12 exhibitions to see over summer 2024

Bharti Kher: Alchemies

Using crafty mediums such as bronze, clay, wood and papier-mâché, for this exhibition artist Bharti Kher has created a series of sculptures inspired by alchemy: the ancient practice of turning base metals into gold. The pieces are meant to look as if they too are undergoing a transformative process, so take the form of creatures which are part woman, part animal and part deity – or what Kher describes as 'mythical urban goddesses'.

Until 27 April 2025 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton

'Let’s Create Together’

Between November 2023 and May 2024, Eastbourne Studio Pottery hosted 35 artist-led workshops in platemaking for groups from the local area. These gatherings resulted in the creation of over 500 plates, which will go on show in this exhibition; expect to see a myriad of designs featuring natural landscapes, abstract portraits and more.

6 and 7 July at Towner Eastbourne, Eastbourne

Igshaan Adams: Weerhoud

Cape Town-based artist Igshaan Adams graced the cover of our Spring/Summer 2024 issue but now takes the spotlight at Hepworth Wakefield for his solo exhibition Weerhoud, meaning ‘withheld’ in Afrikaans. The exhibition will contain a selection of Adams’ existing works as well as three new pieces: two tapestries and one of his signature ‘cloud’ installations, which together explore how trauma affects the human condition, and how healing can be achieved.

Until 3 November at The Hepworth Wakefield, West Yorkshire

NAU, NAU, DOH, CHAAR

The title of this retrospective – which means 9924 in Urdu – references the year 1999, in which Liaqat Rasul set up his fashion label Ghulam Sakina. Since then, he’s established a career as a multidisciplinary artist, crafting everything from colourful paper collages to playful mobiles made from textile scraps. This exhibition will chart Rasul’s creative journey, and give an insight into the inspirations behind his work.

6 July – 2 November 2024 at Ty Pawb, Wrexham

Bow Open

Known for her unabashed sculptural ceramics, Lindsey Mendick has guest curated this show of 33 east London artists, under the theme ‘a personal treasure’. Along with ceramics, there are also examples of textiles and millinery to see, drawn from charity Bow Arts’ community of 600 makers, and gathered in a museum-like display at Nunnery Gallery. Tufted works by Haydn Albrow take us into the artist’s inner world, while You Liang’s soldered metalworks reflect on growing up as a ‘Chinese queer individual in a conservative town’.

Until 25 August at Nunnery Gallery, London

Meadowland

Four artists have been invited to make installations in response to the meadow: one of the UK’s most threatened habitats according to instigator Wakehurst, the botanical garden in Sussex. Saroj Patel, Tord Boontje, Heinrich & Palmer and the collaborative artists Annabel Ross, Alice Boyd and Donnacha Cahill, have all imaginatively used colour, material and sound to give new perspectives on this unique ecosystem. Visit to enjoy a textile installation that blows in the wind, a circle of crafted chairs from which to admire the view, and more.

Until 10 September at Wakehurst, Sussex

Chris Ofili: The Caged Bird’s Song

The Caged Bird’s Song, a monumental handwoven tapestry work by artist Chris Ofili and the weavers at Dovecot Studios, is returning to Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival. Commissioned by The Clothworkers' Company for an exhibition in 2017, this masterpiece took almost three years to complete. It is a collaborative interpretation of Ofili’s imagery referencing both classical mythology and the atmosphere of the Trinidadian landscape where he lives.

Until 5 October at Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh

British Studio Ceramics: From Bernard Leach to Magdalene Odundo

Bringing together works by leading ceramicists, this exhibition sets out to show how British studio pottery has developed and changed through time. There’ll be pieces from celebrated potters of the past such as Bernard Leach and Lucie Rie, plus contemporary names such as Edmund de Waal, Magdalene Odundo and Takeshi Yasuda – a must-see for all clay fanatics.

Until 28 July at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

There’s almost too much to see in the Royal Academy’s bumper annual show of creativity but look closely and you’ll find plenty on offer for the craft lover. Our highlights are a stitched artwork by Alison Aye, geometric metalwork by Jacky Oliver, and basketry-inspired works by Joanne Lamb (all Crafts Council Directory makers). Plus there’s a whole room of fascinating objects curated by architecture collective Assemble, with the theme of ‘spaces for making’.

Until 18 August at Royal Academy of Arts, London

Abigail Reynolds: Works in Glass

Reynolds is known for her folding and collaging techniques across sculpture and print, but this show presents a chance to see the Cornwall-based visual artist’s projects in glass. The Reading and Misreading series references historic imagery and stained glass, while Flux is an experiment to create her own glass from seaweed and sand from Porthmeor beach in St Ives, where she works.

Opening 6 July at NewArtCentre., Salisbury

Stories in Stitch

One for the history-lovers, this exhibition gathers examples domestic embroidery and sewing from the 17th to 20th centuries, by professionals, artist makers, and amateurs as young as 11. On show are Mary Linwood’s ‘needle paintings’ from the late 1770s, recreations of paintings in crewel wool and silk highlights with stitches that imitate brush strokes, and local sewer Dorothy Ann French’s 1890s collection of patchwork, crochet, knitting and pictures in wool.

Until 29 September at Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

Harewood Biennial 2024: Create/Elevate

The craft biennial is back for its third edition at the Yorkshire stately home, this time masterminded by Ligaya Salazar (who previously curated Craft Council's Gaining Ground exhibition in 2022). As always, the works on display respond to the context – interrogating the building's history and collection, its landscape and ecology, and the ways in which the space has been used – with artist Hew Locke, ceramicist Xanthe Somers, designers BEIT Collective, the Common Threads group of embroideres and brushmaker Rosa Harradine among those exhibiting.

Until 28 October at Harewood House, Leeds