Compton Verney, Warwickshire - Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches - ongoing
This one’s for the pimple patch lovers: “patching” - used to cover up imperfections - had been a widespread practice since the Roman Empire but had a big comeback in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under the leadership of notorious fun-sponge Oliver Cromwell, these facial stickers (typically made from silk or velvet and attached with mastic) were criticised for promoting vanity, and the women in this 1655 painting are giving each other a telling off for using them. But they’re looking great while they do it. Fresh from a stint at Yale for conservation and research. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches is back at Compton Verney, one of the UK’s best art spaces (imo).
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire - Damien Hirst - ongoing
You should really go to Yorkshire Sculpture Park regardless of which of the temporary exhibitions are on because it’s wonderful. Four major sculptures by shark-wrangler / NFT-bro Damien Hirst are currently on display around the 500-acre park. Give yourself a whole day to explore, but take the map instructions seriously because I ended up getting lost in a big field.
Pallant House Gallery, West Sussex - Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury - until 27 April
“Beyond Bloomsbury” is the first museum exhibition of Dora Carrington’s work since the 1990s (1995, the same year that the film Carrington was released, in which Emma Thompson is excellent, btw), and it’s a corker. Carrington was a peripheral figure of the Bloomsbury Set, in love with the writer Lytton Strachey and bewildered by the artistic group of posh chums’ inability to do basically anything. Her unique vision of the world around her comes across beautifully at Pallant House, in an exhibition that does well at timelining the artist’s life and her historical context.
Sainsbury Centre, Norfolk - Why Do We Take Drugs - until 27 April
It is not an exhibition, but a “season” - “Why Do We Take Drugs” is a programme of artwork exploring all things drugs. Each of the Sainsbury Centre’s “seasons” asks a big question, from “What is Truth” at the end of 2024 to “Can We Stop Killing Each Other” which will open in Autumn 2025. Smaller exhibitions within the seasons have their own opening and closing dates, but what looks like the star exhibition of the season, Lindsey Mendick’s “Hot Mess”, is open until 27 April. In a new series of ceramics, Mendick examines her own relationship with drugs, both prescription and recreational. The works in the exhibition are spread through the Centre, which has rebranded itself with a focus on “living art” in order to “represent the hungover aftermath of a party”.
Petersfield Museum, Hampshire - Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding - until 3 May
The idea of an exhibition about bookbinding might not sound particularly sexy, but Petersfield Museum’s showcase changed my mind. Okay, maybe not “sexy”, but definitely beautiful. Maybe a bit sexy, actually. The exhibition displays work by the bookbinder Roger Powell amongst older historical examples, including work by William Morris and the Kelmscott Press and Trinity College Dublin’s historic Book of Kells. The curatorial team have taken a topic that could have been stale and technical and made it shine with some genuinely breathtaking works that make you want to take up a traditional craft.
Tate St Ives, Cornwall - Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds - until 5 May
St Ives is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in the UK, so if this exhibition recommendation (or a recommendation to visit Barbara Hepworth’s home studio, Alfred Wallis’ grave designed by Bernard Leach, or Harbour Fish & Chips) is enough to get you to see for the first time, you’re welcome. Tate St Ives, finished in ‘93, is a fantastic space, and this spring, they’re celebrating the British-Surrealist-turned-Occultist (natural bedfellows) Ithell Colquhoun. Colquhoun moved to Cornwall in 1959 and the ancient folk traditions and palpable spirituality of the landscape remained one of her main inspirations for the remainder of her life. Over 200 artworks are on display, with the exhibition's grand finale being a display of Colquhoun’s 78 tarot cards created in 1977.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Black and White - until 1 June
Forget that Sabrina Carpenter is on the UK leg of her tour, so are Rembrandt’s etchings from the Rembrandt House Museum. And tickets for Rembrandt won’t set you back 200+ quid. But he won’t play “Espresso”, so, you know, swings and roundabouts. Best-known for his era-defining portraits, Rembrandt was also one of the Dutch Golden Age’s premier printmakers. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are showcasing their collection of Rembrandt’s etchings alongside those on tour from Amsterdam and work by leading printmakers from the Midlands.
MK Gallery, Buckinghamshire - Andy Warhol: Portrait of America - until 29 June
So, you know I started my recommendation for Ithell Colquhoun at Tate with loads of reasons why you should be making a trip to St Ives anyway? I won’t be doing that with Andy Warhol in Milton Keynes. MK Gallery is really the best thing in Milton Keynes, and honestly, the Andy Warhol exhibition alone might be worth risking the mind-boggling grid system. MK Gallery’s curatorial team have put on some of the best shows I’ve seen in recent memory, transforming the gallery space with a colourful, creative flair, and I have no doubt they’ll have done the same with “Andy Warhol: Portrait of America”. Displaying over 130 of Warhol’s most iconic artworks, including his legendary Marilyns, this exploration of celebrity, capitalism, and the American Dream feels like it comes at an apt moment, with America dominating headlines for its fallibility.
Charleston in Lewes, East Sussex - Koak: The WIndow Set - until 21 September
2/2 for recommendations in the two Sussex counties, “Koak: The Window Set” is opening on March 26th at Charleston’s town centre gallery and is set to celebrate the female gaze, emotional honesty, and women’s representation in art history. Charleston in Lewes - as opposed to Charleston farmhouse, where the Bloomsbury Set lived during the First World War, painting nudes and swapping partners - houses work from both 20th-century masters and 21st-century rising stars. Koak’s exhibition (the first UK institutional solo show for the American artist) places her work in dialogue with Vanessa Bell, exploring how both artists empower their figures within the domestic space.
The Hepworth Wakefield - Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels - until Spring 2026
One of the UK’s most innovative ceramicists, Elizabeth Fritsch’s pots are heavily influenced by music, the artist having studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music before becoming a student of Hans Coper (whose excellent exhibition you’ve just missed at Winchester’s Arc - soz) and Eduardo Paolozzi. The Hepworth Wakefield is showcasing over 100 of the self-taught Welsh potter’s artworks made between the 1970s and the 2010s, with many pieces making their public debuts. Fritsch’s ceramics are distinctly architectural, drawing inspiration from Cubism and Surrealism, resulting in artworks that feel part-painting, part-pot, part-construction plan.
Don't forget to check in to at least 4 exhibitions using the app for a chance to win a night's stay at art'otel! The Culture Crawl challenge runs from the 3rd to the 31st of March, find out more here.
Compton Verney, Warwickshire - Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches - ongoing
This one’s for the pimple patch lovers: “patching” - used to cover up imperfections - had been a widespread practice since the Roman Empire but had a big comeback in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under the leadership of notorious fun-sponge Oliver Cromwell, these facial stickers (typically made from silk or velvet and attached with mastic) were criticised for promoting vanity, and the women in this 1655 painting are giving each other a telling off for using them. But they’re looking great while they do it. Fresh from a stint at Yale for conservation and research. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches is back at Compton Verney, one of the UK’s best art spaces (imo).
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire - Damien Hirst - ongoing
You should really go to Yorkshire Sculpture Park regardless of which of the temporary exhibitions are on because it’s wonderful. Four major sculptures by shark-wrangler / NFT-bro Damien Hirst are currently on display around the 500-acre park. Give yourself a whole day to explore, but take the map instructions seriously because I ended up getting lost in a big field.
Pallant House Gallery, West Sussex - Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury - until 27 April
“Beyond Bloomsbury” is the first museum exhibition of Dora Carrington’s work since the 1990s (1995, the same year that the film Carrington was released, in which Emma Thompson is excellent, btw), and it’s a corker. Carrington was a peripheral figure of the Bloomsbury Set, in love with the writer Lytton Strachey and bewildered by the artistic group of posh chums’ inability to do basically anything. Her unique vision of the world around her comes across beautifully at Pallant House, in an exhibition that does well at timelining the artist’s life and her historical context.
Sainsbury Centre, Norfolk - Why Do We Take Drugs - until 27 April
It is not an exhibition, but a “season” - “Why Do We Take Drugs” is a programme of artwork exploring all things drugs. Each of the Sainsbury Centre’s “seasons” asks a big question, from “What is Truth” at the end of 2024 to “Can We Stop Killing Each Other” which will open in Autumn 2025. Smaller exhibitions within the seasons have their own opening and closing dates, but what looks like the star exhibition of the season, Lindsey Mendick’s “Hot Mess”, is open until 27 April. In a new series of ceramics, Mendick examines her own relationship with drugs, both prescription and recreational. The works in the exhibition are spread through the Centre, which has rebranded itself with a focus on “living art” in order to “represent the hungover aftermath of a party”.
Petersfield Museum, Hampshire - Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding - until 3 May
The idea of an exhibition about bookbinding might not sound particularly sexy, but Petersfield Museum’s showcase changed my mind. Okay, maybe not “sexy”, but definitely beautiful. Maybe a bit sexy, actually. The exhibition displays work by the bookbinder Roger Powell amongst older historical examples, including work by William Morris and the Kelmscott Press and Trinity College Dublin’s historic Book of Kells. The curatorial team have taken a topic that could have been stale and technical and made it shine with some genuinely breathtaking works that make you want to take up a traditional craft.
Tate St Ives, Cornwall - Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds - until 5 May
St Ives is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in the UK, so if this exhibition recommendation (or a recommendation to visit Barbara Hepworth’s home studio, Alfred Wallis’ grave designed by Bernard Leach, or Harbour Fish & Chips) is enough to get you to see for the first time, you’re welcome. Tate St Ives, finished in ‘93, is a fantastic space, and this spring, they’re celebrating the British-Surrealist-turned-Occultist (natural bedfellows) Ithell Colquhoun. Colquhoun moved to Cornwall in 1959 and the ancient folk traditions and palpable spirituality of the landscape remained one of her main inspirations for the remainder of her life. Over 200 artworks are on display, with the exhibition's grand finale being a display of Colquhoun’s 78 tarot cards created in 1977.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Black and White - until 1 June
Forget that Sabrina Carpenter is on the UK leg of her tour, so are Rembrandt’s etchings from the Rembrandt House Museum. And tickets for Rembrandt won’t set you back 200+ quid. But he won’t play “Espresso”, so, you know, swings and roundabouts. Best-known for his era-defining portraits, Rembrandt was also one of the Dutch Golden Age’s premier printmakers. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are showcasing their collection of Rembrandt’s etchings alongside those on tour from Amsterdam and work by leading printmakers from the Midlands.
MK Gallery, Buckinghamshire - Andy Warhol: Portrait of America - until 29 June
So, you know I started my recommendation for Ithell Colquhoun at Tate with loads of reasons why you should be making a trip to St Ives anyway? I won’t be doing that with Andy Warhol in Milton Keynes. MK Gallery is really the best thing in Milton Keynes, and honestly, the Andy Warhol exhibition alone might be worth risking the mind-boggling grid system. MK Gallery’s curatorial team have put on some of the best shows I’ve seen in recent memory, transforming the gallery space with a colourful, creative flair, and I have no doubt they’ll have done the same with “Andy Warhol: Portrait of America”. Displaying over 130 of Warhol’s most iconic artworks, including his legendary Marilyns, this exploration of celebrity, capitalism, and the American Dream feels like it comes at an apt moment, with America dominating headlines for its fallibility.
Charleston in Lewes, East Sussex - Koak: The WIndow Set - until 21 September
2/2 for recommendations in the two Sussex counties, “Koak: The Window Set” is opening on March 26th at Charleston’s town centre gallery and is set to celebrate the female gaze, emotional honesty, and women’s representation in art history. Charleston in Lewes - as opposed to Charleston farmhouse, where the Bloomsbury Set lived during the First World War, painting nudes and swapping partners - houses work from both 20th-century masters and 21st-century rising stars. Koak’s exhibition (the first UK institutional solo show for the American artist) places her work in dialogue with Vanessa Bell, exploring how both artists empower their figures within the domestic space.
The Hepworth Wakefield - Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels - until Spring 2026
One of the UK’s most innovative ceramicists, Elizabeth Fritsch’s pots are heavily influenced by music, the artist having studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music before becoming a student of Hans Coper (whose excellent exhibition you’ve just missed at Winchester’s Arc - soz) and Eduardo Paolozzi. The Hepworth Wakefield is showcasing over 100 of the self-taught Welsh potter’s artworks made between the 1970s and the 2010s, with many pieces making their public debuts. Fritsch’s ceramics are distinctly architectural, drawing inspiration from Cubism and Surrealism, resulting in artworks that feel part-painting, part-pot, part-construction plan.
Don't forget to check in to at least 4 exhibitions using the app for a chance to win a night's stay at art'otel! The Culture Crawl challenge runs from the 3rd to the 31st of March, find out more here.
Compton Verney, Warwickshire - Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches - ongoing
This one’s for the pimple patch lovers: “patching” - used to cover up imperfections - had been a widespread practice since the Roman Empire but had a big comeback in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under the leadership of notorious fun-sponge Oliver Cromwell, these facial stickers (typically made from silk or velvet and attached with mastic) were criticised for promoting vanity, and the women in this 1655 painting are giving each other a telling off for using them. But they’re looking great while they do it. Fresh from a stint at Yale for conservation and research. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches is back at Compton Verney, one of the UK’s best art spaces (imo).
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire - Damien Hirst - ongoing
You should really go to Yorkshire Sculpture Park regardless of which of the temporary exhibitions are on because it’s wonderful. Four major sculptures by shark-wrangler / NFT-bro Damien Hirst are currently on display around the 500-acre park. Give yourself a whole day to explore, but take the map instructions seriously because I ended up getting lost in a big field.
Pallant House Gallery, West Sussex - Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury - until 27 April
“Beyond Bloomsbury” is the first museum exhibition of Dora Carrington’s work since the 1990s (1995, the same year that the film Carrington was released, in which Emma Thompson is excellent, btw), and it’s a corker. Carrington was a peripheral figure of the Bloomsbury Set, in love with the writer Lytton Strachey and bewildered by the artistic group of posh chums’ inability to do basically anything. Her unique vision of the world around her comes across beautifully at Pallant House, in an exhibition that does well at timelining the artist’s life and her historical context.
Sainsbury Centre, Norfolk - Why Do We Take Drugs - until 27 April
It is not an exhibition, but a “season” - “Why Do We Take Drugs” is a programme of artwork exploring all things drugs. Each of the Sainsbury Centre’s “seasons” asks a big question, from “What is Truth” at the end of 2024 to “Can We Stop Killing Each Other” which will open in Autumn 2025. Smaller exhibitions within the seasons have their own opening and closing dates, but what looks like the star exhibition of the season, Lindsey Mendick’s “Hot Mess”, is open until 27 April. In a new series of ceramics, Mendick examines her own relationship with drugs, both prescription and recreational. The works in the exhibition are spread through the Centre, which has rebranded itself with a focus on “living art” in order to “represent the hungover aftermath of a party”.
Petersfield Museum, Hampshire - Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding - until 3 May
The idea of an exhibition about bookbinding might not sound particularly sexy, but Petersfield Museum’s showcase changed my mind. Okay, maybe not “sexy”, but definitely beautiful. Maybe a bit sexy, actually. The exhibition displays work by the bookbinder Roger Powell amongst older historical examples, including work by William Morris and the Kelmscott Press and Trinity College Dublin’s historic Book of Kells. The curatorial team have taken a topic that could have been stale and technical and made it shine with some genuinely breathtaking works that make you want to take up a traditional craft.
Tate St Ives, Cornwall - Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds - until 5 May
St Ives is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in the UK, so if this exhibition recommendation (or a recommendation to visit Barbara Hepworth’s home studio, Alfred Wallis’ grave designed by Bernard Leach, or Harbour Fish & Chips) is enough to get you to see for the first time, you’re welcome. Tate St Ives, finished in ‘93, is a fantastic space, and this spring, they’re celebrating the British-Surrealist-turned-Occultist (natural bedfellows) Ithell Colquhoun. Colquhoun moved to Cornwall in 1959 and the ancient folk traditions and palpable spirituality of the landscape remained one of her main inspirations for the remainder of her life. Over 200 artworks are on display, with the exhibition's grand finale being a display of Colquhoun’s 78 tarot cards created in 1977.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Black and White - until 1 June
Forget that Sabrina Carpenter is on the UK leg of her tour, so are Rembrandt’s etchings from the Rembrandt House Museum. And tickets for Rembrandt won’t set you back 200+ quid. But he won’t play “Espresso”, so, you know, swings and roundabouts. Best-known for his era-defining portraits, Rembrandt was also one of the Dutch Golden Age’s premier printmakers. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are showcasing their collection of Rembrandt’s etchings alongside those on tour from Amsterdam and work by leading printmakers from the Midlands.
MK Gallery, Buckinghamshire - Andy Warhol: Portrait of America - until 29 June
So, you know I started my recommendation for Ithell Colquhoun at Tate with loads of reasons why you should be making a trip to St Ives anyway? I won’t be doing that with Andy Warhol in Milton Keynes. MK Gallery is really the best thing in Milton Keynes, and honestly, the Andy Warhol exhibition alone might be worth risking the mind-boggling grid system. MK Gallery’s curatorial team have put on some of the best shows I’ve seen in recent memory, transforming the gallery space with a colourful, creative flair, and I have no doubt they’ll have done the same with “Andy Warhol: Portrait of America”. Displaying over 130 of Warhol’s most iconic artworks, including his legendary Marilyns, this exploration of celebrity, capitalism, and the American Dream feels like it comes at an apt moment, with America dominating headlines for its fallibility.
Charleston in Lewes, East Sussex - Koak: The WIndow Set - until 21 September
2/2 for recommendations in the two Sussex counties, “Koak: The Window Set” is opening on March 26th at Charleston’s town centre gallery and is set to celebrate the female gaze, emotional honesty, and women’s representation in art history. Charleston in Lewes - as opposed to Charleston farmhouse, where the Bloomsbury Set lived during the First World War, painting nudes and swapping partners - houses work from both 20th-century masters and 21st-century rising stars. Koak’s exhibition (the first UK institutional solo show for the American artist) places her work in dialogue with Vanessa Bell, exploring how both artists empower their figures within the domestic space.
The Hepworth Wakefield - Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels - until Spring 2026
One of the UK’s most innovative ceramicists, Elizabeth Fritsch’s pots are heavily influenced by music, the artist having studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music before becoming a student of Hans Coper (whose excellent exhibition you’ve just missed at Winchester’s Arc - soz) and Eduardo Paolozzi. The Hepworth Wakefield is showcasing over 100 of the self-taught Welsh potter’s artworks made between the 1970s and the 2010s, with many pieces making their public debuts. Fritsch’s ceramics are distinctly architectural, drawing inspiration from Cubism and Surrealism, resulting in artworks that feel part-painting, part-pot, part-construction plan.
Don't forget to check in to at least 4 exhibitions using the app for a chance to win a night's stay at art'otel! The Culture Crawl challenge runs from the 3rd to the 31st of March, find out more here.
Compton Verney, Warwickshire - Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches - ongoing
This one’s for the pimple patch lovers: “patching” - used to cover up imperfections - had been a widespread practice since the Roman Empire but had a big comeback in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under the leadership of notorious fun-sponge Oliver Cromwell, these facial stickers (typically made from silk or velvet and attached with mastic) were criticised for promoting vanity, and the women in this 1655 painting are giving each other a telling off for using them. But they’re looking great while they do it. Fresh from a stint at Yale for conservation and research. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches is back at Compton Verney, one of the UK’s best art spaces (imo).
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire - Damien Hirst - ongoing
You should really go to Yorkshire Sculpture Park regardless of which of the temporary exhibitions are on because it’s wonderful. Four major sculptures by shark-wrangler / NFT-bro Damien Hirst are currently on display around the 500-acre park. Give yourself a whole day to explore, but take the map instructions seriously because I ended up getting lost in a big field.
Pallant House Gallery, West Sussex - Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury - until 27 April
“Beyond Bloomsbury” is the first museum exhibition of Dora Carrington’s work since the 1990s (1995, the same year that the film Carrington was released, in which Emma Thompson is excellent, btw), and it’s a corker. Carrington was a peripheral figure of the Bloomsbury Set, in love with the writer Lytton Strachey and bewildered by the artistic group of posh chums’ inability to do basically anything. Her unique vision of the world around her comes across beautifully at Pallant House, in an exhibition that does well at timelining the artist’s life and her historical context.
Sainsbury Centre, Norfolk - Why Do We Take Drugs - until 27 April
It is not an exhibition, but a “season” - “Why Do We Take Drugs” is a programme of artwork exploring all things drugs. Each of the Sainsbury Centre’s “seasons” asks a big question, from “What is Truth” at the end of 2024 to “Can We Stop Killing Each Other” which will open in Autumn 2025. Smaller exhibitions within the seasons have their own opening and closing dates, but what looks like the star exhibition of the season, Lindsey Mendick’s “Hot Mess”, is open until 27 April. In a new series of ceramics, Mendick examines her own relationship with drugs, both prescription and recreational. The works in the exhibition are spread through the Centre, which has rebranded itself with a focus on “living art” in order to “represent the hungover aftermath of a party”.
Petersfield Museum, Hampshire - Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding - until 3 May
The idea of an exhibition about bookbinding might not sound particularly sexy, but Petersfield Museum’s showcase changed my mind. Okay, maybe not “sexy”, but definitely beautiful. Maybe a bit sexy, actually. The exhibition displays work by the bookbinder Roger Powell amongst older historical examples, including work by William Morris and the Kelmscott Press and Trinity College Dublin’s historic Book of Kells. The curatorial team have taken a topic that could have been stale and technical and made it shine with some genuinely breathtaking works that make you want to take up a traditional craft.
Tate St Ives, Cornwall - Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds - until 5 May
St Ives is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in the UK, so if this exhibition recommendation (or a recommendation to visit Barbara Hepworth’s home studio, Alfred Wallis’ grave designed by Bernard Leach, or Harbour Fish & Chips) is enough to get you to see for the first time, you’re welcome. Tate St Ives, finished in ‘93, is a fantastic space, and this spring, they’re celebrating the British-Surrealist-turned-Occultist (natural bedfellows) Ithell Colquhoun. Colquhoun moved to Cornwall in 1959 and the ancient folk traditions and palpable spirituality of the landscape remained one of her main inspirations for the remainder of her life. Over 200 artworks are on display, with the exhibition's grand finale being a display of Colquhoun’s 78 tarot cards created in 1977.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Black and White - until 1 June
Forget that Sabrina Carpenter is on the UK leg of her tour, so are Rembrandt’s etchings from the Rembrandt House Museum. And tickets for Rembrandt won’t set you back 200+ quid. But he won’t play “Espresso”, so, you know, swings and roundabouts. Best-known for his era-defining portraits, Rembrandt was also one of the Dutch Golden Age’s premier printmakers. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are showcasing their collection of Rembrandt’s etchings alongside those on tour from Amsterdam and work by leading printmakers from the Midlands.
MK Gallery, Buckinghamshire - Andy Warhol: Portrait of America - until 29 June
So, you know I started my recommendation for Ithell Colquhoun at Tate with loads of reasons why you should be making a trip to St Ives anyway? I won’t be doing that with Andy Warhol in Milton Keynes. MK Gallery is really the best thing in Milton Keynes, and honestly, the Andy Warhol exhibition alone might be worth risking the mind-boggling grid system. MK Gallery’s curatorial team have put on some of the best shows I’ve seen in recent memory, transforming the gallery space with a colourful, creative flair, and I have no doubt they’ll have done the same with “Andy Warhol: Portrait of America”. Displaying over 130 of Warhol’s most iconic artworks, including his legendary Marilyns, this exploration of celebrity, capitalism, and the American Dream feels like it comes at an apt moment, with America dominating headlines for its fallibility.
Charleston in Lewes, East Sussex - Koak: The WIndow Set - until 21 September
2/2 for recommendations in the two Sussex counties, “Koak: The Window Set” is opening on March 26th at Charleston’s town centre gallery and is set to celebrate the female gaze, emotional honesty, and women’s representation in art history. Charleston in Lewes - as opposed to Charleston farmhouse, where the Bloomsbury Set lived during the First World War, painting nudes and swapping partners - houses work from both 20th-century masters and 21st-century rising stars. Koak’s exhibition (the first UK institutional solo show for the American artist) places her work in dialogue with Vanessa Bell, exploring how both artists empower their figures within the domestic space.
The Hepworth Wakefield - Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels - until Spring 2026
One of the UK’s most innovative ceramicists, Elizabeth Fritsch’s pots are heavily influenced by music, the artist having studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music before becoming a student of Hans Coper (whose excellent exhibition you’ve just missed at Winchester’s Arc - soz) and Eduardo Paolozzi. The Hepworth Wakefield is showcasing over 100 of the self-taught Welsh potter’s artworks made between the 1970s and the 2010s, with many pieces making their public debuts. Fritsch’s ceramics are distinctly architectural, drawing inspiration from Cubism and Surrealism, resulting in artworks that feel part-painting, part-pot, part-construction plan.
Don't forget to check in to at least 4 exhibitions using the app for a chance to win a night's stay at art'otel! The Culture Crawl challenge runs from the 3rd to the 31st of March, find out more here.
Compton Verney, Warwickshire - Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches - ongoing
This one’s for the pimple patch lovers: “patching” - used to cover up imperfections - had been a widespread practice since the Roman Empire but had a big comeback in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under the leadership of notorious fun-sponge Oliver Cromwell, these facial stickers (typically made from silk or velvet and attached with mastic) were criticised for promoting vanity, and the women in this 1655 painting are giving each other a telling off for using them. But they’re looking great while they do it. Fresh from a stint at Yale for conservation and research. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches is back at Compton Verney, one of the UK’s best art spaces (imo).
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire - Damien Hirst - ongoing
You should really go to Yorkshire Sculpture Park regardless of which of the temporary exhibitions are on because it’s wonderful. Four major sculptures by shark-wrangler / NFT-bro Damien Hirst are currently on display around the 500-acre park. Give yourself a whole day to explore, but take the map instructions seriously because I ended up getting lost in a big field.
Pallant House Gallery, West Sussex - Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury - until 27 April
“Beyond Bloomsbury” is the first museum exhibition of Dora Carrington’s work since the 1990s (1995, the same year that the film Carrington was released, in which Emma Thompson is excellent, btw), and it’s a corker. Carrington was a peripheral figure of the Bloomsbury Set, in love with the writer Lytton Strachey and bewildered by the artistic group of posh chums’ inability to do basically anything. Her unique vision of the world around her comes across beautifully at Pallant House, in an exhibition that does well at timelining the artist’s life and her historical context.
Sainsbury Centre, Norfolk - Why Do We Take Drugs - until 27 April
It is not an exhibition, but a “season” - “Why Do We Take Drugs” is a programme of artwork exploring all things drugs. Each of the Sainsbury Centre’s “seasons” asks a big question, from “What is Truth” at the end of 2024 to “Can We Stop Killing Each Other” which will open in Autumn 2025. Smaller exhibitions within the seasons have their own opening and closing dates, but what looks like the star exhibition of the season, Lindsey Mendick’s “Hot Mess”, is open until 27 April. In a new series of ceramics, Mendick examines her own relationship with drugs, both prescription and recreational. The works in the exhibition are spread through the Centre, which has rebranded itself with a focus on “living art” in order to “represent the hungover aftermath of a party”.
Petersfield Museum, Hampshire - Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding - until 3 May
The idea of an exhibition about bookbinding might not sound particularly sexy, but Petersfield Museum’s showcase changed my mind. Okay, maybe not “sexy”, but definitely beautiful. Maybe a bit sexy, actually. The exhibition displays work by the bookbinder Roger Powell amongst older historical examples, including work by William Morris and the Kelmscott Press and Trinity College Dublin’s historic Book of Kells. The curatorial team have taken a topic that could have been stale and technical and made it shine with some genuinely breathtaking works that make you want to take up a traditional craft.
Tate St Ives, Cornwall - Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds - until 5 May
St Ives is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in the UK, so if this exhibition recommendation (or a recommendation to visit Barbara Hepworth’s home studio, Alfred Wallis’ grave designed by Bernard Leach, or Harbour Fish & Chips) is enough to get you to see for the first time, you’re welcome. Tate St Ives, finished in ‘93, is a fantastic space, and this spring, they’re celebrating the British-Surrealist-turned-Occultist (natural bedfellows) Ithell Colquhoun. Colquhoun moved to Cornwall in 1959 and the ancient folk traditions and palpable spirituality of the landscape remained one of her main inspirations for the remainder of her life. Over 200 artworks are on display, with the exhibition's grand finale being a display of Colquhoun’s 78 tarot cards created in 1977.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Black and White - until 1 June
Forget that Sabrina Carpenter is on the UK leg of her tour, so are Rembrandt’s etchings from the Rembrandt House Museum. And tickets for Rembrandt won’t set you back 200+ quid. But he won’t play “Espresso”, so, you know, swings and roundabouts. Best-known for his era-defining portraits, Rembrandt was also one of the Dutch Golden Age’s premier printmakers. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are showcasing their collection of Rembrandt’s etchings alongside those on tour from Amsterdam and work by leading printmakers from the Midlands.
MK Gallery, Buckinghamshire - Andy Warhol: Portrait of America - until 29 June
So, you know I started my recommendation for Ithell Colquhoun at Tate with loads of reasons why you should be making a trip to St Ives anyway? I won’t be doing that with Andy Warhol in Milton Keynes. MK Gallery is really the best thing in Milton Keynes, and honestly, the Andy Warhol exhibition alone might be worth risking the mind-boggling grid system. MK Gallery’s curatorial team have put on some of the best shows I’ve seen in recent memory, transforming the gallery space with a colourful, creative flair, and I have no doubt they’ll have done the same with “Andy Warhol: Portrait of America”. Displaying over 130 of Warhol’s most iconic artworks, including his legendary Marilyns, this exploration of celebrity, capitalism, and the American Dream feels like it comes at an apt moment, with America dominating headlines for its fallibility.
Charleston in Lewes, East Sussex - Koak: The WIndow Set - until 21 September
2/2 for recommendations in the two Sussex counties, “Koak: The Window Set” is opening on March 26th at Charleston’s town centre gallery and is set to celebrate the female gaze, emotional honesty, and women’s representation in art history. Charleston in Lewes - as opposed to Charleston farmhouse, where the Bloomsbury Set lived during the First World War, painting nudes and swapping partners - houses work from both 20th-century masters and 21st-century rising stars. Koak’s exhibition (the first UK institutional solo show for the American artist) places her work in dialogue with Vanessa Bell, exploring how both artists empower their figures within the domestic space.
The Hepworth Wakefield - Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels - until Spring 2026
One of the UK’s most innovative ceramicists, Elizabeth Fritsch’s pots are heavily influenced by music, the artist having studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music before becoming a student of Hans Coper (whose excellent exhibition you’ve just missed at Winchester’s Arc - soz) and Eduardo Paolozzi. The Hepworth Wakefield is showcasing over 100 of the self-taught Welsh potter’s artworks made between the 1970s and the 2010s, with many pieces making their public debuts. Fritsch’s ceramics are distinctly architectural, drawing inspiration from Cubism and Surrealism, resulting in artworks that feel part-painting, part-pot, part-construction plan.
Don't forget to check in to at least 4 exhibitions using the app for a chance to win a night's stay at art'otel! The Culture Crawl challenge runs from the 3rd to the 31st of March, find out more here.
Compton Verney, Warwickshire - Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches - ongoing
This one’s for the pimple patch lovers: “patching” - used to cover up imperfections - had been a widespread practice since the Roman Empire but had a big comeback in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under the leadership of notorious fun-sponge Oliver Cromwell, these facial stickers (typically made from silk or velvet and attached with mastic) were criticised for promoting vanity, and the women in this 1655 painting are giving each other a telling off for using them. But they’re looking great while they do it. Fresh from a stint at Yale for conservation and research. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches is back at Compton Verney, one of the UK’s best art spaces (imo).
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire - Damien Hirst - ongoing
You should really go to Yorkshire Sculpture Park regardless of which of the temporary exhibitions are on because it’s wonderful. Four major sculptures by shark-wrangler / NFT-bro Damien Hirst are currently on display around the 500-acre park. Give yourself a whole day to explore, but take the map instructions seriously because I ended up getting lost in a big field.
Pallant House Gallery, West Sussex - Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury - until 27 April
“Beyond Bloomsbury” is the first museum exhibition of Dora Carrington’s work since the 1990s (1995, the same year that the film Carrington was released, in which Emma Thompson is excellent, btw), and it’s a corker. Carrington was a peripheral figure of the Bloomsbury Set, in love with the writer Lytton Strachey and bewildered by the artistic group of posh chums’ inability to do basically anything. Her unique vision of the world around her comes across beautifully at Pallant House, in an exhibition that does well at timelining the artist’s life and her historical context.
Sainsbury Centre, Norfolk - Why Do We Take Drugs - until 27 April
It is not an exhibition, but a “season” - “Why Do We Take Drugs” is a programme of artwork exploring all things drugs. Each of the Sainsbury Centre’s “seasons” asks a big question, from “What is Truth” at the end of 2024 to “Can We Stop Killing Each Other” which will open in Autumn 2025. Smaller exhibitions within the seasons have their own opening and closing dates, but what looks like the star exhibition of the season, Lindsey Mendick’s “Hot Mess”, is open until 27 April. In a new series of ceramics, Mendick examines her own relationship with drugs, both prescription and recreational. The works in the exhibition are spread through the Centre, which has rebranded itself with a focus on “living art” in order to “represent the hungover aftermath of a party”.
Petersfield Museum, Hampshire - Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding - until 3 May
The idea of an exhibition about bookbinding might not sound particularly sexy, but Petersfield Museum’s showcase changed my mind. Okay, maybe not “sexy”, but definitely beautiful. Maybe a bit sexy, actually. The exhibition displays work by the bookbinder Roger Powell amongst older historical examples, including work by William Morris and the Kelmscott Press and Trinity College Dublin’s historic Book of Kells. The curatorial team have taken a topic that could have been stale and technical and made it shine with some genuinely breathtaking works that make you want to take up a traditional craft.
Tate St Ives, Cornwall - Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds - until 5 May
St Ives is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in the UK, so if this exhibition recommendation (or a recommendation to visit Barbara Hepworth’s home studio, Alfred Wallis’ grave designed by Bernard Leach, or Harbour Fish & Chips) is enough to get you to see for the first time, you’re welcome. Tate St Ives, finished in ‘93, is a fantastic space, and this spring, they’re celebrating the British-Surrealist-turned-Occultist (natural bedfellows) Ithell Colquhoun. Colquhoun moved to Cornwall in 1959 and the ancient folk traditions and palpable spirituality of the landscape remained one of her main inspirations for the remainder of her life. Over 200 artworks are on display, with the exhibition's grand finale being a display of Colquhoun’s 78 tarot cards created in 1977.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Black and White - until 1 June
Forget that Sabrina Carpenter is on the UK leg of her tour, so are Rembrandt’s etchings from the Rembrandt House Museum. And tickets for Rembrandt won’t set you back 200+ quid. But he won’t play “Espresso”, so, you know, swings and roundabouts. Best-known for his era-defining portraits, Rembrandt was also one of the Dutch Golden Age’s premier printmakers. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are showcasing their collection of Rembrandt’s etchings alongside those on tour from Amsterdam and work by leading printmakers from the Midlands.
MK Gallery, Buckinghamshire - Andy Warhol: Portrait of America - until 29 June
So, you know I started my recommendation for Ithell Colquhoun at Tate with loads of reasons why you should be making a trip to St Ives anyway? I won’t be doing that with Andy Warhol in Milton Keynes. MK Gallery is really the best thing in Milton Keynes, and honestly, the Andy Warhol exhibition alone might be worth risking the mind-boggling grid system. MK Gallery’s curatorial team have put on some of the best shows I’ve seen in recent memory, transforming the gallery space with a colourful, creative flair, and I have no doubt they’ll have done the same with “Andy Warhol: Portrait of America”. Displaying over 130 of Warhol’s most iconic artworks, including his legendary Marilyns, this exploration of celebrity, capitalism, and the American Dream feels like it comes at an apt moment, with America dominating headlines for its fallibility.
Charleston in Lewes, East Sussex - Koak: The WIndow Set - until 21 September
2/2 for recommendations in the two Sussex counties, “Koak: The Window Set” is opening on March 26th at Charleston’s town centre gallery and is set to celebrate the female gaze, emotional honesty, and women’s representation in art history. Charleston in Lewes - as opposed to Charleston farmhouse, where the Bloomsbury Set lived during the First World War, painting nudes and swapping partners - houses work from both 20th-century masters and 21st-century rising stars. Koak’s exhibition (the first UK institutional solo show for the American artist) places her work in dialogue with Vanessa Bell, exploring how both artists empower their figures within the domestic space.
The Hepworth Wakefield - Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels - until Spring 2026
One of the UK’s most innovative ceramicists, Elizabeth Fritsch’s pots are heavily influenced by music, the artist having studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music before becoming a student of Hans Coper (whose excellent exhibition you’ve just missed at Winchester’s Arc - soz) and Eduardo Paolozzi. The Hepworth Wakefield is showcasing over 100 of the self-taught Welsh potter’s artworks made between the 1970s and the 2010s, with many pieces making their public debuts. Fritsch’s ceramics are distinctly architectural, drawing inspiration from Cubism and Surrealism, resulting in artworks that feel part-painting, part-pot, part-construction plan.
Don't forget to check in to at least 4 exhibitions using the app for a chance to win a night's stay at art'otel! The Culture Crawl challenge runs from the 3rd to the 31st of March, find out more here.
Compton Verney, Warwickshire - Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches - ongoing
This one’s for the pimple patch lovers: “patching” - used to cover up imperfections - had been a widespread practice since the Roman Empire but had a big comeback in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under the leadership of notorious fun-sponge Oliver Cromwell, these facial stickers (typically made from silk or velvet and attached with mastic) were criticised for promoting vanity, and the women in this 1655 painting are giving each other a telling off for using them. But they’re looking great while they do it. Fresh from a stint at Yale for conservation and research. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches is back at Compton Verney, one of the UK’s best art spaces (imo).
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire - Damien Hirst - ongoing
You should really go to Yorkshire Sculpture Park regardless of which of the temporary exhibitions are on because it’s wonderful. Four major sculptures by shark-wrangler / NFT-bro Damien Hirst are currently on display around the 500-acre park. Give yourself a whole day to explore, but take the map instructions seriously because I ended up getting lost in a big field.
Pallant House Gallery, West Sussex - Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury - until 27 April
“Beyond Bloomsbury” is the first museum exhibition of Dora Carrington’s work since the 1990s (1995, the same year that the film Carrington was released, in which Emma Thompson is excellent, btw), and it’s a corker. Carrington was a peripheral figure of the Bloomsbury Set, in love with the writer Lytton Strachey and bewildered by the artistic group of posh chums’ inability to do basically anything. Her unique vision of the world around her comes across beautifully at Pallant House, in an exhibition that does well at timelining the artist’s life and her historical context.
Sainsbury Centre, Norfolk - Why Do We Take Drugs - until 27 April
It is not an exhibition, but a “season” - “Why Do We Take Drugs” is a programme of artwork exploring all things drugs. Each of the Sainsbury Centre’s “seasons” asks a big question, from “What is Truth” at the end of 2024 to “Can We Stop Killing Each Other” which will open in Autumn 2025. Smaller exhibitions within the seasons have their own opening and closing dates, but what looks like the star exhibition of the season, Lindsey Mendick’s “Hot Mess”, is open until 27 April. In a new series of ceramics, Mendick examines her own relationship with drugs, both prescription and recreational. The works in the exhibition are spread through the Centre, which has rebranded itself with a focus on “living art” in order to “represent the hungover aftermath of a party”.
Petersfield Museum, Hampshire - Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding - until 3 May
The idea of an exhibition about bookbinding might not sound particularly sexy, but Petersfield Museum’s showcase changed my mind. Okay, maybe not “sexy”, but definitely beautiful. Maybe a bit sexy, actually. The exhibition displays work by the bookbinder Roger Powell amongst older historical examples, including work by William Morris and the Kelmscott Press and Trinity College Dublin’s historic Book of Kells. The curatorial team have taken a topic that could have been stale and technical and made it shine with some genuinely breathtaking works that make you want to take up a traditional craft.
Tate St Ives, Cornwall - Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds - until 5 May
St Ives is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in the UK, so if this exhibition recommendation (or a recommendation to visit Barbara Hepworth’s home studio, Alfred Wallis’ grave designed by Bernard Leach, or Harbour Fish & Chips) is enough to get you to see for the first time, you’re welcome. Tate St Ives, finished in ‘93, is a fantastic space, and this spring, they’re celebrating the British-Surrealist-turned-Occultist (natural bedfellows) Ithell Colquhoun. Colquhoun moved to Cornwall in 1959 and the ancient folk traditions and palpable spirituality of the landscape remained one of her main inspirations for the remainder of her life. Over 200 artworks are on display, with the exhibition's grand finale being a display of Colquhoun’s 78 tarot cards created in 1977.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Black and White - until 1 June
Forget that Sabrina Carpenter is on the UK leg of her tour, so are Rembrandt’s etchings from the Rembrandt House Museum. And tickets for Rembrandt won’t set you back 200+ quid. But he won’t play “Espresso”, so, you know, swings and roundabouts. Best-known for his era-defining portraits, Rembrandt was also one of the Dutch Golden Age’s premier printmakers. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are showcasing their collection of Rembrandt’s etchings alongside those on tour from Amsterdam and work by leading printmakers from the Midlands.
MK Gallery, Buckinghamshire - Andy Warhol: Portrait of America - until 29 June
So, you know I started my recommendation for Ithell Colquhoun at Tate with loads of reasons why you should be making a trip to St Ives anyway? I won’t be doing that with Andy Warhol in Milton Keynes. MK Gallery is really the best thing in Milton Keynes, and honestly, the Andy Warhol exhibition alone might be worth risking the mind-boggling grid system. MK Gallery’s curatorial team have put on some of the best shows I’ve seen in recent memory, transforming the gallery space with a colourful, creative flair, and I have no doubt they’ll have done the same with “Andy Warhol: Portrait of America”. Displaying over 130 of Warhol’s most iconic artworks, including his legendary Marilyns, this exploration of celebrity, capitalism, and the American Dream feels like it comes at an apt moment, with America dominating headlines for its fallibility.
Charleston in Lewes, East Sussex - Koak: The WIndow Set - until 21 September
2/2 for recommendations in the two Sussex counties, “Koak: The Window Set” is opening on March 26th at Charleston’s town centre gallery and is set to celebrate the female gaze, emotional honesty, and women’s representation in art history. Charleston in Lewes - as opposed to Charleston farmhouse, where the Bloomsbury Set lived during the First World War, painting nudes and swapping partners - houses work from both 20th-century masters and 21st-century rising stars. Koak’s exhibition (the first UK institutional solo show for the American artist) places her work in dialogue with Vanessa Bell, exploring how both artists empower their figures within the domestic space.
The Hepworth Wakefield - Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels - until Spring 2026
One of the UK’s most innovative ceramicists, Elizabeth Fritsch’s pots are heavily influenced by music, the artist having studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music before becoming a student of Hans Coper (whose excellent exhibition you’ve just missed at Winchester’s Arc - soz) and Eduardo Paolozzi. The Hepworth Wakefield is showcasing over 100 of the self-taught Welsh potter’s artworks made between the 1970s and the 2010s, with many pieces making their public debuts. Fritsch’s ceramics are distinctly architectural, drawing inspiration from Cubism and Surrealism, resulting in artworks that feel part-painting, part-pot, part-construction plan.
Don't forget to check in to at least 4 exhibitions using the app for a chance to win a night's stay at art'otel! The Culture Crawl challenge runs from the 3rd to the 31st of March, find out more here.
Compton Verney, Warwickshire - Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches - ongoing
This one’s for the pimple patch lovers: “patching” - used to cover up imperfections - had been a widespread practice since the Roman Empire but had a big comeback in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under the leadership of notorious fun-sponge Oliver Cromwell, these facial stickers (typically made from silk or velvet and attached with mastic) were criticised for promoting vanity, and the women in this 1655 painting are giving each other a telling off for using them. But they’re looking great while they do it. Fresh from a stint at Yale for conservation and research. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches is back at Compton Verney, one of the UK’s best art spaces (imo).
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire - Damien Hirst - ongoing
You should really go to Yorkshire Sculpture Park regardless of which of the temporary exhibitions are on because it’s wonderful. Four major sculptures by shark-wrangler / NFT-bro Damien Hirst are currently on display around the 500-acre park. Give yourself a whole day to explore, but take the map instructions seriously because I ended up getting lost in a big field.
Pallant House Gallery, West Sussex - Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury - until 27 April
“Beyond Bloomsbury” is the first museum exhibition of Dora Carrington’s work since the 1990s (1995, the same year that the film Carrington was released, in which Emma Thompson is excellent, btw), and it’s a corker. Carrington was a peripheral figure of the Bloomsbury Set, in love with the writer Lytton Strachey and bewildered by the artistic group of posh chums’ inability to do basically anything. Her unique vision of the world around her comes across beautifully at Pallant House, in an exhibition that does well at timelining the artist’s life and her historical context.
Sainsbury Centre, Norfolk - Why Do We Take Drugs - until 27 April
It is not an exhibition, but a “season” - “Why Do We Take Drugs” is a programme of artwork exploring all things drugs. Each of the Sainsbury Centre’s “seasons” asks a big question, from “What is Truth” at the end of 2024 to “Can We Stop Killing Each Other” which will open in Autumn 2025. Smaller exhibitions within the seasons have their own opening and closing dates, but what looks like the star exhibition of the season, Lindsey Mendick’s “Hot Mess”, is open until 27 April. In a new series of ceramics, Mendick examines her own relationship with drugs, both prescription and recreational. The works in the exhibition are spread through the Centre, which has rebranded itself with a focus on “living art” in order to “represent the hungover aftermath of a party”.
Petersfield Museum, Hampshire - Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding - until 3 May
The idea of an exhibition about bookbinding might not sound particularly sexy, but Petersfield Museum’s showcase changed my mind. Okay, maybe not “sexy”, but definitely beautiful. Maybe a bit sexy, actually. The exhibition displays work by the bookbinder Roger Powell amongst older historical examples, including work by William Morris and the Kelmscott Press and Trinity College Dublin’s historic Book of Kells. The curatorial team have taken a topic that could have been stale and technical and made it shine with some genuinely breathtaking works that make you want to take up a traditional craft.
Tate St Ives, Cornwall - Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds - until 5 May
St Ives is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in the UK, so if this exhibition recommendation (or a recommendation to visit Barbara Hepworth’s home studio, Alfred Wallis’ grave designed by Bernard Leach, or Harbour Fish & Chips) is enough to get you to see for the first time, you’re welcome. Tate St Ives, finished in ‘93, is a fantastic space, and this spring, they’re celebrating the British-Surrealist-turned-Occultist (natural bedfellows) Ithell Colquhoun. Colquhoun moved to Cornwall in 1959 and the ancient folk traditions and palpable spirituality of the landscape remained one of her main inspirations for the remainder of her life. Over 200 artworks are on display, with the exhibition's grand finale being a display of Colquhoun’s 78 tarot cards created in 1977.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Black and White - until 1 June
Forget that Sabrina Carpenter is on the UK leg of her tour, so are Rembrandt’s etchings from the Rembrandt House Museum. And tickets for Rembrandt won’t set you back 200+ quid. But he won’t play “Espresso”, so, you know, swings and roundabouts. Best-known for his era-defining portraits, Rembrandt was also one of the Dutch Golden Age’s premier printmakers. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are showcasing their collection of Rembrandt’s etchings alongside those on tour from Amsterdam and work by leading printmakers from the Midlands.
MK Gallery, Buckinghamshire - Andy Warhol: Portrait of America - until 29 June
So, you know I started my recommendation for Ithell Colquhoun at Tate with loads of reasons why you should be making a trip to St Ives anyway? I won’t be doing that with Andy Warhol in Milton Keynes. MK Gallery is really the best thing in Milton Keynes, and honestly, the Andy Warhol exhibition alone might be worth risking the mind-boggling grid system. MK Gallery’s curatorial team have put on some of the best shows I’ve seen in recent memory, transforming the gallery space with a colourful, creative flair, and I have no doubt they’ll have done the same with “Andy Warhol: Portrait of America”. Displaying over 130 of Warhol’s most iconic artworks, including his legendary Marilyns, this exploration of celebrity, capitalism, and the American Dream feels like it comes at an apt moment, with America dominating headlines for its fallibility.
Charleston in Lewes, East Sussex - Koak: The WIndow Set - until 21 September
2/2 for recommendations in the two Sussex counties, “Koak: The Window Set” is opening on March 26th at Charleston’s town centre gallery and is set to celebrate the female gaze, emotional honesty, and women’s representation in art history. Charleston in Lewes - as opposed to Charleston farmhouse, where the Bloomsbury Set lived during the First World War, painting nudes and swapping partners - houses work from both 20th-century masters and 21st-century rising stars. Koak’s exhibition (the first UK institutional solo show for the American artist) places her work in dialogue with Vanessa Bell, exploring how both artists empower their figures within the domestic space.
The Hepworth Wakefield - Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels - until Spring 2026
One of the UK’s most innovative ceramicists, Elizabeth Fritsch’s pots are heavily influenced by music, the artist having studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music before becoming a student of Hans Coper (whose excellent exhibition you’ve just missed at Winchester’s Arc - soz) and Eduardo Paolozzi. The Hepworth Wakefield is showcasing over 100 of the self-taught Welsh potter’s artworks made between the 1970s and the 2010s, with many pieces making their public debuts. Fritsch’s ceramics are distinctly architectural, drawing inspiration from Cubism and Surrealism, resulting in artworks that feel part-painting, part-pot, part-construction plan.
Don't forget to check in to at least 4 exhibitions using the app for a chance to win a night's stay at art'otel! The Culture Crawl challenge runs from the 3rd to the 31st of March, find out more here.
Compton Verney, Warwickshire - Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches - ongoing
This one’s for the pimple patch lovers: “patching” - used to cover up imperfections - had been a widespread practice since the Roman Empire but had a big comeback in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under the leadership of notorious fun-sponge Oliver Cromwell, these facial stickers (typically made from silk or velvet and attached with mastic) were criticised for promoting vanity, and the women in this 1655 painting are giving each other a telling off for using them. But they’re looking great while they do it. Fresh from a stint at Yale for conservation and research. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches is back at Compton Verney, one of the UK’s best art spaces (imo).
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire - Damien Hirst - ongoing
You should really go to Yorkshire Sculpture Park regardless of which of the temporary exhibitions are on because it’s wonderful. Four major sculptures by shark-wrangler / NFT-bro Damien Hirst are currently on display around the 500-acre park. Give yourself a whole day to explore, but take the map instructions seriously because I ended up getting lost in a big field.
Pallant House Gallery, West Sussex - Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury - until 27 April
“Beyond Bloomsbury” is the first museum exhibition of Dora Carrington’s work since the 1990s (1995, the same year that the film Carrington was released, in which Emma Thompson is excellent, btw), and it’s a corker. Carrington was a peripheral figure of the Bloomsbury Set, in love with the writer Lytton Strachey and bewildered by the artistic group of posh chums’ inability to do basically anything. Her unique vision of the world around her comes across beautifully at Pallant House, in an exhibition that does well at timelining the artist’s life and her historical context.
Sainsbury Centre, Norfolk - Why Do We Take Drugs - until 27 April
It is not an exhibition, but a “season” - “Why Do We Take Drugs” is a programme of artwork exploring all things drugs. Each of the Sainsbury Centre’s “seasons” asks a big question, from “What is Truth” at the end of 2024 to “Can We Stop Killing Each Other” which will open in Autumn 2025. Smaller exhibitions within the seasons have their own opening and closing dates, but what looks like the star exhibition of the season, Lindsey Mendick’s “Hot Mess”, is open until 27 April. In a new series of ceramics, Mendick examines her own relationship with drugs, both prescription and recreational. The works in the exhibition are spread through the Centre, which has rebranded itself with a focus on “living art” in order to “represent the hungover aftermath of a party”.
Petersfield Museum, Hampshire - Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding - until 3 May
The idea of an exhibition about bookbinding might not sound particularly sexy, but Petersfield Museum’s showcase changed my mind. Okay, maybe not “sexy”, but definitely beautiful. Maybe a bit sexy, actually. The exhibition displays work by the bookbinder Roger Powell amongst older historical examples, including work by William Morris and the Kelmscott Press and Trinity College Dublin’s historic Book of Kells. The curatorial team have taken a topic that could have been stale and technical and made it shine with some genuinely breathtaking works that make you want to take up a traditional craft.
Tate St Ives, Cornwall - Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds - until 5 May
St Ives is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in the UK, so if this exhibition recommendation (or a recommendation to visit Barbara Hepworth’s home studio, Alfred Wallis’ grave designed by Bernard Leach, or Harbour Fish & Chips) is enough to get you to see for the first time, you’re welcome. Tate St Ives, finished in ‘93, is a fantastic space, and this spring, they’re celebrating the British-Surrealist-turned-Occultist (natural bedfellows) Ithell Colquhoun. Colquhoun moved to Cornwall in 1959 and the ancient folk traditions and palpable spirituality of the landscape remained one of her main inspirations for the remainder of her life. Over 200 artworks are on display, with the exhibition's grand finale being a display of Colquhoun’s 78 tarot cards created in 1977.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Black and White - until 1 June
Forget that Sabrina Carpenter is on the UK leg of her tour, so are Rembrandt’s etchings from the Rembrandt House Museum. And tickets for Rembrandt won’t set you back 200+ quid. But he won’t play “Espresso”, so, you know, swings and roundabouts. Best-known for his era-defining portraits, Rembrandt was also one of the Dutch Golden Age’s premier printmakers. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are showcasing their collection of Rembrandt’s etchings alongside those on tour from Amsterdam and work by leading printmakers from the Midlands.
MK Gallery, Buckinghamshire - Andy Warhol: Portrait of America - until 29 June
So, you know I started my recommendation for Ithell Colquhoun at Tate with loads of reasons why you should be making a trip to St Ives anyway? I won’t be doing that with Andy Warhol in Milton Keynes. MK Gallery is really the best thing in Milton Keynes, and honestly, the Andy Warhol exhibition alone might be worth risking the mind-boggling grid system. MK Gallery’s curatorial team have put on some of the best shows I’ve seen in recent memory, transforming the gallery space with a colourful, creative flair, and I have no doubt they’ll have done the same with “Andy Warhol: Portrait of America”. Displaying over 130 of Warhol’s most iconic artworks, including his legendary Marilyns, this exploration of celebrity, capitalism, and the American Dream feels like it comes at an apt moment, with America dominating headlines for its fallibility.
Charleston in Lewes, East Sussex - Koak: The WIndow Set - until 21 September
2/2 for recommendations in the two Sussex counties, “Koak: The Window Set” is opening on March 26th at Charleston’s town centre gallery and is set to celebrate the female gaze, emotional honesty, and women’s representation in art history. Charleston in Lewes - as opposed to Charleston farmhouse, where the Bloomsbury Set lived during the First World War, painting nudes and swapping partners - houses work from both 20th-century masters and 21st-century rising stars. Koak’s exhibition (the first UK institutional solo show for the American artist) places her work in dialogue with Vanessa Bell, exploring how both artists empower their figures within the domestic space.
The Hepworth Wakefield - Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels - until Spring 2026
One of the UK’s most innovative ceramicists, Elizabeth Fritsch’s pots are heavily influenced by music, the artist having studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music before becoming a student of Hans Coper (whose excellent exhibition you’ve just missed at Winchester’s Arc - soz) and Eduardo Paolozzi. The Hepworth Wakefield is showcasing over 100 of the self-taught Welsh potter’s artworks made between the 1970s and the 2010s, with many pieces making their public debuts. Fritsch’s ceramics are distinctly architectural, drawing inspiration from Cubism and Surrealism, resulting in artworks that feel part-painting, part-pot, part-construction plan.
Don't forget to check in to at least 4 exhibitions using the app for a chance to win a night's stay at art'otel! The Culture Crawl challenge runs from the 3rd to the 31st of March, find out more here.
Compton Verney, Warwickshire - Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches - ongoing
This one’s for the pimple patch lovers: “patching” - used to cover up imperfections - had been a widespread practice since the Roman Empire but had a big comeback in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under the leadership of notorious fun-sponge Oliver Cromwell, these facial stickers (typically made from silk or velvet and attached with mastic) were criticised for promoting vanity, and the women in this 1655 painting are giving each other a telling off for using them. But they’re looking great while they do it. Fresh from a stint at Yale for conservation and research. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches is back at Compton Verney, one of the UK’s best art spaces (imo).
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire - Damien Hirst - ongoing
You should really go to Yorkshire Sculpture Park regardless of which of the temporary exhibitions are on because it’s wonderful. Four major sculptures by shark-wrangler / NFT-bro Damien Hirst are currently on display around the 500-acre park. Give yourself a whole day to explore, but take the map instructions seriously because I ended up getting lost in a big field.
Pallant House Gallery, West Sussex - Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury - until 27 April
“Beyond Bloomsbury” is the first museum exhibition of Dora Carrington’s work since the 1990s (1995, the same year that the film Carrington was released, in which Emma Thompson is excellent, btw), and it’s a corker. Carrington was a peripheral figure of the Bloomsbury Set, in love with the writer Lytton Strachey and bewildered by the artistic group of posh chums’ inability to do basically anything. Her unique vision of the world around her comes across beautifully at Pallant House, in an exhibition that does well at timelining the artist’s life and her historical context.
Sainsbury Centre, Norfolk - Why Do We Take Drugs - until 27 April
It is not an exhibition, but a “season” - “Why Do We Take Drugs” is a programme of artwork exploring all things drugs. Each of the Sainsbury Centre’s “seasons” asks a big question, from “What is Truth” at the end of 2024 to “Can We Stop Killing Each Other” which will open in Autumn 2025. Smaller exhibitions within the seasons have their own opening and closing dates, but what looks like the star exhibition of the season, Lindsey Mendick’s “Hot Mess”, is open until 27 April. In a new series of ceramics, Mendick examines her own relationship with drugs, both prescription and recreational. The works in the exhibition are spread through the Centre, which has rebranded itself with a focus on “living art” in order to “represent the hungover aftermath of a party”.
Petersfield Museum, Hampshire - Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding - until 3 May
The idea of an exhibition about bookbinding might not sound particularly sexy, but Petersfield Museum’s showcase changed my mind. Okay, maybe not “sexy”, but definitely beautiful. Maybe a bit sexy, actually. The exhibition displays work by the bookbinder Roger Powell amongst older historical examples, including work by William Morris and the Kelmscott Press and Trinity College Dublin’s historic Book of Kells. The curatorial team have taken a topic that could have been stale and technical and made it shine with some genuinely breathtaking works that make you want to take up a traditional craft.
Tate St Ives, Cornwall - Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds - until 5 May
St Ives is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in the UK, so if this exhibition recommendation (or a recommendation to visit Barbara Hepworth’s home studio, Alfred Wallis’ grave designed by Bernard Leach, or Harbour Fish & Chips) is enough to get you to see for the first time, you’re welcome. Tate St Ives, finished in ‘93, is a fantastic space, and this spring, they’re celebrating the British-Surrealist-turned-Occultist (natural bedfellows) Ithell Colquhoun. Colquhoun moved to Cornwall in 1959 and the ancient folk traditions and palpable spirituality of the landscape remained one of her main inspirations for the remainder of her life. Over 200 artworks are on display, with the exhibition's grand finale being a display of Colquhoun’s 78 tarot cards created in 1977.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Black and White - until 1 June
Forget that Sabrina Carpenter is on the UK leg of her tour, so are Rembrandt’s etchings from the Rembrandt House Museum. And tickets for Rembrandt won’t set you back 200+ quid. But he won’t play “Espresso”, so, you know, swings and roundabouts. Best-known for his era-defining portraits, Rembrandt was also one of the Dutch Golden Age’s premier printmakers. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are showcasing their collection of Rembrandt’s etchings alongside those on tour from Amsterdam and work by leading printmakers from the Midlands.
MK Gallery, Buckinghamshire - Andy Warhol: Portrait of America - until 29 June
So, you know I started my recommendation for Ithell Colquhoun at Tate with loads of reasons why you should be making a trip to St Ives anyway? I won’t be doing that with Andy Warhol in Milton Keynes. MK Gallery is really the best thing in Milton Keynes, and honestly, the Andy Warhol exhibition alone might be worth risking the mind-boggling grid system. MK Gallery’s curatorial team have put on some of the best shows I’ve seen in recent memory, transforming the gallery space with a colourful, creative flair, and I have no doubt they’ll have done the same with “Andy Warhol: Portrait of America”. Displaying over 130 of Warhol’s most iconic artworks, including his legendary Marilyns, this exploration of celebrity, capitalism, and the American Dream feels like it comes at an apt moment, with America dominating headlines for its fallibility.
Charleston in Lewes, East Sussex - Koak: The WIndow Set - until 21 September
2/2 for recommendations in the two Sussex counties, “Koak: The Window Set” is opening on March 26th at Charleston’s town centre gallery and is set to celebrate the female gaze, emotional honesty, and women’s representation in art history. Charleston in Lewes - as opposed to Charleston farmhouse, where the Bloomsbury Set lived during the First World War, painting nudes and swapping partners - houses work from both 20th-century masters and 21st-century rising stars. Koak’s exhibition (the first UK institutional solo show for the American artist) places her work in dialogue with Vanessa Bell, exploring how both artists empower their figures within the domestic space.
The Hepworth Wakefield - Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels - until Spring 2026
One of the UK’s most innovative ceramicists, Elizabeth Fritsch’s pots are heavily influenced by music, the artist having studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music before becoming a student of Hans Coper (whose excellent exhibition you’ve just missed at Winchester’s Arc - soz) and Eduardo Paolozzi. The Hepworth Wakefield is showcasing over 100 of the self-taught Welsh potter’s artworks made between the 1970s and the 2010s, with many pieces making their public debuts. Fritsch’s ceramics are distinctly architectural, drawing inspiration from Cubism and Surrealism, resulting in artworks that feel part-painting, part-pot, part-construction plan.
Don't forget to check in to at least 4 exhibitions using the app for a chance to win a night's stay at art'otel! The Culture Crawl challenge runs from the 3rd to the 31st of March, find out more here.
Compton Verney, Warwickshire - Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches - ongoing
This one’s for the pimple patch lovers: “patching” - used to cover up imperfections - had been a widespread practice since the Roman Empire but had a big comeback in Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under the leadership of notorious fun-sponge Oliver Cromwell, these facial stickers (typically made from silk or velvet and attached with mastic) were criticised for promoting vanity, and the women in this 1655 painting are giving each other a telling off for using them. But they’re looking great while they do it. Fresh from a stint at Yale for conservation and research. Two Women Wearing Cosmetic Patches is back at Compton Verney, one of the UK’s best art spaces (imo).
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Yorkshire - Damien Hirst - ongoing
You should really go to Yorkshire Sculpture Park regardless of which of the temporary exhibitions are on because it’s wonderful. Four major sculptures by shark-wrangler / NFT-bro Damien Hirst are currently on display around the 500-acre park. Give yourself a whole day to explore, but take the map instructions seriously because I ended up getting lost in a big field.
Pallant House Gallery, West Sussex - Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury - until 27 April
“Beyond Bloomsbury” is the first museum exhibition of Dora Carrington’s work since the 1990s (1995, the same year that the film Carrington was released, in which Emma Thompson is excellent, btw), and it’s a corker. Carrington was a peripheral figure of the Bloomsbury Set, in love with the writer Lytton Strachey and bewildered by the artistic group of posh chums’ inability to do basically anything. Her unique vision of the world around her comes across beautifully at Pallant House, in an exhibition that does well at timelining the artist’s life and her historical context.
Sainsbury Centre, Norfolk - Why Do We Take Drugs - until 27 April
It is not an exhibition, but a “season” - “Why Do We Take Drugs” is a programme of artwork exploring all things drugs. Each of the Sainsbury Centre’s “seasons” asks a big question, from “What is Truth” at the end of 2024 to “Can We Stop Killing Each Other” which will open in Autumn 2025. Smaller exhibitions within the seasons have their own opening and closing dates, but what looks like the star exhibition of the season, Lindsey Mendick’s “Hot Mess”, is open until 27 April. In a new series of ceramics, Mendick examines her own relationship with drugs, both prescription and recreational. The works in the exhibition are spread through the Centre, which has rebranded itself with a focus on “living art” in order to “represent the hungover aftermath of a party”.
Petersfield Museum, Hampshire - Bound Together: Modern British Bookbinding - until 3 May
The idea of an exhibition about bookbinding might not sound particularly sexy, but Petersfield Museum’s showcase changed my mind. Okay, maybe not “sexy”, but definitely beautiful. Maybe a bit sexy, actually. The exhibition displays work by the bookbinder Roger Powell amongst older historical examples, including work by William Morris and the Kelmscott Press and Trinity College Dublin’s historic Book of Kells. The curatorial team have taken a topic that could have been stale and technical and made it shine with some genuinely breathtaking works that make you want to take up a traditional craft.
Tate St Ives, Cornwall - Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds - until 5 May
St Ives is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places in the UK, so if this exhibition recommendation (or a recommendation to visit Barbara Hepworth’s home studio, Alfred Wallis’ grave designed by Bernard Leach, or Harbour Fish & Chips) is enough to get you to see for the first time, you’re welcome. Tate St Ives, finished in ‘93, is a fantastic space, and this spring, they’re celebrating the British-Surrealist-turned-Occultist (natural bedfellows) Ithell Colquhoun. Colquhoun moved to Cornwall in 1959 and the ancient folk traditions and palpable spirituality of the landscape remained one of her main inspirations for the remainder of her life. Over 200 artworks are on display, with the exhibition's grand finale being a display of Colquhoun’s 78 tarot cards created in 1977.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Black and White - until 1 June
Forget that Sabrina Carpenter is on the UK leg of her tour, so are Rembrandt’s etchings from the Rembrandt House Museum. And tickets for Rembrandt won’t set you back 200+ quid. But he won’t play “Espresso”, so, you know, swings and roundabouts. Best-known for his era-defining portraits, Rembrandt was also one of the Dutch Golden Age’s premier printmakers. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery are showcasing their collection of Rembrandt’s etchings alongside those on tour from Amsterdam and work by leading printmakers from the Midlands.
MK Gallery, Buckinghamshire - Andy Warhol: Portrait of America - until 29 June
So, you know I started my recommendation for Ithell Colquhoun at Tate with loads of reasons why you should be making a trip to St Ives anyway? I won’t be doing that with Andy Warhol in Milton Keynes. MK Gallery is really the best thing in Milton Keynes, and honestly, the Andy Warhol exhibition alone might be worth risking the mind-boggling grid system. MK Gallery’s curatorial team have put on some of the best shows I’ve seen in recent memory, transforming the gallery space with a colourful, creative flair, and I have no doubt they’ll have done the same with “Andy Warhol: Portrait of America”. Displaying over 130 of Warhol’s most iconic artworks, including his legendary Marilyns, this exploration of celebrity, capitalism, and the American Dream feels like it comes at an apt moment, with America dominating headlines for its fallibility.
Charleston in Lewes, East Sussex - Koak: The WIndow Set - until 21 September
2/2 for recommendations in the two Sussex counties, “Koak: The Window Set” is opening on March 26th at Charleston’s town centre gallery and is set to celebrate the female gaze, emotional honesty, and women’s representation in art history. Charleston in Lewes - as opposed to Charleston farmhouse, where the Bloomsbury Set lived during the First World War, painting nudes and swapping partners - houses work from both 20th-century masters and 21st-century rising stars. Koak’s exhibition (the first UK institutional solo show for the American artist) places her work in dialogue with Vanessa Bell, exploring how both artists empower their figures within the domestic space.
The Hepworth Wakefield - Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels - until Spring 2026
One of the UK’s most innovative ceramicists, Elizabeth Fritsch’s pots are heavily influenced by music, the artist having studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music before becoming a student of Hans Coper (whose excellent exhibition you’ve just missed at Winchester’s Arc - soz) and Eduardo Paolozzi. The Hepworth Wakefield is showcasing over 100 of the self-taught Welsh potter’s artworks made between the 1970s and the 2010s, with many pieces making their public debuts. Fritsch’s ceramics are distinctly architectural, drawing inspiration from Cubism and Surrealism, resulting in artworks that feel part-painting, part-pot, part-construction plan.
Don't forget to check in to at least 4 exhibitions using the app for a chance to win a night's stay at art'otel! The Culture Crawl challenge runs from the 3rd to the 31st of March, find out more here.
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