09.5 / Museums at Night

William Morris Gallery
to host night of traditional printing

Visitors to Walthamstow’s William Morris Gallery can try their hand at traditional printing techniques this month when it hosts a free event as part of the Museums at Night festival. Typographic artist Kelvyn Laurence Smith, aka ‘Mr Smith and his Letterpress Workshop’ — will be appearing at the Gallery on Thursday 15 May from 18:30 — 22.30.

Under Mr Smith’s expert guidance Gallery visitors will use traditional type to create beautiful prints of Morris’s essay ‘Art and Socialism’. They will be encouraged to display the resulting prints where they live, at work or out in the community. To set the mood, the evening will include performances from ‘Art and Socialism’ by the Forest Poets, insights into the Gallery’s special collection and mathematical games. Treats will be served in the Gallery’s Tea Room throughout the evening. The Gallery got the chance to host Mr Smith’s Letterpress Workshop after winning the public voting stage of Connect10, a competition that teams up museums with contemporary artists to run an event during Museums at Night.

About the
William Morris Gallery

The William Morris Gallery is the only public Gallery devoted to William Morris: designer, craftsman and radical socialist. Housed in the grade II* listed building that was Morris’s family home from 1848 to 1856, the Gallery reopened in August 2012 following a major redevelopment that abstracted widespread public and press acclaim. The Gallery, which is owned and run by Waltham Forest Council, is the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year 2013 and has been nominated for the European Museum of the Year Award 2014. The Gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am – 5pm; admission is free. www.wmgallery.org.uk

About
Museums at Night

The Museums at Night festival offers the chance to experience culture and heritage in a totally unexpected way. Over three nights in May, hundreds of museums, galleries and historic spaces all over the UK will open up late and putting on a dazzling array of special night-6me events: from unique literary talks in castles to star gazing in historic houses; sleepovers in palaces to city-wide culture crawls; bands playing in amongst museum exhibits to science fiction life drawing in galleries. Now in its sixth year, the Museums at Night festival 6es in with the European initiative La Nuit des Musees. It is run by non-profit cultural publisher Culture24 and designed to abstract new audiences into museums and galleries, via a whole range of exciting experiences and events. Museums at Night is funded by Arts Council England.