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Pittenweem Arts Festival

A celebration of the visual arts; taking place in galleries, homes, studios and venues throughout Pittenweem

Festival 2023 August 5 - 12

A Festival Farewell

Sadly, the Pittenweem Arts Festival is over for another year. Many thanks to all involved: artists, visitors, Festival staff and Pittenweem residents. There are others too, thanks to them.

This was an enjoyable time for us and from talking to many others we know that they too had a great time.

We’ve left up all the 2023 Festival material and even now are working on Festival 2024. Return to the website 0ccasionally, to see further happenings.

Festival 2024 is from Saturday August 3rd to August 10th.

Invited Artists 2023

Joyce Gunn

Cairns

Helen Kemp

Wemyss

School of Needlework

Henderson Bursary Award

2023 Award Winner

Each year Pittenweem Arts Festival awards a Bursary to a recently graduated or final year artist in any medium to help them establish their career in the arts. 2023 will be the 16th year of the awards. As from 2022, the award has been known as the Henderson Bursary Award in acknowledgment of long-term funding from David and Sheila Henderson.

The bursary enables an artist to exhibit their work to a potential audience of 20,000 visitors. As the artist will be present during the event, contacts with buyers, galleries and other artists can be established. A central venue is provided and accommodation where required.

Mousehole Harbour

SIOBHAN McLAUGHLIN

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.

About the Festival

Now in its 40th year, Pittenweem Arts Festival continues to delight. With just over 20,000 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.

Open Art

Early on in the festival’s development, we found that many artists wanted the chance to show work perhaps for the first time or to test the waters with just a couple of paintings. The Open Art Exhibition offered such an opportunity.

This very popular show is open to any artist, amateur or professional giving exposure to new talent. This is a chance for buyers to discover something different from among the 100 or so artworks on show.

‍ The exhibition takes place in the Church Hall on James Street.

Festival Toolbox

How to: register as an artist and exhibit at the Festival

How to: apply for the Festival’s Henderson Bursary Award

How to: show your work in the Open Art Exhibition

How to: volunteer and help at the Festival

How to: support the Festival

How to: get to the Festival and parking arrangements

FAQs

How to: contact us

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.

Events and Workshops

Paul Furneaux (r) 2017 Invited Artist giving a mokuhanga, Japanese printing workshop

A fascinating mix.

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: my best and Glen Onwin in 2018 saying: a fairly complex install as I expected but I have enjoyed it greatly.

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.