The best art exhibitions coming up in Bristol and the west country – 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
Dance Out
09 May – 09 August 2026
Dance Out is an exhibition of paintings, drawings and film that celebrates dance as an everyday human activity, both solitary and social. The RWA itself will shape-shift during the exhibition, with the main daylit galleries hosting a series of dance and dance-related events.
Curated by David Remfry RA and art historian James Russell, ‘Dance Out’ brings together paintings, drawings and film across decades of dance culture – from 20th century London and New York to Bristol’s contemporary nightlife.
This Is Jungle Takeover
until 28 June 2026, Lower Ground Floor
A showcase of photographs and memorabilia documenting the evolution of jungle music in Bristol. This exhibition features iconic images, album covers, flyers, objects, and unseen ephemera from Bristol’s D&B pioneers and is a celebration of the genre’s 30-year legacy in Bristol and the Southwest
ARTS TRAIL
BS9 Arts Trail returns 6–7 June 2026 (10am–5pm), with 86 artists opening 14 studios and venues across Henleaze, Stoke Bishop and Westbury-on-Trym.
Sponsored by VWV, the arts trail celebrates creativity, community and local talent. Visitors can meet artists and buy work directly, from painting and sculpture to ceramics and jewellery, with prices from £3 to £3,000+.
Collect stamps from six venues to enter a prize draw for a chance to win an original artwork. Easy access, with cafés, toilets, bus routes and free parking.
Details: www.bs9arts.co.uk or pick up a free map locally.
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
Compiled by Sue Quirk and Laurel Smart
1) JOHN PIPER 1903-1992: IN THE SOUTH OF THE COUNTRY
UNTIL 6 JUNE, WILTSHIRE MUSEUM, DEVIZES
‘A place to be in our minds together’ is a collection of lithographs which record flashes of memories, personal connection to place, and the transformative cycles of nature which continually shift from one state into another.These works reflect on a quote from James Baldwin in correspondence with Sol Stein ‘The place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it’. This quote speaks powerfully about making a space for yourself and Catherine has interpreted this as doing that very gently, through the building of relationships and tending to them.
Catherine’s practice explores the dualities of identity, thresholds and the nature of memory. The essence of private interior spaces witness these narratives of human relationships, and the passing of time. Using transparent colours and the sensitive qualities of lithographic drawing materials, she build up tones and marks to act as a visual metaphor for memory. The process of stone lithography is slow and labour intensive, which allows for an extended time to dwell on a moment passed. The use of water tusche washes occurs as both material and metaphor; rain, bodies of water and vessels expand the notion of fluidity of memories and cycles of nature.
2) TERRY BURKE: THE WISDOM OF BIRDS
6-7 JUNE THEREAFTER BY ARRANGEMENT UNTIL 28 JUNE
Terry’s work is guided by an appreciation of the extraordinary natural world. Her intention is that through making paintings, she will somehow help to preserve the environment and restore its abundance and beauty. Terry finds it thrilling to be able to use her work to evoke ancient times and cultures, bringing themes alive with a contemporary viewpoint.
Over many years, her work has evolved and changed, recently becoming more narrative. She is inspired by stories and figures from myth and legend, often reframing them from a female perspective. She also includes motifs such as birds, insects and elements of landscape. In this exhibition, Terry has focused mainly on the portrayal of birds, originally inspired by the traditional fable of The King of the Birds, which is one of the stories that she tries to tell through her work.
3) BARN STUDIOS: OPEN WEEKEND: GROUP SHOW
4 – 7 June. 10am – 4pm. BARN STUDIOS, BROCKLEY, NORTH SOMERSET (signposted to St Nicholas’s Church)
Tucked away down a lane in Brockley, Jan Bond, Fay Evans, Emma Housley, Gail Mason and Megan Wakelam are collaborating in their first open studio event at Barn Studios in Brockley. Barn Studios was established in 2023 to provide space for emerging and established artists. Tucked away down a country lane the studios are immersed in rural life. This event is a celebration of “Taking colour for a dance” Gail Mason; the joy of wild swimming and coastal exploration, inspiring soft and atmospheric seascapes” Megan Wakelam; an exploration of “the relationship between landscape, colour and emotion” Emma Housley and a “calming meditative exploration of colour and tone to convey shifting horizons in the land and the human experience” Jan Bond
4) MELLONY TAPER: ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY
UNTIL 27 JUNE: THELMA HULBERT GALLERY, EXETER
Taper’s works explore female stories, inviting us to consider how inherited experience and repeating generational patterns have shaped women’s lives. Taper’s interdisciplinary practice traverses the intersection of traditional and new media, and she creates multi-layered palimpsests—layer upon layer continually overwritten. The works can be seen as real and imaginary objects and pictures, two- and three-dimensional, often blurring the line between both. They feature inherited objects and domestic relics, and items with a vague or lost provenance, chronicling fragments of history and hints of past lives. The works are incomplete records, imperfect navigations of the ever-shifting perceptions of memory, time and experience. Taper has an increasing interest in how digital and lens-based works manifest themselves in the world. She challenges traditional boundaries of their material representation attempting to work outside any single ‘maker definition’. The works defy accepted definitions of photography, sculpture, drawing or moving image. Tues – Sat 10am – 5pm
5) NANCY LUPO: ‘SEVERAL CHICKENS LATER’
UNTIL 6 SEPTEMBER: SPIKE ISLAND, BRISTOL
Sculpture, video, writing, sound, drawing, painting, performance and architecture.
Nancy Lupo’s largest exhibition in the UK to date, including new sculptures that probe aspirations, ambiguities and material culture. In her work, which encompasses sculpture, video, writing, sound, drawing, painting, performance and architecturally specific installation, Lupo reflects on how collective fantasies and emotions become embedded in form. She often describes her work as being scripted or held together through a thin thread of narrative which she explores through writing that she publishes as zines, and soon, in her first novel, Meow Meow Real Estate. The exhibition at Spike Island prolongs the reverie and the longing for domesticity. It refuses a reality-check, and loops back into wistful illusion. Although the mirage is tired, its feeble flame still somehow persists. A corpus of newly commissioned sculptures, playing with the scale and industrial grandeur of Spike Island’s galleries, evokes the fragility of our endeavours, and the futility of our fantasies.
6) BEYOND WORDS: GROUP SHOW
UNTIL 4 JULY: SLADERS YARD, BRIDPORT
In a celebration of Dorset and the artists who thrive here, beyond words brings the brilliance of Alex Lowery’s paintings together with the quiet beauty of Yo Thom’s latest pottery and the lean, lovely lines of Petter Southall’s furniture to the galleries at Sladers Yard. A strong group show in the Café gallery includes paintings by Martyn Brewster ARE, Vanessa Gardiner, Frances Hatch RWS and wood engravings by Howard Phipps ARE RWA SWE. It also features an ongoing show of leading ceramic artists and other designer makers.
7) ROGER FRY: A LIFE IN ART
UNTIL 4 JULY, MUSEUM OF SOMERSET, TAUNTON
As part of the Bloomsbury Group, Roger Fry (1866-1934) helped spark new ideas in art, design and culture — inspiring a fresh, modern way of looking at the world. See vibrant portraits, landscapes, and interiors, including rarely seen works from private collections alongside important national pieces.‘In so far as taste can be changed by one man, it was changed by Roger Fry,’ said the art historian Kenneth Clark famously. A Life in Art: Roger Fry explores both how and why Fry achieved this, offering a modern lens on Virginia Woolf’s ‘iridescent’ man. .
LAST CHANCE TO SEE
UNTIL 6 JUNE: ART IN THE GARDEN 2026 Explore three acres of wild meadow, woodland path and studio gallery all full of wonderful artworks from 20+ artists & makers — FREE event. Mon, Wed Sun. times vary. LITTLE FOREST LAND ART, FAREHAM, HANTS
https://littleforestlandart.wordpress.com/artinthegarden2026
WATCH OUT FOR
CAROLE ENAHARO: ECHO AND RELEASE 28 JUNE. 2-5PM. Video, poetry, experimental film, sound, performance. Exploring inheritance, ancestral painting, and unconscious transmission through analytical psychology, somatic practice, experimental film and interdisciplinary art. SPIELMAN CENTRE AND ANGLICAN CHAPEL, BRISTOL
Register https://ncvp.org.uk/echo
The Floating Circle 