Dr Katy Barrett

Cosmos: the art (and science) of observing space — Spoons on Trays | Katy Barrett Both artists and scientists are fascinated by the world around us. Both observe and interrogate the world and show it back to us in new ways. Both use images not only to illustrate but also to produce...

Myriad ways of showing us the wonders of the cosmos. Finally managed a blog post about #Cosmos at #RoyalWestofEnglandAcademy

Engraving of an owl with protruding eyes, as if its startled or aghast - both apropos

Close up of its eyes

Superb your owls.

This is 2026, there will be no substitutions.

(Gray spotted, c1714 @jcblibrary.bsky.social ofc)

I'm now recruiting for a crucial post in my team - Curator: Parliamentary Art Collection. A rare chance to work with a wonderful collection in a unique setting.

Please do share, and feel free to get in touch with any questions

Back to my roots!

Looking forward to sharing some initial research at this #RoyalSociety conference in March on Scientific portraits and portraits for science.

I’ll be talking about an unrealised scheme for sculptures of scientists in the Palace of Westminster

royalsociety.org/science-even...

Felt so inspired I wrote some blog thoughts www.spoonsontrays.com/blog/et-in-a...

#Arcadia by #TomStoppard at the Old Vic. I first saw this maybe 25 years ago. It first got me interested in 18th-century history and seeing it again I realise how well it entwines stories of science, art and culture in the ways I now hold dear

As people move away from the other place, here’s a starter pack of historians from @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social, who is also worth a follow.

go.bsky.app/Fpw6Tvr

Have loved working on this and learnt so much from Emma!

Now in its eleventh installment, I reflect back on my favourite cultural visits of the year in a 'Best of' on New Year's Day. For 2025, I seem to have enjoyed a similar palette of colour and pattern in shows that made me look and think differently

www.spoonsontrays.com/blog/best-of...

Hopefully in Jan!

Also featuring the brilliant @emmapeplow.bsky.social on the history!

Matt Chorley - Two Lords a Leaping - BBC Sounds Two of the newest members of the House of Lords, Sanna Marin and 'Spin Class'.

Following my brilliant colleagues @sclapperton.bsky.social and Melissa Hamnett I’ve been on Matt Chorley 5 Live ‘Made in Stone’ feature the last few Thursdays talking about the busts of Prime Ministers in Members’ Lobby. Last week Neville Chamberlain (starting 1hr 42)

Finally managed a blog post on architecture and museum moments in Brussels

lnkd.in/e5ETTgFm

Love this thank you! And snap

An orrery in the foreground casts dramatic shadows on the wall

@spoonsontrays.bsky.social #museumofshadows from the National Gallery’s Joseph Wright exhibition

#MuseumofShadows @ukparliament.parliament.uk

I was once that teenager!

In praise of children’s galleries (and country houses) — Spoons on Trays | Katy Barrett Days out to a museum look a little different these days. Gone is the time when we could wheel a reasonably compliant baby around an exhibition and absorb the content. Today, Alfie is fascinated by, an...

New blog post on experiencing museums anew through children’s galleries

Look what arrived in the post! Now out in paperback so much more affordable, and still looking pretty good, though I say it myself

www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

Home from an exceptional week with Oxford Cultural Leaders #OCLResidential2025. Could not have asked for a more perfect set of trainers, activities, locations and colleagues. Now for the reflection, absorption and change to begin!

“Barrett’s cultural studies approach to the longitude question is well-managed and multifaceted, encompassing cartography, scientific and pseudoscientific writing, popular periodicals and popular engravings, satire, poetry, and dictionaries. In short, the book is as good as its word”

Barrett, Katy. Looking for Longitude: A Cultural History In 1714, the British government joined a number of European powers in passing an act to encourage the study of the longitude question—literally: how do we reliably calculate longitude at sea?—in the i...

What a nice surprise to receive a review for ‘Looking for Longitude’ in The Scriblerians and the Kit-Kats, with thanks to Manushag Powell scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/scrible...

This is a great PhD opportunity for someone! I was lucky to do some work on Sarah Sophia’s coin collection in early days www.bl.uk/services/res...

… how we dwell in buildings and bodies, how materials and movements hold memory.

I found it exciting, calming, energising, reflective. 2/2

#DoHoSuh at #tate is as visually beguiling as I expected from visitor’s posts but it’s also deeply compelling.

Working with ‘fabric architecture’ he measures, rubs and records his domestic spaces, making you reflect on the fabric of space, place and memory … 1/2

Excited and humbled to have got a place on #OCLResidential2025 later this year.
Looking forward to everything I can learn from my cohort and the Oxford Cultural Leaders team

Although confusion also apt!

Andor and the antiquities trade | Apollo Magazine In the <i>Star Wars</i> series about the creation of the rebellion, Stellan Skarsgård’s art dealer/spymaster is perfectly placed to understand the inner workings of empire, writes Will Wiles

‘Antiquities are helpfully ambiguous’. I hadn’t realised this context was why I’m enjoying #Andor so much!

A look inside the House of Lords chamber YouTube video by House of Lords

What’s it really like curating a working collection? Watch my brilliant colleague Eloise Donnelly discussing historic furniture and decorative arts in the Lords Chamber

Lots of really useful things to ponder in this report on how GenZ engage with historic houses