Rhona Taylor Studio

26/08/2026

Oooh career plot twist - later this week I’ll be presenting my project on swimming pools at the annual conference of the British Society of Sports History at the University of Edinburgh.

I’m looking forward to joining a panel looking at Scottish identity and spaces, speaking about the research I’ve been doing and the work I’m making (or am trying my best to persuade people to let me make).

I’ll be speaking about pools in whisky warehouses, pools funded by the King, pools of the postwar New Towns, pools at the centre of campaigns to keep the Sabbath, pools no longer with us, seaside lidos, community campaigns, and innovative ways of heating pools up (whisky and sewage, not both at once).

And chatting a bit about how art is an important way of engaging people with heritage, history and all that stuff. Whoop!

Thanks very much to Creative Scotland for supporting this project and the for welcoming this outlier 😎

07/08/2026

29/07/2026

I’ve written something about my longest relationship – my one with Iceland – and how time spent there over the years has sparked my entire obsession with, I mean project about, swimming pools. It’s long, jumpy and self-indulgent, but it’s a bit of background into my interest with the country and with swimming pools, and how those both developed.

I heard there’s this cool new thing for 2026 called a blog, so that’s how I’m writing about this project. It’s on my website under ‘notes’ but there’s also a link in the linktree in my bio (of course) if you’d like to have a read, and I'll stick it in my stories too. Soon, watch out for my new MySpace account.

This photo is of me swimming at the very lovely Hofsós pool one evening in March 2017, and I’m pretty sure was taken by Michael Coppelov, though neither of us is completely certain 😊

19/07/2026

Thank you so much to everyone who came along to a very scorchio Porty today to chat all things swimming pools! 🏊‍♀️😎

It was so lovely to speak to such interesting people, including some very nice fellow pool nerds 🤓🤿 so a big thank you to everyone who made the effort to come along.

I’m currently working on something that will be part of Art Walk Projects next May, so stay tuned for that, and please do drop me a line if you’d like to be involved 😊

I also found out today that the pipe in the second photo is how the seawater used to be pumped in to fill the pool (it was originally a salt water pool). Probably everyone else already knew that, but I didn’t 😎

If you didn’t come along today but would like to be involved in my project or would just like occasional updates, there’s a form in the linktree in my bio you can fill in to stay in touch. I would love to hear from you!

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30/06/2026

Some shots from a recent (ish) studio portrait session by superstar photographer Anneleen Lindsay 😊 I figured it was about time I posted some of these on here - this session was so much fun to do (a lot more than my face here would indicate 😂). I’m normally verrrrry uncomfortable having my photo taken but Anneleen was brilliant at putting me at ease.

I’ve also had a few new followers who I suspect are mainly here for swimming pool content (and I’ve probably lost a few for the same reason) so I thought I’d take the opportunity to reintroduce myself at the same time.

I’m Rhona 👋 I’m a visual artist, and I live and work in Edinburgh. I make abstract work – paintings, installations, drawings, sculptures and screenprints – using colour, light, pattern and repetition.

I’m interested in how people navigate and share spaces, and how we connect and interact with one another. In my most recent work I’ve been looking at swimming pools – as public, social and cultural spaces. I’m interested in their design, their architecture and their history, as well as how different people and communities use them. I’m also interested in how and why people feel excluded from them.

That project has led me all over Scotland and beyond, seeing and researching interesting buildings and archives, and meeting the communities that use them. As part of that I’m working with architects, heritage organisations, campaign groups, charities, councils - and of course people who like to swim.

If you’d like to connect / say hello / ask more about that (or any of my other work), then please send me a message! I’ll be holding a very casual event in Portobello in Edinburgh in July – I’ll post details of that here soon, so please do come along and say hello!

14/06/2026

It’s the last day to see the RSA200 Annual Exhibition at the The Royal Scottish Academy!

It’s been such a lovely show to be part of, particularly in this celebratory year - thank you so much to convener annie cattrell as well as all the hanging and selection committee, and everyone else beavering away behind the scenes. It must’ve been so much work to put together, and it’s been great to be part of it.

See you all in 2126 for the RSA300 🥳

08/06/2026

AOAP Projects X Royal Society of Arts

I’m really pleased to be taking part in Illuminated – ’ first Summer Exhibition at in London – which opens tomorrow evening and is on until June 17th. I’ve got three small framed paintings in the show.

There’s some brilliant work in the exhibition, and I’m so pleased to have been asked to be involved, so thank you to for the invitation. There’s a link in my bio where you can view the works in the exhibition, and if you’d like to come to the opening tomorrow (Tuesday) evening, let me know and I’ll send you the details to RSVP.

And of course if you’d like to buy any of the work in the show, you can do that at aoapprojects.com.

🔗 Link in my bio to view the exhibition
📍RSA House, 8 John Adam St, London WC2N 6EZ
⏰ June 10 to 17

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19/05/2026

Two bathing buildings on the Clyde – I had a lovely salty swim at Gourock Pool last week, and the next day was over on Bute, so went and had a poke around the old bathing station near Rothesay before I got my ferry home.

The bathing station at Rothesay was opened in 1892, and the entrance building, designed by Thomas Beveridge, was added in 1930. It closed during the Second World War to be used as a canteen, and never reopened. The last image is a postcard from Bute Museum’s collection, showing a swimming competition in the 1930s.

Gourock opened as a tidal pool in 1909, with the current set-up added in 1935. Martin Parr’s photo of it was used by Blur on their 2023 album The Ballad of Darren - Blur’s drummer Dave Rowntree told a press conference he had heard stories of sharks ending up in the pool during rough weather 🤣🦈

I do have a running list of swimming pools that feature in popular culture, so please do let me know any suggested additions 😎

15/05/2026

11/05/2026

What a lovely evening Friday was, celebrating 200 years of the at the opening of this year’s Annual Exhibition, and catching up with lots of folk I hadn’t seen in ages.

It was very busy and I took zero photos, so popped back in this morning for a better look. It’s lovely to share wall space with and (and a lot of other folk in this room, including Charlie Stiven, who I was v glad to have as a tutor when I was at ECA, and whose sculpture is in image 3).

There are a lot of artists in this show but a lot of brilliant people noticeably missing as well - I guess it’s always the way with huge open calls. Of course not everyone submits work to them, but sometimes it feels like a bit of a lottery as to what is selected from those who do.

But anyway, my point is … hurrah for art in Scotland right now, both inside and outside of these particular gallery walls for the next few weeks.

There’s a link in my bio where you can view the exhibition online, and the actual thing in the actual gallery runs until June 14. It must’ve been a tonne of work for everyone involved, so thank you 😊

Against the Dying of the Light (I)
2024
Acrylic and gesso on aluminium
50cm x 50cm