As the days shorten and the chill of autumn deepens, we find ourselves in a period of transition. Samhain, the final harvest, marks the end of the wheel of the year and the beginning of winter. In our home, Samhain is a quiet, reflective time—a moment to honour what has passed and to prepare for the darker months ahead. It is a festival deeply connected to remembrance, where the veil between the living and the dead is believed to be at its thinnest, and we are reminded of the cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth.

Quilts: A Material Culture – A ‘state of the craft’ exhibition surveying contemporary quilt-making at the newly opened Batsford Gallery. Building upon a resurgence of interest in quilts as functional art, five artists with distinctive practices demonstrate the pliancy of a form which stretches from contemplative colour study to organic abstraction and the avant-garde.