Summer of Creativity at Kelmscot Manor

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Award-winning poet Robert Seater and acclaimed visual artist Jessica Palmer will bring the fascinating stories and compelling atmosphere of Kelmscot Manor to life as part of the Manor’s programme of learning and public engagement alongside an inspirational new exhibition on ‘William Morris and the Book’ (5 June – 25 October).

13th June - A new book will be launched - The House of Words, published in limited hand-printed edition by Paekakariki Press. alongside the special exhibition.

14th June - Jessica Palmer will create a large 3-D model of the Manor out of recycled materials, enabling visitors – and especially families and children – to experience the house up close and personal. They will be encouraged to contribute to this living ‘house of words’ by writing poems, stories and love leters to the house and its objects and posting these through its cardboard doors and windows.

Inside the Manor, visitors will be led on a special audio trail of 10 short poems by Robert Seater directly inspired by spaces and objects in the house. These will range from William Morris’s famous Strawberry Thief wallpaper to Rossetti’s beguiling portrait of Jane Morris, Mrs William Morris Wearing a Blue Silk Dress, and the hand-crafted furnishings that fill the rooms.

Visitors will discover too Jessica Palmer’s new papercut, an homage to May Morris’s embroidered cot cover, The Homestead and the Forest, poignantly made for the child she never had. A wider collection of poems will be published in The House of Words, (poems by Robert Seater and illustrations by Jessica Palmer) exploring Kelmscot Manor in its many different guises, as a house of expectation and creativity, as well as a house of love and desire.

24th June - Writing Kelmscot Masterclass – creating your own house of words’ with Robert Seater, will be a stimulating workshop of writing activites and storytelling.

1st July - Creative Kelmscot Masterclass – making papercut designs inspired by William Morris’s art and garden’ with Jessica Palmer, offering hands-on workshop in paper cutting and design. 

Saturday 4th October - The summer of creativity will round off with a Community Poem for Kelmscot Manor, inspired by visitors’ comments and visuals, and curated jointly by Robert and Jessica, to be unveiled.

Kelmscot Manor, Oxfordshire, was the beloved country home of William Morris, the internationally renowned craftsman, designer, author, poet, conservationist, and pioneer socialist, who is widely regarded as the father of the Arts & Crafts Movement. Kelmscot Manor is open to the public from 3rd April- 25th October on Thursday, Friday and Saturday – 10.30am to 5.00pm, last entry to Manor house 4pm