Bloomsbury Jamboree Lectures 2026
You are invited to our annual BLOOMSBURY JAMBOREE which runs from 10:30am – 4:30pm, Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th November at Art Workers’ Guild, 6 Queen Sq, WC1N 3AT.
We are showing the work of our favourite makers and are proud to present these accompanying lectures. Tickets include entry to the Jamboree.
SUZANNE COOPER: PAINTINGS UNDER THE SPARE ROOM BED
Join author Lucy Hughes-Hallett for an illustrated talk exploring the life, work and rediscovery of Suzanne Cooper, an important modernist artist. Lucy will be in conversation with Phil Abel of Hand & Eye.
Cooper studied at London’s Grosvenor School of Modern Art where she developed a distinctive style as a painter and wood engraver. Her work was exhibited at leading London galleries during the thirties, attracting the attention of critics and the influential collector and gallerist Lucy Wertheim.
Her artistic career was interrupted by the Second World War. Then, following marriage and the birth of her children, Cooper largely abandoned her art, leaving many of her paintings stored under a bed, but her work has since been recognised anew, bringing her remarkable career to wider attention.
Click here to book for Lucy Hughes-Hallett’s lecture at 11am on Saturday 14th November
SARAH AINSLIE’S WOMEN AT WORK : EAST END PORTRAITS 1992-2025
Photographer Sarah Ainslie introduces Women at Work, her long-term project documenting the lives and labour of women in the East End, published by Spitalfields Life Books accompanied by an exhibition at Four Corners, Bethnal Green opening on 20th November.
Sarah celebrates the contribution of female labour in exuberant photographs that capture the passion and struggle of the working life, forming a panoramic survey of social change over four decades.
These pictures are a vital testament to the indomitable spirit of women whose work is often unrecognised but who shape the fabric of our lives, sustaining and binding together communities with their warmth, labour and fellowship.
Click here to book for Sarah Ainslie’s lecture at 12:15pm on Saturday 14th November
PEARL BINDER: ART, SOCIALISM & SATIRE
Lou Taylor, Pearl Binder’s youngest daughter, talks about the extraordinary life and work of this pioneering artist, writer and journalist.
Born into a poor Jewish family in Manchester, Binder moved to Whitechapel in 1925 with little money or personal connections. Already a committed socialist, she become a graphic artist, journalist, BBC television personality and passionate traveller who visited Moscow in 1933
Her lithographs, drawings and collages combine sharp social observation with satire. She worked throughout her life, including a final series of portrait prints depicting London’s Punks in all their finery. Binder’s work was recently featured in the exhibition Comrades in Art: the AIA 1933–1943 at Towner Gallery, Eastbourne.
Click here to book for Lou Taylor’s lecture at 2pm on Saturday 14th November
TYPEFOUNDERS OF EAST LONDON: THE MAKING OF THE PRINTED WORD
Join typographer and designer Richard Ardagh for an illustrated talk about the people, places and processes behind East London’s remarkable type-founding history, originating influential typeface styles including sans-serif, slab-serif and Clarendon. Richard will introduce the area’s leading typefounders and foundries, including William Caslon, Vincent Figgins and William Thorowgood.
The talk draws on Richard’s recently published book, Type Archived: A Visual Journey Through Typographic History. He will describe the tools, techniques and surviving artefacts that reveal the story of an industry which transformed the way we communicate.
Click here to book for Richard Ardagh’s lecture at 3:15pm on Saturday 14th November
MADE IN LONDON: THE CITY’S MANUFACTURING SCENE TODAY
Manufacturer and urbanist Mark Brearley gives illustrated talk about what is made in London these days and by who, in the filigree of factories that are fighting to keep a foothold in our city.
Discover which industries are strong, and changing, and burgeoning against the odds, as well as which are threatened by waves of expulsion, the lack of support and ongoing social-narrowing.
Mark will draw on his 2022 book Made in London (co-authored with photographer Carmel King) with some updates on the story. Advocating for Kaymet, his own aluminium tray and trolley factory in Peckham, Mark is passionate about the necessity of embedded industries in cities.
Click here to book for Mark Brearley’s lecture at 11am on Sunday 15th November
THE CREATIVE FUTURE OF INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLING
Julia Harrison (formerly of Waterstone’s and Daunt Books) and Mireille Galinou (of the new City Lovers’ Bookshop) celebrate the creative new possibilities for independent bookselling, adapting and innovating to challenge the online marketplace by offering radically different and more personal experiences.
At this watershed moment for bookselling, they ask what it can provide and why it matters.
Resisting the dominance of online retailing empowered by AI, Julia and Mireille explore the potential for building communities around the experience of reading and viable new kinds of bookshops, encouraging spaces for the exchange of ideas and enthusiasm inspired by book publishing.
Click here to book for Julia Harrison and Mireille Galinou’s talk at 12:15pm on Sunday 15th November
MARK & SPARKS! ENID MARX: PATTERN, POPULAR ART & MODERN DESIGN
Art historian and writer Alan Powers talks about the life and work of the remarkable designer, printmaker, illustrator and collector Enid Marx.
Marx worked in textiles, book illustration, industrial design, printmaking and popular art. Best known for her woven designs for London Underground upholstery, she also created hand-blocked fabrics, wallpapers, book jackets, stamps, laminates and ceramics, bringing together modern design, folk tradition and a lively sense of pattern. Her work combined originality with a strong belief in the social purpose of design.
Drawing on his book Enid Marx: The Pleasures of Pattern, Alan Powers will explore Marx’s extraordinary career and the rich network of artists, designers and makers of which she was a part.
Click here to book for Alan Powers’ lecture at 2pm on Sunday 15th November
LOOK DOWN! THE COAL HOLE COVERS OF LONDON
Look down as you walk through London and you will find thousands of coal hole covers set into pavements, doorsteps and courtyards. Once used to deliver coal directly into the cellars of London homes, these practical features are also miniature examples of Victorian design and craftsmanship.
In his illustrated talk, art teacher, ceramicist and coal hole enthusiast Simon Turner explores the history of coal hole covers, the foundries and designs behind them, and where some of the most interesting examples may be found.
Simon will also discuss his project of taking casts from selected coal hole covers and transforming them into ceramic bowls.
Click here to book for Simon Turner’s lecture at 3:15pm on Sunday 15th November
