Anti-Poetry Workshop

With WalthamScribe

WORKSHOPS

Sunday 7 April 2024

Are you ready to break free from the conventional boundaries of poetry and explore the captivating world of anti-poetry?

Join WalthamScribe for an immersive workshop at William Morris Gallery, designed for adults seeking to embrace the unconventional.

Anti-poetry is a revolutionary form of expression that defies traditional poetic norms. It celebrates the beauty in chaos, the profound in the mundane, and the rebellion against conventional language structures. Through anti-poetry, participants have the freedom to experiment, challenge, and redefine the art of verse.

Led by local anti-hero Fletch Fletcher.

Organised by WalthamScribe, currently in residency at William Morris Gallery. WalthamScribe is a creative writing group that explores different forms of storytelling in guided workshop sessions around Waltham Forest.

A woman reading at a workshop

Creative Writing Workshop & Book Club

With Waltham Forest Twinning Association

WORKSHOPS

Saturday 16 March 2024

Waltham Forest Twinning Association is holding monthly Creative Writing & Book Club workshops at the Gallery in 2024.

Participants are asked to bring their life experiences from the British, African Caribbean diaspora and Northeast London. These experiences will be shared through spoken and written word, leading to performance and publication opportunities. Creative writing will be followed by a book club ‘with a difference’ where you can discuss and share your favourite books. For all ages.

Facilitator: Jane Ulysses Grell – storyteller, author

Times: 12-2.30pm Creative Writing Workshop, 3-4pm Book Club ‘with a difference’

Where: Acanthus Room, William Morris Gallery

Travel: You are encouraged to use public transport, such as bus 123 or the 34, 97, 215, 275, 357 or SL1 to Bell Corner. Walthamstow Central and Blackhorse Road (Victoria Line) are the nearest tube stations.

A group of carved wooden kokeshi dolls from Japan

Family Day

Pop the corks!

WORKSHOPS

Saturday 23 March 2024

Marking the opening of the Gallery’s new exhibition, Art Without Heroes: Mingei with a toast to William Morris for his 190th Birthday (24 March). Come along to a crafting session and create your own Kokeshi doll using a champagne cork. These workshops are inspired by the Kokeshi dolls that feature in the exhibition: hand-carved wooden dolls that form part of Japan’s rich folk-craft tradition.

Visitors can also enjoy the new family trail to accompany the exhibition. The activity is suitable for children aged 5+ years.

All materials will be provided.

Activities will take place in the Learning Studio on the top floor of the Gallery.

All children must be accompanied by an adult.

A big thank you to Hometipple who have provided the corks that we will be transforming into Kokeshi Dolls. To continue the celebrations Hometipple is offering 10% off wine and spirits bottles to take home, when you present your Kokeshi Doll at the shop (please note, this offer can only be used for one purchase per doll). Offer ends 30 April 2024.

Image: Kokeshi by Fujita Mitsuhara, courtesy of Sway Gallery London 

Toddler with parent in an art workshop at William Morris Gallery

Mini Morris

Happy Birthday William Morris!

WORKSHOPS

Thursday 21 March 2024

Creative Kids is now Mini Morris!

On 21 March we’re celebrating William Morris’s 190th birthday with the launch of our newly named ‘Mini Morris’ craft workshops for 2 to 5 year olds. We’ll be getting inspired by the patterns and designs in the Gallery’s collection, making our own decorative plates and having a tea party!

Mini Morris sessions are now DROP IN ONLY at both 10am and 1pm.

Morning: 10am to 11.30am

Afternoon: 1pm to 2.30pm

As this can be a messy session, please wear or bring old clothes. Aprons are available. All sessions include a tour of the Gallery, the craft activity, singing and snack time.

Drop in with limited capacity. Please arrive on time and sign up at the front desk.

Please note: One adult per 2 children.

FREE. Donations are always welcome and help to support our Learning programme.

Tree in the sunlight

Family Day

Tell it to the trees

WORKSHOPS

Wednesday 14 February 2024

William Morris was inspired by the nature surrounding his former family home. Follow a tree trail in Lloyd Park and then join us in the Gallery to make a Victorian puzzle purse for sending a Valentine message to your favourite tree.

Puzzle purses were used in Victorian times as love tokens: a piece of paper folded several times over to conceal and then reveal a message from one person to another. These puzzle purses were most often used on Valentine’s Day to send hidden notes. On each folded section the sender could write a line that the receiver could then read by opening the puzzle purse, fold by fold.

The activity is suitable for children aged 5+ years.

All materials will be provided.

Activities will take place on the first-floor landing in the Gallery.

All children must be accompanied by an adult.

If you’re coming along to the Gallery on the 14 February, you can also pick up a tree as part of Waltham Forest Council’s annual Great Tree Giveaway. From 12pm to 3.30pm in Lloyd Park.

Embroidered map

The Quiet Map Project

With Richard Lockett & WalthamScribe

WORKSHOPS

Sunday 28 January 2024

Welcoming neurodiverse participants living in Waltham Forest.

How do personal memories map public space? Some memories are loud, others are quiet. As a neurodiverse artist who has grown up in Waltham Forest, and as a teaching assistant who works with young adults with learning disabilities, Richard Lockett has come to appreciate the quiet memories that other neurodiverse people make about public spaces. But how would these memories look if they were to be transferred onto a map?

The Quiet Map Project aims to collect the memories of a place enjoyed by people who identify as neurodiverse. During the workshop, participants will be asked to draw a personal map of such a space. The artwork produced will be collected by Richard, who will create a wall hanging to be exhibited in Leytonstone Library.

The workshops will foster a meditation on quietness as reflection, a type of communication, and a form of self-representation.

A second workshop will take place on Sunday the 4 February at the Gallery (same time, same place). You are most welcome to come to both. Book here for Sunday 4 February.

Organised by WalthamScribe, currently in residency at William Morris Gallery. WalthamScribe is a creative writing group that explores different forms of storytelling in guided workshop sessions around Waltham Forest.

Embroidered map

The Quiet Map Project

With Richard Lockett & WalthamScribe

WORKSHOPS

Sunday 4 February 2024

Welcoming neurodiverse participants living in Waltham Forest.

How do personal memories map public space? Some memories are loud, others are quiet. As a neurodiverse artist who has grown up in Waltham Forest, and as a teaching assistant who works with young adults with learning disabilities, Richard Lockett has come to appreciate the quiet memories that other neurodiverse people make about public spaces. But how would these memories look if they were to be transferred onto a map?

The Quiet Map Project aims to collect the memories of a place enjoyed by people who identify as neurodiverse. During the workshop, participants will be asked to draw a personal map of such a space. The artwork produced will be collected by Richard, who will create a wall hanging to be exhibited in Leytonstone Library.

The workshops will foster a meditation on quietness as reflection, a type of communication, and a form of self-representation.

A workshop will also take place on Sunday the 28 January at the Gallery (same time, same place). You are most welcome to come to both. Book here for Sunday 28 January.

Organised by WalthamScribe, currently in residency at William Morris Gallery. WalthamScribe is a creative writing group that explores different forms of storytelling in guided workshop sessions around Waltham Forest.

Still from Derek Jarman's The Garden. Sand, plants and trees can be seen.

Creative Kids

How does your garden grow?

WORKSHOPS

Thursday 18 January 2024

Taking inspiration from The Garden by Derek Jarman (1990) which features in our Radical Landscapes exhibition, we will be creating our own sun print gardens using cyanotype paper and decorating the frames with natural forms.

As this can be a messy session, please wear or bring old clothes. Aprons are available. The session is best suited for children 2 to 5 years old.

All sessions include a tour of the Gallery, the craft activity, singing and snack time.

These are FREE sessions but donations in support of our public programme are always welcomed and can also be made via the Eventbrite booking page if you are attending either session.

Booking information:

(BOOKING OPENS ON 4 JANUARY 2024)

Morning Session: 10am – 11.30am – Advance booking on Eventbrite. Please book tickets for all attendees.

Afternoon Session: 1pm – 2.30pm – Drop in with limited capacity. Please arrive on time and sign up at the front desk.

Image: Derek Jarman, The Garden, Courtesy & © Basilisk Communications

Creature from the Wild Wired game

Family Day

Wild Wired!

RADICAL LANDSCAPES PROGRAMME

Saturday 27 January 2024

Drawing inspiration from the local plants and wildlife of Lloyd Park, at this Family Day we’ll be imagining the land of the park as a living body and wondering about the superpowers that the park’s organisms could harness.

Join Zaiba Jabbar of HERVISIONS to make a collaged creature magnet using natural materials and flora and fauna images. Take it home and bring the outside world in.

The activity is suitable for children aged 5+ years. All materials will be provided.

These activities will take place in the Learning Centre on the top floor of  the Gallery.

We’re also excited to be celebrating Tamil Awareness Month on Saturday 27 at the Gallery, which means even more things to do for the family. On the first floor landing you’ll find a diorama model of a Pongal ceremony made by students from the local Tamil school. Pongal — meaning ‘to overflow’ — refers to a ritual in which sweet rice is made in an earthen pot, and brought to boil over as offering to the Gods. The Tamil Temple will lead a Pongal ceremony in the Bedford Road car park, next to the Gallery at 11am.

There will also be a colouring activity with pictures depicting the main elements of a typical Pongal ceremony.

All children must be accompanied by an adult.

Image: HERVISIONS

Moon at night through the trees

William Morris Gallery & The Hive present: Nightwalk

With Misery

OFF SITE

Saturday 17 February 2024

Inspired by social movements such as Right to Roam, Reclaim the Night and the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, William Morris Gallery and The Hive present Nightwalk, an evening packed full of outdoor and creative activities.

The event begins at Chingford Station, where participants join our invited walking group guides to ramble through Epping Forest to reach The Hive Climate and Environment Education Centre – in the middle of the forest. We’ll be joined by Epping Forest Heritage Trust guides as well as the GEM Family Hike group for this journey.

At The Hive, a range of activities will be on offer both indoors and outdoors. The Hive will be offering fire pit building, bushcraft and other nocturnal animal inspired activities. Sober club night and mental health collective, Misery, will be taking over The Lodge and the historic Suntrap building for music performances and creative workshops, all inspired by the local landscape and history of Epping Forest.

Enjoy food and drink from The Gleaners Community Cafe  throughout the night. Normally based at the Hornbeam Centre, The Gleaners is a community cafe that uses surplus produce — quality ingredients that would otherwise go to waste — to make tasty, plant-based meals.

Timings:

4pm – 5pm Walk from Chingford Station to The Hive, Epping Forest

5pm – 8pm Music, performances, and activities for all (5pm – 6pm family friendly)

6pm – 7pm Option for younger audiences to walk back to Chingford station

8pm – 9pm Walk back from The Hive, Epping Forest, to Chingford Station

 

About Misery

Misery is a playful mental health collective and sober rave led by and for queer, trans, intersex, people of colour with lived experience of madness, addiction, disability, trauma, and neurodivergence. we co-create accessible sober spaces, services, practices and resources to cultivate communities of care that can support and sustain the collective healing and resilience of queer, trans, intersex Black, indigenous and people of colour. misery is a reminder that you’re not too sensitive, it’s mad out here.

Since early 2022, Misery has run monthly, in-person, plant magic gatherings called ‘misery medicine’ which have seen hundreds of QTIBPOC gather in green spaces across London. Guided by community herbalists, we learn about the medicinal properties of the plants that grow freely around us, communally forage and make tea and tinctures, and engage in healing art practices held by the nature around us.

@miseryparty

 

About The Hive

The Hive (previously Suntrap) has been offering environmental education for over 50 years at a beautiful, inspiring location in Epping Forest. The Hive is dedicated to fostering a deep understanding of the environment and its intricate connections with the climate. Through immersive experiences, hands-on activities, and expert guidance, The Hive seeks to empower individuals of all ages to become informed stewards of the Earth.  Their aim is to inspire curiosity, instill awareness, and encourage sustainable actions that positively impact the planet through interactions with the natural world in the beautiful environment of Epping Forest.

@hiveintheforest

 

Our walking guides and groups

The Epping Forest Heritage Trust is a charity and a membership organisation with a big mission to inspire people about Epping Forest, and to conserve and protect its irreplaceable biodiversity, culture and heritage now and for generations to come. It operates across the whole of Epping Forest, covering 6,000 acres stretching from Manor Park in East London to Epping in Essex.

www.efht.org.uk

The GEM Family Hike is a monthly walking group, created as a way of connecting Global Ethnic Majority families and enjoying nature together. The group meets on the first Sunday of the month to explore Walthamstow Marshes and Wetland.

@gemfamilyhike

 

Image: by Neven Kremarek

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