If you haven’t been to the Dovecot Studios before, The Creative World of Alan Davie, running there from the Edinburgh Festival until September 26, provides an opportunity to see this new space and a mini-retrospective of the joyous, colourful work of one of Scotland’s most successful artists.

Davie, who is still going strong at the age of 89, encompasses a variety of media in his art - not just paintings and works on paper, but music, jewellery, ceramics, tapestry and rug-making. In his own words, he has been “a real jack of all trades”.

A graduate of the Edinburgh College of Art, he has had a number of works “translated” into tapestries and rugs by the world-renowned Dovecot Studies, some of which are on display. Founded in 1912, the Dovecot relocated last summer to 10 Infirmary Street (off South Bridge), where the building that once housed Edinburgh’s first public baths and swimming pool has been transformed into a stunning new tapestry weaving studio - with viewing gallery - and arts centre.

The exhibition charts Davie’s development from his student days, with a self-portrait when he was 18, to his current output, which features not just his trademark brightly-coloured shapes and patterns but words and phrases that he chooses “intuitively” from printed texts.

We learn that Davie also studied silversmithing at art school and spent several years as a jewellery maker, supplying one-off pieces to shops such as Harrods and Asprey’s. As well as examples of his jewellery, the show includes ceramics decorated by Davie; covers he designed for the jazz records he played on; and some of his collection of African masks that regularly feature in his paintings.

www.dovecotstudios.com

T 0131 550 3660.