Date: 5 November 2026 

York Art Gallery reveals next major exhibition, focusing on women and textiles, due to open in February 2027. 

5 February – 6 June 2027  

York Art Gallery is delighted to announce their next major exhibition Interwoven: Stories of Women, Textiles and Art. Opening on 5 February 2027, Interwoven will be a contemporary textile exhibition, curated by York Art Gallery, featuring artworks from the Gallery’s collection and a range of incredible loans, from major artists such as Anna Perach, Lubaina Himid, Magdalena Abakanowicz and many more remarkable artists working with textile and tactile art. The exhibition will bring together talented contemporary artists using and referring to a wide range of textile materials to subvert expectations in thrilling ways.  

York Art Gallery’s exhibition will also play host to Relative Ties: Mabel Nicholson, Nancy Nicholson, EQ Nicholson and Louisa Creed, on tour from the Women’s Art Collection at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge. 

Following the artwork of three generations of the same family, Relative Ties celebrates the familial connection between these four women and their artistic practices. It will be a chance to see a rich variety of artistic expression spanning over 100 years and works on paper, fabric, rugs and interior design, wallpaper, letterpress design, and paintings. It will be a return to York Art Gallery for Nancy and EQ Nicholson, where they received some of their first recognition in the 1988 exhibition The Nicholsons: A Story of Four People and Their Designs. Nearly 40 years later, the exhibition revisits these artists and their family, a source of support, inspiration, and responsibility, that shaped their production.  

This exhibition also marks the recovery and display of a work by Mabel Nicholson, previously thought of as lost. Nancy in the Tartan Frock, c.1910, was discovered in a private collection and will now be brought back for public display over a century after its last public appearance. This piece draws attention back to Mabel and her place in art history where she may have been previously overlooked. The subject of the painting being Mabel’s daughter, Nancy Nicholson, further reinforces the familial links so prominently displayed throughout the exhibition. 

Curator of Contemporary Art at York Art Gallery, Livia Turnbull, said: “Interwoven has been an absolute pleasure to curate so far, working with artists who create striking, bold, and ambitious artworks which explore and challenge the status of textile art, and its association with domesticity.  

We are so pleased to be working with the Women’s Art Collection, to bring the Relative Ties exhibition to the north of England. It tells an important story of the shifting expectations placed on the Nicholson women and how family shaped their creative output. Hosting Relative Ties gives historical context and depth to the contemporary artworks that will be on display in York Art Gallery’s exhibition Interwoven. 

The complementary exhibits bring out strong threads of female strength and creativity across generations and mediums in an exciting and insightful exploration of craft and art. The exhibition is an opportunity to give space to emerging and established artists bringing another perspective on contemporary art and material practices.” 

Harriet Loffler, Director of The Women’s Art Collection, commented, “I am thrilled that the Relative Ties exhibition will tour to York Art Gallery. This represents a homecoming as the gallery hosted the landmark 1988 exhibition showcasing the remarkable work of the artist sisters-in-law Nancy Nicholson and EQ Nicholson. The connection is strengthened further by the fact that Louisa Creed, EQ’s daughter, has lived in York for decades and is a key figure in the artistic and creative life of the city. 

We hope visitors will flock to see this remarkable exhibition that considers what we inherit from our mothers, what happens when we collaborate with our siblings and what gets passed on to our daughters.” 

The exhibitions will be displayed at York Art Gallery from 5 February – 6 June 2027 and will be included in general admission.  

ENDS 

Relative Ties was originated by The Women’s Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge in association with York Art Gallery. Curated by Harriet Loffler, Director, The Women’s Art Collection with curatorial input for the York show by Livia Turnbull, Curator of Contemporary Art, York Museums Trust.