Annual Kyffin Williams Lecture
This year the Sir Kyffin Williams Trust is delighted to welcome one of its members, David Smith, to give the annual memorial lecture
This year the Sir Kyffin Williams Trust is delighted to welcome one of its own members, David Smith, to give the annual Sir Kyffin Williams memorial lecture.
David spent three decades at Highgate School teaching physics and first encountered Kyffin in 1984 via dramatic paintings in oil that hung on the walls of the then smoke-filled staff room. His relationship with Oriel Môn began in 2007 when he visited Llangefni to carry out research in preparation for a presentation about Kyffin. The following year he watched David Meredith, a former Chair of the Sir Kyffin Williams Trust, launch a book about the artist (‘Bro a Bywyd’) at the National Library of Wales and subsequently invited him to give a repeat performance at the School. Thus in 2009 the series of Annual Highgate Lectures celebrating Kyffin was born, with the sixteenth having taken place in February of this year.
Having retired from teaching in 2014, David now works part-time in the School Archive and led the curation of two centenary exhibitions at Highgate in 2018, one at the School and the other at the nearby Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution, which together possibly represented the largest ever display of Kyffin’s work outside of Wales. For his efforts to promote the Kyffin cause in London, David was invited to join The Sir Kyffin Williams Trust in 2017.
The lecture will feature stories from the post-war years when Kyffin was Art Master at Highgate, before returning to Anglesey 50 years ago in 1974. The richly illustrated presentation will draw upon research that David carried out with the help of his partner, Caren Efans, both for the Highgate shows as well as for the highly successful exhibition ‘Schoolmaster Artist: Kyffin Williams in London’ that was on display at Oriel Môn in 2022.
The Sir Kyffin Williams Trust was formed in 2007 to support the campaign to build the state-of-the-art Oriel Kyffin Williams as part of Oriel Môn. Since 2009 the Trust has organized annual lectures, which are given alternately in English and Welsh, as part of the artistic programme in Oriel Kyffin Williams.
Image courtesy of the National Library of Wales
Join us for the annual Sir Kyffin Williams lecture
‘There’s a pheasant on the roof: Kyffin Williams in Highgate’ by David Smith.
Friday 10th May at 7pm
Tickets are £5pp available at Oriel Môn reception or contacts us by phoning 01248 724444 or email orielmon@ynysmon.llyw.cymru