Outside In

Outside In is running at Torre Abbey from 3 October to 20 December, an exhibition that brings together the work from The Great Torre Abbey Paint Out. It's held in The Main Abbey, so you'll find it right in the heart of the grounds on The Kings Drive in Torquay.

The show is a bit of a mixed bag in the best way: it gathers community pieces from a Mass Paint Out, professional works from an Artist Trail, and entries from Torbay's first Plein Air Art Competition. The whole thing was produced by Artizan Collective alongside Torre Abbey and the Torquay Pavilion Creative Engagement Group, and it marked the culmination of the National Gallery's Art on Your Doorstep initiative. Over a single weekend, the Artist Trail let visitors watch ten professional practitioners capture their surroundings in real time, while the grounds became an open-air studio for a Mass Paint Out open to all ages and abilities. The resulting exhibition puts the professional and the community side by side, showing how different people read the same landscape.

There were prizes for the competition, too. Gabrielle Peckham took the overall win, with Susan Rooney getting silver, Mark Bell bronze, and Frankie Gaughan named youth winner. The project had a fair bit of backing behind it, with support from Torbay Council, the National Gallery, the Friends of Torre Abbey, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and Arts Council England, and sponsors including Great Western Railway, Twigger Business Solutions, and Otto Bar & Restaurant.

It's a free exhibition, though you'll need an entry ticket to Torre Abbey to see it. The Abbey is closed on Mondays, and open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00, so you've got until 20 December to catch it.