VISUAL ARTS AT KENDAL

Come and enjoy the visual arts exhibitions at Kendal Mountain Festival, where we work to platform a incredible range of local and national artists. It's a privilege to showcase their incredible work — discover each artist’s contribution to the ‘Outdoor’ genre and their personal celebration of landscape, nature and place.

Photography Competition 2025

The Kendal Mountain Festival Photography Competition 2025 aims to showcase exceptional images from around the world, celebrating the unique power of a single photograph to inspire, challenge, and spark reflection.

We invited photographers to submit work that captures the spirit of adventure and the beauty of the natural world, through images that tell compelling visual stories.

Thank you to our Photography Competition partners SportsShoes & Goodrays.

See the shortlisted images

DIGITAL ARTS COMPETITION

Kendal Mountain Festival is delighted to showcase the Digital Arts Programme — a dedicated strand that celebrates digital, experimental, and film-based art rooted in the themes of the outdoors, nature, environment, and adventure.

The Digital Arts Programme will take place at the Brewery Arts during the Festival and will be presented as a continuous, on-site installation. Selected works will be displayed on digital screens located in the lobby spaces both upstairs and downstairs at the venue.All artworks will be played on a loop throughout the festival weekend, providing ongoing access for audiences.Headphones will be available for audience members, offering a high-quality and accessible viewing experience.The exhibition will be free to attend, encouraging spontaneous and inclusive engagement from all festival visitors.Each selected work will be highlighted in a dedicated section of the printed and online festival programme, including artist and project information.

Discover the 2025 exhibitions

A Thousand Words

Brewery Arts - Sugar Stone Gallery

Three adventurers set out to find a needle in the haystack of the Himalayas, guided by a 125-year old photograph... what could go wrong? From the dusty archives of the Alpine Club to northern Italy and the darkroom of iconic Italian photographer Vittorio Sella – from the bustling streets of Kathmandu to the flanks of Kangchenjunga – this exhibition draws on images old and new in a celebration of mountain photography.

This is a free exhibition that will run from Wednesday November 5th to Sunday November 30th 2025

Location: The Sugar Store Gallery, Brewery Arts Centre, 122A Highgate, Kendal LA9 4HE.

Encounters - Polly Townsend

Brewery Arts - The Foyer

Polly Townsend’s paintings are inspired by journeys through many of the most remote and hostile landscapes in the world, from Antarctica to Death Valley. Townsend is drawn to the paradoxes of these extreme environments. The landscapes she inhabits are vast, unyielding and seemingly hostile to life, yet volatile, vital and often the most life-sustaining ecosystems on earth.

In 2024, she was shortlisted for the Contemporary British Painting Prize, and awarded second prize in the international Derwent Drawing Competition.

This is a free exhibition that will run from Wednesday 5th November to Sunday 30th November 2025.

Location: The Foyer - Brewery Arts Centre, 122A Highgate, Kendal LA9 4HE.

COLOUR, LIGHT, SOUND, SILENCE - Marcus Vergette & Simon Marsh

Cross Lane Projects Gallery

Marcus and Simon met in 1980 at Central School of Art & Design in London and have been friends ever since. In the intervening years both artists have continued their practice; Vergette’s focus developed to explore sculpture and sound, Marsh became a printmaker and has recently been exploring stained glass and experimental forms.

This is a free exhibition that will run from Thursday 20th November to Sunday 23rd November. 

Location: Cross Lane Projects Gallery, Kendal, LA9 5LB

BEFORE AND AFTER EVEREST - The Art of Howard Somervell

Heaton Cooper Studio

Born in Kendal in 1890, Howard Somervell was one of the leading climbers on the 1922 and 1924 British expeditions to Everest. He was an acclaimed artist, especially of mountain scenes and other landscapes. Many of his paintings are based on sketches he made on his climbing expeditions to Everest, other Himalayan mountains, and the Alps.

This is a free exhibition that will run from Wednesday 15th October to Sunday 23th November 2025. 

Location: Heaton Cooper Studio, Grasmere, LA22 9SX.

We Are Subculture

No-Hands Rest

We Are Subculture is a photography project celebrating the diversity and uniqueness of people in the outdoor climbing community. It was set out to increase visibility of underrepresented groups and encourage climbers to express themselves artistically. These images alongside personal stories have been released in a book with all profits being donated to Mind charity.

This is a free exhibition that will run from Tuesday 18th November 2025 to Saturday 31st January 2026 (Tuesday to Sunday 12 – 5pm.)

Location: No-Hands Rest, Riverside Place, Kendal LA9 7FH.

Space2Create

The Factory

Space2Create is a charity supporting vulnerable adults through creative activity to improve mental and physical wellbeing. To coincide with Kendal Mountain Festival, we’re hosting an exhibition showcasing artwork inspired by the outdoors. Discover and purchase affordable handmade pieces created by our artists, supporting recovery through creativity.

This is a free exhibirtion that will ruhn from Friday 21st November to Sunday 23rd November 10am – 4pm. 

Location: Unit 31, The Factory, Aynam Road, LA9 7DE.

Juliet Klottrup: An Archive

Windermere Jetty Museum

Explore Windermere life through the eyes of award-winning visual artist Juliet Klottrup. This exhibition of photography and paintings celebrates the people, stories and heritage of Windermere. For An Archive, Juliet has spent months embedded within the life of Windermere Jetty Museum, from its boat conservation workshop to encounters with visitors, local residents, and those who live and work on the lake.

This is a free exhibition that will run from Saturday 11 October 2025 to Sunday 31st May 10am – 5pm.

Location: Windermere Jetty Museum, Rayrigg Rd, Windermere, LA23 1BN.

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