Women in Conservation: a conversation

Event details

Tuesday 18 March 2025
5.30 - 8pm

We are hosting a special event to celebrate women in conservation and timing it in recognition of International Women's Day in early March.

Join us for a unique panel discussion, led by award-winning sculptor Nina Bilbey, as we consider the creativity, skills, ambitions and barriers faced by women who have careers as carvers, sculptors, masons and conservators.  

We are delighted to welcome Marcia Bennett-Male, sculptor, Josephine Crossland, stone carver, Marlène Lagnado, stonemason and letter-cutter, and Samantha Peacock, stonemason and stained glass conservator, to our panel for an evening of insight and inspiration into what it means to be a woman in conservation?

• 5.30pm doors open and drinks will be served.
• 6pm the conversation will start.
• There will be an opportunity for our panel to take questions from the audience.
• 8pm ends.

Advanced booking is recommended as we expect this event will sell out. We welcome anyone interested in learning from these women in conservation, for general interest or to inspire your own career. A concession price is available for students, people who are unwaged or on low income. There is no eligibility criteria, these discounts are available for anyone who needs them. This is a trust based system, we do not require proof or even an explanation of the rate you choose.

Our venue, a Grade II* listed Georgian building in the heart of Bloomsbury, is the home of the Art Workers' Guild. If you can't join us in London for this event, book here for a live stream of the panel discussion on 18 March. 

Panel

Nina Bilbey, Panel Chair

Nina Bilbey, an award-winning sculptor, has been stone carving and teaching for most of her adult life. In 2018 she was awarded the City & Guilds Gold Medal of Excellence for her contribution to the teaching of craft. As the Senior Stone Carving Tutor at the City & Guilds of London Art School, Nina taught generations of the nation’s most talented stone and wood carvers. Her work can be seen on many historic buildings, notably the statues of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at Canterbury Cathedral. Co-founder of the Abraxas Stone Carving Academy which has recently won Fighting With Pride’s commission for the National Memorial Arboretum. Nina runs a successful stone carving studio based at the Holkham Estate in Norfolk and co-hosts The Stone Carving and Lettering Takeaway podcast. 

Marcia Bennett-Male

Marcia Bennett-Male is a London based sculptor whose chief focus is the depiction of food, often focusing on the disregarded and overlooked aspects as inspiration. Marcia is now turning her attention more to marble portraiture, and has been funded by the Heritage Craft Association and the City & Guilds Foundation to study in Italy. She trained at City & Guilds of London Art School as an architectural stone carver and letter cutter in the 1990s, followed by a QEST scholarship to train as a stonemason at the Building Crafts College. Marcia has worked in the USA and has public art pieces sited around the UK.  She has just completed a commemorative memorial at Bristol Cathedral, dedicated to the former slaves of the Daniel family, commissioned by a descendant. Marcia has run workshops and taught at national museums and galleries, and has recently returned to teaching at the City & Guilds of London Art School.    

Josephine Crossland

Josephine Crossland is a stone carver based in the Scottish Borders. Jo trained at Weymouth College in 2008 in Applied Architectural Stone Carving and Conservation. She has worked as a stone conservator on a number of historic buildings in Scotland, such as Roslyn Chapel and St Giles’ Cathedral.  Jo joined Hutton Stone on an Historic Scotland Craft Fellowship, apprenticed to their resident stone carver, Michelle de Bruin, and focused on architectural carving, lettering and sculpture. She also trained with John Neilson, letter carving at his workshop in Wales, thanks to the Journeyman Scheme funded by the Lettering Arts Trust. Jo now works alongside Michelle at their workshop at Hutton Stone and regularly teaches in secondary schools, in collaboration with the Scottish Traditional Buildings Forum, to promote traditional skills and the uptake of apprenticeships by young people.  

Marlène Lagnado

Marlène Lagnado (Marly) grew up in Strasbourg, France where she first worked on old buildings with her father, a master carpenter. Marly later moved to Somerset and engaged in landscaping, farming, building maintenance, slate roofing, rendering and barn building. Developing a preference for stone over the carpentry of her early years, Marly enrolled at York College in 2020. She embarked on a stonemasonry apprenticeship with Matthias Garn, Master Mason & Partner, undertaking banker masonry, fixing, technical drawing and letter carving. Marly attained a distinction from York College, Stonemasonry Apprenticeship Level 2, and has was been awarded accolades and funding, including Heritage Crafts Awards Trainee of the Year Finalist 2023 and 2024. Marly completed the SPAB's William Morris Craft Fellowship in 2024, during which she benefited from placements with Michelle de Bruin and Josephine Crossland. Marly has returned to Matthias Garn’s workshops and hopes to continue developing her letter-cutting skills.

Samantha Peacock

Samantha Peacock has worked in heritage constuction for 18 years. Her career began with an apprenticeship at Wells Cathedral Stonemasons in Somerset, where she worked on a variety of stones and types of masonry from banker work to letter-cutting, and gained an NVQ Level 3 in Stonemasonry from Bath College. Sam's interests soon turned to the repair and conservation of historic stonework and in 2012 she completed SPAB's William Morris Craft Fellowship. With a National Heritage Training Group bursary, Sam completed her NVQ Level 3 in Heritage Skills at York Minster and had the opportunity to work alongside the cathedral stonemasons during the conservation of the Great East Window.  While in York, Sam completed a Master’s Degree in the Archaeology of Buildings. She studied the issues surrounding the retention or replacement of historic stonework on cathedrals and churches. Sam also trained as a stained glass conservator at Holy Well Glass from 2016 - 2019, and is now based at Cliveden Conservation’s Bath Workshop. Sam was ‘Commended’ for high craft skills at the 2023 Duke of Gloucester Awards.

Accessibility

There are three steps to the entrance of the building. A temporary ramp is available to use. The ground floor is fully accessible with a permanent ramp into the event hall. There is a disabled toilet available on the ground floor. There is one step into the courtyard. A temporary ramp is available to use for access to the courtyard. 

Anything we can do to make this event more accessible for you? Please email education@spab.org.uk.

All bookings are subject to our Terms and Conditions.

We may take photos or videos at this event to be used in future promotion, including in print and online. 

Photos credit © Ralph Hodgson; Nina Bilbey; Marcia Bennett-Male; Josephine Crossland; Marlène Lagnado; Rachel Stoplar for SPAB.       

This event is kindly supported by Stone Federation Great Britain.