SEMINAR SERIES: RURAL RIDERS AND RADICALS

Black and white image of a man riding a grey working horse in a field with haystack in the background

A series of lunchtime talks organised by the Department of English Literature and the Museum of English Rural Life, in celebration of their ongoing collaborations. Events in the series feature (alternately) writers with a national profile, and academic authors showcasing new and exciting research. 18 January – Alexandra Harris – The marsh and the visitor […]

SPECULATIVE OPTIMISM

A poster showing the details of the exhibition Speculative Optimism, with an archive corridor in the background.

Deirdre O’Mahony’s residency at the MERL began with the proposition, is carbon-neutral beef possible? Research at the University of Reading is currently testing the effect of different kinds of forage such as Sainfoin, on animal and soil health and on levels of methane produced by livestock. Deirdre spent the residency investigating historical references to forages […]

OBJECTS OF SURVIVAL

The MERL Autumn Speaker Series This series of lunchtime talks is part of Showing, Doing, Telling, a season of events exploring craft and making at The MERL. Specialists in craft and the arts examine different ways of responding to rural life, exploring how best to nurture old skills, contemporary creative responses and traditional practice. For […]

ENGLISH SCYTHES: BACK AT THE CUTTING EDGE?

The MERL Autumn Speaker Series This series of lunchtime talks is part of Showing, Doing, Telling, a season of events exploring craft and making at The MERL. Specialists in craft and the arts examine different ways of responding to rural life, exploring how best to nurture old skills, contemporary creative responses and traditional practice. For […]

HERITAGE CRAFTS AT RISK

The MERL Autumn Speaker Series This series of lunchtime talks is part of ‘Showing, Doing, Telling’, a season of events exploring craft and making at The MERL. Specialists in craft and the arts examine different ways of responding to rural life, exploring how best to nurture old skills, contemporary creative responses and traditional practice. For […]

THE POETICS OF AGRICULTURE

The MERL Autumn Speaker Series This series of lunchtime talks is part of Showing, Doing, Telling, a season of events exploring craft and making at The MERL. Specialists in craft and the arts examine different ways of responding to rural life, exploring how best to nurture old skills, contemporary creative responses and traditional practice. For […]

NEW C21 ARCHITECTURAL RESPONSES TO RURAL LIFE

The MERL Autumn Speaker Series This series of lunchtime talks is part of ‘Showing, Doing, Telling’, a season of events exploring craft and making at The MERL. Specialists in craft and the arts examine different ways of responding to rural life, exploring how best to nurture old skills, contemporary creative responses and traditional practice. For […]

SHOWING, DOING, TELLING: CRAFT AND MAKING

Making, doing, telling: a season of events exploring making and craft at the MERL

THE MERL AUTUMN SPEAKER SERIES Weekday lunchtimes, 10 October to 14 November 12.00 – 1.00pm Free, booking recommended.  Specialists in craft and the arts examine different ways of responding to rural life, exploring how best to nurture old skills, contemporary creative responses and traditional practice. 10 October – Piers Taylor – New C21 architectural responses […]

THE HOGARTH PRESS AT 100

Printing press type laid out to spell the call for Hogarth Press prints.

2017 marks the centenary of the founding of the Hogarth Press. This exhibition is a celebration of Leonard and Virginia Woolf’s Hogarth Press as a key intervention in modernist and women’s writing, and marks its importance to independent publishing and bookselling. The exhibition features contemporary artwork responding to the centenary and original artwork, woodblocks, archival […]

THE ART OF BEEFING IT UP

Image of bull for Beefing It Up conference at the Museum of English Rural Life

PROGRAMME 9.30 Registration and Coffee 9.45 Dr Ollie Douglas – Fat Beasts at the Museum of English Rural Life 10.00 Hilary Matthews – The Woburn Sheepshearing 10.45 Professor Lawrence Weaver – The Iconic Paintings of Thomas Weaver 11.30 Break for coffee 11.45 Visit to see relevant paintings, prints, artefacts and archives in the Museum 13.00 […]

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    The Museum is now fully open, following a major redevelopment, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

    Free Admission

    The Museum of English Rural Life

    University of Reading

    Redlands Road

    Reading

    RG1 5EX

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