Cornwall

Autumn is the best time of year for culture vultures, with exciting new openings at every turn. Oh yeah! Here are our picks &#8211; calendars&nbsp;at the ready.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-art">ART</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="675" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/2.-Bruce-Timson-Gyllynvase-Cactus-series-2025-2-1000x675.jpg" alt="Bruce Timson" class="wp-image-39007" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/2.-Bruce-Timson-Gyllynvase-Cactus-series-2025-2-1000x675.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/2.-Bruce-Timson-Gyllynvase-Cactus-series-2025-2-800x540.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/2.-Bruce-Timson-Gyllynvase-Cactus-series-2025-2-768x518.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/2.-Bruce-Timson-Gyllynvase-Cactus-series-2025-2-1536x1036.jpg 1536w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/2.-Bruce-Timson-Gyllynvase-Cactus-series-2025-2-2048x1382.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Bruce Timson &#8216;Gyllynvase Cactus series 2025&#8217; 2</figcaption></figure>



LAST CHANCE



In Penzance at The Exchange, <a href="https://newlynartgallery.co.uk/activities/chantal-joffe/">Chantal Joffe: The Prince</a> (runs until Sat 15 Nov) is worth a look. Renowned for her bold and expressive approach to figurative painting, Chantal Joffe RA combines intuition and insight with psychological depth.



For something contemporary, there&#8217;s plenty going on. <a href="https://www.newcraftsmanstives.com/exhibitions">The New Craftsman Gallery in St Ives</a> has two new exhibitions featuring local artists &#8211; upstairs are Sarah Wood&#8217;s ethereal Cornish landscapes, and downstairs the more considered close-up oils of Colin Orchard, all featuring the lanes and backstreets of St Ives itself (ends Sat 15 Nov). Over at the Penwith Gallery is an exhibition considering the still life works of Bruce Timson, above (until Mon 1 Dec). Also opening the same day is the Members Winter Exhibition. 



NEW



&#8216;<a href="https://johndyergallery.com/collections/spirit-of-the-harvest-eden-project-exhibition" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spirit of the Harvest</a>&#8216;, is a major painting exhibition by acclaimed British artist John Dyer, celebrating three of the world’s staple food crops and the communities that grow them at The Eden Project. The exhibition runs until 9 Feb 2026, and begins the celebrations to mark 25 years of both the Eden Project and Dyer’s role as its Artist in Residence, uniting art, ecology and global storytelling in one landmark display.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="563" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/1-Emilija-Škarnulytė_AEqualia-1000x563.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-39008" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/1-Emilija-Škarnulytė_AEqualia-1000x563.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/1-Emilija-Škarnulytė_AEqualia-800x450.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/1-Emilija-Škarnulytė_AEqualia-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/1-Emilija-Škarnulytė_AEqualia.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Emilija Škarnulytė_Æqualia</figcaption></figure>



Opening on Sat 6 Dec at Tate St Ives is a new major exhibition of the work of Lithuanian-born artist <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-st-ives/emilija-skarnulyte" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Emilija Škarnulytė</a>. Working between documentary and the imaginary, Škarnulytė creates films and immersive installations that explore deep time and invisible systems, revealing power structures hidden within the cosmic and geological orders. Viewing the world through the lens of a ‘future archaeologist’, Škarnulytė’s films explore climate change, nuclear energy, fantasy and folklore, spanning the personal and political. Škarnulytė spent the month of June 2025 at Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, as part of a Tate St Ives artist residency programme, where she developed a new film Telstar inspired by sites she visited in West Cornwall (runs until April 2026).



ONGOING EXHIBITIONS



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="665" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/Penlee-House-Lamorna-Birch-1000x665.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-39011" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/Penlee-House-Lamorna-Birch-1000x665.jpeg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/Penlee-House-Lamorna-Birch-800x532.jpeg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/Penlee-House-Lamorna-Birch-768x511.jpeg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/Penlee-House-Lamorna-Birch-1536x1021.jpeg 1536w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/10/Penlee-House-Lamorna-Birch-2048x1362.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Lamorna Birch: A Painter Laureate, Penlee&nbsp;House Gallery &amp; Museum</figcaption></figure>



Penlee&nbsp;House Gallery &amp; Museum, Penzance have <a href="https://penleehouse.org.uk/exhibition/">two exhibitions</a> (until 10 Jan 2026). ‘Lamorna Birch: A Painter Laureate’ showcases one of the most well-known and prolific artists working in Cornwall in the early twentieth century. A painter of pure landscape, self-taught and self-made, Samuel John ‘Lamorna’ Birch RA (1869 – 1955) was the founder and father figure of the Lamorna colony of artists and writers in West Cornwall. &nbsp;Birch had a lifelong association with Lamorna, from where he took his name (to distinguish himself from the Newlyn School artist, Lionel Birch). The second exhibition, ‘Biddy Picard: Timeless Penwith’, features around 30 paintings in a one-room show, giving an overview of an artist known both locally and nationally for her highly distinctive evocations of West Cornwall. 



Kurt Jackson has spent the last four years or so wandering up and down the Fal to discover the river’s various moods, states and habitats, paintbrushes in hand, to make this new series of works – <a href="https://kurtjackson.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c9e137ec6e6778496b71bb0dc&amp;id=e9c3165db6&amp;e=86d85164f2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kurt Jackson: River Fal</a>  at Muddy Award winning Jackson Foundation Gallery and has had a re-hang with some new pieces in (runs until Feb 2026). <a href="https://nmmc.co.uk/surf/">SURF!,</a> a major exhibition from National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Falmouth curated by local surfer, Dr Sam Bleakley. Celebrating a century of surfing in Cornwall, it reveals how the county has become a global stage for surf innovation, activism and a trailblazer in blue health (runs until Jan 2027).



BOOK AHEAD FOR



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Time by Luxmuralis Comes To Truro Cathedral 12 - 17 January 2026" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tIkdF2nQdCc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Time created by Luxmuralis</figcaption></figure>



Luxmuralis is set to return to Truro Cathedral in 2026 with a new immersive light and sound show. After Space by Luxmuralis in January 2025, the cathedral is excited to bring “Time” from Mon 12 – Sat 17 January.



“Time” promises to be an extraordinary exploration of humanity’s relationship with the concept of time, offering audiences an unforgettable journey through history, science, and imagination.



Visitors will journey through a series of captivating installations that portray humans as seen through different eras, exploring the fascinating theories of relativity, and the text of H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-music">MUSIC</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2022/11/Carbis-Bay-Estate-6-1000x667.jpg" alt="Carbis Bay by night" class="wp-image-28751" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2022/11/Carbis-Bay-Estate-6-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2022/11/Carbis-Bay-Estate-6-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2022/11/Carbis-Bay-Estate-6-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2022/11/Carbis-Bay-Estate-6-788x525.jpg 788w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/cornwall/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2022/11/Carbis-Bay-Estate-6.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



On&nbsp;Fri 14 Nov, The Cornish Riviera String Quartet plays some of Taylor Swift’s most iconic and beloved songs in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.carbisbayhotel.co.uk/the-music-of-taylor-swift-with-the-cornish-riviera-string-quartet" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">beautiful string arrangements</a>. Set against the stunning backdrop of&nbsp;Carbis Bay Hotel,&nbsp;offering panoramic views of St Ives Bay shimmering under the moonlight, £25pp includes the show and a welcome drink.



Don’t miss&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wadebridgechoral.org.uk/future/">Wadebridge Choral Society</a>‘s Autumn Concert (Sat 15 Nov) at Wadebridge Town Hall. The choir and orchestra will be performing two works by Mozart. 



The Christmas Orchestra is an enchanting NEW Christmas spectacle coming to Truro Cathedral. The 16-piece chamber orchestra tour in iconic settings, takes in 15 locations including Truro, and promises feel-good fun (Mon <a href="https://www.thechristmasorchestra.co.uk/">24 Nov</a> &#8211; and again on 22 December).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-theatre-amp-dance">THEATRE &amp; DANCE</h2>



Cornwall’s pioneering dance collective Inner Ground Dance Company brings a bold new work to life this autumn with <a href="https://www.hallforcornwall.co.uk/whats-on/a-m-p-l-i-t-u-d-e/?">A M P L I T U D E</a>, an ambitious production co-produced with Hall for Cornwall. Performed at St Petroc’s Church, Bodmin, on Fri 14 and Sat 15 Nov, the work unites almost thirty performers &#8211; all aged fifty and over &#8211; in a powerful combination of live choral music and contemporary dance.



Agatha Christie&#8217;s hit <a href="https://www.hallforcornwall.co.uk/whats-on/death-on-the-nile/">Death on the Nile</a> is at Hall for Cornwall from Tues 11 &#8211; Sat 15 Nov, with a special social event beforehand on Thurs 13 Nov where solo theatregoers are invited to connect beforehand over a drink to meet likeminded audience members. Embark on a dazzling journey into a festive wonderland as Strictly’s one and only <a href="https://www.hallforcornwall.co.uk/whats-on/christmas-with-anton-du-beke//">Anton Du Beke</a> brightens up your Christmas with his beautiful show &#8211; on Thurs 20 Nov! And then it is into <a href="https://cornwall.muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/arts-culture-things-to-do/cultural-christmas-cornwall-panto-theatre-music/">panto season</a>. With our picks of the best panto, theatre and festive cultural events Cornwall has to offer, you don’t even need to go up country, see our <a href="https://cornwall.muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/arts-culture-things-to-do/cultural-christmas-cornwall-panto-theatre-music/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">special feature here</a>!



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-lights-amp-outdoors">LIGHTS &amp; OUTDOORS</h2>



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="Heligan Night Garden 2025" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1126164430?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>
</div></figure>



<a href="https://www.heligan.com/events/events-at-heligan/heligan-night-garden/">Heligan Night Garden – A Magical Winter Experience</a>, Lost Gardens of Heligan, Pentewan (Sat 15 Nov – Sat 3 Jan) Back again for 2025, this beautiful trails builds on the new night-time route that was introduced last year. Journey through the magical garden trail, exploring woodlands and gardens beautifully lit with installations and lanterns. Discover breath-taking displays of fauna and flora as we celebrate the characters of the community, all illuminated within Heligan’s much-loved and iconic locations.  The Liverpool Lantern Company’s illuminated installations at Heligan holds up a nocturnal magnifying glass to the often-overlooked wonders and beauty of nature on our doorstep. From badgers to fungi, bees to butterflies, and a joyful family of cheeky Tamworth pigs, this illuminated seasonal trail creates a treasure-filled space for families and friends to discover these beautiful indigenous species.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-too-late-just-missed">TOO LATE! JUST MISSED</h2>



LAST CHANCE! <a href="https://www.leachpottery.com/the-leach-pottery-one-and-all-exhibition">The Leach Pottery: One &amp; All</a> celebrates creativity across today’s Leach Pottery and closes at the end of October ready for the refurb. 



Luke Jerram’s spectacular touring artwork,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.trurocathedral.org.uk/visit-us/mars-war-and-peace">Mars: War and Peace</a>&nbsp;comes to Truro Cathedral. The giant spherical ‘mars’ will spin gently and visitors can enjoy the accompanying newly created sound composition by BAFTA and Ivor Novello award winning composer Dan Jones. Featuring the sounds of seas, deserts and clips from NASA missions to Mars, it also incorporates the sounds of distant bombing and people marching, as if to war. Free! (ends Sun 2 Nov)



At Tate St Ives is <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-st-ives/liliane-lijn-arise-alive">Arise Alive, a major exhibition of the work of Liliane Lijn</a>, and the most comprehensive survey of the artist’s work to date. <a href="https://cornwall.muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/arts-culture-things-to-do/first-look-liliane-lijn-arise-alive-tate-st-ives-cornwall/">Here’s our review</a> (ends Sun 2 Nov). 



The <a href="https://lemonstreetgallery.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lemon Street Gallery</a> in Truro has re-opened after refurbishment with an exhibition from British abstract artist, Dot Wade (until Sun 2 Nov).



Over at Hall for Cornwall, <a href="https://www.hallforcornwall.co.uk/whats-on/rambert-bring-your-own/#">RAMBERT X (LA)HORDE Bring Your Own</a> sounds great (Fri 31 Oct &#8211; Sat 1 Nov). When singer Adele was unable to persuade the original Spice Girls to reform for her 2024 Adele World Munich shows, she sought out the next best thing…<a href="https://www.hallforcornwall.co.uk/whats-on/the-spice-girls-experience/">The Spice Girls Experience</a> and they hit Truro on Thurs 4 Nov.

Curtains up! Awesome arts & culture events in Cornwall this autumn

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