Rachel Campbell-Johnston on Visions of Albion: Samuel Palmer and William Blake
Rachel Campbell-Johnston is the chief art critic and poetry critic for The Times. She studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh and has a PhD in modern and contemporary British poetry.
Her first book, Mysterious Wisdom: The Life and Work of Samuel Palmer, was published to great acclaim in 2011. The Child's Elephant is her first book for children. Rachel lives in the country with her family and an assortment of animals.
The story of how the young Samuel Palmer met the ageing William Blake and how, rescuing this great visionary from a lifetime of heartbreaking neglect, he built on our quintessentially British traditions to create pictures which, if our culture had ever encompassed the making of icons, would not have been so different from his glowing pastorals.
Cedars Hall Arts Talks Series
We launched CHATS in response to Antony Gormley’s new sculpture DOUBT, on loan to Wells for a period of 18 months from the end of August 2021. These monthly talks will usually take place on Thursdays at 7pm in Cedars Hall, Wells Cathedral School. Subject to the speaker’s agreement audiences will be able to livestream the talks. Young musicians from Wells will perform in the auditorium before each talk. There will be an opportunity to continue the thought-provoking conversation after the talk with a glass of wine and food.
Buy tickets here
These talks have been curated by Sophie Rucker