This Weekend: William Morris Themed Walthamstow Garden Party

Image: Create

This weekend sees the Walthamstow Garden Party, a free two-day festival celebrating Waltham Forest’s creative and cultural communities. The festival attracted over 35,000 visitors to Walthamstow’s beautiful Lloyd Park last year and things look set for a repeat of that with this year's of line-up of world-class music, theatre, film and food, programmed in partnership with the Barbican.

Festival hosts Create will be teaming up with the William Morris Gallery to curate a designer/maker focused programme for children and adults, inspired by the life and work of William Morris.

Useful + Beautiful Craft Marquee + Trail
Sat & Sun, 12 - 7pm, front lawns of William Morris Gallery and throughout the park

Follow in the footsteps of William Morris and become a master crafter at the Useful + Beautiful Craft Marquee. Once you have made your own multi-note xylophone with Blackhorse Workshop, tried out traditional printing presses with Inky Cuttlefish, moulded a copper ring with Made By Ore or built a wooden house-shaped bird feeder with The Stow Brothers step out onto the lawns to follow the Craft Trail. This will guide you around the park to further explore the legacy for the revolutionary Victorian craftsman.

On the Lawns
Print beautiful cyanotype photographs inspired by Morris' wallpaper designs with Lisa Cheung; decorate a fabric bag to protect your favourite book with artist Sba Shaikh; help Significant Seams make giant poppies; and visit the Friends of the William Morris Gallery at their bookstall for badge-making sessions using African batik fabric.

Inside the William Morris Gallery
Head over to the William Morris Gallery to try your hand at traditional letterpress to make a printed postcard with Paekakariki Press then join master weaver Rezia Wahid, MBE to try out weaving on a table-top loom.

Artillery Island
Queenie & Ted invite everyone aged between 4-100 to join them on Artillery Island to decorate a brooch to wear around the festival. Once you are looking stylish artist Michelle Reader will teach you how to make plant containers for even the smallest spaces in your home.

Worlds End
Before heading off to watch some of the award-winning artists at the World's End Big Top stop by Little Masher's tent to screen-print your own festival t-shirt or make a clay pendant with Creative Biscuit.

E17 Art Trail commission: Magic Carpet by Zarah Hussain
Sat 18 July, rear facade of William Morris Gallery

Magic Carpet is an animated projection that will light up the facade of the William Morris Gallery at sunset on the night of the new moon, which marks the end of Ramadan and the start of the celebrations for Eid al-Fitr for Muslims across the world. Reflecting William Morris’ love and admiration of Islamic carpet design, Hussain’s mesmerising geometric projection will cover the gallery exterior with constantly changing colour, movement and light. 

Further information: 

Walthamstow Garden Party

Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow, E17 5JW

Free entry

Saturday 18 July, 12noon – 9pm

Sunday 19 July, 12noon – 8pm
walthamstowgardenparty.com