Where: The Wilson, Cheltenham

When: 1 August

Illustrator and print-maker, Katy Welsh, will be taking up a summer residency at The Wilson in Cheltenham from 22nd July to 25th August.

And she will be holding a private view on Thursday 1 August from 6pm-9pm. Entry is free and everyone is welcome.

Bristol-based Katy has a love of colour, an eye for composition and an appreciation of craft. Listing her greatest influences as Matisse, Picasso, The Bloomsbury Group and Beyoncé, she has created designs for fashion, interiors and stationery and counts Heals, Hallmark, Waterstones and The British Museum as her former clients.

During her time in Cheltenham, Katy will take her inspiration for new designs from the work of Arts and Crafts designer and architect, Ernest Gimson, ahead of an up-and-coming exhibition of Gimson's work from The Wilson's collection in November 2019. She will also design unique prints and illustrations for giftware and stationery that will be sold in The Wilson shop alongside the Gimson exhibition.

Katy said: "The Arts and Crafts movement was a reaction to the damaging effects of Victorian industrialisation on the quality of everyday goods. It sought to reform design and manufacture by placing the craftsman back at the heart of the process and, in so doing, raise the status of the decorative arts.

"Ernest Gimson was a key designer in the movement, drawing inspiration from a wide range of stimuli and had a hand in every stage of the production process, making design a way of life.

"My work during the residency will be inspired by Gimson's beautiful design pieces, responding to his use of pattern, form and materials. Like Gimson, I strongly believe in the craft process, encompassing the process of design from conception to completion."

Katy's work will be exhibited in the second floor gallery during The Wilson's opening hours.