Past Events - talks 2019-21

Past events - 2019-2026

Talks

Wonderful Wall Paintings

Friday 10 April

Museum in the Park, Stroud

10.30am. Once upon a time our churches were full of colour and imagery but today often only ghosts of those decorations remain. We are very lucky in the Cotswolds in having exciting schemes of wall paintings from one of the very earliest schemes to survive in Britain at Kempley, terrifying dooms at Mitcheldean and Oddington, to Tudor wall paintings in Gloucester and vivid Victorian art at Highnam – and so much more!

‘Memorials of These Dark Days’: Art and Crafts First World War memorials

Thursday 2 April

Arts Society Amersham

8pm. There was a national need for memorials in the wake of the First World War, and the designers of the Arts and Crafts Movement rose to the challenge, creating crosses, memorials, halls and much more. This talk explores the ways that Arts and Crafts designers chose to interpret their commissions to commemorate the war, and looks at a rich array of memorials from church and town alike, crosses to stained glass to water troughs – and at the attendant local politics in erecting them!

Flowers, plants and nature in the Arts and Crafts Movement in the Cotswolds

Friday 20 March

Museum in the Park, Stroud

10.30am. The Arts and Crafts Movement is well-known for its use of the natural world for inspiration, from William Morris onwards. Here in the Cotswolds designers lived close to nature, getting to know intimately the places they chose for their homes, and drawing on the natural world around them for inspiration across all media. From glittering stained glass to soft plaster, flowers appear, sometimes decorative, sometimes symbolic. We’ll look, too, at the gardens they designed, and where they went on their explorations into the countryside.

Arts and Crafts in the Cotswolds

Tuesday 20 January

Arts Society Diss

2pm. The Cotswolds became one of the most vibrant rural centres of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Inspired by William Morris’s retreat at Kelmscott Manor, groups of designers and makers settled in the region. This talk explores their work, and their impact on the architecture, art and life of the area, looking at all areas of craft from country houses to churches to utopian communities.

The Arts and Crafts Movement in Birmingham & Worcestershire

Monday 12 January

Online talk

7pm.William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones came from very different backgrounds but their shared love of medieval literature and art bound them together. For over 40 years they weathered personal storms, tragedies and political disagreements to create beautiful art and craft: book design, stained glass and other decorative projects. This talk charts the peaks and troughs of their long friendship.

Churches and Stained Glass in the Cotswolds

Starting 25 September

Arts Society Monmouthshire

7.30pm Seven week course, starting Thurs 25 Sept. Kirsty has wide experience as a museum curator, including 15 years’ responsibility for the Designated Arts and Crafts Movement collection at The Wilson, Cheltenham. We look forward to hearing the stories behind the growth of Cotswold churches, with special interest in their stained glass windows and the influence of the Arts and Crafts style.

Arts and Crafts in the Cotswolds

Thursday 13 November

Arts Society Monmouthshire

11am. The Cotswolds became one of the most vibrant rural centres of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Inspired by William Morris’s retreat at Kelmscott Manor, groups of designers and makers settled in the region. This talk explores their work, and their impact on the architecture, art and life of the area, looking at all areas of craft from country houses to churches to utopian communities.

The Golden Age of British Book Illustration

Friday 7 November

Museum in the Park, Stroud

10.30am. Discover how the art of book illustration flourished in Britain from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. From the first forays of the Pre-Raphaelites into illustration, Walter Crane's toy books, Edward Burne-Jones at William Morris's Kelmscott Press, as well as Aubrey Beardsley, Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac and many more – including people like Charles March Gere and Maxwell Armfield who worked here in the Cotswolds.

‘Memorials of These Dark Days’: Art and Crafts First World War memorials

Tuesday 4 November

Arts Society Test Valley

10.30am & 2.15pm. There was a national need for memorials in the wake of the First World War, and the designers of the Arts and Crafts Movement rose to the challenge, creating crosses, memorials, halls and much more. This talk explores the ways that Arts and Crafts designers chose to interpret their commissions to commemorate the war, and looks at a rich array of memorials from church and town alike, crosses to stained glass to water troughs – and at the attendant local politics in erecting them!

Women in the Arts and Crafts Movement in the Cotswolds

Monday 20 October

Online talk

7pm. The Arts and Crafts Movement was one of the first art movements to recognise the artistry and skills of women artists and designers. In the Cotswolds, women designers worked as hard as men – but they are still today not as well-known as their male counterparts. This talk seeks to put right this situation, exploring embroidery, ceramics, metalwork, stained glass, bookbinding and other ‘suitable’ (or not) crafts, and look at the perceptions of female designers and makers at the time they were producing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Arts and Crafts in the Cotswolds

Monday 6 October

Arts Society Ross-on-Wye, 2.15pm. The Cotswolds became one of the most vibrant rural centres of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Inspired by William Morris’s retreat at Kelmscott Manor, groups of designers and makers settled in the region. This talk explores their work, and their impact on the architecture, art and life of the area, looking at all areas of craft from country houses to churches to utopian communities.

Flowers, plants and nature in the Arts and Crafts Movement in the Cotswolds

Friday 12 September

Crafts Alive, Rodmarton Manor

2.15pm. The Arts and Crafts Movement is well-known for its use of the natural world for inspiration, from William Morris onwards. Here in the Cotswolds designers lived close to nature, getting to know intimately the places they chose for their homes, and drawing on the natural world around them for inspiration across all media. From glittering stained glass to soft plaster, flowers appear, sometimes decorative, sometimes symbolic. We’ll look, too, at the gardens they designed, and where they went on their explorations into the countryside.

Arts and Crafts in the Cotswolds

Wednesday 11 June

Arts Society Birmingham, 11am. The Cotswolds became one of the most vibrant rural centres of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Inspired by William Morris’s retreat at Kelmscott Manor, groups of designers and makers settled in the region. This talk explores their work, and their impact on the architecture, art and life of the area, looking at all areas of craft from country houses to churches to utopian communities.

William Morris and the Cotswolds

Monday 9 June

Arts Society Southampton, 7.30pm. Designer, poet and socialist William Morris took a lot of inspiration from the Cotswolds and the surrounding area. He was first introduced to the west as a schoolboy at Marlborough, escaping into the Downs whenever he could. He took his young family to Broadway, and while travelling, discovered the damage being done to local buildings in the name of restoration, and led to the founding of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Then, in the 1870s, he took on Kelmscott Manor near Lechlade, which became his 'Old House on the Thames'. This talk will explore Morris's relationship with the region, and how it inspired his poetry, design and his ideas of ideal living - and look at the friends who were inspired to follow him here.

Curator talk: Re-inventing Life

Wednesday 7 & Friday 16 May

Museum & Art Swindon

12pm, 2pm. Join Kirsty Hartsiotis, one of the curators of A Very British Art Revolution, for an informal curator tour of the exhibition, all about how artists reassessed their lives, their subject matter and their responses to the British landscape after the First World War. We'll be exploring work by Paul Nash, John Piper, Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie, David Jones, Stanislawa de Karlowska and Julian Trevelyan, among others. Join Kirsty for a fascinating and in-depth look at the exhibition.

Women in the Arts and Crafts Movement in the Cotswolds

Friday 7 March

Museum in the Park, Stroud

10.30am. The Arts and Crafts Movement was one of the first art movements to recognise the artistry and skills of women artists and designers. In the Cotswolds, women designers worked as hard as men – but they are still today not as well-known as their male counterparts. This talk seeks to put right this situation, exploring embroidery, ceramics, metalwork, stained glass, bookbinding and other ‘suitable’ (or not) crafts, and look at the perceptions of female designers and makers at the time they were producing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Tales of the Saints of East Anglia

Monday 20 January 2025

Online talk

7pm. The counties that make up East Anglia and Essex have a rich panoply of saints. Mostly from the time of the Early English, saints like Felix, Etheldreda and Edmund led miraculous lives and return again and again after death to reward the good and punish the bad. Expect a cast of kings, queens, monsters, beavers and wolves - but also dark tales that tell of prejudice, intolerence and emnity throughout England's history.

Arts and Crafts in the Cotswolds

Thursday 19 September

Attingham Trust Study Tour

Morning. The Cotswolds and Thames Valley became one of the most vibrant rural centres of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This talk explores the Movement's impact on the area, looking at all areas of craft from country houses to churches to utopian communities. Kirsty then took the group to The Wilson and gave a tour of the gallery and brought out objects from the stores.

Christmas Ghosts

Wednesday 6 December

Arts Society West Essex

11am. We've told supernatural tales at midwinter for a very long time. In this talk Kirsty Hartsiotis takes us back to the earliest winter tales and forward to the folklore of today. Kirsty draws on midwinter tales from all around Britain in this talk. You may well come away with a shiver running down your spine and with stories to share around your fireside this Christmas! We've told supernatural tales at midwinter for a very long time. This talk goes back to the earliest winter tales, comes up through the Victorians revisiting of the tradition, and up to the present day, with a focus on Gloucestershire's own midwinter stories. You may well come away with a shiver running down your spine and with stories to share around your fireside this Christmas!

William Morris in the Cotswolds

Monday 20 November

Arts Society Kennet and Swindon

11am. Designer, poet and socialist William Morris took a lot of inspiration from the Cotswolds and the surrounding area. He was first introduced to the west as a schoolboy at Marlborough, escaping into the Downs whenever he could. Then, in the 1870s, he took on Kelmscott Manor near Lechlade, which became his 'Old House on the Thames'. This talk will explore Morris's relationship with the region, and how it inspired his poetry, design and his ideas of ideal living - and look at the friends who were inspired to follow him here.

Monsters, Heroes and Saints

Monday 31 July

The Joy Club. 11am. Listen! Tales of war, of lost treasure, of heroes and of doomed love. Discover the tales the earliest of the English have inspired. first invaders Hengist and Horsa right up to Harold I getting it in the eye. Kirsty will explore the landscape of England, searching out those places in England with legendary associations with kings, queens, warriors and saints and investigating the tales we've told from the 12th century to today about of this long ago time.

The Arts and Crafts Movement in England's Churches

Thursday 8 June

Arts Society West Cornwall

7.30pm. Between about 1890 and 1930, Arts and Crafts designers built and contributed to hundreds of churches across England. Some are famous schemes including the church building and all its interior fittings, such as Brockhampton in Herefordshire; Holy Trinity, Sloane Square, London; St. Andrew’s, Roker. Discover how these designers, Morris & Co. in churches like Selsley changed the course of church furnishing in England, and how the next generation of Arts and Crafts designers revolutionised church design.

Enchanting the Land

Thursday 13 May 2021

The Joy Club.

2pm. How much more enchanted is the land if we know its stories? A journey of discovery into the secret tales of the British countryside & town. For years, storyteller and writer Kirsty Hartsiotis, has been delving into the tales of Britain and exploring the places where these stories truly come to life - the towns, villages and landscapes where they take place. Take a journey with her in this illustrated talk as she explores some of those stories - and what she found when she visited the places.

Women in the Arts and Crafts Movement

Friday 21 April

Nadder Valley Arts Society

7pm. The Arts and Crafts Movement was one of the first art movements to recognise the artistry and skills of women artists and designers – but they are still today not as well-known as their male counterparts. Women such as May Morris, Veronica Whall and Georgina Gaskin all stand in the shadow of their male relations, and few have heard of designers such as Margaret Rope and Louise Powell. This talk seeks to put right this situation, explore embroidery, ceramics, metalwork, stained glass, bookbinding and other ‘suitable’ crafts, and look at the perceptions of female designers and makers at the time they were producing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Dancing Stones

Sunday 16 April

Bratton History Society.

6pm. From the Giant's Dance to the Moonrakers, no stone is left unturned in this talk about Wiltshire's tales and the people who collected them. This talk by folklorist, storyteller and writer Kirsty Hartsiotis looks at a selection of folk tale collectors over the centuries in Wiltshire, including 12th century Geoffrey of Monmouth, 17th century John Aubrey and into the 20th century with Alfred Williams, the Hammerman Poet.

Private Presses and Book Illustration Study Day

Thursday 30 March

Bodmin Arts Society

10am-3pm. The term ‘private press’ refers to a movement in book production that flourished around the turn of the 20th Century, heavily influenced by William Morris and Emery Walker.

The second lecture is on Illustration and Decoration 1880s to 1930s - this is called "The Golden Age of Illustration’, it was a period of massive technological change and artistic ingenuity. In the afternoon, we will be looking at and handling books of the period.

Arts and Crafts in Cotswold Churches

Tuesday 14 March

Bristol Arts Society

8pm. An exploration of the unusually high incidence of Arts and Crafts churches and fittings in the Cotswolds, in part due to the number of architects and designers who settled in the area. We’ll look at the work of designers from incomers like Sidney Barnsley and Henry Bateman to locals like Thomas Falconer, and see how Arts and Crafts designers revolutionised church design and adapted to the needs of their patrons.

Curator-led tour of the new galleries

Thursday 22 September

The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum, Cheltenham

11am. Join The Wilson's curators for an introductory tour of our fully refurbished gallery spaces, including the Arts & Crafts gallery and Cheltenham Untold. This is an opportunity to dive deeper into the objects and immerse yourself in the full history of the artworks. Utilising the knowledge of our experts, you will also be invited to ask questions about the pieces that inspire or interest you.

The Arts and Crafts Movement in Cotswold Churches

Tuesday 16 August 2022

Online: William Morris Society

6pm. An exploration of the unusually high incidence of Arts and Crafts churches and fittings in the Cotswolds, in part due to the number of architects and designers who settled in the area. We’ll look at the work of designers from incomers like Sidney Barnsley and Henry Bateman to locals like Thomas Falconer, and see how Arts and Crafts designers revolutionised church design and adapted to the needs of their patrons.

Saints Alive!

Thurs 20 January 2022

Online for the Churches Conservation Trust

12:50pm. Storyteller and art historian Kirsty Hartsiotis will tell the stories of a selection of the Churches Conservation Trust’s church dedications, such as St. Alrida, St. Kenelm and St. Petroc, looking at the traditional tales and examining the way these stories have developed over time from saint’s lives to full-blown legends to the possibilities of historical truths – as well as exploring the imagery of these saints in CCT churches and beyond.

Out with the Old and In with the New!

Thurs 13 January 2022

Online

7pm. From New Year's Day to Christmastide, over the course of the year we observe many festivals and traditions that ease us through each season, many of which related to the farming year and nature around us. Join writer, storyteller and speaker Kirsty Hartsiotis on a journey from Plough Monday, through the equinoxes and the solstices, to harvest and beyond into winter, exploring our folklore and folk tales of the year's turning.

Mistletoe, Wrens and Mumming

Thurs 9 December 2021

Online

7pm. Ever wondered where our Christmas traditions come from? Or how people celebrated Christmas in the past? Joina hunt for Britain's quirkiest Christmas traditions, and discover the secrets of some of the things we take for granted at Christmastide. From hunting the wren to kissing under the mistletoe, and from eating a mince pie a day to ensuring the house was clean to keep out the fairies, find out about the Christmas season from Advent to Candlemas.

Enchanting the Land

Thursday 13 May 2021

ONLINE TALK. 7pm. How much more enchanted is the land if we know its stories? A journey of discovery into the secret tales of the British countryside & town. For years, storyteller and writer Kirsty Hartsiotis, has been delving into the tales of Britain and exploring the places where these stories truly come to life - the towns, villages and landscapes where they take place. Take a journey with her in this illustrated talk as she explores some of those stories - and what she found when she visited the places.

The Arts and Crafts Movement in Cotswold Churches

Friday 23 April 2021

ONLINE TALK for the Gordon Russell Museum. 6pm. By the time Gordon Russell opened his workshops in Broadway, the Arts and Crafts Movement had already made its mark across the region. In Cotswold churches work ranging across all disciplines can be seen by those members of the Movement who had moved to the countryside, such as Gimson and the Barnsleys, C R Ashbee and the Guild, John Coates Carter, Henry Payne – as well as work by other designers and makers like W. D. Caröe, Christopher Whall, James Eadie Reid, and more. This talk will cover churches, church fittings, stained glass and memorials in Gloucestershire, and will also take in work in south Worcestershire and west Warwickshire, exploring the ideas and themes behind the church building, interventions and preservation work by members of the Movement.

Cotswold Utopias

Tuesday 23 March 2021

ONLINE TALK for the Museum in the Park. 3.30pm. The Cotswolds has drawn dreamers and practitioners to try to create utopias for well over a century. This talk explores some of the communities who took up the challenge of living well and creating craft in our local area, such as C R Ashbee's Guild of Handicraft in Chipping Campden, the Whiteway community near Stroud, Prinknash Abbey, and the Taena Community in the Forest of Dean, as well as more unexpected experiments, such as Rodmarton Manor, and Gloucestershire's part in national movements, such as women's suffrage. Craft and art were at the heart of these new communities, and Kirsty will explore the personalities, histories and art of our radical area.

William Morris and the Cotswolds

Tuesday 23 February 2021

ONLINE TALK for the Museum in the Park. 3.30pm. Designer, poet and socialist William Morris took a lot of inspiration from the Cotswolds and the surrounding area. He was first introduced to the west as a schoolboy at Marlborough, escaping into the Downs whenever he could. He took his young family to Broadway, and while travelling, discovered the damage being done to local buildings in the name of restoration, and led to the founding of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Then, in the 1870s, he took on Kelmscott Manor near Lechlade, which became his 'Old House on the Thames'. This talk will explore Morris's relationship with the region, and how it inspired his poetry, design and his ideas of ideal living - and look at the friends who were inspired to follow him here.

Monsters, Heroes and Saints

Wednesday 10 February 2021

ONLINE TALK. 7pm. Listen! Tales of war, of lost treasure, of heroes and of doomed love. Discover the tales the earliest of the English have inspired.

Join folklorist, storyteller and writer Kirsty Hartsiotis for a journey around the folk tales that people have told about the Anglo-Saxons - from the first invaders Hengist and Horsa right up to Harold I getting it in the eye. Kirsty will explore the landscape of England, searching out those places in England with legendary associations with kings, queens, warriors and saints and investigating the tales we've told from the 12th century to today about of this long ago time.

Delighting in the Countyside

Tuesday 26 January 2021

ONLINE TALK for the Museum in the Park. 3.30pm. Inspired by the craftspeople of the Arts and Crafts Movement already in the area and by the beauty of the Cotswolds, many artists came to settle in the Gloucestershire countryside in the early 20th century; among them, Charles March Gere and Margaret Gere, Henry and Edith Payne, F L Griggs and William Rothenstein. Kirsty explores their interpretations of the natural landscape and the ideals that led the artists to settle here.

Medieval Wonder Tales

Wednesday 13 January 2021

ONLINE TALK. 7pm. Aliens! Vampires! Zombies! Giants! Space travel! Think the Middle Ages is all tales of knights and ladies? The truth is much more exciting! Join folklorist, storyteller and writer Kirsty Hartsiotis as she explores the weird and wonderful tales collected by medieval scholars. From zombie ghosts in Yorkshire, to sky ships over Bristol, to Alexander the Great's space adventure, and a vampire in Hereford, medieval wonder tales - or mirabilia, as they were called - have puzzled and delighted people for generations. Start 2021 with this talk about the strangest stories you can imagine.

Arts and Crafts stained glass

Tuesday 1 December 2020

ONLINE TALK - Museum in the Park, Stroud via Zoom 3.30pm. By far the most common type of Arts and Crafts work in our churches is stained glass. Starting with one of the most ground-breaking schemes, Gloucester Cathedral’s Lady Chapel by Christopher Whall, 1899, we’ll explore the works of local designers such as Henry Payne and Paul Woodroffe, and look, too, at some of the female artists of the Movement who excelled in glass, such as Theodora Salusbury, Caroline Townshend and Veronica Whall.

A national style for our churches

Tuesday 17 November 2020

ONLINE TALK - Museum in the Park, Stroud via Zoom

3.30pm. Arts and Crafts became the dominant style in architecture around the turn of the century. This talk will explore some of the other designers and architects of the Movement who worked in Gloucestershire. Some are local, like Thomas Falconer of Amberley, some moved to the area like John Coates Carter and Charles Bateman, and some were nationally famous figures like Charles Nicholson, Henry Wilson and firms like the Bromsgrove Guild.

‘Memorials of These Dark Days’: Art and Crafts First World War memorials in the Cotswolds, Thursday 12 November 2020

ONLINE TALK - for the Churches Conservation Trust via Facebook

1pm. The Cotswolds have an unusual number of Arts and Crafts memorials, due, in part, to the architects and designers who had settled in the county from the 1890s onwards. This talk will feature designers such as Ernest Gimson, Henry Payne, Edwin Lutyens and F. L. Griggs with a rich array of memorials from church and town alike, crosses to stained glass to water troughs – and all the attendant local politics in erecting them!

Arts and Crafts Churches: Sapperton and Chipping Campden designers

Tuesday 3 November 2020

ONLINE TALK - Museum in the Park, Stroud via Zoom

3.30pm. Gloucestershire became the home of several Arts and Crafts Movement designers, focussed around Ernest Gimson and the Barnsley brothers in Sapperton, and C. R. Ashbee’s Guild of Handicraft in Chipping Campden. This talk tackles the church works of these groups, and how they responded to their new Cotswold homes. Churches include: St. Edward’s, Kempley, Rodborough Little Chapel, Saintbury and Chalford.

Introducing Arts and Crafts in churches

Tuesday 20 October 2020

ONLINE TALK - Museum in the Park, Stroud via Zoom

3.30pm. Did you know that one of the very first church schemes by William Morris’s firm is near Stroud? Discover how Morris & Co. changed the course of church furnishing in England, and how the next generation of Arts and Crafts designers revolutionised church design. With a particular focus on Brockhampton, just over the border in Herefordshire, perhaps the finest Arts and Crafts church in Britain.