Farming has often been blamed (with some justification) for the decline in British wildlife. However, many farmers, supported by national and international programmes have tried to manage their land with wild plants and animals in mind. Owen has spent most of his research life looking at both the impact of farming and ways to encourage plant life on farmland. This course will examine changes in the flora of arable land over the past century and the actions taken by conservation agencies, NGOs and individual farmers to bring the wild flora back onto arable farmland.

During the three days you will look at the structure of the flowers and draw them first before painting them in watercolour. Instruction will be given on mixing appropriate colours. There will be a variety of plants with different structures and colours taken from the collection grown at the Botanic Garden. The seed heads are also lovely to draw and the plants have striking dark green leaves. The course is open to students of mixed abilities, and who have painted before.

Gardens and flowers have often been the first choice for artists looking for a subject or motif – from Renoir and Monet in France to the American Impressionists of New England. In this session, we will discover the places that inspired great art – the homes and gardens of solo painters and artists’ communities – and find out more about the lives and motivations of some of our greatest painters.

In this beautifully considered exhibition, explore the inventive ways artists in the 18th and 19th centuries recorded fleeting moments in nature, capturing the effects of light, drama, and atmosphere first-hand in the open air.

Join us for our next in-person teachers evening exploring the new exhibition Sutapa Biswas: Lumen with artist Lucy Steggals.

Find out more about contemporary artists, test out creative responses and catch up with other teachers and the Kettle’s Yard team.

£5, booking required

Click here to book your place now

The Fitzwilliam Museum will be opening its doors after-hours again on Thursday 25 November from 17.15 to 20.00.

There will be the opportunity to see the Museum’s new exhibition Gold of the Great Steppe, featuring hundreds of outstanding 2,700 year old gold artefacts recently discovered in the extraordinary ancient burial mounds of East Kazakhstan. And the theme of the exhibition will run through the Museum’s programme for the night with workshops (booking essential), special pop-up talks, tours and live music.

Native Spirit Film Festival

Join us for the Polar Museum's part of the Native Spirit Film Festival, the UK's first and only annual independent festival promoting Native Filmmakers, Media, Artists, Indigenous languages and narrative sovereignty.

Celebrating Inuk Film on International Inuit Day – Online Film Programme

Sunday 7 November

Join us for the Polar Museum's part of the Native Spirit Film Festival, the UK's first and only annual independent festival promoting Native Filmmakers, Media, Artists, Indigenous languages and narrative sovereignty. Supported by Film in Greenland.

Greenlandic Inuit Films

Saturday 6 November, 10.30am- 11.30am & 2pm - 3pm

Join us for a late-night opening of Sutapa Biswas: Lumen at Kettle’s Yard. Explore the exhibition after hours, enjoy a drink and have fun.

Drawing on Sutapa Biswas’ collaborative practice, the evening will bring together a range of artists, organisers and creative practitioners to reflect on the themes that underpin her solo exhibition Sutapa Biswas: Lumen at Kettle’s Yard.

Join us for an online panel discussion with exhibition artist Sutapa Biswas, black feminist writer Lola Olufemi and writer and curator Gilane Tawadros. We will explore formal and conceptual considerations that are key to the language of Biswas’ art, whilst also looking at her contribution to the Black Arts Movement – a cluster of politicised artistic activities by artists of colour.