Kelmscott Manor, Community Arts workshop

Back at Kelmscott Manor, the country residence of William and Jane Morris, I was invited to deliver a workshop for community arts group, West Ox Arts, as part of collaborative exhibition partnership. Artists from the group were shown round the Manor and enjoyed a very special 'Collections Workshop' with curator Dr Kathy Haslam, in which they were shown objects and artefacts from the Morris' collection, which I also thoroughly enjoyed and learnt a lot from too. The artists sketched in the Manor gardens, and returned a week later for our lino-printing workshop.

On the day, we took inspiration from sketches and bits collected in the garden. The artists all took very different and interesting approaches to their design, and got a lot out of the day. From architecture, to pattern and portraits, the inspiration was broad and the variation in styles was equally so, as they got to grips with the process with many delighting in learning something beyond their normal media.

As well as teaching and demonstrating, it was my job to combine the printed material into a key visual that would promote an exhibition the artists would later put on in the Manor. With such a broad range of styles emerging with the lino-printing, this was quite a challenge, but the end result worked. 

My poster for the event, using printed elements and textures created by the artists in our workshop.