Film Night: Radical Landscapes

Blue cyanotype image of two swans, with water and trees in background

Film Night: Radical Landscapes

SPECIAL EVENTS

Thursday 8 February 2024

Home / What's on/ Film Night: Radical Landscapes

An evening showcase of four short films exploring the natural world as a space for artistic inspiration.

Join us for the resurgence of Film Night at William Morris Gallery, showcasing four films by independent filmmakers who each explore the themes of the natural world as a space for artistic inspiration, spiritual connection, and political and cultural explorations.

Great Sale Wood (2024) – Michaela Davis

A short, animated film crafted through the sustainable process of cyanotype, featuring over 2,800 hand-printed frames. Shot around Highams Park Lake, the film explores themes of ecology and climate crisis. A study of interconnected beauty in nature, the film contains a score featuring digitally manipulated audio recordings of the lake.

2:02 mins

The Land we Seek the Land we Dream (2022) – Fourthland

Fourthland’s film is a deep remembrance of, ‘the first story´, performed through various acts in the landscape and a conversation between a group of cross-cultural and intergenerational hands. This piece is an invitation to feel ourselves as part of nature. The main elements of the piece are filmed on and around Leyton Marshes.

17 mins (including meditative piece)

OCAK (2020) – Zeynep Kaserci

OCAK offers an intimate portrait of a family harvesting hazelnuts, where questions of labour, gender, family, and love come to the fore. With its observational cinematography and unhurried editing style, it offers glimpses into the daily life in rural north-eastern Turkey and explores peoples’ connection to land and their hazelnut gardens, which have been inherited for generations. In Turkish with English subtitles.

28:20 mins

Effigy for a Black Soldier / Protector of the Children (2022) – Maya Campbell

Effigy for a Black Soldier uses a reworking of the folk song Wayfaring Stranger as a storytelling device to explore memories of the artist’s estranged father, who served in the British Army and had a strong Christian faith. This meditates on the complexities that come with being a black man in service of the British Army, suggesting themes of migration, longing for home and the lingering phantom of the British Empire on the diaspora. The unnamed location suggests borders, emphasised by the dynamic presence of the sea and watery interlude that follows.

Protector of the Children alludes to the Nepali folklore figure of the Lahkey, who is said to be a man-eating demon who protects children and townspeople, dwelling deep in the forests of Nepal. The work draws from the artist’s early encounter with the Lahkey mask, when placed into her grandmother’s care at the age of four, and is an intimate video-performance filmed during the artist’s residency at Space A in Kathmandu, Nepal, exploring walking as a methodology to build connection with ancestral land.

10:32 mins

Image: Still from ‘Great Sale Wood’ Michaela Davis, 2024

Woman stands outside next to a shed in an alotment space.

Waltham Forest: A Radical Landscape

Talk and private view

TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS

Wednesday 31 January 2024

Home / What's on/ Waltham Forest: A Radical Landscape

A panel discussion with artists Abel Holsborough, Zaiba Jabbar and Graeme Miller, followed by a private view of the exhibition

Join us for a special event bringing together our Radical Landscapes commissioned artists: Abel Holsborough, Zaiba Jabbar and Graeme Miller. The event will include a panel discussion followed by a private view of the Radical Landscapes exhibition. The artists will be exploring how their memories and experiences of Waltham Forest and home have influenced the social sculptures that they have created across the borough.

6pm – doors open
6.30pm – panel discussion followed by Q&A
8.30pm – private view of Radical Landscapes

About the artists:

Abel Holsborough

Abel is an artist who uses photography, writing and performance to explore the un-monumental and question what constitutes ‘useful’ art. Their interest in obscure histories and ‘not-quite’ archives also feeds into their work at Brixton Windmill where they are the lead miller of the last working windmill in London. Their collaborative works with organisations such as Artsadmin (Artist in Residence 2023/24), Grizedale Arts and Create London often link to ideas of home, place-making and community.

Commission: Small Things Are Possible

Zaiba Jabbar

Zaiba is an award-winning director, moving image artist, commissioner, independent curator and Founder of HERVISIONS. She’s interested in the democratisation and accessibility by how we experience art outside the white cube. Her curatorial project HERVISIONS is an investigation into how people in the margins are using technology to create art outside of traditional formats, making space for themselves through the experience of expanded moving image. She is a leader in augmented reality and digital art exhibitions online and offline working with partners and institutes that include Tate Modern, LUX, i-D, Google Arts and Culture, IAMSOUND, The London College of Fashion, Loom Festival, Spectacles, arebyte, Furtherfield and The Photographers Gallery. Zaiba was curator in residence at LUX in (2018) and a board member of Abandon Normal Devices.

Commission by HERVISIONS: Wild Wired! Rewilding Encounters of Langthorne Park

Graeme Miller

Graeme Miller is an artist, composer and performance-maker working internationally across a wide range of media from radio to gallery installation and is known for his sited, performative social works.

His practice emerged from UK performance of the 1980s as the co-founder of the influential theatre company Impact Theatre Co-operative. While continuing to make his own stage works that include A Girl Skipping (1990), he evolved a wide-ranging practice as an artist. He makes work that often responds to ideas about place and time, creating situational pieces that shift the attention in his audience. He also composes music and designs sound for theatre, dance, TV and film and is Associate Artist Tutor on the MA Performance Making Course at Goldsmiths University, London.

Graeme lived for a decade in artists housing in Leyton between 1984 and 1994. His family home ended up in the epicentre of the protests to stop the M11 Motorway and was one of the final houses to be demolished for its construction. His radio work LINKED has broadcast in the area since 2003.

Commission: LINKED

Please ‘pay what you can’ for your ticket. Our suggested donation is £7.50.

Image: Abel Holsborough

Still from Derek Jarman's The Garden. Sand, plants and trees can be seen.

Creative Kids

How does your garden grow?

WORKSHOPS

Thursday 18 January 2024

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Our Creative Kids sessions are monthly craft activity workshops for children aged 2 to 5 and their carers.

Taking inspiration from The Garden by Derek Jarman (1990) which features in our Radical Landscapes exhibition, we will be creating our own sun print gardens using cyanotype paper and decorating the frames with natural forms.

As this can be a messy session, please wear or bring old clothes. Aprons are available. The session is best suited for children 2 to 5 years old.

All sessions include a tour of the Gallery, the craft activity, singing and snack time.

These are FREE sessions but donations in support of our public programme are always welcomed and can also be made via the Eventbrite booking page if you are attending either session.

Booking information:

(BOOKING OPENS ON 4 JANUARY 2024)

Morning Session: 10am – 11.30am – Advance booking on Eventbrite. Please book tickets for all attendees.

Afternoon Session: 1pm – 2.30pm – Drop in with limited capacity. Please arrive on time and sign up at the front desk.

Image: Derek Jarman, The Garden, Courtesy & © Basilisk Communications

Family Day

Wild Wired!

RADICAL LANDSCAPES PROGRAMME

Saturday 27 January 2024

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An exciting family-friendly workshop inspired by the recent Radical Landscapes commission from HERVISIONS. We’re also celebrating Tamil Heritage Month, with more activities to enjoy around the Gallery.

Drawing inspiration from the local plants and wildlife of Lloyd Park, at this Family Day we’ll be imagining the land of the park as a living body and wondering about the superpowers that the park’s organisms could harness.

Join Zaiba Jabbar of HERVISIONS to make a collaged creature magnet using natural materials and flora and fauna images. Take it home and bring the outside world in.

The activity is suitable for children aged 5+ years. All materials will be provided.

These activities will take place in the Learning Centre on the top floor of the Gallery.

We’re also excited to be celebrating Tamil Awareness Month on Saturday 27 at the Gallery, which means even more things to do for the family. On the first floor landing you’ll find a diorama model of a Pongal ceremony made by students from the local Tamil school. Pongal — meaning ‘to overflow’ — refers to a ritual in which sweet rice is made in an earthen pot, and brought to boil over as offering to the Gods. The Tamil Temple will lead a Pongal ceremony in the Bedford Road car park, next to the Gallery at 11am.

There will also be a colouring activity with pictures depicting the main elements of a typical Pongal ceremony.

All children must be accompanied by an adult.

Image: HERVISIONS

In Conversation with Veronica Ryan

TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS

Thursday 18 January 2024

Home / What's on/ In Conversation with Veronica Ryan

Join the 2022 Turner Prize Winning artist Veronica Ryan at the Gallery for a special In Conversation event as part of Radical Landscapes.

We are proud to be welcoming Veronica Ryan in a discussion about her extraordinary career and the themes and motivations around her work. Ryan won last year’s Turner Prize for her solo exhibition Along a Spectrum at Spike Island, works from which are included in our current exhibition Radical Landscapes, and for her public sculptures celebrating the Windrush Generation in Hackney. Her sculptures and installations examine environmental concerns, personal narratives and memories, as well as the wider psychological implications of history, trauma and recovery. A former resident of Leyton, Ryan last showed work at the William Morris Gallery in a group show ‘E11 Works on Paper’ in the 1980s and we are very proud to see her return.

The artist will be joined in conversation with Hadrian Garrard, Director of the William Morris Gallery, co-curator of Radical Landscapes. Garrard worked previously with Ryan, leading the Hackney Windrush Commissions as Director of Create London. The event will be followed by an audience Q&A.

6.30pm – Doors open
7pm – Talk and Q&A
8pm – Radical Landscapes curator’s tour

Please ‘pay what you can’ for your ticket. Our suggested donation is £7.50.

Image: Veronica Ryan. Photographed by Erdem Moralioglu for Harper’s Bazaar

William Morris Gallery & The Hive present: Nightwalk

With Misery

OFF SITE

Saturday 17 February 2024

Home / What's on/ William Morris Gallery & The Hive present: Nightwalk

Join us to celebrate the successes and mark the closing of Radical Landscapes. Nightwalk is a collaboration with The Hive and mental health collective Misery.

Inspired by social movements such as Right to Roam, Reclaim the Night and the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, William Morris Gallery and The Hive present Nightwalk, an evening packed full of outdoor and creative activities.

The event begins at Chingford Station, where participants join our invited walking group guides to ramble through Epping Forest to reach The Hive Climate and Environment Education Centre – in the middle of the forest. We’ll be joined by Epping Forest Heritage Trust guides as well as the GEM Family Hike group for this journey.

At The Hive, a range of activities will be on offer both indoors and outdoors. The Hive will be offering fire pit building, bushcraft and other nocturnal animal inspired activities. Sober club night and mental health collective, Misery, will be taking over The Lodge and the historic Suntrap building for music performances and creative workshops, all inspired by the local landscape and history of Epping Forest.

Enjoy food and drink from The Gleaners Community Cafe throughout the night. Normally based at the Hornbeam Centre, The Gleaners is a community cafe that uses surplus produce — quality ingredients that would otherwise go to waste — to make tasty, plant-based meals.

Timings:

4pm – 5pm Walk from Chingford Station to The Hive, Epping Forest

5pm – 8pm Music, performances, and activities for all (5pm – 6pm family friendly)

6pm – 7pm Option for younger audiences to walk back to Chingford station

8pm – 9pm Walk back from The Hive, Epping Forest, to Chingford Station

About Misery

Misery is a playful mental health collective and sober rave led by and for queer, trans, intersex, people of colour with lived experience of madness, addiction, disability, trauma, and neurodivergence. we co-create accessible sober spaces, services, practices and resources to cultivate communities of care that can support and sustain the collective healing and resilience of queer, trans, intersex Black, indigenous and people of colour. misery is a reminder that you’re not too sensitive, it’s mad out here.

Since early 2022, Misery has run monthly, in-person, plant magic gatherings called ‘misery medicine’ which have seen hundreds of QTIBPOC gather in green spaces across London. Guided by community herbalists, we learn about the medicinal properties of the plants that grow freely around us, communally forage and make tea and tinctures, and engage in healing art practices held by the nature around us.

@miseryparty

About The Hive

The Hive (previously Suntrap) has been offering environmental education for over 50 years at a beautiful, inspiring location in Epping Forest. The Hive is dedicated to fostering a deep understanding of the environment and its intricate connections with the climate. Through immersive experiences, hands-on activities, and expert guidance, The Hive seeks to empower individuals of all ages to become informed stewards of the Earth. Their aim is to inspire curiosity, instill awareness, and encourage sustainable actions that positively impact the planet through interactions with the natural world in the beautiful environment of Epping Forest.

@hiveintheforest

Our walking guides and groups

The Epping Forest Heritage Trust is a charity and a membership organisation with a big mission to inspire people about Epping Forest, and to conserve and protect its irreplaceable biodiversity, culture and heritage now and for generations to come. It operates across the whole of Epping Forest, covering 6,000 acres stretching from Manor Park in East London to Epping in Essex.

www.efht.org.uk

The GEM Family Hike is a monthly walking group, created as a way of connecting Global Ethnic Majority families and enjoying nature together. The group meets on the first Sunday of the month to explore Walthamstow Marshes and Wetland.

@gemfamilyhike

Image: by Neven Kremarek

Winter Late

at William Morris Gallery

SPECIAL EVENTS

Thursday 30 November 2023

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Join us for a special evening of festive crafts, exhibition tours, music, late night shopping, food and drink.

On Thursday 30 November we’re keeping the Gallery open after hours for a Winter Late event to celebrate the festive season.

There’s something for visitors of all ages to enjoy, including:

Crafts – Create your own Victorian Yuletide pomander. This drop-in activity will be available on the first-floor landing, starting at 5pm and running until 8pm. Suitable for children (aged 5+)
Curator-led tours – Join tours of the Radical Landscapes exhibition at 7pm, 7.30pm, and 8pm. Simply sign up at the front desk to participate.
Music – Enjoy performances by the Rose and Crown Singers.
Late night shopping – The William Morris Gallery Shop is offering a 10% discount on selected items.
Deeney’s Cafe at William Morris Gallery – Sip on mulled wine and a variety of seasonal treats.

Admission is FREE.

Image: © William Morris Gallery

Highlights

Family Day

Once was Walthamstow

WORKSHOPS

Saturday 25 November 2023

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Sculpting and 3D Scanning Workshop. Part of the Radical Landscapes Events and Activities Programme.

Make a modelling clay monument and learn about 3D scanning by adding to a Walthamstow of 200 years ago on a physical and virtual map!

Reimagine the landscape of rural Walthamstow from 200 years ago. Using your experience of the urban landscape of today and inspiration from the Radical Landscapes exhibition, make a modelling clay sculpture to add to Coe’s 1822 map and create a collaborative artwork. Digital art collective Compiler will be 3-D scanning the sculptures to build a digital Walthamstow using the foundations of the 200-year-old map.

What is the Coe Map?

The Coe Map of 1822 (from the Waltham Forest Archive collection at Vestry House Museum) was produced by John Coe and depicts Walthamstow as it was in 1822, before urban expansion took hold and the landscape was changed forever.

The activity is suitable for children aged 5+ years.

All materials will be provided.

Activities will take place on the first-floor landing in the Gallery.

All children must be accompanied by an adult.

Image: Compiler

Queer Stone Circle

With Simon Olmetti

OFF SITE

Saturday 3 February 2024

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A workshop with Simon Olmetti. Part of the Radical Landscapes events and activities programme.

A workshop and collective ritual to create a temporary stone circle of painted and reclaimed small rocks. Join the event at Lea Bridge Library where participants are invited to queer rocks through painting and patterning whilst sharing experiences of the land. The event will then proceed to Walthamstow Marshes, culminating in an Imbolc-inspired ritual. This is originally a Celtic/Pagan celebration to mark mid-winter, and will involve planting new ‘seeds’ for spring and spiritually reclaiming the land as queer and as our own.

Welcoming the LBGTQIA+ community, friends, and allies to this Radical Landscapes event.

About the artist

Simon is an Italian artist living in London, and a PhD candidate in Fine Arts at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. His practice and research focus on queering the land through spirituality, utilising walking, sculptural forms, video, photography, creative writing and performative rituals. Simon has participated in several exhibitions, including Visions in the Nunnery, Bow Arts; Queer/in/g/Nature at the Ledward Centre, Brighton; and Queer Land(s), his solo show at the James Hockey Gallery, UCA. He has run many art and spiritual workshops. He’s currently a member of Queer Religious Past, an international academic group in collaboration with Paris8 University.

Exploring Culture and Identity Through Ludo

for Black History Month

WORKSHOPS

Saturday 28 October 2023

Home / What's on/ Exploring Culture and Identity Through Ludo

A workshop organised by Kimartee and supported by William Morris Gallery.

A free community workshop for Black History Month.

The theme for Black History Month this year is ‘Saluting our Sisters’ and this workshop highlights the crucial role that Black women have played in shaping history, inspiring change, and building communities.

Using your imagination and creativity, you will design unique and personalised ludo boards that serve as a continuation of this cultural legacy. This allows you to not only produce beautiful works of art but also enjoy playing the game with friends and family at home.

Workshops are open to all adults and children aged 12 and over (no experience necessary).

Serene Sketching Activity Pack

RADICAL LANDSCAPES PROGRAMME

Saturday 21 October 2023 - Sunday 18 February 2024

Home / What's on/ Serene Sketching Activity Pack

Serene sketching is a drawing pack to help visitors slow down and take a closer look at the nature around them.

Based on Ruskin’s art theory on “truth to nature”, this drawing pack and its prompts aim to help visitors slow down and take a closer look at the nature around them, and the beauty of Lloyd Park. It includes a drawing pad, coloured pencils, a nature-themed viewfinder, a description and a list of drawing prompts for inspiration. There will be 20 packs available at the front desk with a visitor sign-out sheet.

Mindful Mapping

With Kelly Frank

RADICAL LANDSCAPES PROGRAMME

Monday 15 January 2024

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A guided painting session inspired by the work of JMW Turner and Hurvin Anderson. Part of the Radical Landscapes events and activities programme.

Inspired by artists JMW Turner and Hurvin Anderson from the Radical Landscapes exhibition, this guided painting session will encourage artists to consider their emotional response to the landscape. Using watercolour and masking techniques you will create an experimental map, exploring mindful painting practises, cartographical tools, and social mapping.

This workshop is suitable for beginners. Participants with all levels of experience are welcome.

Kelly Frank is a contemporary painter from East London. Her works explore themes of identity, memory, and relationships. Kelly has taught at various art institutions and utilises innovative teaching approaches to encourage mindfulness through art.

Welcoming participants aged 60 and over.

Wild Wired! Rewilding Encounters of Langthorne Park – Showcase event

OFF SITE

Saturday 21 October 2023

Home / What's on/ Wild Wired! Rewilding Encounters of Langthorne Park – Showcase event

Meet the artists, celebrate and play Wild Wired! Rewilding Encounters of Langthorne Park.

Come to Leytonstone Toy Library for a family-friendly showcase event to meet the artists, celebrate and play Wild Wired! Rewilding Encounters of Langthorne Park, a community-driven artistic commission and mobile-friendly game in response to the Radical Landscapes exhibition at the William Morris Gallery.

In a series of artist-led workshops in collaboration with Leytonstone Toy Library and the Youth Club at Worth Unlimited this summer, HERVISIONS invited local residents to imagine the future of Langthorne Park set in a parallel universe, and collaboratively create a narrative, landscapes and characters for a site-specific game. During the workshops, we collaged words and images of local wildlife into stories and visual narratives with the help of image-generating AI systems such as Midjourney and ChatGPT while deliberating on their unperfectness and speculating on how the park could look in hundreds of years. Drawing inspiration from local plants and their medicinal properties and imagining the land of the park as a living body inspired by Taoism, we began to wonder what superpowers its organs could harness.

We are thrilled to invite you to see how the workshop outcomes have transformed into an interactive mobile-friendly game. To play in the park, scan one of the QR codes on banners located around Langthorne Park E11 using your mobile phone and look for passwords nearby to access five game environments.

Leytonstone Toy Library, Birch Grove, London E11 4YG. Light refreshments will be provided.

Wild Wired! Rewilding Encounters of Langthorne Park is co-curated and produced by Zaiba Jabbar and Tanya Boyarkina with Christine Lai. Read more about the commission here.

Forest Bathing at William Morris Gallery

Supporters and partners

Family Day

Wonderful Weaving

RADICAL LANDSCAPES PROGRAMME

Saturday 21 October 2023

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Weave your own plant pot with artist Lucy Rainbow.

Part of the Radical Landscapes Events and Activities Programme.

Taking inspiration from the themes of the Radical Landscapes exhibition, in this activity we’ll be engaging with nature and the rural traditions of our ancestors. The materials to make baskets were readily available in the local wetlands, which meant that basket weaving was a widely practised craft in Waltham Forest. Guided by artist Lucy Rainbow, you’ll learn how to make a simple woven pot using natural fibres.

The activity is suitable for children aged 5+ years. A simpler weaving activity will be available for younger visitors.

All materials will be provided.

Activities will take place on the first-floor landing in the Gallery.

All children must be accompanied by an adult.

Image: Lucy Rainbow

Family Day

Beasts and Birds, Flowers and Foliage

WORKSHOPS

Saturday 23 September 2023

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Join us for Family Day fun! Tile decorating activity led by artist Lucy Rainbow.

William De Morgan was Morris and Co’s principal ceramic designer and maker. Most of his tiles feature foliage and flower designs, whilst some of his best loved and greatest designs feature animals. De Morgan took medieval, Persian, and Japanese influences and blended them in into his own unique style.

In this activity you will be guided in how to use ceramic paint and pens to decorate a 15cm x 15cm ceramic tile, taking inspiration from the designs of William De Morgan.

All materials will be provided.

Activities take place in our Learning Studio on the top floor of the Gallery accessed by stairs and lift.

Activities are suitable for children aged 5+

All children must be accompanied by an adult.

Image: Animal Tile, William de Morgan, c.1882-88

Creative Kids

Deck the halls!

WORKSHOPS

Thursday 21 December 2023

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Our Creative Kids sessions are monthly craft activity workshops for children aged 2 to 5 and their carers.

Taking inspiration from all things Morris, we will be making our own festive wreaths to spread cheer and good will!

As this can be a messy session, please wear or bring old clothes. Aprons are available. The session is best suited for children 2 to 5 years old.

All sessions include a tour of the Gallery, the craft activity, singing and snack time.

These are FREE sessions but donations in support of our public programme are always welcomed and can also be made via the Eventbrite booking page if you are attending either session.

Booking information:

Morning Session: 10am – 11.30am – Advance booking on Eventbrite. Please book tickets for all attendees.

Afternoon Session: 1pm – 2.30pm – Drop in with limited capacity. Please arrive on time and sign up at the front desk.

Image: Birds in a Holly Tree wallpaper (1890s), Edward Voysey

Creative Kids

Stained glass inspirations

WORKSHOPS

Thursday 16 November 2023

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Our Creative Kids sessions are monthly craft activity workshops for children aged 2 to 5 and their carers.

Stained glass was a popular feature in Victorian times, when it was often used to personalise people’s homes. At our November Creative Kids sessions we’ll be looking at the beautiful stained-glass creations in our collection before making colourful windows to decorate your home with.

As this can be a messy session, please wear or bring old clothes. Aprons are available. The session is best suited for children 2 to 5 years old.

All sessions include a tour of the Gallery, the craft activity, singing and snack time.

These are FREE sessions but donations in support of our public programme are always welcomed and can also be made via the Eventbrite booking page if you are attending either session.

Booking information:

Morning Session: 10am – 11.30am – Advance booking on Eventbrite. Please book tickets for all attendees.

Afternoon Session: 1pm – 2.30pm – Drop in with limited capacity. Please arrive on time and sign up at the front desk.

Image: Detail from Minstrel with Cymbals (1880s), designed by William Morris

Creative Kids

Make music, be merry!

WORKSHOPS

Thursday 19 October 2023

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Our Creative Kids sessions are monthly craft activity workshops for children aged 2 to 5 and their carers.

Music, instruments, and music makers are a recurring theme in the work of Frank Brangwyn. Explore the Brangwyn galleries and be inspired to make your own musical instrument.

As this can be a messy session, please wear or bring old clothes. Aprons are available. The session is best suited for children 2 to 5 years old.

All sessions include a tour of the Gallery, the craft activity, singing and snack time.

These are FREE sessions but donations in support of our public programme are always welcomed and can also be made via the Eventbrite booking page if you are attending either session.

Booking information:

Morning Session: 10am – 11.30am – Advance booking on Eventbrite. Please book tickets for all attendees.

Afternoon Session: 1pm – 2.30pm – Drop in with limited capacity. Please arrive on time and sign up at the front desk.

Image: Group Listening to Musicians, Frank Brangwyn c.1902

Close detail of the Peacock and Dragon design by William Morris

Creative Kids

Telling Stories like William Morris

WORKSHOPS

Thursday 14 September 2023

Home / What's on/ Creative Kids

Our Creative Kids sessions are monthly craft activity workshops for children aged 2 to 5 and their carers.

Discover the stories behind some of William Morris’s best loved patterns at our Creative Kids sessions for September.

William Morris loved to tell stories and the animals in his designs often came from ancient myths, classic children’s tales or the things that happened in his everyday life. At these sessions we’ll be making animal masks inspired by Morris’s patterns, telling stories and singing songs.

As this can be a messy session, please wear or bring old clothes. Aprons are available. The session is best suited for children 2 to 5 years old.

All sessions include a tour of the Gallery, the craft activity, singing and snack time.

These are FREE sessions but donations in support of our public programme are always welcomed and can also be made via the Eventbrite booking page if you are attending either session.

Booking information:

Morning Session: 10am – 11.30am – Advance booking on Eventbrite. Please book tickets for all attendees.

Afternoon Session: 1pm – 2.30pm – Drop in with limited capacity. Please arrive on time and sign up at the front desk.

Image: Detail from Bird & Peacock by William Morris © William Morris Gallery

Family Day

Design and Dance! With Nandita Shankardass

WORKSHOPS

Monday 28 August 2023

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A dance and design workshop inspired by Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender.

The choice of what we wear can offer signals, create visibility and be a celebration of self-expression. In this workshop, Nandita Shankardass, founder of Welcome Movement © draws inspiration from Ashish Gupta’s motivation for his designs and Ashish Shah’s photography in the current exhibition Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender.

You will be guided on a journey of imagining and designing an outfit to express yourself, exploring the textures and movement of fabrics and the way in which they are created. You will then take part in a dance and movement experience to embody your design on the catwalk! This is an activity for any age to enjoy and express through design and dance.

“We can express ourselves and our identity through the way in which we dress, the fabric we favour, the parts of us we decide to cover, those parts we show and the way it settles and falls on our skin. The colours we choose can give a clue or extension of how we feel. Fashion is a form of powerful self-expression, of making a statement without a sound, yet its presence creates a vibration, permitting the power of the movement and colour of the cloth to tell a story and create an energy around us.” Nandita Shankardass

Belle, colourful and creative storyteller, is pictured with an array of rainbow colours in background

Family Day

Rainbow Storytime for Waltham Forest Pride

WORKSHOPS

Saturday 29 July 2023

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Celebrate Waltham Forest Pride on Saturday 29 July with a special Family Day at William Morris Gallery.

Join us for Rainbow Storytime with the colourful and creative Belle, who’ll be telling stories that highlight the beauty of difference and inclusivity. We welcome LBGTQIA+ families, friends, and allies.

Drop in for free storytelling sessions at 2.40pm, 3.10pm, 3.40pm and 4.10pm. While you listen to the stories, we have a Pride flag colouring-in activity to enjoy. Numbers are limited for each of the storytelling sessions so please arrive in plenty of time – sign up sheets for each session will be available at our front desk on the day.

We offer a break-out sensory space for any children requiring some time away from the activities. Whilst you’re at the Gallery, pick up a Family Trail for ‘Ashish: Fall in Love & Be More Tender’ and complete it to win your prize! You can also take part in Waltham Forest Pride celebrations all day, just down the road at Waltham Forest Town Hall.

Read more about Waltham Forest Pride here.

Waltham Forest Pride activity programme: Waltham Forest Pride 2023 Programme

Ashish Gupta at this exhibition with mannequins in the background in Ashish designs

In Conversation with Ashish

With Ashish Gupta and Avani Thakkar

TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS

Wednesday 14 June 2023

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Join us for an ‘In Conversation’ with Ashish and Avani Thakkar followed by an exclusive private view of the exhibition.

Join us for an In Conversation with Ashish and Avani Thakkar. Together they’ll be taking a deep dive into Ashish’s expansive career and how his penchant for juxtaposition and contradictions led him to create such colourfully mischievous collections in response to the social fabric of our world.

The talk will be followed by a private view of the exhibition Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender.

Please ‘pay what you can’ for your ticket. Our suggested donation is £7.50 in person or £5 online.

6pm – Doors open
6.30 – 7.30pm – Talk followed by Q&A
7.30 – 8.30pm – Private view
8.30pm – End

The event will be live captioned. Please note that the live streaming has been cancelled. A recording of the talk will be uploaded to our YouTube channel following the event.

Ashish Gupta is a celebrated voice in international fashion. He has won the prestigious NEWGEN award three times and has been included in major exhibitions and presentations at The Victoria & Albert Museum, London and The Metropolitan Museum, New York. Ashish’s designs have been worn by global icons including Beyonce, Debbie Harry, Hunter Schafer, Rihanna, Charli XCX and Taylor Swift.

Avani Thakkar is a fashion and culture writer with words in Vogue, ELLE, Dazed, i-D, gal-dem, W, Nylon, The Observer, InStyle and other publications.

Creative Kids

William Morris' Garden

WORKSHOPS

Thursday 20 July 2023

Home / What's on/ Creative Kids

Our Creative Kids sessions are monthly craft activity workshops for children aged 2 to 5 and their carers.

At our July sessions we’ll be thinking about William Morris’s love of the outdoors. So we’ll take a tour around the William Morris Garden in a ‘spot the flower activity’ and make paper plate flowers inspired by nature.

As this can be a messy session, please wear or bring old clothes. Aprons are available. The session is best suited for children 2 to 5 years old. Two sessions available, booking is essential.

All sessions include a tour of the gallery, the craft activity, singing and snack time. There are two 1hour and 30min sessions to choose from, at 10am and 1pm. Please register for one session only to ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate. If you are unable to attend please cancel your booking so that another child can take your place. In the event of cancellations, a number of walk-in slots will be available on the day.

We have a space for buggy parking and our baby changing facilities have spare nappies, wipes, clothes and a few other items you might need.

There is a sensory area for under 2s or for those who need a calmer space, families are also welcome to use this space if they need to step away from the main session.

Please be aware that children must be accompanied by their adult at all times, and please ensure there is at least one guardian per 3 children attending.

Catwalk image with model wearing Ashish designs

Creative Kids

Fabulous Fashion

WORKSHOPS

Thursday 15 June 2023

Home / What's on/ Creative Kids

Our Creative Kids sessions are monthly craft activity workshops for children aged 2 to 5 and their carers.

In our June sessions we will be inspired by the Gallery’s current exhibition, Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender. Make a cape and transform your everyday clothes!

As this can be a messy session, please wear or bring old clothes. Aprons are available. The session is best suited for children 2 to 5 years old. Two sessions available, booking is essential.

We have a space for buggy parking and our baby changing facilities have spare nappies, wipes, clothes and a few other items you might need.

There is a sensory area for under 2s or for those who need a calmer space, families are also welcome to use this space if they need to step away from the main session.

Please be aware that children must be accompanied by their adult at all times, and please ensure there is at least one guardian per 3 children attending.

Family Day

Elevate the Everyday

WORKSHOPS

Saturday 3 June 2023

Home / What's on/ Family Day

You’re invited to a special Family Day in June, celebrating Ashish:Fall in Love and Be More Tender.

Inspired by Ashish Gupta’s use of recycled vintage fabrics and vintage patches to create collage garments for his SS2020 collection, we’re going to bring old clothing to life with colourful badges and patches. So come along and get creative – for families with children of all ages. Whilst you’re at the Gallery, complete the Ashish Family Trail and claim your prize!

This is a free, drop-in event. No booking necessary. We have a break out sensory space for children needing a break from activities (must be supervised by their grown-up).

Read more about the exhibition here.

Rezia Wahid: dancing in the womb

Book launch

SPECIAL EVENTS

Saturday 20 May 2023

Home / What's on/ Rezia Wahid: dancing in the womb

Celebrate the launch of Rezia Wahid’s new book dancing in the womb

The book foregrounds the making, the processes and the physicality of a woven artform.’Susie Campbell

Come and celebrate the launch of Rezia Wahid’s new book dancing in the womb, a colour hardback with stunning photographs by Paul Tucker and essays by the late Simon Olding, Catherine Harper and Hettie Judah. Rebecca Jacobs will host a conversation with Rezia, Paul Tucker and Sangeeta Banerjee, followed by a book signing and refreshments.

Rezia Wahid MBE is a textile artist and designer based in Walthamstow. dancing in the womb is published by Hesterglock Press.

Maids of Honour embroidery by May Morris

Creative Kids

May Morris’s Extraordinary Embroidery

WORKSHOPS

Thursday 18 May 2023

Home / What's on/ Creative Kids

Our Creative Kids sessions are monthly craft activity workshops for children aged 2 to 5 and their carers.

In May, we’ll be doing a special craft activity inspired by May Morris’s extraordinary embroidery.

All sessions include a tour of the gallery, the craft activity, singing and snack time. Please register for one session only to ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate. If you are unable to attend please cancel your booking so that another child can take your place. In the event of cancellations, a number of walk-in slots will be available on the day.

As this can be a messy session, please wear or bring old clothes. Aprons are available. We have a space for buggy parking and our baby changing facilities have spare nappies, wipes, clothes and a few other items you might need. There is a sensory area for under 2s or for those who need a calmer space, families are also welcome to use this space if they need to step away from the main session.

Please be aware that children must be accompanied by their adult at all times, and please ensure there is at least one guardian per 3 children attending.

Curator-Led Tour

Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender

TOURS

Thursday 27 July 2023

Home / What's on/ Curator-Led Tour

Visit William Morris Gallery for a special curator-led tour of Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender.

Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender is the first major survey exhibition of fashion designer Ashish Gupta. It will showcase over 60 designs, offering an unprecedented overview of Ashish’s subversive and playful practice. The exhibition features a major new commission by the Mumbai-based photographer and film-maker Ashish Shah.

See the exhibition with one of our curators as your guide. A great opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the work and ideas behind Ashish’s creations.

Read more about the exhibition here.

Curator-Led Tour

Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender

TOURS

Thursday 22 June 2023

Home / What's on/ Curator-Led Tour

Visit William Morris Gallery for a special curator-led tour of Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender.

See the exhibition with one of our curators as your guide. A great opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the work and ideas behind Ashish’s creations.

Read more about the exhibition here.

Curator-Led Tour

Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender

TOURS

Thursday 18 May 2023

Home / What's on/ Curator-Led Tour

Visit William Morris Gallery for a special curator-led tour of Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender.

See the exhibition with one of our curators as your guide. A great opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the work and ideas behind Ashish’s creations.

Read more about the exhibition here.

Curator-Led Tour

Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender

TOURS

Thursday 27 April 2023

Home / What's on/ Curator-Led Tour

Visit William Morris Gallery for a special curator-led tour of Ashish: Fall in Love and Be More Tender.

See the exhibition with one of our curators as your guide. A great opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the work and ideas behind Ashish’s creations.

Read more about the exhibition here.