The leading makers, designers and artists that cover 50 years of textile design and its fusion with modern art.

Ashley Gray
Leading specialist and curator in modern textiles and their design and history, Ashley is a regular vetter at international fine art fairs, he has also served on international fair committees. He is on the advisory board of The Frances Neady Collection at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology), New York. As a curator and archivist, he works with institutions and foundations on conservation and exhibition projects, most recently as co-curator of Material Textile: Modern British Female Designers and Material Textile: Creativity, History & Process with Messums Gallery; Common Thread at the New Art Centre; and From Bauhaus to our House at Cromwell Place. He was the curator of the exhibition Styled by Design at Cromwell Place, which celebrated the innovation of Modernist textile design.

Does a life inform one’s art? Does it follow that a passionate, violent nature will inevitably create dramatic, even dark, artworks? The life of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was full of drama and passion and it could be argued that his art mirrored his life. Although sometimes deeply disturbing, Caravaggio’s paintings demonstrate an understanding of realism and also of faith. This lecture will analyse both the art and the man, exploring these questions and getting closer to the meaning in Caravaggio’s works.

Dr Alison Barker taught History and Art History at further and higher education for over eighteen years and currently works at the University of Essex Library. She speaks widely to diverse groups on many historical and art historical topics, and has led guided tours at the British Museum and the National Gallery. Alison wrote her PhD thesis on the depiction of Saint George in art and has published work on his image in both England and Italy. She has presented Papers for the Renaissance Society of America in both Boston and Dublin. Her book, The Dissemination of Saint George in Early Modern Art has been recently published by Routledge.

During the Renaissance, Venice held an important political and artistic position in the Eastern Mediterranean. Through the production of fine glass for the royal courts and aristocracy of Europe, Venice exerted its wide-reaching control and influence. As seen in this well-illustrated lecture, Venetian glass of the Renaissance incorporates forms, styles and techniques which were inspired by the Romans and which surprisingly anticipate modern design.

Simon Cottle
Leading international specialist, author, auctioneer and lecturer in British and European Glass, now retired. Formerly Managing Director (Bonhams Europe) and Director of European Ceramics and Glass at Bonhams Auctioneers, London (2007-2023). Formerly Head of European Ceramics and Glass at Sotheby's, where he was also a Director and auctioneer (1990 to 2007). He is responsible for numerous landmark auctions of European Glass both at Sotheby's and Bonhams.

After studying History at University College Cardiff and the University of Washington and holding a postgraduate diploma in Museum and Art Gallery Studies from Manchester University, he began his career as a senior curator of ceramics, glass and silver at museums in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Glasgow (1979-1990). He is Hon. President of the Glass Society, Fellow of the Guild of Glass Engravers and a Fellow of the Corning Museum of Glass, New York.

The story is told of the making of the Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs and how the artistry and creativity that they embody link to the history of the last two Roman Tsars. 

Toby Faber Toby is an experienced lecturer and public speaker who has been accredited by The Arts Society since 2012. Before this his career followed a very different path including five years as managing director of the publishing company founded by his grandfather, Faber and Faber, where he remains on the board. He is also non-executive Chairman of its sister company, Faber Music and a director of Liverpool University Press. Toby has written three narrative histories: Stradivarius – Five Violins, One Cello and a Genius; Faberge’s Eggs; and Faber & Faber – The Untold Story, as well as a novel, Close to the Edge.

The architecture, domestic, commercial and spiritual, of Whitechapel and Spitalfields closely reflects the characteristics of its communities. This talk takes in 300 years of East London history by exploring the fascinating and enduring legacy of the Huguenot and Jewish communities.

At the heart of the story are wondrous buildings like the Nicholas Hawksmoor gem Christ Church Spitalfields, the new model dwellings built for the poor of the area, and the exotic Moorish arcades of Fashion Street.

Carpets from the Islamic world are a common feature in many European paintings. This lecture investigates what these paintings can tell us about how carpets were used and regarded in Europe. They also offer insights into trade routes of the time as we witness carpets coming in from different regions of the East and reaching more distant parts of Europe. This is a story of taste, status and international trade from the 14th to the 17th century. 

Antonia Gatward Cevizli
Dr Antonia Gatward Cevizli is an independent art historian specialising in both Italian Renaissance art and Ottoman art. She gained her PhD from the University of Warwick. Her publications focus on cultural and diplomatic exchange between the Italian city-states and the Ottomans. Antonia has lectured for a number of institutions including Sabanci University, Istanbul; Sotheby’s Institute of Art; the National Gallery; the V&A Academy and The Courtauld summer school. Her interests are wide-ranging and she also worked across the collections of both Tate Modern and Tate Britain as a professional guide. She has lived in Siena, Venice and Istanbul.

In 1900, Art Nouveau was at its apogee: in Paris, Nancy, Brussels, Barcelona, Glasgow and Vienna. This talk focuses on the designers working in France and Belgium: Alphonse Mucha, the premier poster designer; René Lalique, who produced the finest jewellery; Hector Guimard, the creator of the Paris Metro; Victor Horta, who fashioned the first Art Nouveau house in 1893, and Emile Gallé, the glass designer who led l’Ecole Nancy. Curving, undulating forms were used to create figurines, furniture, ceramics, glass and jewellery, as well as covering entire buildings.

Anne Anderson
With a first degree in archaeology and a PhD in English, Anne was a senior lecturer in Art and Design History at Southampton Solent University for 14 year. She has curated four national exhibitions, including Ancient Landscape, Pastoral Visions: Samuel Palmer to the Ruralists (2008), The Truth About Faeries (2009-11), Under the Greenwood: Picturing the British Tree (2013) and Beyond the Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Legacy (2019-20). Her book on The Perseus Series accompanied the Edward Burne-Jones exhibition (2018, Tate Britain).  Anne has also published over a hundred academic papers.  She has held several prestigious fellowships including Fellow of the Huntington Library, CA (2008-09 and 2018-19) and Fellow of the Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Library and Museum (2009/10). Currently a guide and lecturer, Anne specialises in Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts art tours. Her career as an international speaker has taken her all over the world, including Jersey, Spain, Germany, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.  She undertook her sixth lecture tour for ADFAS/Arts National Australia in 2024. 

In the late 18th and the 19th centuries, John Flaxman was Britain's most internationally famous sculptor. He is now largely forgotten, but this talk will hopefully revive interest in the remarkable range and quality of the work which he created, from neoclassical monuments to designs for Wedgwood.

image: John Flaxman, Cephalus & Aurora, Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight.
Photo: ketrin1407 CC-BY-2.0
 

Chris Owen

The many ways water is used in gardens is explored in this talk – from Roman villas to monastic cloisters and medieval walled gardens, before the glories of the Renaissance fountains and the development of the cascade in the 1560s. The world’s longest cascade is near Naples, while the most lavish is at Peterhof near St Petersburg. The further development of the fountain is outlined, including the world’s tallest gravity-fed fountain (in a Cotswold garden), while artificial waterfalls also have their place as gardens became more natural in the 18th century. The formality of canals, influenced both by Louis XIV’s Versailles and by the Dutch, gives way to the irregular shapes of lakes, while in the 21st century we see a return to greater formality, especially in the use of water to offset iconic buildings.

David Winpenny
Studied English at Birmingham University and taught for several years before joining the Countryside Commission as Co-ordinator of its National Parks Campaign. Worked for the Central Office of Information in Leeds before setting up own public relations company. Author of 'Up to a Point - in search of pyramids in Britain and Ireland' and has written and contributed to several books for the AA. Has written for BBC Countryfile Magazine and English Heritage magazine.  He is co-chairman of Ripon Civic Society and lectures on architectural and related subjects on cruise ships and on dry land.

Despite the fame of Holbein's portraits, art might not be the first thing that comes to mind when we think of the Tudors. Yet from Henry VII onwards, the Tudor dynasty made unprecedented use of images and objects to promote their rule. We will uncover the rich variety of painting, architecture, tapestry and other decorative objects that surrounded English viewers in the 16th century, putting these artworks into their religious, political, social and artistic contexts. This lecture builds on Christina's book, The Story of Tudor Art.

Dr Christina Faraday
Dr Christina Faraday FSA FRHistS is a historian of art and ideas, specialising in Tudor and Stuart Britain and the wider 16th and 17th-century world. She is an Affiliated Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Cambridge, a Trustee of the Walpole Society for British art history, and a BBC New Generation Thinker, appearing regularly on BBC Radio 3 and in other popular media. She is the host of British Art Matters podcast, and from 2020-2025 she was a Research Fellow in History of Art at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. She is an experienced lecturer, teaching for the History of Art Department at the University of Cambridge, The Wallace Collection, the National Gallery, London, and for Professional and Continuing Education at Cambridge, where she is Co-Director of the MSt in History of Art and Visual Culture. Her first book, Tudor Liveliness: Vivid Art in Post-Reformation England, was published in 2023 by the Paul Mellon Centre and Yale University Press. Her latest book, The Story of Tudor Art, was published by Head of Zeus/Bloomsbury in September 2025 and was named a Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year. 

Jazz is one of music’s most important genres: a fascinating blend of close-knit ensembles, rigorous structures and free-wheeling creativity. This talk covers the early years of jazz up to the Second World War, including classics by Louis Armstrong, the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the sumptuous sound of the Swing Era.

Sandy Burnett
Sandy is one of the UK’s most versatile music commentators, enjoying a career that combines broadcasting, performing and lecturing. After studying at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and working as music director for the RSC, National Theatre and in London’s West End, Sandy Burnett spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3.

Combining engaging scholarship with hands-on expertise, he devises and leads cultural holidays all over the world, is a highly sought after double bassist on the London jazz scene, and was appointed the Academy of Ancient Music’s Hogwood Fellow for the 2018-19 season. He has directed a complete performing cycle of Bach’s sacred cantatas and is a first-call double bass player on the London jazz scene.

Since 2013 he has taken music lovers to venues as diverse as the opulent Leipzig Opera House and the intimate jazz clubs of New Orleans. He runs an online classical music appreciation Listening Club, and is the author of the Idler Guide to Classical Music. 

This lecture will look at the early experiments into porcelain making in England; concentrating on the Chelsea, Bow, Derby and Worcester factories. We will examine the different pastes developed in an attempt to achieve both whiteness and strength, consider the influence of both silver and continental porcelain on shapes and decoration; we will also look back at Chinese and Japanese export wares as a source of inspiration. In addition, the lecture will show the ways in which porcelain was both displayed and used and discuss the fashion for porcelain figures. 

Jane Gardiner
With an MA History of Art, University of London, Jane trained at the V&A and continues to lecture there. She was a Senior Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art for 17 years, becoming a Deputy Director of Sotheby's, UK. She has also lectured for the National Trust, the Art Fund, London University, Buckingham University, l'Institut d'Etudes Superieures des Arts in Paris, a private women's college in Saudi Arabia, on cruise ships and at antiques fairs and interior design conferences in America.

This lecture explores the Slade School of Fine Art as a crucial training ground for some of Britain’s most influential artists. Founded in 1871, the lecture begins by examining the school’s guiding ideals and its emphasis on disciplined drawing and critical thought. The lecture then considers the work of the Bloomsbury Group, highlighting key Slade figures such as Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and their role in shaping modern British art and design. Moving through the twentieth century, it explores major artists including Augustus John, Stanley Spencer, Paul Nash, Paula Rego and Euan Uglow. The lecture concludes with more recent alumni such as Antony Gormley, Rachel Whiteread and Phyllida Barlow, underscoring the Slade’s enduring cultural impact.

Ian Giles
Ian Giles studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and is a practising artist. His artworks and films have been shown internationally, including at MoMA PS1 (New York), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), and the Whitechapel Gallery (London).

He has been a visiting lecturer at Chelsea College of Arts, Cambridge School of Art, Camberwell College of Arts, Birmingham School of Art and the University of Cambridge, Department of Architecture.

His work has been supported by Arts Council England, Art Fund, The Jerwood Foundation, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Recent press coverage includes features and reviews in The Guardian, Frieze, Artforum, and on BBC radio and television.

In 2026 he will present exhibitions and projects at Queer Britain, Southampton City Art Gallery and Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery.

In this lecture Harry will be tracing the history of his profession through the work of artists who have made an impact upon language, culture, history, and most importantly, upon him. These include James Gillray, Charles Schulz, Herje (Georges Remi), Posy Simmonds and Ronald Searle. 

Harry will also be drawing, live. Prepare to hear some tricks of his trade, learn where to put eyebrows for maximum effect, learn what a plewd is and when you should use it, and discover exactly what the Eskimo brothers said in The Funniest Joke Ever (possibly).

Harry Venning
Harry Venning is a cartoonist, comedy writer and performer based in Brighton.

Harry’s cartoons have appeared in publications as diverse as the Mail, Daily Telegraph, Radio Times, Music Teacher and The Stage. For 25 years he provided The Guardian with the weekly strip cartoon Clare In The Community, about an unaware and empathy free social worker. In 2004 he developed Clare In The Community into a successful BBC Radio 4 sitcom starring Sally Philipps which ran for twelve series.

When not at a desk Harry tours his cartoon workshop 'Release Your Inner Cartoonist' around schools, theatres, arts centres and festivals.

He is an accredited lecturer with the UK Arts Society, an Honorary Fellow of the English/Creative Writing departments of Aberystwyth University, resident cartoonist with the Blue Hat team building organisation, winner of a Sony Radio Award for Comedy and a former UK Strip Cartoonist Of The Year.

He cannot draw hands or horses.