Making with Jane Austen and JMW Turner Richard Johns and Chloe Wigston Smith
Event details
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the births of novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817) and artist JMW Turner (1775-1851). Our immersive workshop will focus on the materials of their creativity and invites participants to use watercolour paints, inks and textiles. Come along and learn about Austen's and Turner’s innovative techniques.
You’ll have the opportunity to work with watercolours, adapting Turner’s sketching style and compositional techniques for a favourite scene from nature. Use an image from your phone, a photograph or choose from a collection of images at the event.
You’ll also have the chance to contribute to a collective patchwork piece, in the style of Austen’s own patchwork practice. Like the watercolour activity above, this one will be adapted to a variety of skills levels and no prior knowledge of sewing is required.
The workshop coincides with a landmark exhibition on Austen and Turner at Harewood House co-curated by the University of York’s Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies.
Suitable for ages 14+. A choice of two sessions is available.
The Jane Moody in Memoriam Event
You may also be interested in an exhibition on Austen and Turner at Harewood House, West Yorkshire co-curated by the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies, with curatorial advice from Jade Foster.
During the Festival, we are also presenting an online panel discussion, ‘Austen and Turner: Creativity and connection’, on Wednesday 4 June.
Image credit: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
About the facilitators
Richard Johns is Senior Lecturer in the Department of the History of Art at York. He has published widely on various aspects of British art, with a particular focus on the eighteenth century. In 2019, he co-curator the exhibition Ruskin, Turner and the Storm Cloud at the York Art Gallery and Abbot Hall Art Gallery. He is co-curator of Austen and Turner: A Country House Encounter.
Chloe Wigston Smith is Professor of Eighteenth Century Studies and Director of the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at York. She specialises in women’s writing and material culture in the eighteenth century and is co-curator of Austen and Turner: A Country House Encounter.
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