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
Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space
until 19 April 2026
A major art and science exhibition celebrating our enduring fascination with space. Bringing together contemporary and historic artists, the exhibition features an extraordinary range of work inspired by the cosmos.
Elemental
until 8 March 2026 – Kenny Gallery
This exhibition brings together works by four RWA Academicians that trace deep and individual responses to the natural world. Each work holds fragments of place that move beyond representation to connect with elements that are both intimate and universal.
Twilight – The Blue Hour
10 March – 26 April 2026 – Kenny Gallery
The artworks in this exhibition examine and capture the elusive and fleeting atmosphere of twilight. The transitional ‘blue hour’ inspires magical and ambiguous narratives, within spaces that are intriguing, fascinating, and sometimes disconcerting.
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
Compiled by Sue Quirk and Laurel Smart
1) ALICE HODGE & LORRAINE ROBBINS: PLATES & PRINTS
4 MARCH – 11 APRIL, PREMA ARTS, ULEY, GLOS
Alice Hodge and Lorraine Robbins present an exciting new exhibition celebrating vibrant, characterful, and wonderfully quirky artworks. This unique showcase brings together Alice’s prints—recreated from the work of her late father, Anthony Hodge alongside Lorraine’s experimental ceramic creations. Each piece bursts with bold colours, a sense of fun, and a narrative quality.
This exhibition brings together two distinct yet harmoniously intertwined creative practices, offering a whimsical and thought-provoking exploration of interior spaces. Visitors are invited to envision how these pieces could enhance their own homes, making this exhibition not just a display of art but an invitation to reimagine living spaces with personality and charm.
2) MIC WARMINGTON: LOOKING AT THE WORLD ASKANCE
7 – 29 MARCH, HOURS SPACE, BRISTOL
From the exhibition materials:
what does this mean?
– to know that a photograph is an abstraction in time from the constancy of perception – that it makes its own reality…
– to understand that there is only the drama of the world and the objects within it and you, watching…
– to make images that invite you to pause and to reconsider experience…
– to suggest that there is no literal or straightforward meaning – you the viewer can choose your emotional or intellectual response…
– to portray subject matter as nominal – in choosing, the artist attempts to capture a subliminal beauty and make it overt…
– to show fragments of ordinary perception in such a way as to make them extra-ordinary – in my case often using multiple exposure techniques or in camera movement…
– so we have images as enigmas, fragments, traces,
mysteries, transformations of the everyday…
– a convivial journey of discovery…
Launch event 6th March 6-9 pm. Open to the public Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th March 11 am-5 pm. Friday 20th March 6-9 pm, Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd 11 am -5 pm as part of Bristol Gallery Weekend. Open by arrangement at other times. Last day is Sunday 29th March. Free
3) BAUHAUS, BREUER, BRISTOL
UNTIL 17 MAY, THE STRADLING COLLECTION, BRISTOL
Bristol takes centre stage in this celebration of Modernism, marking the 90th anniversary of the iconic 1936 Crofton Gane Pavilion. When Bauhaus pioneer Marcel Breuer collaborated with local furniture visionary Crofton Gane, the city became a laboratory for daring international ideas. Their partnership created a remarkable legacy, shaping Breuer’s later architectural work and leaving a lasting imprint on Bristol’s design identity.
The exhibition puts the Pavilion at its heart, exploring two intertwined stories:
- The Pavilion – the groundbreaking trade stand built in Bristol to showcase modernist ideals, featuring innovative designs by Breuer, J.P. Hully, and Alvar Aalto.
- The Gane House – Breuer’s radical remodelling of Gane’s Clifton home, complete with prototype modernist furniture intended for local production.
Visitors can discover original Breuer furniture, rare photographs, letters, and mementos, alongside the beautifully detailed Pavilion model by Max Gane, offering a unique window into the collaboration that brought international Modernism to Bristol.
A lively programme of talks, tours, screenings, and hands-on workshops will accompany the exhibition, giving visitors the chance to explore post-war design, architectural innovation, and the enduring influence of Modernist principles in Britain.
4) NATURE IN PRINT: GROUP EXHIBITION
19 – 22 MARCH, TRYMWOOD STUDIOS, BRISTOL
Trymwood Studios are opening their gallery spaces in March for one special weekend as part of Equinox, the Bristol Galleries event. Nature in Print is an exhibition celebrating the fantastic printmaking of artists including Carry Akroyd, Greg Poole, Kim Atkinson and many more, all inspired by a direct engagement with the natural world.
5) PETER STILES AND DANNY HOLMES-ADAMS: WAYS OF BELONGING
UNTIL 21 MARCH, GREEN HILL ARTS, NEWTON ABBOT, DEVON
Featuring the paintings of Peter Stiles and Danny Holmes-Adams, the show reflects on how landscapes, interiors, objects, and fleeting moments shape our experience of connection and comfort. It considers how memory and attention infuse these experiences with meaning, asking the quiet but profound question: what makes us feel at home?
In Holmes-Adams’s still lifes, ordinary objects take on a gentle significance, reflecting the subtle rhythms of daily life. Stiles’s interiors and landscapes, shaped through immediacy and careful reworking, reveal how time, memory, and perception layer themselves into a place. Together, their work traces two complementary routes to belonging: through the objects and rhythms of daily life, and through the shifting spaces and landscapes that frame our days. The exhibition suggests that home is not just a location, but a feeling cultivated through observation, memory, and quiet reflection.
6) JOANNE LAMB: SAMHAIN: THE SACRED DARK
UNTIL 22 MARCH, ASPEX, PORTSMOUTH, HAMPSHIRE
Joanne Lamb is an Irish maker with an MA in Textiles from the Royal College of Art. Her practice draws on woven textiles and basketry techniques to create delicate, sculptural vessels shaped through close observation of the natural world. Guided by the changing seasons, her work translates nature’s quiet abundance into forms that mirror its rhythms, textures, and subtle beauty.
This body of work is inspired by Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”), the Celtic festival marking the close of one year and the beginning of another. As winter approaches, the land slows: leaves fall, trees stand bare, and the earth withdraws into rest. These acts of release acknowledge endings as necessary and generative, reminding us that darkness holds both purpose and potential. The vessels, in turn, reflect this seasonal pause, embodying cycles of change and renewal while inviting a deeper connection with nature. They create a space for contemplation and offer a quiet homage to the earth’s wisdom as it waits, transforms, and prepares to begin again.
7) WHILE WE’RE WATCHING: GROUP SHOW
27 MARCH – 5 APRIL, NO 6 BRUTON HIGH STREET, BRUTON, SOMERSET
‘While We’re Watching’ is a group show of six multi-disciplinary artists, who work together as invigilators at Hauser & Wirth Somerset. This exhibition connects their shared sense of observation and dialogue within the gallery. Exhibiting artists are: Fiona Campbell, Becca Coxton, Leslie Glenn Damhus, Penny Hartley, Kate Plowman and Alannah Sallis.
This exhibition takes place at No. 6 on Bruton High Street, (BA10 0AA). It coincides with Easter weekend, bank holiday and ‘Don McCullin. 90’ @hauserwirthsomerset curated by Leslie Glenn Damhus RWA
Opening 11-5pm Friday 27, Saturday 28, Sunday 29 March – Friday 3, Saturday 4, Sunday 5 April
PV Friday 27 March 6 – 8pm All Welcome!
WATCH OUT FOR
- MARC YEATS: INTERFACES: SEA, SKY AND LAND UNTIL 21 MARCH Expressionist coastal paintings forged through immersion in nature’s complexity and flux. DORCHESTER ARTS, DORSET https://www.dorchesterarts.org.uk/2026/01/26/tues-10-february-saturday-21-march-marc-yeats-interfaces-sea-sky-and-land/
The Floating Circle 