FUTURE EVENTS


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WMSC 190th Birthday Party


"Where is our William Morris?" - Tracing Global Arts and Crafts
Lecture by Professor Antonia Behan

 

African Marigold furnishing fabric, designed by William Morris, 1876


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.


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WMSC 2024 Book Club - TBD







Are you interested in joining the WMSC for our summer book club? Sign up and let us know!

Postponed!

Join WMSC member Lera Kotsyuba, reading A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, through the lens of William Morris' 'News From Nowhere', and ideas around a better world!





 
 
 
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We're finalizing plans for some more exciting events for 2024. Keep coming back to check for details and/or follow us on Instagram,  Twitter and Facebook!

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