Event type: Talk

In Conversation with Ben Youdan

Join artist Ben Youdan in conversation to find out more about his process of creating art.

Ben Youdan’s work ‘Mask’ is currently on display at the Williamson as part of the Independents Biennial 2025.

Youdan is a visual artist based in Liverpool, U.K. His mixed media work employs a wide variety of techniques and processes including collage, drawing, painting, printmaking and photography, to create imagery that takes inspiration from the iconography and ephemera of popular culture. His pieces explore themes such as identity, glamour and sexuality.Book Now

Wirral History & Heritage Open Days: Della Robbia and Architecture Talk

As part of Wirral History and Heritage Open Days, the Williamson will be taking a deep dive into the collection.

Join our Collections Manager Josh as we delve into the early history of Della Robbia ceramics, focusing on the beautiful panels made by the company to adorn buildings in the local area. 

FREE to attend, booking required.

 

Click Here to Book Now

September 18th, 19th & 27th

10:30am & 3pm

 

Curator Tours: Richards and Steer

Join our Collections Manager Josh for a tour of the two exhibitions curated from our collection, exploring the works of Albert Richards and Philip Wilson Steer.

These talks will offer the opportunity for you to find out more about the narrative of each exhibition, the stories we wanted each exhibition to tell, and give you background into the lives of each artist. There will be one talk a month throughout 2025. Please consider giving a donation with your booking to support the work of the Williamson.     Click Here to Book Now   Dates & Times:

Friday 22nd August, 6pm

Wednesday 17th September, 11am

Friday 24th October, 6pm

Wednesday 12th November, 11am

Friday 9th January, 6pm

Open Studios with Steve des Landes

From 2025, Steve des Landes has been Artist in Residence at the Williamson. With a studio in our Art Room, his intention starting the residency was to work on larger-scale paintings.

He will be hosting Open Studio sessions every Friday evening, 6 – 8:30pm. Between these hours you can drop into his studio, see what he’s working on and ask any questions. No booking required, just pop into the gallery on Friday evenings.

You can also follow Steve’s progress on our social media channels

Read more about Steve des Landes’s residency

Books and Banter

Love books? Love talking about books? Love Books & Banter!
Books and Banter is an opportunity to talk about books guided by theme, with no specific book set to read. Discussions around the subject are facilitated but not restricted, and tangents are welcome.

The theme of February’s meeting is Marmite – books you love or hate

Free to all – no need to book, just come along!

 

Take a look at the list from January’s session

BEGINNINGS

 

The Williamson Café will be open and serving refreshments, including alcohol.

 

Peter Rainsford Presents

Peter Rainsford Presents – a Miscellany of Music and Creativity.

Peter is founder and director of Tafelmusik music school in Oxton. Each month he brings a varied repertoire of music and performers to the Williamson.

As well as a musical talk from Peter and songs from singer/songwriter Paula, this month’s special guest is local pianist Keith Peris.

Keith is appearing again by popular demand.

  His program will include works by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.

 

Paula will be singing some of her thoughtful songs and peter will be presenting one of his popular ‘Musical Appreciation ‘ talks.

 

Tafelmusik website

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Split Level Music

Split Level music with Phil Chisnall and Lynne Strange.

The duo specialise in strong vocal harmony accompanied by Phil’s haunting guitar, performing a broad range of contemporary covers as well as Phil’s own critically acclaimed, self written songs.

They have performed at many local venues and folk clubs, where their unique blend of musical entertainment captivates any audience.

 

We are looking forward to welcoming Split Level music back to the Williamson.

 

The Williamson Café will be open for drinks and light bites.

Philip Wilson Steer: In Conversation

Born in Birkenhead, Philip Wilson Steer was a pioneer of impressionism in Britain during the late nineteenth century. Studying in Paris in the 1880s, he was exposed to this radical way of painting after seeing works by the likes of Degas and Manet. With his loose approach to painting and depictions of scenes that were seen as indecent for the time, Steer was widely ridiculed on his return to London, but eventually gained acclaim and prestige with the increasing influence of the New English Art Club and his teaching post at the Slade School of Art. Later in his career, Steer was inspired by masters of English landscape painting, such as Constable and Turner, with examples of these works being found in the exhibition.

As well as showcasing the Williamson’s collection of Steer, this exhibition will bring his work into conversation with both his contemporaries and local artists who followed in his footsteps. This will showcase his personal approach to colour and painting, but will also show the limitations of his radicalism, largely through his approach to depicting women.

The Williamson’s collection of works by Steer has long been considered a highlight of our collections, which we are delighted to be able to display a significant number of in this exhibition.

 

EVENTS:

Curator talks on Albert Richards & Philip Wilson Steer – dates throughout 2025

Info & Booking

Book Launch: “A Dirty History of Photography: Chemistry, Fog and Empire” Michelle Henning in conversation with Sarah James about her new environmental history of photography

Tuesday 28 April / 6pm – 8pm / Open Eye Gallery / RSVP
Join Michelle Henning and Sarah James to discuss questions about the relationship between the ways in which photography pictures the world, the materials from which it is made, and its relationship to polluting and extractive industries.

Focussing on chemical photography in the interwar period, Michelle Hennings’s book “A Dirty History of Photography: Chemistry, Fog and Empire” addresses how photographic practice was linked to British imperial ideas about weather, climate and racial superiority; photography’s dependence on coal; how the polluted atmosphere (fog) came to represent particular ideas about imperial London, and how at the same time, photographic materials had a sensitivity to atmospheric change and contamination that went beyond the sensitivities assigned to them by the industry. How does thinking about photographs and photography allow us to understand our wider relationship with the world, and dependence on the “nonhuman”?

Michelle Henning says,
“This book is the culmination of research done over the last 8 or 9 years, drawing on the archives of Ilford Limited, the most well-known British photographic manufacturers. I have tried to write in a way that is accessible and evocative, but also conceptually rigorous. I ended up constructing the book out of 36 “snapshots” or short chapters, which allow me to move back and forth in time, change style and shift from close readings of images to accounts of the wartime chemical industries, of devastating fogs and gas attacks, to unusual weather events and air conditioning systems!”
Michelle Henning is Chair in Photography and Media at the University of Liverpool. She is the author of numerous essays and chapters on photography including Photography: The Unfettered Image (Routledge 2018). Her new book, ‘A Dirty History of Photography: Chemistry, Fog and Empire’, is published with the University of Chicago. She also works as an artist/designer.

Sarah James is Professor of Visual Culture at Manchester School of Art (MMU). She is the author of ‘Common Ground: German Photographic Cultures Across the Iron Curtain’ (Yale University Press, 2013), and ‘Paper Revolutions: An Invisible Avant-Garde’ (The MIT Press, 2022). Her new book ‘Art and Ends of Capitalism’ is forthcoming with Manchester University Press.  She regularly writes for the international art press.

The Pansy Project Planting Tour and Talk

Saturday 14 March / 2pm – 4pm / Open Eye Gallery / RSVP
Spaces are limited. If you’re unable to attend, please return your ticket at Eventbrite
Paul Harfleet will guide a gathered group on a small planting pansy tour, marking sites of homophobia and transphobia. The curated selection of locations will be within walking distance of Open Eye Gallery. After the tour we will return to Open Eye Gallery for a presentation on The Pansy Project given by Paul Harfleet, followed by a Q&A session and a chance to talk.

Paul Harfleet has been planting pansies at sites of homophobic and transphobic abuse since 2015. Through this quiet yet powerful act, the ongoing project gently confronts hate crime and brings visibility to LGBTQ+ experiences that often go unreported. Read more at thepansyproject.com.

For this event, Paul Harfleet is seeking further locations to mark with pansies that come directly from the local LGBTQ+ community. If you have a location that you would like to be marked with one unmarked pansy planted at the location where an LGBTQ+ hate crime has occurred, please submit it through the Google Form. You will need to supply the nature of the experience (this can be a quote from the assailant or a short description of what happened) and the exact location (postcode is useful).
The artist will find the nearest source of soil to plant the pansy. The subsequent photograph will be entitled after the quote or after what happened; this title should be as brief as possible. Locations can be supplied anonymously or on someone’s behalf. The artist will select from the locations supplied based on the nature of the abuse, location, and logistics of his visit. The artist may return at a later date to plant pansies that were not managed during this event.
 

This event is in partnership with Homotopia.

This event is part of LOOK Climate Lab 2026, a biennial programme by Open Eye Gallery.

 
We encourage you to use public transport or carpooling when getting to the events.

 

Open Eye Gallery is a short walk from the Liverpool ONE shopping centre and the Albert Dock.

 

By train. We are 20 minutes walk from Lime Street station. James Street station, served by Wirral Line trains, is a two minute walk. Moorfields station, served by the Northern and Wirral Lines, is a five minute walk. Visit Merseytravel for details of local train services.

 

By bus. The nearest bus and coach station is at Liverpool ONE, served by National Express coaches. Merseytravel has details of  local bus services.

 

By ferry. The gallery is two minutes walk from the Pier Head Ferry Terminal, from which Mersey Ferries run regular services to the Wirral.

 

By bicycle. There are bicycle bays close to the gallery.

 

If you wish to offset the carbon footprint of your travel, you can do it with Carbon Neutral Britain, Carbon Footprint, Forest Carbon, My Carbon Plan or any other project that you trust.