllie RSA, on loan from the RSA Collections.

21 February - 31 March

Antony Lucchesi

Walking Routes

Multidisciplinary Artist Antony Lucchesi presents his new solo exhibition, Walking Routes, at the Wyllieum. The work stems from his time on residency at The Hugo Burge Foundation, blending playful, tongue in cheek installations with thoughtful material experimentations bringing together digital and material processes.

Antony Lucchesi was previously selected for the RSA New Contemporaries, exhibiting in 2023, as well as having received the Open Exhibition Prize in 2021 during the RSA Annual exhibition.

27 June - 31 October 2026

Claire Barclay RSA 

Falling Rising

Claire Barclay RSA is the first artist commissioned to make work in response to the context of the Wyllieum to be exhibited within the impressive main gallery space. She will bring together a number of conceptual strands, including revisiting the work of artist Joseph Beuys who George befriended in the 1980s.

The work of all three artists share an obsessive interest in exploration, combining materials and objects in provocative and often absurd ways in order to draw attention to their wider imbedded cultural roles and meanings.

Both Claire and George Wyllie share a strong connection to the Clyde and experiences that instil respect for the uncontrollable and changeable nature of the sea and prompt thinking about how we deal with patterns and unpredictability within our lives. A sense of switching of perspective from land to sea will be echoed within the work through spatial interventions and the use of the panoramic windows of the gallery space where looking out and looking in will have equal consideration. The title may also suggest that rise and fall of individual and societal optimism can provide potential for change and opportunity.