Karen Livingstone will talk about her new book, Women Pioneers of the Arts & Crafts Movement which is a celebration of the work and ambition of the women who were at the heart of the most influential art and design movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She will shine a light on the vital contribution of figures such as May Morris, Gertrude Jekyll, Annie Garnett, and many others, and describes the Arts and Crafts Movement from the perspective of these women who worked against the odds as artists, makers, teachers, authors, and entrepreneurs. Women of the era took part in, and often led, the founding of exhibitions, societies, art schools, and small craft industries. Some were activists and social disruptors while using their skills and talents to make a living. Karen’s talk will highlight the versatility and range of these talented women, who worked across a host of disciplines, including textile design, embroidery, bookbinding, illustration, painting, enameling, stained glass, metalwork, furniture design, and architecture.

Karen Livingstone is Deputy Director (Masterplan, Exhibitions and Design) at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. She is a Fellow of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She was curator of the V&A exhibition ‘International Arts and Crafts’ in 2005, and her publications include the accompanying catalogue International Arts and Crafts (co-edited with Linda Parry), Essential Arts and Crafts (2005), C.F.A Voysey, Arts and Crafts Designer (with Linda Parry and Max Donnelly, 2016) and Voysey’s Birds and Animals (2020).