"Where is our William Morris?" - Tracing Global Arts and Crafts
Lecture by Professor Antonia Behan
Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, 106 Trinity Street, Toronto, M5A 3C6
The craftsman, designer, and writer William Morris had a surprising influence on thinkers and makers all over the world who were variously inspired by ideas about the validation of the craftsman and hand work, the value of tradition and vernaculars, and critiques of contemporary Western industrialism and imperialism. But why were so many people around the world inspired by Morris? What did craft practitioners and theorists embrace and what did they critique? How did the principles of Arts and Crafts change over time and in different contexts? And how was Arts and Crafts used by different empires as well as by anti-colonial movements? In this talk, I will explore how Morrissian ideals were appropriated, translated, and reinterpreted by different figures across the globe, from Ireland to India, Japan to Aotearoa New Zealand in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Bio:
Antonia Behan is Assistant Professor of Design History and Material Cultures in a Global World at Queen's University, Canada. Her work focuses on the global legacies of Arts and Crafts (with a particular focus on South Asia), weaving and artisanal knowledge, and the history of materials. Her current book project, The Brain of the Machine: Crafting Design between Britain and South Asia, is a dual study of the English handweaver Ethel Mairet and the Anglo-Ceylonese art historian Ananda Coomaraswamy. Previously, she was a research fellow at Bard Graduate Center for projects including John Lockwood Kipling: Arts and Crafts in the Punjab and in London. In addition to her research, she co-hosts Craft History Workshop, a virtual works-in-progress seminar that aims to expand research on histories of making.Presentation of this year’s birthday cake and a toast celebrating Morris’s 190th birthday will follow the lecture.
The lecture itself will be available via Zoom at no charge for those unable to
attend in person. To access professor Behan’s talk virtually, please sign up at
https://forms.gle/fJVt4GABYaESmxKg6
by 6 pm on Friday, March 22. You will receive a link before the presentation begins.
To take part in the celebrations in person, please register at
https://forms.gle/iGHXjU4g66421y2o9 by Friday, March 14.
$10 for Society members; $20 for guests. Capacity is limited. To ensure your spot, please register and pay by March 14. Send cheques made out to the William Morris Society of Canada to: 3 Wolfe Court, Thornhill, ON, L4J 6T9, or pay by Paypal below:
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