The best art exhibitions coming up in Bristol and the Westcountry – selected by the Friends of the RWA…
Here’s our pick of the best art exhibitions and events happening in and around Bristol and the south west – including a look ahead to upcoming features….
AT THE RWA
RWA 172 Annual Open Exhibition
6 September – 28 December 2025
The RWA Annual Open Exhibition is one of the UK’s most prestigious open-submission exhibitions, welcoming artists at all stages of their careers. Now in its 172nd year, this highly anticipated event provides a platform for emerging and established artists to exhibit their work in the RWA’s stunning Grade II*-listed galleries.
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
Compiled by Sue Quirk and Laurel Smart
1) SET LIST: GROUP SHOW
3 – 8 OCTOBER, CENTRESPACE STUDIOS & GALLERY, BRISTOL
Set List brings together four artists whose shared interest in process, materials, and surfaces creates a dynamic and improvisational exhibition. Borrowing its title from the language of music, the show acts as a “pause” in their ongoing conversation: while the artists’ names are fixed, the rest unfolds through experiment, chance, and responsiveness. The resulting works speak to rhythm, improvisation, and the textures of practice itself, each piece resonating with the others like instruments in a live set. Visitors are invited into this collaborative dialogue, where the act of making becomes as significant as the finished work.
The artists areHelen Acklam, Victoria Coombes, Helen Grant, Nicky Hodge. The four artists met through a chance encounter at an open studio and found resonance in their process-led approaches. Together, they create space for improvisation and discovery, while inviting guest artists and musicians to expand the conversation. Preview Friday 3 October 2025, 18:00–21:00
2) JESSE ALEXANDER: DEFORMED SURFACES, UNCOVERING SOMERSET LANDSCAPES
UNTIL 10 OCTOBER, ATKINSON GALLERY, MILLFIELD SCHOOL, STREET, SOMERSET
Spanning over two decades, this exhibition explores Jesse Alexander’s deep connection to the rural landscape, particularly in Somerset. His photography challenges familiar images of the countryside, reflecting on place, memory, and time. Through quiet, carefully observed scenes, Deformed Surfaces invites us to consider how we truly come to know a place.
Open Wednesday to Saturday.
3) SUE WALES: CAPTURING THE LIGHT
UNTIL 12 OCTOBER, VICTORIA ART GALLERY, BATH
Bath-based Sue Wales works in oils, painting landscapes, interiors, still lives and portraits. In her beautifully painted works, she focuses on the impact of colour and light, always seeking to capture the transformative effects of light, be it lamplight in the winter, or the different ways sunlight creeps into a house. This exhibition is FREE to view in the small gallery..
4) REFLECT: UNCOMMON GROUND: GROUP SHOW
UNTIL 18 OCTOBER, BLACK SWAN ARTS, FROME, SOMERSET
Featuring a group of nine contemporary artist/printmakers, reflecting their diverse practices, this exhibition highlights the potential of print. Inspired by the environment, nature, and contemporary technology, each artist responds in their own personal way to the political, identity and climate issues that we are faced with on a daily basis. Uncommon in their responses and subject matter but united in manipulating print as a voice to express different viewpoints.
The artists explore and combine multiple print processes including wood engraving, monotype, linocut, etching and screenprint in their individual styles whether figurative or abstract. Predominantly showcasing strong, black and white prints, interspersed with bursts of colour.
Artists include Leonie Bradley RE, Dr Catherine Cartwright, Maxine Foster, Tallulah Foster, Julie Leach, Hilary Paynter MBE PPRE, Christopher Pig ARE, Sandra Porter RWA, David Robertson ARE SWE
5) AFTER NATURE: GROUP SHOW
UNTIL 25 OCTOBER, CLOSE LTD, HATCH BEAUCHAMP, SOMERSET
Curated by Ben Tufnell and featuring internationally acclaimed artists such as Richard Long and David Nash, After Nature also includes work by overlooked pioneers and next generation talent, including Mercedes Balle, Chris Dury, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Alex Hartley, Magnus Hammick, Simon Hitchens, Tania Kovats, Alastair & Fleur Mackie, Onya McCausland, Nissa Nishikawa, Aimee Parrott, Lotte Scott and Fred Sorrell. The exhibition offers a timely exploration of the ways in which artists are looking at and thinking about nature in the twenty-first century, with works spanning a range of media, including sculpture, ceramics, drawing, painting and photography. After Nature explores ways of making art ‘after’ nature, i.e. in imitation of natural forms and systems (but inevitably haunted by the idea of coming after nature too). One section focuses on artists using natural processes (gravity, evaporation, etc.) and materials (mud, minerals etc.) in their work, and a second focuses on artists working with visual perception (colour, form).
6) MENHIR PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION
UNTIL 30 OCTOBER, WELLS & MENDIP MUSEUM, WELLS, SOMERSET
Menhir considers how landscapes are shaped by a combination of geological process and human actions. Commissioned by the Mendip Hills National Landscape Team and Seed Sedgemoor, artist Elizabeth Woodger explores the Mendip Hills’ special qualities and unique features. It blends the human with the geological by printing photographs onto local rock specimens and then photographing these embedded in the environment.
Meet the artist on Saturday 4th October (11am – 3pm) with a guided talk from the artist at 12pm and 2pm. Discover how the regional geology inspired the artwork and find out how photographs were printed onto local rock specimens – free as part of the Mendip Rocks! festival of geology.
7) JYLL BRADLEY: RUNNING AND RETURNING
UNTIL 2 NOVEMBER, THE BOX, PLYMOUTH, DEVON
This exhibition explores the rich, three-decade career of British artist Jyll Bradley. Known for her large-scale public commissions, ‘Running and Returning’ also includes film, sculptural installations, photography, self-portraits and new works all seen together for the very first time.
LAST CHANCE TO SEE
UNTIL 3 OCTOBER: ROGER ROWLEY: QUIET CONTEMPLATIONS This exhibitionembodies the serene, introspective quality of Rogers work, inviting viewers into a space of stillness and reflection. ILMINSTER ARTS, SOMERSET https://www.ilminsterartscentre.com/exhibitions
UNTIL 4 OCTOBER: FIONA HINGSTON: LOCAL ARTIST A solo exhibition showcasing the unique artistic vision of Fiona Hingston. ANDELLI ART, WELLS, SOMERSET https://www.andelliart.com/fiona-hingston-exhibition
UNTIL 4 OCTOBER: MARKO DUTKA: IMMERSION Photographs of the Severn Estuary, near Bridgwater, construct an immersive, visual language about a magical, multi-layered environment where everything is connected, infinitely variable and always in flux. BRIDGWATER ARTS CENTRE, SOMERSET https://www.bridgwaterartscentre.co.uk/exhibition/marko-dutka/
WATCH OUT FOR
- TAKE5 2025 PRINTING SHOW 4-19 OCTOBER Featuring five printmakers: Martine Baldwin, Ruth Ander, Ben Goodman, Lee Natland and Iva Svabic-Cannon who also curates. HOURS GALLERY, BRISTOL https://www.hours-space.com/whats-on/
- BATH ANNUAL OPEN 18 OCTOBER – 10 JANUARY 120th Open Exhibition, open to non-members, is held in the Victoria Art Gallery, BATH https://www.bsaorg.uk/open-exhibitions
11-12 OCTOBER West Bristol Artists Art Trail -a group of people who produce art works in a variety of formats: paintings, photographs, etchings, screenprints, textiles, pottery, glass pieces, jewellery and more. Annual art trail in the Clifton, Redland, Hotwells areas of Bristol https://westbristolartstrail.co.uk/
The Floating Circle 