Whether you live in Yorkshire or you’re travelling over the summer, there are art exhibitions happening that you really don’t want to miss. This region in the north of England contains four counties and covers almost 12,000 square kilometres and, while often overlooked in favour of places like London, there is a thriving arts and culture sector across the north.
So we’re bringing you six of the art exhibitions taking place across Yorkshire in August 2025, and there will be something in here that will appeal to everybody. Whatever style or medium you prefer, indulge in some gallery visits this summer.
Laura Ellen Bacon: “Into Being” at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) has 500 acres of outdoor sculpture in Britain, featuring artists come from Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, South Korea, the UK, USA, and more.
But as well as their phenomenal outdoor experience, they also have exhibitions you can see in various indoor venues on their property. And that’s where you can see Laura Ellen Bacon’s nature-inspired work in her solo exhibition, Into Being.
YSP say:
In the Chapel, discover Derbyshire-based Laura Ellen Bacon’s exceptional immersive sculptural installation Into Being, created from natural materials. Weave your way through the building, to view a piece woven for the space in willow – a sustainable and warm material that Laura uses to create a surprising and compelling sensory experience.
“Sheffield Stories: Caribbean Footsteps” at Weston Park Museum
I’m a big fan of Weston Park in Sheffield (even in the rain), including its lovely – and free – museum.
One of Weston Park museum’s current exhibitions is Sheffield Stories: Caribbean Footsteps, which “celebrates the many ways that people of African Caribbean heritage have contributed to Sheffield life. Shaped by community co-curators, displays share inspiring stories of journeys, culture and heritage, from church, sport and carnival to fighting racism and discrimination.”.
Sally Gatie in the Sitwell Café
Scarborough Museums has an exhibition by Scarborough-based artist Sally Gatie in its Sitwell Nibbles café, where you can see a selection of the prints and photomontages from her White Room exhibition.
Sally describes this exhibition as follows:
Beauty and emotion go hand-in-hand, they are bound together. In order to make beautiful paintings there must be beautiful emotions.
The White Room is a painting installation, shown in six galleries across the north of England as part of a year-long touring exhibition. The paintings and photomontages convey a private view of the artists’ life, exploring ideas of birth, nurturing and motherhood.
Helen Chadwick: “Life Pleasures” at The Hepworth Wakefield
The Hepworth Wakefield is an art gallery in Wakefield that’s named after the legendary artist Barbara Hepworth. This August, it features a retrospective of the work of Helen Chadwick (1953 – 1996), who “embraced the sensuous aspects of the natural world, breaking taboos of the ‘traditional’ or ‘beautiful’ in art history.”
According to the Hepworth gallery:
The exhibition will highlight Chadwick’s significant impact and contributions to British and international art history by demonstrating her relevance to contemporary feminist concerns, her evolution of material culture and her consistently playful approach.
Chapel Allerton Artists Arts Trail
For two days only, the public is invited into the homes and studios of Chapel Allerton Artists, to “meet the artists and see the process behind the work”. There will also be short talks and demonstrations of their work.
The guide map will show you what’s on and when, so head on over to really get up close and personal with some real-life artists to learn more about what they do, and why.
Liz West: “H.A.P.P.Y” at the Mercer Art Gallery
Artist Liz West “creates playful experiences and environments that heighten our senses and positively affect how we feel. She is interested in our deep human connection to colour and light, and how they can evoke physical, psychological and emotional responses in us”.
As a result, her exhibition at Harrogate’s Mercer Art Gallery promises audiences “a dazzling interplay of light, space and reflection” to reflect her experience of Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Mercer Art Gallery says:
For the first time in many years, the windows in this space are revealed to allow natural light to flood in, creating an ever-changing kaleidoscope of reflections. Every experience of the installation is different depending on light levels, weather, clouds and the path of the sun. As we move through the space, our perspectives shift, revealing new combinations of colour and light in an absorbing sensory experience.
In a unique collaboration, West’s work has inspired the Leeds-based electronic producer, musician and artist Cherry Seraph (the alias of Sophie Russell) to create a new sound piece which will play continuously in the gallery. Both artists explore how frequencies of sound and light can impact our emotional well-being.