Join the Friends of Kettle’s Yard and Phil Neale, one of our Visitor Assistants and Chair of the T.E. Lawrence Society, for an online talk on the friendship and correspondence between Jim Ede and T.E. Lawrence, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, and their mutual interest in art and literature, as well as their memories of India.

Join us for a three-way online conversation with specialists in Manuscripts and Printed Books as they reflect on the importance of touch in the making and conserving of medieval manuscripts, and how medieval readers themselves left traces – devout and destructive - of their touch.

Speakers: Suzanne Reynolds, Sara Oberg Stradal and Edward Cheese.

This online talk is linked to our upcoming exhibition: The Human Touch.

This series of online events, Grassroots: Artmaking and Political Struggle, explores relationships between art, activism and political organising in Britain during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Across six panels over three days, speakers will take a number of different approaches to thinking about how art works and visual culture both interrelate with, and have acted as, catalysts for social change.

About the talk

The talk will look at the often-overlooked furniture in the Kettle’s Yard House and the hidden or unnoticed way Jim Ede related art and objects. You will learn about the history of various pieces of furniture, how Jim acquired them and how the furniture in the House complements the space.

Take your hand sewing skills further with this traditional Dresden plate ‘chrysanthemum’ block. In the first of two classes you will learn to use English paper piecing and applique to create the flower shape of the block. You will also be taught how to use a hand applique technique to apply the plate to the top of the placemat. You will be asked to complete this as ‘homework’ before the next session. The tutor will be available by email during the week to provide support if needed.

This virtual workshop will introduce you to the weird and wonderful world of spices.  We’ll take you on a journey to far flung places to find out where our familiar and not so familiar spices come from.  We’ll explore the different plants and plant families they come from and learn a bit about their history.  What’s the difference between herbs and spices?  How do spices pack such a punch of flavour?  What’s the best way to use and store your spices at home?  Which spices are easy to grow for yourself?  Find out these ans

From poisonous plants to poison gardens, gothic garden murder mysteries, and tragic tales of plant hunters, the garden is full of fatalities.  In the midst of the hum and buzz of garden life we are stalked by dangers and beset with metaphors of momento  mori.  A Garden of Eden replete with serpent and wolfsbane. Taking inspiration from horticulture, history and literature we will explore the ways in which gardens and plants can literally be a “fatal attraction”. You may never dare to go into your garden again!

2021 has been declared the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables by the United Nations. Promoting the contribution of fruits and vegetables to diversified, balanced and healthy diets and lifestyles is amongst its aims. This course will explore the chemistry and botany of the main “edible” plant families that contribute fruits and vegetables to the human diet. We will examine the chemistry behind the superfood headlines, discover how plants can be used as crop protection agents and reveal the chemical truth of urban legends such as “green potatoes are poisonous”.

Nowhere in Britain has been shaped by humans as much as Fenland.

Colour in plants is of great cultural importance, influencing many areas of human endeavour including horticulture, art, and gastronomy.  Colour also plays a vital role in the biology of plants by absorbing harmful radiation from the sun, capturing light to drive photosynthesis and signalling the availability of flowers and fruit.

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