AUTUMN 2026 BOOK TOUR DATES COMING SOON...
I am currently hosting an online lecture series in New York this summer at the 92Y:
William Morris’s Gardens: How Plants Influenced the Arts & Crafts Movement
Class overview: William Morris’s colossal oeuvre of patterns, stained glass, printed books and furniture – central to the British Arts and Crafts Movement in the late 19th century -- is dominated by his botanical imagination and love for the natural world. This class will reveal William Morris’s own private gardens as the physical embodiment of his creative life. Guided by Kelmscott Manor’s garden heritage advisor, Gavin Francis Stoneystreet, we’ll explore Morris's archives to show how his gardens inspired his popular pattern designs, informed his place as a forefather of the environmental movement, and influenced subsequent generations of landscape and garden designers.
Each session will explore how his gardens and personal geography inspired some of the most famous patterns of the modern period, including Strawberry Thief and Willow Bough.