PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release — 9 May 2026

Deirdre Nicholls returns to the RSA for its 200th Anniversary Exhibition

Edinburgh, 9 May – 14 June 2026

Sculptor Deirdre Nicholls exhibits at the Royal Scottish Academy’s landmark 200th Annual Exhibition, presenting Beltie — a new resin sculpture of a Belted Galloway calf at one-third life size. The exhibition runs from 9 May to 14 June 2026 at the RSA’s Neoclassical galleries on the Mound, Edinburgh.

Nicholls’ connection with the RSA has deepened in recent years. Her Poll Dorset sheep sculpture Hello Dolly was selected as the poster image for the RSA’s 2024 Annual Exhibition, appearing on the façade of the building on the Mound and across the Academy’s publicity. Beltie continues that working relationship, and that body of work, into the RSA’s bicentenary year.

The Belted Galloway — a hardy native Scottish breed, immediately recognisable by its distinctive white band — is rendered at intimate scale in vivid blue and white painted resin. The colour is deliberate: Nicholls uses scale and colour to slow perception, making the familiar strange and drawing attention to a breed that might otherwise pass unremarked. The sculpture invites close viewing, where surface texture, form and marking become more apparent over time.

This work forms part of Nicholls’ ongoing series documenting rare and endangered UK farm animals. A supporter of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, she uses sculpture to bring quiet attention to species whose presence in the landscape is not guaranteed. Her practice is grounded in sustained observation — beginning always with drawing and modelling — and moves from outward description towards something more internal: presence, attentiveness, and the way a figure holds attention under changing light.

The 200th RSA Annual Exhibition is Scotland’s largest and longest-running exhibition of contemporary art and architecture. Free and open to the public, it runs until 14 June 2026.

For further information, images or interview requests:

deirdrenicholls@icloud.com

www.deirdrenicholls.com

Notes to editors

Deirdre Nicholls is a Scots/Irish sculptor and watercolourist working from a studio at Kirkhope Mill, Ettrickbridge, in the Scottish Borders. Born in Edinburgh and raised in a sculptor’s studio, she studied at Liverpool and Winchester Schools of Art. Her work is held in public and private collections in the UK and internationally, and she has exhibited at the Royal Academy (London), Royal Scottish Academy (Edinburgh) and Royal Ulster Academy (Belfast). She was awarded the Paisley Art Institute Sculpture Prize in 2025. Her bronze portrait of Nelson Mandela is on permanent display in Glasgow’s City Chambers. Her statuette of Issette Pearson, commissioned by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 2019, is currently on display in Masterstrokes: 200 Years of Scottish Golfing Art at the R&A World Golf Museum, St Andrews (April 2026 – March 2027). She is represented by Compass Gallery, Glasgow.

High-resolution images are available on request.

FROM: RSA 200

‘From plaster to porcelain, our Annual Exhibition includes a range of sculptural works by emerging artists and acclaimed Academicians that would all make a unique addition to your collection. You can make collecting art even easier by spreading the cost over 10 interest-free monthly instalments with the Own Art scheme’.

Browse online

Deirdre Nicholls, BELTIE, 2026
Cast resin, edition of 9
£6,000 or 10 payments of £600 with Own Art
View online