First Floor Craft Showcase
This new display on the first floor launches a new series of craft showcases called Conversations in Clay where we pair ceramists who are exploring similar themes or processes in their work.
© Greenscares Pottery
6 January – 28 February 2026
Both makers, Fiona Robertson and Pauline Beautyman, draw inspiration from their surrounding natural environments, yet produce markedly different bodies of work. The distinctive marks applied to their diverse forms give each vessel its own character and visual presence. Their shared approach to surface decoration conveys a strong sense of storytelling: narratives emerge through pattern, colour, and form, inviting viewers to explore their personalities embedded within each object.
Fiona Robertson began her journey into the world of ceramics after stumbling across a little pottery in the far north of Scotland in 2014. She spent several years learning from professional potters and attending local classes, before continuing her ceramics education through a variety of workshops. After setting up her own studio – Greenscares Pottery – near Braco, Perthshire in 2018, Fiona honed her craft and began to find her ‘voice’ in ceramics, discovering a love of carving into clay using a variety of tools to create patterns and textures. Working predominately in stoneware, the inspiration for the patterns in her work comes from the repetition seen in the wild flora and fauna in the glen where she lives. The colours she uses in her glazes reflect nature’s simple palette – the purple heather, deep green fields, rusty brackens in the winter and the many shades of blue in the vast Perthshire skies.
Pauline Beautyman is a potter rooted in the landscapes of Argyll, where the rhythm of the coastline and contours of the hills shape not only her views but the very materials and surfaces of her work at Sea Drift Pottery. The project of creating bottles began as a combination of imagination and technical problem solving. Often finding partial sea battered ceramic bottles on the local shore; a series of handmade ceramic bottles were imagined into being bringing with it interesting technical challenges to be tackled. They provide a wonderful form to explore texture and adaptations to the surface. The making and creating of Pauline’s work begins with the land itself. She walks and explores in all weathers, observing the subtle shifts in colour, texture, and pattern across the terrain. These impressions guide marks, carvings, and surface textures to then emerge intuitively as she makes.
© Becca Brown
21 October 2025 – 3 January 2026
Hand built pots and Christmas tree decorations from Inverness born Becca Brown & Sheffield based Evelyn Albrow. While both makers use similar techniques, the distinct clays they choose give each piece its own character and visual quality. Their shared approach to surface decoration reveals a strong, playful sense of storytelling — narratives unfold through pattern, colour, and form, inviting viewers to explore the personalities and humour embedded in each object.
Becca Brown first began working with clay while studying Textile and Surface Design at Gray’s School of Art in 2010. She went on to complete a Master’s in Illustration at Edinburgh College of Art in 2014, later remaining as Artist in Residence. In 2017, she relocated to Sheffield to join the Ceramic Starter Studio at Yorkshire Artspace, where she is now based.
Evelyn Albrow studied History of Art at Bristol University before completing a Master’s in Illustration at Camberwell College of Art (UAL), where she developed her interest in historical storytelling. Now based in Sheffield, she works from Yorkshire Artspace and has exhibited widely across the UK. Alongside her studio practice, she runs workshops for young people in Sheffield, London and Bristol.
© Heidi Soos
2 August – 18 October 2025
For our first conversation we’re delighted to display a range of amazing birds, both imagined and real. We have new work from Highland artist Heidi Soos alongside ceramic birds from Inverness Museum’s own collection made by Helmsdale Pottery (established in 1973, Helmsdale Pottery was created by David and Penny Woodley).
Heidi Soos, studied at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen and lives on the West coast of the Highlands of Scotland. Using ceramics to explore the whimsical, otherworldly beauty of nature she works intuitively to capture the details, textures and organic shapes she sees around her and from within her imagination. The process of creating each piece spontaneously results in one-of-a-kind sculptures and vessels filled with character and emotion. From little pots, functional pieces and larger bird and animal forms Heidi’s ceramics bring joy and intrigue.
