A philanthropic organisation founded in the UK during the late 1800s, the Association’s main objective was to train working class men and boys from rural areas. The trainees would learn crafts that had once flourished but were close to extinction, thus providing them with a worthy pastime and means of earning a living. At the time blacksmithing was still a thriving trade, however today it is estimated that there are only 2,000 blacksmiths working professionally in the UK.

The sculptures on display, a set of potentially functional hinges, take their form from the psychological tests devised in the 1920’s by Hermann Rorschach. The tests exploit the human desire to find form in pattern and abstraction. The main title of the work is taken from a review of Morris’ work which featured in the 1899 annual exhibition held by the Arts and Crafts Exhibition. The critic suggested that the skilfully subdued tones of Morris’ tapestries and carpets were similar to the colours of historic textiles, faded over hundreds of years; “…a Morris tapestry, if it survive for three hundred years, will be but a ghost of a ghost”.

For Hughes, the phrase “ghost of a ghost” echoed her own response to a potentially beautiful door hinge concealed under decades of paint in the Gallery’s Learning Centre. Hughes has spent the last twelve months studying blacksmithing and is conscious that ironmongery, once considered highly decorative, is becoming increasingly invisible. The scultpures simultaneously draw attention to quality craftsmanship hidden all around us and pay homage to the dedicated group of blacksmiths both amateur and professional who are keeping this ancient tradition alive.

The artist would like to thank Richard Pace and Neil Stuart of Design Blacksmith

This exhibition takes place in the Story Lounge.

Morris and the Amateur Craftsman: slideshow of research from Lizzie Hughes’s residency

During her residency, Lizzie researched the notion of the amateur craftsman in relation to Morris’s legacy. The slideshow juxtaposes images that Lizzie discovered in the archives of the Gallery alongside images of craftwork produced locally by people who contributed to a study day at the gallery in November 2013.

William Morris Gallery Artist in Residence programme

Lizzie Hughes lives and works in Leytonstone. The Artist in Residence programme is open to artists who live or work in Waltham Forest. Shortlisting takes place annually in January.