A PLACE IN PATTERN: ISLAMIC ART AND ITS INFLUENCE IN BRITISH ARTS & CRAFTS

“To us pattern designers Persia has become a holy land, for there in the process of time our art was perfected, and thence above all places it spread to cover for a while the world, east and west.” – William Morris 1882

This online exhibition features original work by researcher and artist Dr Sara Choudhrey alongside works on paper from The William Morris Society’s collection and objects from The Emery Walker Trust collection.

The show explores themes of nature, locality and cultural interactions through material. The ordered yet natural patterns of Islamic design are known to have inspired Morris, and he wrote of the stylistic perfection achieved by their craftsmen. The Walker family were friends and neighbours with the Morris’s and greatly admired Islamic art, they notably collected a number of pieces on their travels across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Sara uses a variety of techniques and materials, playing with the effects of light and shadow, textures and form. Her merging of digital technologies with traditional drafting methods in an and culture.

This online exhibition brings together three different, yet intersecting expressions of Islamic art and presents them as an interconnected and evolving whole.

   The exhibition has an accompanying events programme, which includes online talks and virtual workshops, the details for these can be found on the Society’s website (link below).

https://williammorrissociety.org/whats-on/events/

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