Pittenweem Arts Festival: A Harbour of Creativity
By Tabitha Lawson
The East Neuk is a true treasure trove. From its scenic coastal path routes to award-winning fish and chip shops, St Andrews students are sure to take advantage of this region of Fife during their time at university. But what may fly under the radar is the annual arts festival that takes place in the harbour town of Pittenweem.
At the beginning of August, I decided to stop by the show. Gardens and garages, living rooms and restaurants were free for visitors to wander through, as the residents of Pittenweem opened their homes to display the artworks of over 190 artists. Across the 90 venues throughout the town, what really made this event so special was the ability to talk to each artist about their work.
Hrvoje Majer, The Escape, 2026, oil on canvas, 150 x 120 cm. Image courtesy of Hrvoje Majer.
Against the white walls of a marquee in the garden of a local resident, the vibrant canvases of Croatian artist Hrvoje Majer jumped out. Working across figurative, landscape, and abstract painting, Majer discussed how he likes to switch between styles and subjects depending on his mood at the time. He described how while painting Lady of the Lake (2026), he began to allow abstraction to overrun the composition, but decided to save the woman’s figure, now standing elegantly in her long dress amidst the chaos of bright brushstrokes surrounding her.
Majer insists that the viewers should form their own interpretations of his works. When turning to The Escape (2026), rather than telling me about substance of the piece, he instead asked how it made me feel. I described how initially I was captivated by the vibrancy of the piece, and then the intimate tranquility of the scene. Majer stated that he draws on classical art practice while bringing contemporary subjects to the forefront. We see this in the scene of the man and woman relaxing on a sofa with the backdrop of the Scottish Highlands, almost reminiscent of an 18th-century conversation piece. The couple, in their urban clothes, retreating to the hills asks the viewer, ‘What are we really trying to escape from — and what might we discover if we slowed down long enough to find out?’
Alice Newman, Edinburgh Cityscape, 2026, mixed media. Image courtesy of Tabitha Lawson.
Further into the festival, in the garage of a grand, sea-view house hangs the purple-pink dusk scene of Edinburgh’s Old Town from Waverley Bridge. Alongside it sits the artwork’s creator, amid painting a vase of flowers. Scottish artist Alice Newman, who trained as an illustrator at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in Dundee, creates mixed media landscapes from the city to the sea while working en plein air across Scotland.
The large-scale Edinburgh scene holds a certain nostalgia that many St Andrews students may also experience at Waverley Station during the winter months, with twilight reflecting off the city’s Gothic edifices. In this work Newman dresses some of the buildings windows with gold leaf, giving a sense of either the setting sun’s reflection or inhabitants turning on lights inside their homes as the evening falls into darkness. She encouraged visitors to ‘leaf’ through her concertina sketchbook, showing how the book’s design allows her different works to create a continuous narrative.
Craig Mitchell, Distil-O-Matic Moped, c.2015, Hand-built earthenware, 47 x 35 x 20 cm. Image courtesy of Craig Mitchell Ceramics.
In another house’s cellar, ceramicist Craig Mitchell set up his collection of humorous figurative sculptures. Having studied at the Royal College of Art, gaining an MA in ceramics, Mitchell now has a studio in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. He describes his fascination with simplistic cartoon figure styles of the 1950s and 1960s, with artists and illustrators like Miroslav Šašek and Edward Gorey inspiring his work. His collection features both practical and decorative art. These range from standing figures who hold your bunch of flowers and moped riders with a tray on their shoulders to carry some hors d'oeuvres, to French men walking a baguette, and a pheasant hunter holding an equally armed bird. His Scottish figures, as seen in Distil-O-Matic Moped, are clad in tartan with their spiky leg hair exposed. They convey his aim to ‘express ideas using humour to “sugar the pill”, creating unlikely scenarios, ridiculous juxtapositions or exaggerating the familiar.’
So, if you find yourself with keys to your university residence at the start of August next year, think about stopping by Pittenweem Arts Festival for an eccentric selection of Scottish Art.
Bibliography
Hrvoje Majer. “Hrvoje Majer | Contemporary Croatian Artist.” Accessed 2026. https://www.hrvojemajer.com.
Mitchell, Craig. “Craig Mitchell Ceramics”. Accessed 2 October, 2026. https://www.craigmitchellceramics.com/
Newman, Alice. “Alice Newman.” Accessed 2 October, 2026. https://www.alicenewman.co.uk/
Pittenweem Arts Festival. "Welcome to Pittenweem Arts Festival: Bringing Colour to the East Neuk, 31st July – 7th August 2027." Accessed 2 October, 2026. https://www.pittenweemartsfestival.co.uk/