Instilled with the artist’s idiosyncratic flair, Pauline Caulfield’s vivid portfolio of large-scale textile panels hangs magnificently on Dovecot Studios’ tapestry balcony. They provide a bold backdrop for any curious onlookers studying the weavers who diligently work below, with the screen-printed panels spanning abstraction and illusion. 

It’s as though the repurposed 19th-century Infirmary Street Baths are a natural habitat for the panels. Their striking colour palette (enhanced by moments of sunshine beaming down from the ceiling windows) offers a reminder that textiles absorb light rather than reflect it. ‘Playing Cards’ (comprising ‘Back Of Card’ and ‘Jack’, produced 15 years apart) have previously hung in Caulfield’s coveted home studio in London’s Primrose Hill, a location that’s been the subject of countless pieces of editorial.

Transferring the trope of trompe l’oeil from painting to textiles, Caulfield cunningly plays with the effect of fabric weaving in ‘Check Ribbon’ with spatial precision. Her witty penchant for illusions manifests again in ‘Back Of Canvas’, a comparatively dull wall hanging that comically evokes the reverse side of a painting. On the same wall of the tapestry balcony is ‘Lace Fan’ which, upon closer inspection, offers new insight into Caulfield’s recent explorations with a freehand technique of combing to create the impression of bamboo. While there remains scope for the curators to delve further into her biography and career trajectory as she turns 80, Pauline Caulfield: Textiles boasts a perfectly peaceful (and at times quite eccentric) 30-minute viewing experience. 

Pauline Caulfield: Textiles, Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, until Saturday 20 July; main picture: Rob McDougall.