The Resilient River

Artists explore the Western Rother

17 July – 2 August 2025

For this year’s Petworth Festival, we have invited nine of our artists to explore a section of the River Rother. This ‘Resilient River’ is fed by springs and streams from the North and South Downs as it meanders on a west to east flowing course through villages to the west of Midhurst to Stopham, just to the east of Petworth where it joins the River Arun.

The exhibition will show the artists’s contrasting responses to the river, in drawings and paintings in charcoal, graphite, and ink, paintings in oil, acrylic and watercolour, as well as wood engravings and collagraphic prints.