ARTS & EXHIBITIONS

STATE OF THE ART

Summer Blues, Rainmaker Gallery, until 28 August

Rainmaker Gallery is celebrating 30 years of exhibiting contemporary Native American art in the UK. Throughout the year, the gallery is showcasing artworks selected in accordance with seasonal colour palettes, including as many artists from the three decades as possible. The current exhibition emphasises ‘summer blues’, bringing together paintings, drawings, original prints and fine art photography by more than a dozen artists from diverse tribal nations.

• rainmakerart.co.uk

Image: To Greet the Summer Storms by Shonto Begay (Diné)

Clifton Arts, 11th Annual Open Summer Exhibition, Victoria Methodist Church, 1 Whiteladies Road, until 15 August

After a year’s forced absence Clifton Arts is back, showing 400-plus pieces of art. This will be Bristol’s largest art exhibition since the pandemic broke in 2020. “We think this is the first major exhibition for the public to enjoy in Bristol for at least 15 months,” says exhibition organiser Anne Elliott. “We are so happy that we can get back to business, and show off the art of professionals and amateurs alike.”

On show will be paintings, drawings and sculptures selected by a distinguished independent panel of judges. For more information visit Clifton Arts’ website.

• cliftonarts.co.uk

Image: Bodmin by Julie Mainstone (prize-winning selectors choice of 2019)

Summer Exhibition, Lime Tree Gallery, until 31 August

Lime Tree Gallery has a wide-ranging, strong and vibrant exhibition for the summer months, featuring work by many favourite gallery artists including Chris Brooks, John Evans, Phil Johns, Alan James McLeod, Luis Morris, Pete Newell, Philip Richardson, Alexander Robb and Elsa Taylor. Ranging from the traditional to the modern, the figurative to the abstract, the painterly exhibition is complemented by a fine collection of glass, ceramics, sculpture by Helen Sinclair as well as jewellery by Moa Smith.

Lime Tree Gallery specialises in contemporary fine art and glass, and holds regular exhibitions throughout the year, each one accompanied by a fully illustrated web catalogue. The team have a particular love of contemporary Scottish artists, and will always have a varied selection of their art on show.

• limetreegallery.com

Image: Blossom by Elsa Taylor

Staycation, Room 212, throughout August

Celebrate your British holiday this summer! ‘Staycation’ features images, from Bristol to Cornwall, in a range of media: original paintings and prints, ceramics and jewellery. Room 212 is a Gloucester Road gallery, home to a range of popular local artists who are inspired by their monthly themes. The exhibition will feature coastal paintings by Emma Catherine and Jenny Urquhart, quirky pictures by Rosie Webb and Maita Robinson, mugs by Sophie Delarny, copper and enamel earrings by Kath Williams and Katie Johnston and lampshades by batik artist Jo Whiteland, along with the usual array of Bristol images.

• room212.co.uk Image: Surfs Up by Emma Catherine

BS9 Arts Trail, various locations in BS9, 4 & 5 September

BS9 Arts Trail kicks off this year’s Bristol art trail season on 4 September, back after an enforced pandemic break. There’s so much to see in one postcode which includes Henleaze, Stoke Bishop and Westbury-on-Trym and there’s plenty of green space too. Sixty-five artists are exhibiting in a mixture of group venues and private houses. It’s a great way to buy affordable art of all varieties: jewellery, mosaics, paintings, prints, ceramics, photography, sculpture, textiles and more. You also have the opportunity to chat to the artists about their work.

• bs9arts.co.uk Image: artwork by Nancy Chambers

Sir Frank Bowling, Arnolfini, until 26 September

Arnolfini is showcasing a major exhibition with pioneering painter Sir Frank Bowling as part of its 60th anniversary celebrations. The exhibition features new and recent works which demonstrate the continued exploration and experimentation with the painted surface for which Bowling is renowned. This is the artist’s first museum exhibition since his critically acclaimed and long overdue retrospective at Tate Britain in 2019, which cemented his reputation as a modern master. It includes new and previously unseen works –including several created during the pandemic –alongside key paintings from the last decade, providing a fascinating insight into Bowling’s work.

• arnolfini.org.uk