RWA Art Gallery

Cosmos Exhibition @rwabristol.bsky.social Robin Sewell puzzling skies notation Great show and artist @nigelwatersart.bsky.social

🔥 Co-curator, exhibiting artist and textile art pioneer Professor Alice Kettle @alicekettle will be at the RWA on Saturday 2 August to give a guided tour of the exhibition.

🎟️ Free with an exhibition ticket
🗓️ Saturday 2 August
⌚ 11am-12pm

🔗 rwa.org.uk/events

Image: Alastair Brookes/KoLAB Studios

📣 The results are in! #RWAAOE172

👉 If you submitted to our 172 Annual Open Exhibition and you haven’t heard from us then make sure to check your emails (and the spam folder) as your results are sent directly to you this year.

🗓️ 172 Annual Open Exhibition | 6 September 2025 – 28 December 2025

🔦 Spotlight on Soft Power | Sarah-Joy Ford

We spoke to Ford about the origins of her piece 'Domestic Scene in Chorlton', a re-visioning of a 1990 painting by Rachael Field which depicts herself and her partner in an intimate, lesbian domestic space.

Read the full interview at rwa.org.uk/blog

📣 Introducing… Skin Deep | 8 July – 31 August 2025 | FREE

Six female artists explore the body as storyteller in Skin Deep, an exhibition of fierce and complex works by RWA Academicians in the Kenny Gallery, curated by Wendy Elia RWA.

Artwork: Wendy Elia RWA, 'I could've been a contender...'

Submissions close at 1pm TODAY for our 172nd Annual Open Exhibition 📣

👉Visit rwaopen.co.uk or go to link in bio to submit

#AOE172 #RWAAOE172 #RWAAnnualOpenExhibition #OpenCall #CallforEntries #ArtistsOpportunities #ArtPrize

Only 24 HOURS left to enter our 172nd Annual Open Exhibition 📣

👉Visit rwaopen.co.uk or go to link in bio to submit

#AOE172 #RWAAOE172 #RWAAnnualOpenExhibition #OpenCall #CallforEntries #ArtistsOpportunities #ArtPrize

🚨 This is the final weekend to enter our 172nd Annual Open Exhibition 🚨

Deadline: Monday 30 June, 1pm

👉Visit rwaopen.co.uk to find out more and submit

🚨 ONE WEEK left to submit to our 172 Annual Open Exhibition

We are pleased to welcome artist Harold Offeh who will join an impressive line-up of seven other selectors on the panel for the Open.

Deadline: 30 June at 1pm 🚨

👇
rwaopen.co.uk
👆

🔦 Interview with Pippa Hetherington and the Keiskamma Art Project

Soft Power is all about storytelling, and Pippa Hetherington’s collaborative piece, Cuttings 1820-2020, tells stories that span centuries and cultures.

👉 Read the interview at rwa.org.uk/blog
📅 Soft Power | 17 May – 10 August 2025

We have got a huge line up of events in July 😮 Learn more about our exhibitions, chill out to some tunes on our sunny balcony and get hands-on with textiles.

Find out more 👉 rwa.org.uk/events

Images: Alastair Brookes/KoLAB Studios

Come along to our Social Textiles drop-in tomorrow as part of Bristol Refugee Festival and led by Sherien Elsheikh, a member of Bristol Refugee Artists Collective (BRAC) 🩷 Thursday 19 June, 10-12pm

See BRAC's exhibition, Sharing Love from 17 June – 31 July ✨

📣 DEADLINE EXTENDED | 172 Annual Open Exhibition Submissions are open until 1pm on 30 June

You’ve got two extra weeks, but you know it will fly by – go to rwaopen.co.uk to submit now!

🧵 Come and explore tales of loss, longing and love in our powerful summer exhibition, Soft Power: Lives told through textile art | 17 May – 10 August 2025

📷 Soft Power, Alastair Brookes/KoLAB Studios

Brilliant to be at the launch of Negotiating Space, a new installation by @lukejerram.bsky.social at
@rwabristol.bsky.social

A 1km ribbon that celebrates connection by connecting the beautiful RWA to the neighbouring church,
University of Bristol building and Bristol Council land.

#Bristol #art

It is Volunteers' Week! We talked to some of our volunteers about their experiences...

Julie, you’ve been supporting our Learning and Engagement programme - are you an artist/maker? I would describe myself as creative, I love making generally and dabble in knitting, stitching, visible mending, drawing and painting: Jack of all trades and master of none!

Liz, you’ve been volunteering with us for 12 years! Any favourite memories? My fun memory is of supporting a session when there were goats on the forecourt for people to draw.

Tim, when we asked you if you’re an artist you said ‘artistic temperament but no discernable talent’ - has volunteering helped improve your skills? The thing I most enjoy about volunteering is being asked by visitors to the gallery whether I am exhibiting... I am not (see above), but I have learned to take more time looking at paintings

🥳 It is Volunteers’ Week 2025 and we want to give a huge shout out to our fantastic team of volunteers!

To kick off the week we spoke to three of our volunteers who between them have been with the RWA for a total of 17 years 😮

👇 Comment below to join us in saying an enormous THANK YOU!

We are delighted to be taking part in Bristol Refugee Festival this year 🩵 7-22 June 2025

👉 To find out more about the Festival and see the full programme visit bristolrefugeefestival.org and go to rwa.org.uk to find out what's on.

#BRF2025 #CommUnityAsASuperpower #RefugeesWelcome

Get out your needles and thread for the Summer of Textiles at the RWA ☀️

We have three new Drawing School classes inspired by our headline exhibition, Soft Power, and each one offers a unique opportunity to weave your own stories.

Find out more at rwa.org.uk/drawingschool

Image by Alice Hendy.

📣 Curator’s Talk: Connecting Threads | Saturday 7 June 2025 | 2-3pm

Dive into this reflective exhibition of meditative rhythms and intricate mappings with RWA Academician Vera Boele-Keimer.

Curated by @malcolm-ashman.bsky.social

🎟️ FREE
🗓️ Saturday 7 June 2025 | 2-3pm

🔗 buff.ly/XtZPg32

Photograph by Lisa Whiting depicting three BRAC artists smiling together in the centre of their exhibition. Two people behind them are looking at artworks on the wall.

Read about Sharing Love: an exhibition by Bristol Refugee Artists Collective in our blog: buff.ly/un10mCT

The RWA has been partnered with Bristol Refugee Artists Collective (BRAC) for five years and this summer we will be host to their newest exhibition, Sharing Love, from 17 June – 31 July ☀️

📣 Coming soon… Curators in Conversation: Soft Power | 16 May 2025 | 2.30-4pm

Join the curators of Soft Power: Lives told through textile art, Prof Lesley Millar MBE and Prof Alice Kettle, for a discussion about their upcoming exhibition.

🔗 buff.ly/vlLRZA4

Artwork: 'Bride', Susie MacMurray

Book Launch of 'The Red Dress: Conversations in Stitch' Book Launch - The Red Dress: Conversations in Stitch 6:30pm - 8:30pm, Tuesday 27 May 2025 We are thrilled to be hosting the launch of The Red Dress: Conversations in Stitch, the much-anticipated book ...

#BookLaunch of #TheRedDress: Conversations in Stitch www.rwa.org.uk/collections/...

Tuesday 27 May 2025, 6:30 - 8:30pm with @rwabristol.bsky.social

Bringing together voices from The Red Dress global collaborative #embroidery project, created by artist #KirstieMacleod & published by Quickthorn.

🚨 FINAL DAY | Paule Vézelay: Living Lines and Paper Works | 10am – 5pm

Today is your last chance to see this very popular pair of exhibitions (and maybe even buy your favourite from Paper Works 🤭) – don’t miss out!

🔗 buff.ly/428TT3a

Slide 1, 2: @alicehendyphotography

🚨 Last week! Paule Vézelay: Living Lines and Paper Works | Until 27 April 2025

Don’t miss the opportunity to see the extraordinary work of Bristol-born Paule Vézelay alongside this year’s Biennial Open Exhibition.

You won’t want to miss out! 🔥

🔗 buff.ly/428TT3a

Image: @alicehendyphotography

Applying for our 172nd Annual Open Exhibition? Then you need to get these important dates in your diary:

🎯 Submissions deadline: 16 June 2025
📜 Results go live online: 21 July 2025
🤲 Hand-in days: 16/17/18 August 2025
🌟 Exhibition dates: 2 September 2025 – 4 January 2026

rwaopen.co.uk to enter 🫶

🎨 RWA 172 Annual Open Exhibition submissions are open!

🤩 We are delighted to announce that the South West's largest open exhibition will be returning this year between Saturday 6 September 2025 - Sunday 4 January 2026.

👉 Find out more: buff.ly/UnHrh0X

#RWAAOE172 #OpenCall #ArtistsOpportunities

Here is RWA Volunteer, Claire, showing someone how to make their own artwork with Nik Ramage’s ‘Mixer Drawing machine’.
Visit our Paper Works exhibition for the perfect day out this Easter break 🌷| Until 27 April

A ticket also gives you entry to Paule Vézelay: Living Lines🌟

🔗 buff.ly/Ip9ExBb

A pink illustration of the RWA building against an orange background with '172' written behind the image in big white numbers.

Coming soon… artists wanted 🔥

#OpenCall #172AnnualOpenExhibition #ArtistsOpportunities

Transition to another place /So the time will pass more slowly /Your features fuse and your shadow's red /Like a film I've seen, now show me
🎨 #PauleVézelay 🇬🇧 ▶️ #LivingLines 🎟️ #RWABristol @rwabristol.bsky.social 💻Review www.theguardian.com/artanddesign... www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Vézelay's painting 'Silhouettes' hanging on a white wall, photographed through a metal sculpture.

⚡Paule Vézelay Exhibition Tour | Saturday 5 April | 11am | FREE (with exhibition ticket)

Join RWA Head of Programme, Dr Kathryn Johnson, for a deep dive into our spring exhibition, Paule Vézelay: Living Lines.

🔗 buff.ly/gZukSft