E17 Designers Valentines Special at the William Morris Gallery

Upstairs in the gloriously refurbished William Morris Gallery, we will be having a market selling handmade items for you, or for your loved one. A loving selection of artists and designer-makers, many taking Morris as their inspiration, but with amorous prices and hearty styles to suit all tastes and pockets! Featuring wandering minstrels, pop-up Poetry of Love from the Forest Poets and a Valentine  medley from Natural Voices! Gifts of pleasure from prints and precious gems, to corsages and customised cufflinks...for menfolk and ladies!

Adults £2 (including entertainment and entry to the fund raising prize draw), children under 16 free, no booking necessary. 

February 9th 2013 10-5pm

William Morris Gallery

Lloyd Park Forest Road, Walthamstow, London

E17 4PP

About the gallery:

The Gallery underwent a major redevelopment during 2011-12. The project was led by Waltham Forest Council, which owns and manages the Gallery, and was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Friends of the William Morris Gallery and numerous charitable trusts, sponsors and individual donors.

The historic house was fully refurbished, with new collection displays being created on the ground and first floors. The top floor was turned into a learning and research centre, with staff offices being relocated to the refurbished basement. A new extension was built on the site of the old east wing, housing a tea room, a special exhibition gallery and a collection store.

Inspired by William Morris....

Several of the E17 Designers have made it into a great new exhibition at the William Morris gallery. 50 artists, which include Kirsten Schmidt, Anna Alcock, Stephen Kenny, Anja Jane and Sharon Church, have taken inspiration from the legendary William Morris from textile artists, ceramics and even film makers. So pop along and see how the artistic legacy of Morris still lives on through modern contemporary artists today, running until Christmas.

The exhibition has been listed as part of the Story of London, click here to read more.
The gallery have installed exhibits dotted throughout the building. In the hope that by hanging some of the works in the permanent galleries as well as the special exhibition space visitors will be inspired by relationships between 'old' and 'new'.

Some of the designers and their creations:

Anja Jane has created a beautiful woodcut style limited edition two-colour screenprint as part of the William Morris Series.

It would make a perfect personalised gift as a handmade screen-printed limited edition of 30.
Check out Anja's website for more info.

Anna Alcock and Kirsten Schmidt from Inky Cuttlefish have created this great relief and screen print onto fabric and paper, titled 'Forest Guardians'
Size: Diptych: 118cm x 72cm (each framed size) that makes 118 x 144cm when pieces hang next to each other.
Price (if applicable): £1000

Artist’s statement: How is your work inspired by William Morris?
Inspired by the quote 'Fellowship is life' , we set out to create a work that reflects the ethos of the arts and crafts movement and more specifically was inspired by William Morris, his life, work and writings. Working together we decided each to do a symbolic self-portrait with the title Forest Guardians. We have each brought our individual histories to this piece, with a specific focus on protection and nature. William Morris was inspired by a wide variety of cultures and decorative art, and as international artists born in another country we have brought this element to our pieces.

The decorative elements were key to making Forest Guardians autonomous, and we wanted to make ensure we were loyal to William Morris and his use of nature in repeat patterns, which we did with the border. We printed on fabric and used traditional relief printing techniques in homage to William Morris & Co.

William Morris was influenced and used a medieval style of decoration and flat simplified natural motifs – we used this as our foundation from which to work. Kirsten’s figure is inspired by a medieval German sculpture of a woman holding a lamb, and her border and dress are inspired by the medieval style of decoration.



Sharon Church has a great textile piece that includes many modern techniques such as hand machine embroidery and burnishing. To learn more about Sharon from i am inspired check out her website.

LECTURE: The Art of Calligraphy

Just to let you know about an exciting lecture taking place at the William Morris Gallery.
They often have great things going on so make sure to check out their site for more events.

Wednesday 7 July, 7pm
William Morris Gallery

Master calligrapher Paul Antonio lectures on Morris’ achievements in calligraphy, and reflects on his relevance to contemporary artists. Antonio is one of maybe 50 full time professional scribes in the country. He runs a thriving studio in Clapham and has lectured at the British Museum, V&A and others. Paul recently featured in the Guardian's excellent 'Disappearing acts' series:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/audioslideshow/2010/feb/18/work-and-careers

Tickets £5, available from the Gallery on 020 8496 4390 or
wmg.enquiries@walthamforest.gov.uk

East London Vintage and Ethical Fashion Events

We have some more upcoming not to miss events in Walthamstow and Highams Park.

The first is the Ethical Fashion Show on Thursday at 7pm featuring work from the E17 Designers very own "Queenie and Ted" who will be showing and selling their unique customised clothes and accessories. Make sure you get ready for spring with their one-off, "up-cycled" jackets, bags and jewellery!

Tickets for the Ethical Fashion Show at the William Morris Gallery are on sale now and can be purchased by contacting the Gallery on 020 8496 4390. The Ethical Fashion Show will raise funds in support of the William Morris Gallery Development Project.

The other exciting event is the Vintage 'n' Retro Tea Party at Highams Park this Saturday where you can also catch up with some of the E17 Designers.