The five best art events to see this month: May

Planning a day out with a focus on the arts? Here’s what we will be heading to this month.

A view on fashion

The V&A is staging the first UK exhibition to explore the complex relationship between fashion and nature, from 1600 to the present day. In what ways does fashion draw from the natural world? And how does the former depend on the latter for its raw materials and energy?
 
Expect exquisite natural history specimens and cutting-edge style from both Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney, as well as key environmental messages.
 
Fashioned from Nature, until 27 January 2019; vam.ac.uk

Celebrating the Suffragettes

This year sees the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act of 1918, in which women over the age of 30 were able to vote for the first time. To mark the anniversary, there are rich pickings for art lovers this season.
 
See a banner embroidered with the names of 80 hunger strikers at Holloway Prison on show at the Museum of London’s year-long Votes for Women exhibition.
 
There are also artist interventions, performances and activities at Manchester Art Gallery, along with a display of canvasses by campaigner Annie Swynnerton.
 
Don’t miss Oxford Playhouse’s year-long festival of events celebrating women’s voices and stories. And delve into the panoply of talks, tours and exhibitions at multiple National Trust properties in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
 
You can also create banners and get involved in a mass participation artwork celebrating the centenary, entitled Processions; processions.co.uk

Image: Emmeline Pankhurst, 2018 © Processions

Visit the ballet

Leeds-based Northern Ballet opened its 2018 touring programme with a contemporary take on a classic tale. Its dazzling adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre was nominated for the 2017 South Bank Sky Arts Dance Award. Now is your chance to catch a glimpse, as it tours until June.
 
Northern Ballet’s Jane Eyre; until 9 June; northernballet.com/jane-eyre

Image: © Emma Kauldhar

Head to Kettle’s Yard

Kettle’s Yard is one of the best reasons to visit Cambridge this spring. This renowned centre of modern and contemporary art has reopened after two years of exciting development. New areas include fresh exhibition spaces and a bespoke education wing.
 
Catch its show, Actions: The Image of the World Can Be Different (part 2), featuring the work of 38 artists and exploring the political, social and poetic power of art.
 
Add the venue’s next exhibition dates to your diary too. Antony Gormley’s SUBJECT explores how sculpture can energise both the space it occupies and the body of the viewer, looking at our relationship to space and our sense of self.
 
Actions: The Image of the World Can Be Different until 7 May. Antony Gormley: SUBJECT, 22 May–27 August; kettlesyard.co.uk

Image: Jamie Fobert Architects © Hufton + Crow

The pattern maker

The textile designer Sheila Bownas (1925–2007) produced a huge body of playful, vibrant designs in her lifetime, supplying patterns to clients such as Liberty London and Marks and Spencer. But it is only recently, when an archive of her patterns was discovered after surfacing at auction, that her work began to be recognised. See a wonderful selection at the Pallant House Gallery.
 
Sheila Bownas: A Life in Pattern until 20 May. Pallant House Gallery, Chichester; pallant.org.uk

Image: ​Sheila Bownas, SB 159, circa 1950-59, Private Collection – Rachel Elsworth © Sheila Bownas