We will be running pop-up information points during the day, looking at the Louisa Pesel altar frontal; the Morris & Co. altar frontal, Polly Meynell's altar frontals, the wall hangings in St. Aidan's Chapel created by Patricia Porter, and the stained glass windows in the music wing by Moira Forsyth. There will be a self-guided tour available, as well as a general tour and a specialist tour relating to the female designers, each taking place at 12:15pm and 2:15pm.
Alongside these there will be children's activities, refreshments at the Pop-Up Café and a talk at 1pm by Helen Elletson from the William Morris Society about May Morris.
Talk: ‘A Remarkable Woman’: The Extraordinary Life and Career of May Morris (Helen Mary Elletson)
Overshadowed for many years by her more famous father, May Morris is now beginning to gain the recognition she deserves as being an incredibly talented craftswoman in her own right. Teacher, lecturer, editor, jeweller and designer, May was accomplished in a wide range of crafts, but it is her work as an embroiderer that is considered to be her greatest achievement. May’s knowledge of needlework, her talent for designing and her brilliance with the needle led to raising the status of embroidery to fine art. This talk will cover May’s life and work, with a focus on her beautiful designs and completed embroideries, demonstrating why May should be regarded as one of the most significant artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Helen Mary Elletson has been Curator of Research and Development at the William Morris Society since 2000 and Curator at Emery Walker’s House since 2010. Amongst Helen's publications are A History of Kelmscott House (2009) and Highlights of the William Morris Society's Collection (2015), as well as articles on the Arts and Crafts movement including A Feeling for Beauty: May Morris, Emery Walker, and the Arts and Crafts of Hammersmith in Country Life (2017), and The Flowers of William and May Morris in The Victorians: A Botanical Perspective (2024)
