Events & Workshops
A celebration of the visual arts taking place in galleries, homes, studios and other venues throughout Pittenweem
All events are now finished
Ticket Sales
Please note that all sales are final and tickets cannot be refunded, unless an event has been cancelled. Concessions at 50% of adult ticket price are available only for children under 16 years old. This is not applicable to children’s events and workshops where separate pricing applies.
On All Week
- • Artists’ Talks take place throughout the week, with this year more artists than ever participating. A full listing for these can be found at the end of the Events entries.
- • Ian Graham’s Automata workshops take place most days; see Saturday’s entry for details.
Register between 9.30 and 3.00 at The Crooked House 23 Mid Shore Venue 46 bringing along your canvas or blank paper to have it stamped. You are now free to paint or draw any aspect of Pittenweem, using whatever materials you wish. Return finished artwork to The Crooked House by 3.00pm. Pictures will be displayed at 4.00 pm in the fish sheds then judged and prizes awarded at 4.30pm.
Our thanks go to our sponsors Great Art who have kindly provided the prizes: www.greatart.co.uk
Open air painting competition
All over Pittenweem 9.30 am - 3.00 pm Adult £2.00 Children 11-15 £1.00 Children under 11 free
Saturday August 3rd
Come along and have a go at building an elegant clock or a crazy hedgehog automaton. Ian's fascinated by these things and you'll soon find that you've got involved too. Suitable for ages 5-85.
All Week: Workshop: Clock and Automaton Building with Ian Graham
9 South Loan 2.00 pm - 3.00 pm daily (except 11th Aug) FREE
And I'm sure Lara will be smiling just as pleasantly throughout her talk. This is an informal occasion with Lara commenting on the pieces she has included in her exhibition. These range from large statement pieces to smaller forms, all showing her signature style of graphic pattern on clear-cut forms.
Talk: Lara Scobie/invited artist
Old Men's Club The Gyles 11.00 am Free Limited to 25 Tickets from Box Office
A Jazz Night with David & Rory
Church Hall James Street 7.30 pm £10 BYOB Tickets from Box Office
Rory Marston is studying Engineering at The University of Strathclyde and is involved in several musical projects in Glasgow. Rory and David have performed together for several years in a variety of musical situations.
Since last year’s performance at the Festival, Rory’s music has taken inspiration from modern jazz and funk as well as bebop recordings of the mid 20th century. With a focus on drums and percussion, Rory will be using various rhythm section instruments.
David Behrens has just finished his penultimate year studying music at the University of Edinburgh. Classically trained on piano and trained in jazz on the saxophone, his compositional work takes inspiration from both genres, as well as an influence from Scottish folk music.
Recently, he has been developing his compositional and songwriting style by looking at composers and performers such as Ólafur Arnalds, Peter Bence and Bruno Major.
This year’s performance will consist of a mix of original compositions written by David and Rory over the past year, as well as some traditional jazz standards with vocalist Inés Hayward-Daventry.
Sunday August 4th
Festival Fossil Hunt: with Catherine Rose
Meet at the West Braes shelter next to the Pittenweem swing park 10:00 am -12.00 noon £5 Tickets from Box Office
Suitable for ages 7-12 under 10s with adult Limited to 20
Where are the best places to search for fossils around Pittenweem? What are the fossils and what environments do they come from? The rocks surrounding Pittenweem represent a time around 330 million years ago when the temperatures were tropical, seas were rich with marine life and land had the first dense forests with enormous trees.
Come for a walk along the shore between Pittenweem and Pathhead at low tide with geologist Dr Catherine Rose and hunt for some special treasures in hidden places.
Wear wellies or sturdy shoes, bring a jacket in case it is cold, and a bag for all those fossils you will find !
This trip is popular and tickets must be purchased ahead of time, online or at the Box Office.
It's interesting to understand how an artist goes about creating the artwork that you now see in front of you. Line writes about this process in her Invited Artist entry (see below). The creation of the bottle shapes was almost fortuitous. With that done, her thoughts led on to the associated, message in a bottle: and then, further still.
Maybe during this talk, she'll reveal some of these messages...
Talk: Line Mortensen/invited artist
Lesser Church Hall 11.00 am - 12.00 noon Free Limited to 30 Tickets from Box Office
Talk: The Constructed Worlds of Calum Colvin:
Calum Colvin with Tom Normand
Old Town Hall 7.30 - 9.30 pm £5 Limited to 50 With refreshments Tickets from Box Office
Tom will open the evening with a discussion of the book The Constructed Worlds of Calum Colvin. Calum will then talk about individual works in the exhibition (and possibly use projections); he will also deal with the ways in which the book reflects on these works: and the things the book leaves out. A conversational and informal talk followed by a Q&A session.
Born in Glasgow in 1961, Calum Colvin has exhibited his work nationally and internationally for over thirty years since graduating from the Royal College of Art in London with an MA in Photography in 1985. He has won numerous awards over the years, including the Higashikawa Overseas Photographer Award in 1997 and was a winner of one of the first Scottish Arts Council Creative Scotland Awards from which he created the acclaimed exhibition for the SNPG: Ossian, Fragments of Ancient Poetry in 2001. He was awarded an OBE the same year and is Professor of Fine Art Photography at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design University of Dundee.
Colvin’s artworks have been widely exhibited in venues as diverse as Orkney, Los Angeles and Ecuador. He has completed a number of portrait commissions for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the RSA. His works are represented in numerous collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art New York; The Museum of Fine Art Houston; The Tate Gallery London and the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow.
Dr Tom Normand
Tom is an art historian specialising in British and especially Scottish art, photography and culture. Most recently he edited the book Ages of Wonder: Scotland’s Art 1540 to Now.
His work includes Scottish Photography: a History; The Modern Scot: Modernism and Nationalism in Scottish Art 1928-1955; Portfolio: Treasures from the Diploma Collection at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.
Tom is Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews and an Honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy of Art.
Image: A History Painting
Monday August 5th
Geowalk Cellardyke: with Catherine Rose & Ruth Robinson
Meet at Cellardyke Harbour 11:00 am - 2:00 pm £7 Suitable adults and 12 years plus Limited to 20
Tickets from Box Office
This year the geological tour will begin at Cellardyke Harbour to look at the Carboniferous sedimentary rocks and investigate some of their folds and fossils. Join geologists Dr Catherine Rose and Dr Ruth Robinson for a geowalk along the Fife shoreline to look at more of the amazing geological heritage that exists in Fife.
The trip is suitable for teenagers and adults and we will be walking on uneven, and at times slippery, ground on the coastal path and foreshore. Wear walking boots or sturdy wellies and bring a jacket in case it is cold or rains. The trip will last ~3 hours and we will end at Anstruther. Also, bring a packed lunch.
Workshop: Build a Bothy (adults) with Moyra Stewart
Ovenstone 109 10.30 am - 12.30 pm £40.00 Adults Limited to 6 Tickets from Box Office
Inspired by Ron Lawson whose images of traditional blackhouses adorn her walls, ceramic artist Moyra Stewart invites you to come and build the cottage of your dreams : adobe, bothy, blackhouse or country cottage. In this fun workshop you will build your own wee holiday home, spend time refining the shape and adding details.
After a coffee or juice break you will discuss colour and firing and get an introduction to Raku, followed by finishing of the piece. The pieces will be dried, bisqued and fired at the Raku demonstration Friday 9th August.
You may glaze your own piece and see it fired at the demonstration. Otherwise, choose a colour and the piece will be raku fired for you and posted to your address. It's a rare opportunity to first of all make your own piece then be able to see it transformed by the Raku firing.
Workshop: Build a Bothy (children) with Moyra Stewart
Ovenstone 109 11.00 am - 12.00 noon £20.00 Children Limited to 6 Tickets from Box Office
Tuesday August 6th
Moyra hosts the children's workshop in ceramic bothy-building. See Tuesday's entry for details.
Remember the raku-firing demonstration on Friday.
Talk: Fife's Lost Priory with Prof Tony Lodge
Episcopal Church 7.00 pm £5 Suitable 16 years plus Tickets from Box Office. All the ticket proceeds will go to the Gatehouse Restoration Fund
In St Andrews University Library’s manuscript collections is a very striking image in the 16th century cartulary of the Priory of Pittenweem. This undated charter begins with a decorative initial U which takes the form of a beautifully drawn image of Andrew, to whom the Priory was dedicated. (Perhaps as a piece of iconoclasm at the time of the reformation, the saint has gained some gratuitous anatomical detail).
Most visitors to the east of Fife are blithely unaware that Pittenweem ever had a rich and flourishing priory, for it can boast no picturesque gothic remains like St Andrews and Culross and, for centuries, its surviving buildings have remained walled in, deterring the prying eyes of visitors.
Tony's lecture seeks to dispel this pre-conception and to show that Pittenweem priory had a remarkable if unusual history, deeply enmeshed in the central narrative of Scottish affairs, and has some remarkable, if enigmatic, archaeology: its surviving buildings are among the oldest continuously inhabited houses in Scotland.
Image and text courtesy St Andrews University Library
Talk/presentation: Earth Building with Becky Little
Church Hall James Street 11.00 am - 12 noon £10 Suitable 16 years plus Tickets from Box Office
Wednesday August 7th
Becky Little has been working with earth as a builder and artist for over 25 years. With a background in earthen heritage and conservation she is now working with clay soils and natural fibres in new buildings and finishes, including the earth renders for the award winning Dubai Majlis Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show 2019.
Her presentation and workshop at Pittenweem will cover sourcing and working with local soils for clay plasters, murals, sculpture and small polished objects.
This is a chance to discover the rich diversity of Scottish earth traditions and learn how they can be used in new, innovative and ecological buildings, furniture and finishes.
Workshop: Earth Building with Becky Little
Church Hall James Street 2.00 pm - 4.30 pm £25 Suitable 16 years plus Tea break refreshments Tickets from Box Office
The workshop will include hands-on taster sessions of clay plaster decoration, sgraffito (carved plaster) and polished earth balls.
History walk and talk: Pittenweem's medieval Priory with Prof. Tony Lodge
Pittenweem Priory does not look like a priory, as all the picturesque gothic remains (essentially the monastic church and cloister) disappeared in 1560. Where might they have been ?
The remains
What survived the Reformation intact were the domestic buildings: the gatehouse, the prior's lodging, the canons' dormitory and refectory, and the guest house. These are highly interesting fifteenth-century structures (now private residences) and by looking at them in the context of the rest of the precinct, including St Fillan's Cave, it is possible to gain an idea about how the medieval priory developed.
The walk
The walk will start with a talk in St John's Church in Marygate and will proceed to the Gatehouse, the Inner Close, and the garden of the Priory House, where coffee will be served. The tour will continue with the Library and Town Hall in Cove Wynd and a visit to the kirk-yard in search of medieval remains. It will end in St Fillan's Cave (which, in fact, wasn't St Fillan's cave at all).
Meet at Episcopal Church Marygate 10.30 am £5 All the ticket proceeds will go to the Gatehouse Restoration Fund
Thursday August 8th
History walk and talk: Pittenweem's medieval Priory with Prof. Tony Lodge
Meet at Episcopal Church Marygate 10.30 am £5 All the ticket proceeds will go to the Gatehouse Restoration Fund
For details: see Wednesday
We include folk songs, ballads by Billy Joel and Sting, popular choral pieces and a performance of the jazz cantata Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo by Michael Flanders and Joseph Horovitz.
The cantata will feature the choir with Andrew Mundy as lead tenor, plus wonderful accompaniment by Louise Major on jazz bass, Kenny Carlisle on percussion and Walter Blair on piano. Last year's concert was a sell-out so be sure to get your tickets early.
Priory Singers: Festival Concert
Church Hall James Street 7.30 pm £10 Tickets from Box Office
Friday August 9th
Moyra will be firing the work created by participants in the adults' and children's Ceramic Bothy workshops. If you're one of those, come along to the demonstration a bit earlier, at 10.00, to glaze your piece before firing.
The demonstration is open to all to watch but children must be accompanied by an adult, for safety reasons.
Demonstration: Raku Firing with Moyra Stewart
Ovenstone 109 11.00 am - 12.30 pm FREE
History walk and talk: Pittenweem's medieval Priory with Prof. Tony Lodge
Meet at Episcopal Church Marygate 10.30 am £5 All the ticket proceeds will go to the Gatehouse Restoration Fund
For details: see Wednesday
Swing jazz from a joyful group of musicians who love to play. Great for swing dancing and easy on the ear.
Our repertoire has Jazz and Swing standards from Duke Ellington to Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong. We are loved by Swing dancers and Jazz enthusiasts alike.
Trombone player and vocalist George Howden is a great favourite with lovers of Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday. Cornet player Mike Daly is one of the top jazz instrumentalists in Scotland while Dave Watt, our piano wizard doubles on jazz guitar. Ian Boyter the leader, plays tenor sax with a mellow voice, backed by on double bass Tom Evans and Bill Mullen on drums creating our irresistible rhythm.
the Joys of Swing
Church Hall James Street 7.30 pm £15 BYOB Tickets from Box Office
Vintage Fife Film from Moving Image Archive with Ann Cameron
Church Hall James Street 7.30 - 9.30 pm £8 Tickets from Box Office
Saturday August 10th
The showing will be introduced by Ann Cameron Interim Head of Moving Image and Sound Collections National Library of Scotland
The Moving Image Archive is Scotland's national collection of moving image and is held at the National Library. We preserve and promote access to films capturing Scotland and her people, from the early days of film-making to the present day.
Join us for a tour through the 20th century on film, from the collections preserved by the Moving Image Archive.
Explore the fishing villages of days gone by, steam trains on the Fife coast railway, gala days, streets, views and landscapes which have long since changed. We might even venture as far as the university town of St. Andrews, travel by tricycle to Broughty Ferry and see some footage that has never been shown in public before !
GO TO SHOP
Artists’ Talks throughout the week
Tim Cockburn
Keeping a sketchbook.
Clair Christie
My collection is inspired by the architecture of my home town. Discussion about the historical importance of Dunfermline and the process.
Avril Cunningham
Gelli plate printing demonstration. Come along and give it a try!
Genna Delaney
Transition between artist to self employed mum and a new way of life and working.
Clive Gillman
A short guide to the pieces with an explanation of how to find them and how they work.
Ian Graham
Come along and have a go at building an elegant clock or crazy hedgehog automaton. Suitable for ages 5 – 85.
Liz Harvey
I will be talking about my working methods, use of natural materials and how they relate to work in watercolour and oil.
Marianne Hazlewood
The delights of botanical painting, growing your subject and then capturing it.
Renate Heath
The fish project and the flower part of the exhibition, techniques and working methods.
Karin Hepburn
Painting demonstration in acrylics and oil.
Michelle Hewitt
Producing realistic images of wildlife using soft pastels. Utilising different blending techniques to produce various natural background, fur, feathers and introducing character to subjects.
Mark Holden
Developing skies in my paintings
Sarah Knox
Painting the spirit – an informal talk about Sarah’s art practice and beliefs.
Joyce Laing
Scottish Castles.
Lynn McGregor
A walk-through of some of the pieces on show and an overview of my working methods and inspiration.
Kirsten Mirrey
Capturing key wildlife features – eyes and noses in detail.
Craig Mitchell
The ideas, themes and techniques behind new body of work.
Forbes Ridland
Moving from realism to atmospheric.
Derek Robertson
6th: Painting the secret wildlife of the reedbed – talk and demo.
8th: Painting the Gaelic landscape of Skye – talk and demo.
Jennifer Robson
A short talk about my current work and the inspirations behind it.
Alan Stephens
Oil painting with a limited palette.
Karen Trotter
A discussion of inspiration from wilderness kayak travel and beach living.
Nicola Wiltshire
A tour of my new series of paintings and an explanation about the way I work in handmade oils on fabric.
Julie H Winter
A talk/demo about the skills needed to complete an oil painting with a palette knife.
Georgie Young
The process from drawing to finished painting.
See brochure for Venues and times
47 High Street Pittenweem Fife KY10 2PG
info@pittenweemartsfestival.co.uk
01333 313 109
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