Weekends are more than a little lacking at the moment. But there’s a lot going on online if you know where to look. Might we tempt you…?
Immerse yourself in the Bloomsbury group’s literature and ideas with this new series from Charleston at Home. Reader-in-residence Holly Dawson hones in on a topic each Sunday for 5 weeks. These include friendship, home, love and sex, politics and bodies using the their books, essays, articles, letters and diaries as a springboard. Starting 31 January, tickets for all 5 talks £30 or £7.50 each.
Each Sunday a new room is posted on the @roomportraitclub instagram account. You then have until the following week to do a painting or an artist’s impression of it in any medium. Then take a picture, upload it to Instagram and don’t forget to tag – it will be added to the collection on their account. Anyone can join in! This week the room in question is Flora Soames’ beautiful bedroom and you can see some of the interpretations here.
On a similar theme to Room Portrait, but this time for stories. Quill Kickers will ask a question on Monday 25 January via instagram – answer it as honestly as you can in the comments section. By Sunday your ideas will be weaved into a chapter one of a new story that drops on their website on Sunday. A kind of modern-day periodical each story runs over 3 chapters, and will leave you on a cliffhanger, with the chance to post more ideas the following Monday.
A new podcast series to tune into this weekend from Chanel. Hear Tilda Swinton, Keira Knightley, Pharrell Williams, Arthur Jaffa, Edward Enniful and Es Devlin discussing the future of arts and culture and how these industries can move forward from the pandemic.
And these will run next Tuesday evening if you want something to look forward to mid-week:
Beginners Illustration with May Van Millingan
Daylesford’s events have gone online, including this illustration workshop with London-based illustrator May van Millingen. Sign up and spend an evening exploring line, tone and texture using watercolours. You will need to gather fruit and veg from your kitchen for the class so make sure you have an appealing variety. 26 January, 6.30-8pm, £20.
Hay Festival Book of the Month
Register for a free Q&A from Hay Festival where Philippe Sands will be talking to author Ruth Coker Burks. Her book, All the Young Men tells true story of a young, single mother at the forefront of the AIDS crisis, caring for others and changing her own life in the process. A virtual book club, you can read along and then join the Q&A’s each month.