Sunday 23 February 2014

Re-discovered Treasures and The Week on Twitter

As noted on the William Morris Society (UK) website, an exciting discovery has been made in an attic room of Kelmscott House

RE-DISCOVERED TREASURES: Morris and Co. Embroidery Designs
Exhibition: 14th November 2013 - 13th February 2014

Re-discovered after many years, our current exhibition is of 10 previously unknown and unseen beautiful drawings for embroidery designs from Morris and Co.

The drawings were originally discovered in an attic room of Kelmscott House, Hammersmith and then disappeared before being brought back to the William Morris Society premises in the coach house of Kelmscott House This exhibition allows us an opportunity to have another fresh glimpse at the prolific creativity of Morris and his fellow designers whilst further research is currently underway to identify the pieces breathing new life into these newly re-discovered gems.



And on Twitter this week:

~ Kelmscott Manor has a very active YouTube channel! So much to see... check it out here.

~ The William Morris Gallery updated their "What's On" page on their website.

~ Red House is justly proud of their newly acquired Philip Webb water jug and tweeted a picture of it. They're also repainting (by brush) rooms so that they appear as they would have in Morris's time. Out with the white, in with the mustard!

And Morris gets the final word:

~The University of Maryland's Special Collections exhibit of Morris tweets as "How We Might Live" @WmMorrisUMD. They often quote the highly quotable Morris and this week a particular favourite was:

"No man is good enough to be another's master."


What he said!

Sunday 16 February 2014

Photography Lecture and the Week on Twitter

Diane Waggoner from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, visited the WMSC last Wednesday to give a lecture, Photography and Pre-Raphaelitism. Gorgeously illustrated, it provided fascinating links between the early days of photography and the PRB. There was a good crowd in room 179 at University College and later they enjoyed refreshments in the lovely Croft Chapter House. Pictured left are Diane and WMSC president Susan Pekilis.

We'll be back at this favourite venue for our day-long symposium in March. Have you registered?

As for Morris-related news, here's just some of the action on Twitter during the last week:

~ At the National Gallery of Art in Ottawa, an exhibition opened titled John Ruskin, Artist and Observer. It runs until May 11.

~ The always-interesting Tony Pinkney blogged about Capitalism and Climate Chaos. Here's the link to his blog.

~ William Morris's birthday was March 24, and it is celebrated annually by his admirers. While we at the WMSC will be celebrating here in Canada on March 22, the UK Society is hosting a fascinating talk given by Jan Marsh and Frank Sharp on recently discovered letters from Jane Morris "which radically revise the popular view of a silent, discontented invalid and reveal the range of her interests and opinions." Can't wait to hear more!

~ You can enjoy flipping through the online version of the Kelmscott Press edition of Morris's News from Nowhere, on the Morris Online Edition, courtesy of the William Morris Society (U.S.)

~  And check this out! An advetnure for children, but I`m sure many adults will be compelled to read it: Time and Tapestry, a William Morris Adventure.




Sunday 9 February 2014

The Week on Twitter

Are you coming to this week's WMSC lecture?

Photography and Pre-Raphaelitism
Diane Waggoner, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Wednesday, 12 February 2014
7:30 p.m.
Room 179, University College
15 King's College Circle
University of Toronto



Meanwhile, in the Twitterverse, there was some good reading and watching:

~ Jeremy Deller, who's English Magic show is on at the William Morris Gallery, is interiewed here about Morris and his socialism - a must read!

~ Only a week now to catch the National Gallery's Artists, Architects and Artisans exhibition, that members of our society visited last year. Here's a video featuring curator Charles Hill.

~ The Watts Gallery's exhibition, John Ruskin: Photographer and Draughtsman includes Ruskin's use of photography, which should provide an interesting link to our event next week, Photography and Pre-Raphaelitism. Here's a video.

~ You can help Kelmscott Manor be voted as the UK's " most inspiring museum or heritage visitor attraction." The nomination form is here.

Tuesday 4 February 2014

WMSC 2014 Symposium: Morris and History

Check out the exciting details of our 2014 symposium on our Future Events page. In the meantime, you can also download our poster. Please forward it to your friends, distribute and post it early and often!

And don't forget to register!



Monday 3 February 2014

The Week on Twitter


~ We at WMSC wished the twitterverse a Happy New Chinese Year of the Horse with this delightful Burne-Jones cartoon of Morris atop an Icelandic horse

~ The Island Wool Company blogged about Morris's trip to the Faroes, with some excerpts from his journal

~ From @boccabaciata, a photograph from the Harry Potter studio tour, which includes portraits of Tennyson and Morris

~ Kelmscott Manor is launching an Artist or Craft-maker in Residence. The Residency embodies the influence Kelmscott had on Morris and his associates, and reflects its relevance to a modern audience. 

~ A selection of articles on the Pre-Raphaelites on the Smarthistory site

AND...

The William Morris Gallery won the public voting stage of Connect10, a competition that teams up winning venues with 10 artists to run an event during Museums at Night. Kelvyn Smith, AKA Mr. Smith and his Letter Press Workshop will be appearing at the Gallery over the weekend of Thursday, May 15 to Saturday, May 17. Under Mr Smith’s expert guidance gallery visitors will use traditional type to create personal and political slogans that mean something to them. To set the mood they'll start the evening with a dramatic performance of one of Morris’s socialist chants. Keep checking the gallery's website for more details.