Public lecture on the legacy of the Davies sisters of Gregynog

Margaret and Gwendoline Davies. Credit: National Museum of Wales

Margaret and Gwendoline Davies. Credit: National Museum of Wales

22 October 2019

The Davies sisters of Gregynog and their remarkable contribution to the arts and education in Wales will be the subject of a public lecture by Dr Jacqueline Jeynes in the Old College on Monday 4 November 2019.

‘Women of the Century: The Davies Sisters and their Contribution to Arts and Education in Wales’ is the first of a series of lectures to mark the centenary of the Department of Lifelong Learning.  It will explore the fascinating lives of Margaret and Gwendoline Davies and their commitment to education and the arts in Wales during the nineteenth and twentieth century.

Dr Jacqueline Jeynes is a writer and distance learning tutor in the Department of Lifelong Learning, specialising in art history and historical perspectives on contemporary art.

During the lecture, Dr Jeynes will discuss the The Davies Sisters’ home at Gregynog in mid-Wales, which became a centre for the arts and literature and housed a magnificent collection of Monet, Renoir, Picasso and Cezanne paintings.  She will also speak about the Gregynog Press which is one of the sisters’ most enduring legacies and still operates using traditional printing techniques to this day.

‘Women of the Century: The Davies Sisters and their Contribution to Arts and Education in Wales’ takes place at 3.30pm on Monday 4 November 2019 in the Seddon Room in the Old College. Admission is free and a warm welcome is extended to anybody that would like to attend.

At 1pm on the same day, there will be an opportunity to visit the School of Art Gallery and Museum in the Edward Davies Building, Buarth Mawr, and view works by Turner, Rossetti and objet d'art from the George Powell Collection.

Celebrating its 100th birthday this year, the Department of Lifelong Learning was established in 1919 as the Department of Extra-Mural Studies.  It was the first such department to be established in Wales, and only the second in the UK.

Today, the department offers a wide range of courses from Scriptwriting to Still Life, Plant Diversity to Portraiture, Local History to Living Willow Sculpture, and French to Forensic Psychology.  

To find out more, visit the department’s online pages or get in touch on 01970 621580 / learning@aber.ac.uk.