Royal William Yard’s month-long contemporary art festival returns for a third year this autumn. Its very own Artober Exhibition forms part of a packed programme of events, shows, markets, and workshops taking over the Plymouth waterfront destination throughout October.

The month begins with a Paint Out competition open to all, taking place over the course of a day. Plymouth Art Weekender and the Affordable Art Market bring more of the region’s artistic talent to the Yard, alongside a community exhibition marking Homelessness Action Week, and a full programme of workshops where visitors can explore and express their creativity in a variety of ways.

The free-to-attend Artober Exhibition will bring together locally and nationally recognised artists across contemporary art, large-scale oil portraits, landscape photography and interactive installations. Some artists are in residence for the full run, others show shorter pop-up displays, keeping the exhibition constantly evolving throughout its tenure.

What to expect and when:

Paint Out

Saturday 3^rd October, 11am – 3pm, The Green

Artists, painters and sketchers – amateur and professional – are invited to spend four hours capturing Royal William Yard’s waterfront setting from a location of their choice, from the Yard's historic architecture to its harbour views. Work must be started and finished on the day; judging takes place at 4pm in the Melville Building. Prizes include a £100 Cass Art voucher for the overall winner, plus £50 vouchers from Art Side, Wildwood, Le Vignoble and Jacksons Art. The top five pieces go on to feature in the Artober Exhibition. Tickets cost £15 per artist and booking closes on 1^st October (book here).

The Affordable Art Market

Friday 2nd – Sunday 18^th October, Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 4pm, Melville Corner

Original artwork direct from the artists, priced from £25 and capped at £500, spanning landscapes, abstracts, printmaking and ceramics. Exhibiting artists include Charlotte Viles (Cornish coastal light in paint and print), Sarah Hamilton Brewer (abstract moodscapes), Charlotte Cundell (figurative ceramic sculpture), Ley Roberts (drawing-based Cornish printmaking), Claire Gent (layered coastal acrylics), Donna Francesca (atmospheric coastal painting in oil, ash and wax), Kate Bosence (gestural, weather-inspired painting), James Williams (sculptural ceramic forms), Erica Ankers (semi-abstract paintings of place), Celine Gilart (bold, colour-led acrylics), Rebecca Roberts (porcelain homeware and abstract ceramics), Lucy Green (small-batch functional ceramics), Amy Teague (palette-knife coastal painting) and Madison Allen (lino print with painted detail).

Hope Begins With A Home

Saturday 10^th – Sunday 18^th October, 11am – 4pm, Melville Building

A community exhibition brought together by homelessness charity Path, and supported by Ocean City Arts, as part of Homelessness Action Week. Following last year's There’s No Place Like Home mural and community gallery, Path has invited artists, makers and creatives from across Plymouth to respond to themes of home, hope and homelessness, in a collection spanning painting, photography, textiles and text-based work.

Plymouth Art Weekender

Friday 16^th – Sunday 18^th October, 11am – 4pm, Melville Building

Plymouth Art Weekender, the city-wide celebration of Plymouth’s independent creative scene running since 2015, returns to Royal William Yard as part of Artober. Expect a showcase of the city’s homegrown talent alongside artists visiting from further afield, across a weekend of exhibitions, performances, workshops, screenings and talks.

Artober Exhibition

Friday 23^rd October – Sunday 1^st November, 11am – 4pm, Melville Corner

Royal William Yard's own exhibition sits at the heart of Artober, bringing artists together under one roof for nine days of contemporary art. This year’s exhibitors include The Conscious Sisters CIC (historic knitted fishermen's jumpers, reworked with contemporary fishing issues in mind), Kate Bosence (paintings and prints of Dartmoor and the coast), Gary Winters (painting, print and collage), Ewa Morawska (mixed-media collages and hangings), Martin Bush (abstract painting), James Lewis (seascape paintings), William Luz (drawing), Sally Holt (paintings), Amy Teague (framed paintings), Elaine Ford (evocative paintings of land, sea and abstract), Graham Steen (drawings and paintings), Amber Jane Stevens (contemporary paintings), Erica Ankers (semi-abstract paintings), Bored Claude (indie artist), and the top artists from the RWY Paint Out competition.

The exhibition also hosts the South West Coast Path Photographer of the Year 2026 Exhibition: 23 large-format photographs of the 630-mile trail across Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset, spotlighting the impact of climate change on the coastline alongside its landscapes and wildlife.

Workshops

A full programme of workshops runs throughout Artober:

• • Thursday 8^th October, 7 – 9pm – Parisian Stroll: Sip and Paint, Bistrot Pierre, £33pp
• • Saturday 10^th and Sunday 11^th October – Fundamentals of Drawing and Sketching with Sally Holt (book here)
• • Thursday 15^th October, 6.30 – 9pm – Mindful Paint and Sip, Steel Brew
• • Friday 16^th October, from 7pm – Sip n Sketch, Tipple Cellar, Arcade
• • Thursday 22^nd October, 6 – 8.30pm – Gustav Klimt: Create like Klimt with Jayne Ashenbury, Mills Bakery, £35pp
• • Saturday 31^st October, 3 – 3.45pm and 4 – 4.45pm – Children's Pumpkin Carving, Natural Source, Arcade.

Also at the Yard this October

• The Good Food & Craft Market takes over The Green on Sunday 4^th October (10am – 3pm), with art and craft stalls taking centre stage alongside the market’s usual array of producers.
• There are free colouring activities throughout the month too: a weekly drop-in session every Saturday morning at DockSide Coffee Bar, colouring sheets available at DockSide, Pebble and the Pop-up Shop in the Arcade.
• Keeping little ones entertained during a meal out and about, with children's colouring available for little diners at Wagamama, Seco Lounge and Wildwood.

Find out more at www.royalwilliamyard.com/artober