SWAc | About the South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts

About the Academy

At the beginning of the millennium a number of established artists and others with a passion for the Arts, joined together to form a new Academy, based in Exeter. One of their prime objectives was to bring together the Fine and Applied Arts at the highest level and represent the hundreds of talented and skilful artists who live and work in the South West.

The Academy mounts magnificent annual open exhibitions, gives public lectures, holds widely acclaimed Young Artists Exhibitions, has staged two highly successful artists’ postcard auctions and supports winter exhibitions. Art lovers from all over the region and beyond, now look forward to what have become definitive and certainly ‘not to be missed’ dates for their calendar.

As the Academy goes from strength to strength our ambitions are to establish it as a centre of excellence in the South West. We aim to continue our diverse range of activities that include rural workshops, Young Artists exhibitions and the established Open Exhibitions, which have attracted huge numbers of entries from artists, not just from the South West, but from across the whole country.

The Academy which is a registered charity is run entirely by its members and other volunteers drawn from the Friends of the Academy.

Amongst its members are many distinguished artists with international reputations who regularly exhibit with the Academy in the Open Exhibitions and occasional exhibitions of Academicians work.