Looking forward to a sunnier Festival in 2020
Saturday August 1st to Saturday August 8th
Bursary Award
Our highly -successful scheme to promote beginning artists and provide them with an unequalled opportunity to exhibit, goes from strength to strength. We provide a venue for the exhibition and a sizeable cash sum to cover all costs.
With this kind of support and the recognition of the award, beginning artists have the opportunity to exhibit their work and because it’s Pittenweem with the large number of visitors, they have a chance to meet with prospective buyers and promote their art.
2019 Bursary Award Winner: Sophie Demery
Boat : Sophie Demery
There are well over 100 artists, displaying their work throughout the village: mainly in houses but also in garages, halls, sheds and really anywhere that has a place to hang or place artwork.
This is the surprising and endearing feature of the Festival, to come across art presented in a house or in a normally featureless garage Here it is, an array of landscapes, an explosion of colour in textiles, a selection of paintings or a collection of fine-worked jewellery. Because you’re not in a formal gallery, it’s actually easier to appreciate the artist’s work and you’ll have the opportunity to talk with the artist.
Invited Artists
Our yearly invitation to several internationally known and respected artists has resulted in acclaimed and innovatory shows.
Our Invited Artists leave the art circuit to mount and curate the show themselves. They have a free hand to select and display work they have chosen or created specially for Pittenweem.
This results in comments from Graham Rich naming his 2017 show as his best and Glen Onwin in 2018 saying: a fairly complex install as I expected but I have enjoyed it greatly.
This year we are excited to have:
Calum Colvin Lara Scobie
Line Mortensen
Invited Artist Glen Onwin’s exhibition 2018
Paul Furneaux (r) 2017 Invited Artist giving a mokuhanga, Japanese printing workshop
Events & Workshops
These can take a bit longer to get organised but we have a fair number lined up. There’s a summary of what’s taking place on the Events page.
Open Art
Early on in the Festival’s development we realised that there were many artists who wished to show at the Festival but couldn’t. Maybe they were without a venue or they did not yet have enough material for a full exhibition.
To allow these artists some exposure, we began the Open Art Exhibition which means artists can submit individual pieces. This helps out and has proved to be a very successful venture.
About the Festival
Now in its 37th year, Pittenweem Arts Festival continues to delight. With just over 20,00 visitors coming each year to experience the art on display, workshops and events we know that the mix must be just about right.
As it all takes place in such a beautiful village, which is guaranteed splendid weather at Festival time, a visit is definitely rewarding.
As you may notice on visiting the venues in the village, space is at a premium. Larger artworks just may not have room to breathe. Then, a couple of years ago, a fantastic solution to this came up with an offer from Nick Fleming of Ovenstone 109 brewery.
Nick’s brewery is situated just at the edge of Pittenweem and offers extensive display space. Along with the art comes easy parking and refreshments. Reachable by car or use the Festival Shuttle Bus. More information when you click this panel.
Ovenstone 109
Galleries
When you’re in Pittenweem for the Festival, it’s easy to recognise that this is an artistic community.
What is not so easily noticeable is that there are about 30 artists resident in the village. Coupled with this is the very healthy number of galleries, Pittenweem sustains its artistic reputation through the galleries which, after the festival throngs have gone, remain open all year round.
ART@47
Our office space is also a dedicated exhibition space. Click on this panel to find out more about current exhibitions, what we have previously shown and how you can use ART@47.
Our only mobile phone artwork
Goes live August 3rd
Scottish Natural Heritage, who are responsible for the May, contacted us with a proposal: would we like to organise an exhibition on the Isle of May, in the lighthouse? Well, OF COURSE!
The lighthouse is open weekends only May to end of July; open all week August to end of September.
Pittenweem on the May
Art@47 is proud to host a special exhibition in memory of local artist Scott Morris who died in April 2018
Monday 14th to Saturday 26th October Click here for further details
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