We're looking forward to it! Sign-up for tickets below!

Classics@UnivReading@uorclassics.bsky.social · 4mo ago

On May 7th at 7:30 PM, Prof. Amy C. Smith will be giving a talk at @unirdg-artcol.bsky.social on the artwork of Eric Stanford (1932-2020). The talk is free to attend but registration is required. collections.reading.ac.uk/art-collecti...

📢 WHEN: MA Fine Art Exhibition @themerl.bsky.social (17 March – 14 June, 2026) Each year, our staff work with postgraduate students from The School of Art to create and exhibit new work in The MERL's open-access, on-site, storage space. 🔗 Visit now! Or learn more on our Bloomberg Connects guide.

📢 Watercolour Workshop with Linda Saul! 🗓️Thursday 14 May 2026, 12:00 – 16:00. In this workshop, discover how to create imaginative, semi-abstract landscapes using experimental, granulating watercolour techniques. Sign-up: collections.reading.ac.uk/art-collecti... Image Credit: © Linda Saul RWS

🚀 Artist in Residence helps pupils draw on cosmic inspiration! ⭐️ We're excited to share that Anurita Chandola FRSA has been appointed as our current Artist in Residence⭐ 🔗 Read our University of Reading Press Release here: www.reading.ac.uk/news/2026/Un...

Our friends at @unirdg-artcol.bsky.social return with another online fine art talk this Thursday! Join Professor Conor Carville (University of Reading) for a deep-dive into the University's artworks of James Joyce. Free to join. RSVP: merl.reading.ac.uk/whats-on/con...

Conversations with a Curator: Professor Conor Carville

Join us for a free online talk with Professor Conor Carville on artworks depicting the famous Irish writer, James Joyce.

merl.reading.ac.uk

📢 Our next series of free online art history talks kicks off again next Thursday 5 February! 🎨 Join Professor Conor Carville as he explores our collection of artwork depicting the Irish writer, James Joyce. 🔗 collections.reading.ac.uk/art-collecti...

🎨 It's the final weekend of our anniversary display: 'Paint, Pencil, Print: 10 Artworks for 10 Years' ⏰The display space will be open 10am to 5pm (last entry 4.30pm). Entrance via @themerl.bsky.social *** © Saranjit Birdi, 'Self Portrait: Left-Foot', pencil on paper, 2021, UAC/11030.

Last year our History placement student, Kaiden Underwood, wrote a fantastic blog about our most recent acquisition—a woodcut by Agnes Miller Parker (UAC/11932). Follow the link to read more: collections.reading.ac.uk/art-collecti... **** UAC/11932. © Estate of Agnes Miller Parker.

Happy New Year! 💫 Today we have been researching this remarkable drawing of St Catherine, attributed to Flaminio (1624-84) or Francesco Allegrini (1587-1663). Catherine is the patron saint of scholars. Artists typically depict her with a spiked wheel, but here she is debating 50 philosophers!

Wishing all of our staff, students and followers a restful and joyful Christmas and New Year!🎄 See you in 2026! 💫 *** [Thomas Hofland, A View of Whiteknights from the Park with a Lady Sketching, c.1816, oil on canvas. UAC/10236]

Take a peek behind the scenes of our Paper Conservation studio with our wonderful colleagues in @uorspeccoll.bsky.social 👀🔍

University of Reading Special Collections@uorspeccoll.bsky.social · 9mo ago

For @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social 's focus week, we're looking at #eyaconservation , with some behind the scenes conservation highlights of James Joyce exhibition prep!

For @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social 's focus week, we're looking at #eyaconservation , with some behind the scenes conservation highlights of James Joyce exhibition prep!

🔍 This month, our former placement student, Caitlin Johnson (BA Museum Studies and Archaeology, 2021-2025), provides a closer look into Walter Sickert’s intriguing drawing — featured in our current exhibition ‘Paint, Pencil, Print: 10 Artworks for 10 Years’ collections.reading.ac.uk/art-collecti...

Missed our recent online talk on Allen Seaby by the fabulous Martin Andrews? Don't worry ... you can catch up on YouTube. Link: youtu.be/cYuBsmK2yP8 [Closeup of 'Magpie' by Allen Seaby. UAC/10860]

Want to terrify an artist for Halloween? Ask them to draw hands! Thankfully Minnie Jane Hardman was up to the challenge. #happyhalloween🎃 [Close-up of 'Study of a hand' by Minnie Jane Hardman, 1883-1889. UAC/10593].

Those of you who visit Park House on our Whiteknights Campus🍻might be familiar with this evocative landscape painting by our alumni and former Professor, Allen W Seaby (1867-1953). If you want to know more about Seaby and his links to Reading, join our free, online talk next Thurs 6 Nov at 7.30pm!

Thanks to everyone who joined us last night as we kickstarted our third series of free, online art history talks! Next up is: 📅 Thurs 6 November 🕣 7.30pm 🐦‍⬛Martin Andrews, printing historian, on the work of painter and printmaker, Allen W. Seaby (1867-1963) collections.reading.ac.uk/art-collecti...

⚡We're back with 'Closer Look: Conversations with a Curator' — our free, online art history talks!⚡ 📅 Thurs 2 October, 7.30pm - Dr Henrietta Hammant (museum anthropologist and curator) on the explorer and mountaineer, Frederick Spencer Chapman (1907-1971). collections.reading.ac.uk/art-collecti...

🏛️ Are you interested in developing a career in museums and galleries? We are looking for a Curatorial Volunteer for 1 day per week. 🖼️ We will help you develop skills in research, collections care, and public engagement. 🔗 For more info, follow the link at: merl.reading.ac.uk/communities/...

⭐ Our Curator of Art Collections has contributed three new biographies on women artists for this month's #ODNB update. Read her Introduction and new entries in the link below! 👇 #ODNB #WomenInArt

Oxford Academic@academic.oup.com · 11mo ago

🌟 This month’s ODNB update celebrates women artists in Britain across 3 centuries! Discover 9 new biographies, including Isabella Beetham, Laura Alma-Tadema, Anna Airy, and Averil Burleigh. Explore their stories ➡️ oxford.ly/4mnkfVG #ODNB #WomenInArt

Listen to our amazing colleagues at The MERL @themerl.bsky.social on their latest #AbsoluteUnits podcast! 🎧

The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL)@themerl.bsky.social · 11mo ago

New Absolute Units is live! Join special guest @katrinanavickas.bsky.social as we delve into the commons: the history of shared resources, the historical forces that encroached upon them, and the fight to get them back. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

If you've been following us for a while you may have spotted references to Abby, our Curatorial Volunteer. Sadly it's her last day with us. We're so grateful for all her amazing work, which including the most recent Ladybird in Focus display. Wishing her all the best!

It's #InternationalDogDay 🐶 🔎 Can you spot the dog in this pencil and ink sketch by Allen W. Seaby? ✏️ Read more about Seaby's sketches in our new online exhibition, curated by University of Leicester MA placement student, Cristina Garcia ✨ 👉 collections.reading.ac.uk/art-collecti...

🎨🖌️Do you want to create a mural on this wall that celebrates the University of Reading centenary? ⏰ Don't forget that our call for expressions of interest closes this Sunday 17 August, at midnight! 🔗 Follow the link in our bio for more info. #PublicArt #ArtistsMural #UniversityOfReading

Happy International Cat Day to all who celebrate. [Closeup of 'Tabby Kittens' by George Hooper, watercolour on paper, UAC/10991]. #internationalcatday

Today's @artukdotorg.bsky.social #OnlineArtExchange is abstract and non-figurative art 🎨 We've chosen Mary Hoad's (1908-68) 'Areas of Colour', whose abstract forms our Curator loves! However, we know little about this artist. Can you shed any light on Mary Hoad and her practice? Let us know! 🔍✏️

Happy Graduation to all of our fantastic University of Reading students!🎓 And so the next adventure begins... (but don't forget to keep in touch!) ✨ [Arthur Stockdale Pope, Alfred Palmer in graduation robes, 1927, oil on canvas, UAC/10056]

💥 We are seeking Expressions of Interest for the design and delivery of a large-scale mural on our Whiteknights Campus💥 🕛 Deadline is Sun 17 August (midnight). 👉🏻 For more info about the application process, follow the link in our bio! #centenarycelebration #publicart #mural #callforartists2025

There are over 1,700 accredited museums in the UK. And now we're officially one of them! If you are looking for us today, we are celebrating. 🎉 For more info: www.reading.ac.uk/news/2025/Un...

It's the final day of term! ☀️🎓 Congratulations to all brilliant students and staff. We hope you have a brilliant summer ahead and look forward to seeing you again in September!