Past Events 

“The trees wave, the clouds pass” — Virginia Woolf on Life and Art

In this illustrated lecture, Karin Fernald examines Virginia Woolf’s engagement with life and art through selections from her letters, diaries, and novels. The talk is complemented by visual material, including paintings by Vanessa Bell and works from the Camden Group of Artists, situating Woolf within her wider cultural and artistic milieu.

Pamela Holmes will talk about the research she did before writing the novel, The Huntingfield Paintress. Her illustrated talk will consider the life of Mildred Holland. Every day for six years, this Victorian vicar’s wife climbed up rickety ladders to lie on her back painting angels and saints in gold leaf and bright colours on the ceiling of her husband’s church. A Michelangelo in skirts. But what drove her up the ladder?

"Inside Psychosis" is a clinical and therapeutic exploration of working on male and female acute psychiatric wards.

The author, Helen Holmes, is the Clinical Director of The Blues Clinic based in South Hampstead, with over 35 years experience working in education and mental health with children, young people, adults, couples and families. Educated at Oxford University, UCL, King’s College London and Heythrop College London, Helen has trained under leading international experts.  Her books include a psychology textbook on pre- and perinatal mental health (2020), Inside Psychosis (2025), and a poetry anthology (2008).