All the Topsham Art Festival events.
A beautiful way to celebrate your furry best friend. Using animal safe products Alex Coulter from Pawsome will take a paw print of your dog so you have it as a furever keepsake! Find us at Matthews Hall Gardens between 2 and 4 on Sunday 5 July.
Phone Pawsome on 01392 688888 (Monday to Saturday, 10-5) to book your slot!
Join the Topsham Museum team at the Goat Walk Land Trust field on Tuesday 21 July between 10.30 and 11.30 for story time and playing with art activities – for pre-school children and their families. No charge.
Please note: no dogs allowed in the field.
A laid-back Sunday sip and paint session is all about unwinding, getting creative, and making your own unique cloudscape on canvas.
Join us for an evening of creativity, good company, and dreamy skies with a Sip & Paint Skyscape Workshop on Sunday 12 July between 7 pm and 9pm.
Whether you’re a complete beginner or simply looking for a relaxing way to spend an evening, this laid-back sip and paint workshop is all about unwinding, getting creative, and making your own unique cloudscape on canvas.
Arrive at The Old Firestation’s dedicated workshop space, grab your favourite drink from the bar, and settle in at your own blank canvas. We’ll get you started with a few fun acrylic painting and sponge techniques for creating soft, atmospheric clouds, then the rest of the evening is yours to experiment, play with colour, and create your own beautiful sky.
No previous painting experience is needed—just bring yourself and a willingness to get creative.
By the end of the session, you’ll leave with:
All materials are provided.
Perfect for friends, date nights, solo creatives, and anyone looking to switch off and unwind for a couple of hours.
Spaces are limited, so book early and come paint the sky with us. Go to the Festival Calendar (Sunday 12 July) – for the booking link on Eventbrite click ‘Read More’.
Four by Four is an exhibition of painting, drawing and sculpture curated for the historic interior of St Margaret’s Church. The show brings together four local artists whose work shares an attentiveness to light, material and place.
Set within the quiet backdrop of the church, the exhibition explores relationships between landscape, structure and observation. From geological pigments to constructed sculptural forms, the works invite viewers to slow down and attend more closely to the spaces and materials around them. The exhibition is open from Friday 10 July – Monday 13 July, 11.00 – 4.00 except Sunday – 11.30 – 4.00
The Artists
Steve Thorpe | Painting & Earth Pigments
Working with hand-ground pigments made from collected stones, these paintings emerge directly from the geology of the landscape. Architectural forms surface gradually from layers of rock dust and colour, carrying traces of both earth and structure.
Hannah Woodman | Contemporary Landscapes
Paintings shaped by changing light, weather and atmosphere, exploring the threshold between abstraction and representation. The work responds to the physical experience of landscape through colour, movement and shifting form.
Lucy Runge | Observational Painting
Still-life paintings grounded in close observation and quiet attention to familiar objects. Through restrained compositions and careful looking, everyday arrangements are given a calm and contemplative presence.
Alistair Lambert | Constructed Sculpture
Constructed sculptural forms responding to architecture through geometry, material and assembly. Drawing together echoes of historical structures and contemporary forms, the work explores balance, presence and the relationship between structure and place.
Artists in Conversation
A chance to meet and discuss with the exhibiting artists.
Sunday 12 July, 11.30am–12.30pm
St Margaret’s Church
Joss Kingsnorth was a painter with a special interest in the properties of water, in particular the sea, its moods, colours and currents and how to represent these in paint. A parallel preoccupation being the human body in water, its weightlessness and movement expressed in a series of paintings of swimmers. All paintings are in oil or oil and mixed media. A retrospective exhibition, curated by her daughter, is on view at 52 Majorfield Road, Topsham on 30 June, 1, 3, and 4 July, 7, 8, 10 and 11 July between 11am and 4 pm.
Create a collaborative picture for the Art Festival on Saturday 4 July, 11.00 – 12 noon and 12.30 – 1.30 pm. Come and see the finished painting at the Topsham Art Group Summer Exhibition at Topsham School. Booking only through Victoria@smock.club 07930 845918 (not a drop in).
Over the past six decades, art has undergone a remarkable transformation. From the challenges posed by Pop and Conceptual art in the 1960s to today’s installations, performances and digital works, artists have continually redefined what art can be – and what it can do. The result is a rich but sometimes bewildering landscape that raises urgent questions about identity, politics, technology and the future.
In this talk, art historian Susie Hodge will explore how contemporary art has developed over the last 60 years and will offer practical ways to look at and understand it.
Join us on Thursday 23 July, 7.00 at Matthews Hall (doors open 6.30). Tickets are £15.00 for adults, £7.50 for under 18s, available from Matthews Hall cafe, Topsham Bookshop and Ticket Source on the Topsham Community Association website.
This untutored portrait workshop on Tuesday 21 July (10.00 – 4.00) is an opportunity to paint or draw directly from the model with two models to choose from. If you are experienced at portraiture bring all your usual art materials – drawing boards are provided.
If you are new to portraiture and would like to try your hand drop in for a taster session. The first hour is free. It is an opportunity for those unable to stay for the whole day, or those who would like a little taster session. Experienced Topsham Art Group artists will be on hand to offer advice and encouragement.
So if you happen to be walking past Matthews Hall when it starts raining, just walk in and up the stairs.
Beginners are very welcome and art materials will be provided if required.
Over 16s only please. Book on the website TopshamArtGroup.co.uk in the What’s’ on Topsham Art Festival page for 21 July, or drop in on the day. For contact details please go to Festival Calendar for 21 July.
When booking the booking page will tell you this workshop is only open to TAG Members. Please ignore this message, this is a Topsham Art Festival Event and open to all.
Come to the Museum Garden on The Strand on Sunday 5 July or Sunday 12 July, 2.00 – 4.00 pm and have fun with art activities for children and families. No charge for the activities. The complete Topsham Museum Colouring Book will be available to buy for £4.00.
‘A bigger splash’ – Celebrating the 60s on Monday 13 July, 6.30 – 8.00 pm. Booking only through Victoria@smock.club 07930 845918 (not a drop-in).
A discussion with the exhibiting artists on Sunday 12 July from 11.30 – 12,30 with Alistair Lambert, Hannah Woodman, Steve Thorpe and Lucy Runge in St Margaret’s Church.
Join us in St Margaret’s churchyard on Saturday 11 July between 10 am and 4 pm to help reconstruct a fragment of Topsham’s shipbuilding heritage.
Inspired by the timber hulks resting in the river below, we will spend the day raising the “bones” of a vessel outside the church and celebrating the life of the river.
We are seeking a crew of modern shipwrights to assist with rustic carpentry. Using wooden boards, timber blocks and hand tools, we will shape and bolt together the curved ribs of a new ship frame. As the structure rises, we’ll also need help creating a shimmering shoal of silver fish from recycled cartons to swim through the hull.
Whether you’re handy with a hammer or snippy with the scissors, come and help conjure a temporary maritime sculpture on the lofty shores of Topsham.
Drop in and take part – all hands welcome.
Zines are small, self-made booklets where people share ideas, stories, and creativity. If you’ve ever doodled in the margin of a page, written in a notebook or made a collage, you already understand the basics of a zine.
There are no rules for what a zine should be, it can be about anything—music, hobbies, fandoms, or thoughts and experiences. They can contain stories and poems, with drawings, photos, or mixed media.
Zines are easy to make, which means that they are a great way to explore creativity, there’s no need to be perfect. All you need is a single piece of paper with pens, paint, glue and imagination.
Create your own zine at this 2-hour workshop on Saturday 18 July 2.00 – 4.00 at the Dorothy Holman Centre with Alison Hepburn and Maddy Jevon. All materials provided.
SORRY BUT THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO A CHANGE IN CIRCUMSTANCES
In this workshop we will explore ways in which a freer approach to landscape painting can be achieved. With demos and discussions along the way, we’ll consider the following fundamentals of expressive painting and how we can manipulate them to try and elicit a more emotional response in our work:
The day will begin with experimental drawing techniques to help free up our initial approach, followed by painting sessions that consider the above topics. The aim is to achieve sensation and ambiguity in our work without total abstraction.
Materials required:
Please note, students are welcome to bring their own photos to work from, but I’ll also provide printed landscape images.
Booking will give the message that you have to be a member of Topsham Art Group for this event, but the workshop is part of Topsham Art Festival and open to all.
Enjoy a day painting en plein air with David Morgan around Topsham on Thursday 9 July between 11 am and 4 pm: He writes: “I am a land, sea and river painter who works outside. I love immersing myself in the subject and creating paintings which emit the strong emotions I have for the landscape.”
Meet at Artenax, 32 Fore St., EX3 0HD
Bring your own materials but David will have a few easels and boards available, primed and ready.
There is a maximum of 15 places – please book through Artenax; info@artenax.co.uk. We’re praying for good weather, but if it is inclement, please phone 01392 874172 for wet weather options.
Free to book but donations welcome.
Bring your sketchbook and pencils to the terrace at The Passage House Inn on Wednesday 8 July between 9.00 and 11.00 am for two hours of relaxed drawing. Lucy Runge and Victoria Evans of Smock Club will be there to give you tips and encouragement. Thanks to Carly Parsons for her kind permission for this event. No charge.
To celebrate the great artistic talent we have in and around Topsham, we are delighted to bring together local professional artists, whose work can be purchased through Artenax. They include Laura Darling, Louise Kelly, Alison Summerfield and Liese Webley. We will be showcasing their recent work inspired by Topsham and you will have the opportunity to talk to them about their experience and painting methodology on Friday 3 July between 5 pm and 7 pm. This evening launches our Summer Exhibition ‘Inspirations of Topsham’ in conjunction with Topsham Art Group Art Festival 2026.
Do come along and meet our talented artists – as a one-off event you will have the opportunity to purchase one of their paintings less 10% on the night.
Join us at The Dorothy Holman Centre, Ferry Road on Thursday 2 July from 10.30 am to meet with fellow artists including Geoff Teece, David Wilshire and Wendy Harrison, then find locations to paint. Just come with your preferred art materials. All welcome. We will be at the Dorothy Holman Centre until 3.00 pm for tea or coffee, a loo, a lunch venue or a break. No charge.
In the spring of 2023, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam opened its doors to the largest Vermeer exhibition in history.
With loans from across the world, this major retrospective brought together Vermeer’s most famous masterpieces including Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Geographer, The Milkmaid, The Little Street, and Woman Holding a Balance.
This Exhibition on Screen film at Matthews Hall Topsham on Sunday 28 June invites audiences to a private view of the exhibition, accompanied by the director of the Rijksmuseum and the curator of the show. As well as bringing Vermeer’s works together, both the Rijksmuseum and the Mauritshuis in the Hague have conducted research into Vermeer’s artistry, his artistic choices and motivations for his compositions, as well as the creative process behind his paintings.
Live talk by Phil Grabsky, the film maker from Exhibitions on Screen, included after both performances. Phil will talk about the challenges of creating an on-screen presentation of this kind, and the joy of working with the world’s greatest galleries and museums.
Sunday 28 June – performances at 3.00 pm and 7.00 pm (doors open at 2.30 and 6.30 respectively). TICKETS £15 in advance, £18 on the door (under 18s £9) from here Matthews Hall Cafe and The Topsham Bookshop.
Paint family members in this Create Together session on Sunday 5 July 10.30-12.30 at Matthews Hall. Booking only through Victoria@smock.club 07930 845918 (not a drop in).
