Pittenweem Arts Festival
A celebration of the visual arts; taking place in galleries, homes, studios and venues throughout Pittenweem
August 1st-8th 2020: CANCELLED
2020 Festival Cancelled
Thursday March 19th 2020
As you know the coronavirus is of huge concern affecting all social gatherings and events as the health and safety of us all is of paramount importance.
Today, with many more events and gatherings cancelled nationally we regretfully have to tell you that this includes Pittenweem Arts Festival and the Easter Weekend open venues.
After recognising that we would have to cancel the Festival, we decided to leave the website largely unchanged. We had up the work of roughly half the artists who would have been exhibiting in 2020 and felt that, along with giving you an idea of who exhibits at the Festival, it would be useful publicity for those artists.
Most of the artists who signed up for 2020 intend to come in 2021 and our three Invited Artists for 2020 have arranged to take part in 2021. Even though the 2020 Festival is cancelled, you can see what might have been.
Next Year’s Festival
August 7th-14th 2021
Invited Artists 2020
Janette Kerr
Angus Ross
Fife Dunfermline Printmakers
About the Festival
Now in its 39th 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.
Exhibiting Artists
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.
Festival Toolbox
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.
Boat : Sophie Demery
2019 Bursary Award Winner: Sophie Demery
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.
Invited Artist Calum Colvin’s exhibition 2019
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:
Janette Kerr Angus Ross
Fife Dunfermline Printmakers
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.
Paul Furneaux (r) 2017 Invited Artist giving a mokuhanga, Japanese printing workshop
Events & Workshops
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.
47 High Street Pittenweem Fife KY10 2PG
info@pittenweemartsfestival.co.uk
01333 313 109
Website copyright Pittenweem Arts Festival. Design: aptlybradley
