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The Lake District, Cumbria, has provided inspiration for a whole host of artists throughout the years, so it may come as no surprise that we’ve got a rich arts and crafts scene across the area! Here, you’ll find a range of art galleries and exhibition spaces that host an ever-changing calendar of works in virtually every medium.
Discover pieces by local and nationally known artists at venues including independent galleries and studios, to museums and seasonal fairs. Some offer the chance to take a piece home with you, while others host regularly changing exhibitions as well as permanent art collections.
There’s even the opportunity to check out art in the great outdoors: there’s a sculpture trail at Grizedale Forest, for example, as well as open air exhibitions as part of festivals and events throughout the year.
If you fancy trying it for yourself, several galleries and studios also host workshops and classes. Often, you’ll be able to get inspired by the stunning natural surroundings of your venue as you learn a new skill or hone existing abilities.
As well as viewing some fantastic art pieces, here in Cumbria we also invite you to explore the studios and workshops where that work was made; and even meet the artists who create it.
Keep an eye out, too, for touring exhibitions to see something a little different while in the Lake District, Cumbria. Discover our galleries and exhibitions below.
Great exhibitions, activities, gift shop and café in a glorious park setting amongst the mountains.…
The Paper Quilt Project is a living exhibition in which a community art piece is created while on…
Eskdale Mill is a unique experience, nestled in one of the Lake District's most beautiful locations…
Connie Flynn's Text & Textile! explores everyday sayings rooted in the textile trade. Using…
Join us for a powerful multi-media exhibition exploring stories of fragility and survival, told…
Discover documentary photographer Joanne Coates's powerful exhibition about women in agriculture in…
Head to the Great Barn at Sizergh to see an exhibition from a creative collective of artists,…
This exhibition brings together two emerging portrait painters. Lela Harris gives depth and…
Conceived by the British painter Daniel Sturgis, On the Thick and Thin of Painting explores the…
Celebrating the beauty, behaviour, symbolism and diversity of birds through the work of 57 UK…
We are very pleased to bring you a new exhibition to the Dock Museum, "What the sea decides to give…
Inside just got interesting. Step off the trail and into a space where the Lake District is…
"Our personal encounters within Morecambe Bay." This exhibition brings together the creative voices…
Discover the creatures that came before the T.REX. Step back to the Carboniferous period, 100…
Step inside the charming world of Tabitha Twitchit's second-hand bookshop in Hawkshead, where every…
If you’re visiting the Ambleside area why not pop into the Old Courthouse Gallery? We have a…
Grizedale Observatory and planetarium for stargazing under the dark skies of the Lake District.…
Venture into the fateful night that inspired one of the world's greatest gothic tales: Mary…
Shipping Brow Contemporary 2026 brings together ten young, emerging and/ or contemporary artists…
Every Wednesday, 11am - 2pm: Finds handling Get hands-on with history. Visitors can get hands-on…
We are excited to be working with Barrow AFC and Bluebird Supporters club to bring you the Barrow…
Fifty four artists will open their studios or create a pop-up exhibition as part of this free event…
An anniversary exhibition celebrating British wool, craftsmanship, collaboration, and twenty-five…
Roman museum displaying the internationally significant collection of Romano-British altars,…


You may leave the Lake District, but once you’ve been, it’ll never leave you.

Number of results: 64
, currently showing 1 to 20.
Maryport
A solo exhibition of pastel paintings by Sarah Reid.
This solo exhibition brings together a collection of pastel paintings inspired by the ever-changing beauty of the Cumbrian coastline. Working with the rich, luminous qualities of pastel, Sarah…
Maryport
Shipping Brow Contemporary 2026 brings together ten young, emerging and/ or contemporary artists working today across Cumbria. The show includes printmaking and illustration from Polly Marix Evans, Emily Ford and Ellie May Morgan, oil painting from…
The Abbey, Carlisle
Museum of the Moon is a touring artwork by UK artist Luke Jerram. Measuring seven metres in diameter, the moon features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface. At an approximate scale of 1:500,000, each centimetre of the internally lit…
The Promenade, Maryport
Every Wednesday, 11am - 2pm: Finds handling
Get hands-on with history. Visitors can get hands-on with real and replica objects, lead by one of our team of volunteers. Included in museum admission.
Ravenglass
Explore the musical, interactive, piano sculptures of local artist Joshua Payne, exhibited across the Muncaster Estate.
Nr Kendal
Discover documentary photographer Joanne Coates's powerful exhibition about women in agriculture in Holeslack barn, on Sizergh's estate.
Windermere
Windermere Jetty Museum is a vibrant, family-friendly visitor attraction dedicated to the boats, people and the rich history of Windermere, England’s largest natural lake.
Kendal
Regional artists know all too well how few spaces are available to show their work, so the recent opening of this large gallery space in Kendal is an exciting new addition to the Lakeland arts scene. With around a hundred square metres of space, the…
Kirkland, Kendal
The Paper Quilt Project is a living exhibition in which a community art piece is created while on display in the gallery. This project has been designed in response to the two adjoining exhibitions; Bellwethers and Joshua Donkor & Lela Harris. Both…
Kirkland, Kendal
Join us for a powerful multi-media exhibition exploring stories of fragility and survival, told through the voices of people in Barrow and Kendal.
Step into an unseen world through immersive sound and film, artwork, poetry, and images created by…
Kirkland, Kendal
This exhibition brings together two emerging portrait painters. Lela Harris gives depth and humanity to figures who have been overlooked or marginalised by history, while Joshua Donkor collaboratively embeds the personal histories and cultural…
Grasmere
On Christmas Day it was Dorothy's Wordsworth's birthday! Find out how Dorothy and her brother William celebrated when she lived in Dove Cottage over 200 years ago. We'll read some of her birthday journal entries and then try some Regency era…
Hawkshead
Come and discover all that Grizedale has to offer – take in Lake District landscapes, experience a whole range of contemporary art and enjoy an adventure, no matter your age!
Blackwell - the Arts & Crafts house, Bowness-on-Windermere
To celebrate 125 years of Blackwell, Lakeland Arts will be showcasing a major exhibition of works by its architect, the Arts & Crafts designer Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (1865-1945).
This exhibition brings together significant works by Baillie…
Whitehaven
Imagine leaving the heart of Whitehaven's historic port and being taken back in time to an exotic tropical island's rainforest in the Caribbean, that is just the start of your great adventure in The Rum Story.
Boroughgate, Appleby
Heritage open weekend with free entry to venues and activities 19th and 20th Sept in Appleby in Westmorland
Brampton
Experience the edge of empire at the award winning Roman Army Museum. There is nowhere else like it on Hadrian's Wall.
Penrith
Art exhibition showing 32 original paintings from a selection of Beckstones'artists all inspired by the Seasons
Bowness-on-Windermere
Blackwell – the Arts & Crafts house is a rare architectural gem in the heart of the Lake District and offers a perfectly preserved snapshot of early 20th-century living.
Grasmere
Venture into the fateful night that inspired one of the world's greatest gothic tales: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Beginning with the reimagined bedroom of Mary Shelley, step into a spellbinding world of moonlit woods, haunting seas and waking…
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