Chickenshed comes to Lauderdale House with their hugely popular show Tales from the Shed.
This interactive performance is full of colourful puppets, live songs and enchanting stories. Every show is fun, extremely engaging an includes plenty of music and magic. Children are encouraged to use their imaginations, make lots of noise and be part of the story. Performers and audience share the same space with some of Chickenshed’s much loved characters – from Can-Can the beautiful bird to laid back Lion Down and The Thing That Goes Blurgh! Tales from the Shed is perfect for young children and fun for the whole family.
Tales from the Shed takes place at Lauderdale House on 15 September 2018, starting at 10:30am. Suitable for children up to age 6.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.
We are now taking bookings for the Autumn Term for Portraiture and Figure Drawing!
This class is aimed at artists of all levels, including beginners and advanced students, who wish to expand their skills. Taught by art tutor, Zoe Hirson, this course looks at anatomy and spends some time focusing on drawing a single pose. Materials will be provided. The cost for the entire term is £225.
Portraiture and Figure Drawing takes place every Tuesday. The Autumn Term runs Tuesday 11 September to Tuesday 11 December. Please note there is no class on 23 October for Half Term.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.
Join us on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month for a FREE lunchtime concert at Lauderdale House! Take a break at lunchtime and enjoy 45 minutes of gorgeous classical music performed live by our resident musicians; pianist Stephen Hose and chamber ensemble The Meritus Collective.
18th September – Piano Recital with pianist Stephen Hose
We are now taking bookings for the Autumn Term for Introductory Art – Still Life.
This weekly class offers both beginners and developing students the chance to explore their creative potential in drawing, focusing mainly on Still Life. During the term the class will explore essential drawing techniques – observation, perspective, negative spaces, mark-making and composition. The cost for the entire term is £225.
Introductory Art – Still Life takes place every Wednesday at 10:30am. The Autumn Term runs Wednesday 12 September to Wednesday 12 December. Please note there is no class on 24 October for Half Term.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.
We are now taking bookings for the Autumn Term for Painting with Watercolour and Acrylic.
This class is the perfect opportunity to learn the basics of both paint mediums; how to mix, blend and layer watercolour and how to apply acrylic. Explore how to make dynamic compositions that produce interesting paintings using still Life, photographs and sketches as inspiration. The cost for the entire term is £225.
Our art tutor, Sharon Finmark, lives in North London & studied at Central St. Martins School of Art. She has had several books published on painting & drawing – one on learning to draw was published in May 2016.
Painting with Watercolour and Acrylic takes place every Thursday at 10:30am at Lauderdale House. The Autumn Term runs Thursday 13 September to Thursday 13 December. Please note there is no class on 25 October for Half Term.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.
Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018), discusses the work of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA.
8pm (doors open 7.30pm)
Entry £5 on the door (cash or cheque only).
Brochures and books for sale.
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. He spent much of his adult life in Highgate. This talk is part of the Kyffin 100 celebrations in conjunction with Highgate School Museum. Kyffin was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973, and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall hosting this talk.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.
Insieme: Last of the Summer Wine Concert at Lauderdale House on September 23rd 6.30pm Its now possible to pre-order your interval drinks in the cafe at Lauderdale House. Tickets: https://lauderdalehouse.ticketsolve.com/shows/873594622
We are now taking bookings for the Autumn Term for Portraiture and Figure Drawing!
This class is aimed at artists of all levels, including beginners and advanced students, who wish to expand their skills. Taught by art tutor, Zoe Hirson, this course looks at anatomy and spends some time focusing on drawing a single pose. Materials will be provided. The cost for the entire term is £225.
Portraiture and Figure Drawing takes place every Tuesday. The Autumn Term runs Tuesday 11 September to Tuesday 11 December. Please note there is no class on 23 October for Half Term.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.
We are now taking bookings for the Autumn Term for Introductory Art – Still Life.
This weekly class offers both beginners and developing students the chance to explore their creative potential in drawing, focusing mainly on Still Life. During the term the class will explore essential drawing techniques – observation, perspective, negative spaces, mark-making and composition. The cost for the entire term is £225.
Introductory Art – Still Life takes place every Wednesday at 10:30am. The Autumn Term runs Wednesday 12 September to Wednesday 12 December. Please note there is no class on 24 October for Half Term.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.
We are now taking bookings for the Autumn Term for Painting with Watercolour and Acrylic.
This class is the perfect opportunity to learn the basics of both paint mediums; how to mix, blend and layer watercolour and how to apply acrylic. Explore how to make dynamic compositions that produce interesting paintings using still Life, photographs and sketches as inspiration. The cost for the entire term is £225.
Our art tutor, Sharon Finmark, lives in North London & studied at Central St. Martins School of Art. She has had several books published on painting & drawing – one on learning to draw was published in May 2016.
Painting with Watercolour and Acrylic takes place every Thursday at 10:30am at Lauderdale House. The Autumn Term runs Thursday 13 September to Thursday 13 December. Please note there is no class on 25 October for Half Term.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.
We are now taking bookings for the Autumn Term for Portraiture and Figure Drawing!
This class is aimed at artists of all levels, including beginners and advanced students, who wish to expand their skills. Taught by art tutor, Zoe Hirson, this course looks at anatomy and spends some time focusing on drawing a single pose. Materials will be provided. The cost for the entire term is £225.
Portraiture and Figure Drawing takes place every Tuesday. The Autumn Term runs Tuesday 11 September to Tuesday 11 December. Please note there is no class on 23 October for Half Term.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.
Join us on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month for a FREE lunchtime concert at Lauderdale House! Take a break at lunchtime and enjoy 45 minutes of gorgeous classical music performed live by our resident musicians; pianist Stephen Hose and chamber ensemble The Meritus Collective.
2nd October 2018 – chamber ensemble, The Meritus Collective
We are now taking bookings for the Autumn Term for Introductory Art – Still Life.
This weekly class offers both beginners and developing students the chance to explore their creative potential in drawing, focusing mainly on Still Life. During the term the class will explore essential drawing techniques – observation, perspective, negative spaces, mark-making and composition. The cost for the entire term is £225.
Introductory Art – Still Life takes place every Wednesday at 10:30am. The Autumn Term runs Wednesday 12 September to Wednesday 12 December. Please note there is no class on 24 October for Half Term.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.
We are now taking bookings for the Autumn Term for Painting with Watercolour and Acrylic.
This class is the perfect opportunity to learn the basics of both paint mediums; how to mix, blend and layer watercolour and how to apply acrylic. Explore how to make dynamic compositions that produce interesting paintings using still Life, photographs and sketches as inspiration. The cost for the entire term is £225.
Our art tutor, Sharon Finmark, lives in North London & studied at Central St. Martins School of Art. She has had several books published on painting & drawing – one on learning to draw was published in May 2016.
Painting with Watercolour and Acrylic takes place every Thursday at 10:30am at Lauderdale House. The Autumn Term runs Thursday 13 September to Thursday 13 December. Please note there is no class on 25 October for Half Term.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.

A joint exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA 1918-2006 at Highgate Gallery, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution (HLSI) and Highgate School Museum 14 September – 7 October 2018
Landscape and portrait painter, draughtsman, lecturer, cartoonist and raconteur, Sir Kyffin Williams KBE RA is one of the most famous figures in Welsh art. Highgate Gallery@HLSI and Highgate School Museum are co-hosting Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife 14 September – 7 October 2018, the largest ever retrospective of Kyffin’s work outside Wales. We are delighted to be celebrating the centenary of his birth here in Highgate where Kyffin spent so much of his adult life.
Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife explores the variety of his technique. On display at Highgate Gallery will be rarely seen drawings, watercolours and linocuts on loan from the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth, which form part of their acclaimed exhibition Kyffin 100: Behind the Frame (#kyffin100). There are “plein air” sketches, watercolours, oils of Hampstead Heath, St Joseph’s and Athlone House, portraits of local people as well as Welsh scenes, sketches from his European travels and studies from his expedition to paint the Welsh community in Patagonia. Highgate School Museum will be showing works kindly loaned by private individuals and items borrowed from the National Library of Wales and Oriel Ynys Môn alongside its own collection: portraits, including a charming picture of his Bisham Gardens landlady, Miss Josling, and scenes from Wales and abroad, many dating from Kyffin’s London years.
Kyffin was art master at Highgate School for nearly thirty years and he also taught evening classes at the HLSI in the very hall displaying this exhibition. Local artist and fellow Slade School of Art pupil, Rosa Branson MBE, remembers his frequent and encouraging visits to her studio and their shared passion for work: hours and hours each day committed to perfecting their techniques. Ex-Highgate School pupil Stephen Benson writes,“ I can picture him coming into the art school with that characteristic loping stride more suited to the Welsh hills than north London. He wore a long khaki checked sports jacket with huge drooping pockets, more accustomed I suspect to holding dead birds and other game… We didn’t appreciate how lucky we were to sit at the feet of such a distinguished artist…. At the end of term we were allowed to put aside our clumsy still lives and listen to him recite with an exaggerated Welsh accent the famous lines from Under Milk Wood.”
Kyffin studied at the Slade School of Art (temporarily housed in the Ashmolean/Ruskin School of Art in Oxford during the war) between 1941 and 1944. He was senior art master at Highgate School from 1944 to 1973. In 1968 he gained a Churchill Fellowship to study and paint the Welsh community in Patagonia, South America.
His first solo exhibition in 1948 was at the prestigious London based Colnaghi Gallery. Further exhibitions followed in galleries in England and Wales. From 1969 to 1976 and again from 1992 he was president of the Royal Cambrian Academy. In 1974 he became a Royal Academician. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of University College Swansea in 1989, University College Bangor in 1991 and University College of Wales in Aberystwyth in 1992. A dedicated Kyffin Williams Gallery was opened at Oriel Ynys Môn in his native Llangefni in 2008. He received an OBE in1982 for his contribution to the arts and was knighted in 1999. He published two autobiographies Across the Straits (1973) and A Wider Sky (1991). A lifetime of paintings was bequeathed to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, on his death in 2006.
Event: Friday 14th Sept 6-8.30pm: Reception to celebrate the opening of Kyffin 100: Paper to Palette Knife at Highgate Gallery, HLSI, 11, South Grove N6 6BS
Event: Friday 21st Sept 8pm: Lecture (doors open 7.30pm). Rian Evans, Guardian critic and author of Kyffin Williams: The Light and the Dark (2018) discusses the artist’s work. To book a place contact admin@hlsi.net or HLSI office 02083403340 or £5 entry on the door. Refreshments served.
We are now taking bookings for the Autumn Term for Portraiture and Figure Drawing!
This class is aimed at artists of all levels, including beginners and advanced students, who wish to expand their skills. Taught by art tutor, Zoe Hirson, this course looks at anatomy and spends some time focusing on drawing a single pose. Materials will be provided. The cost for the entire term is £225.
Portraiture and Figure Drawing takes place every Tuesday. The Autumn Term runs Tuesday 11 September to Tuesday 11 December. Please note there is no class on 23 October for Half Term.
We are now taking bookings for the Autumn Term for Introductory Art – Still Life.
This weekly class offers both beginners and developing students the chance to explore their creative potential in drawing, focusing mainly on Still Life. During the term the class will explore essential drawing techniques – observation, perspective, negative spaces, mark-making and composition. The cost for the entire term is £225.
Introductory Art – Still Life takes place every Wednesday at 10:30am. The Autumn Term runs Wednesday 12 September to Wednesday 12 December. Please note there is no class on 24 October for Half Term.
Jazz in the House returns for a new season of informal evening concerts this Autumn, with big names playing alongside Lauderdale favourites. Expect modern, world-class jazz in a beautiful historic setting.
The Autumn Jazz in the House season kicks off on Thursday 11 October with the Nigel Price Quartet. The bar will be open from 8pm and the music begins at 8.30pm.
Season Tickets:
Book your season ticket by 15 September to see all nine shows for just £73 (full price £103)! Limited numbers of season tickets are available, so book now to make sure you don’t miss out. To book a season ticket, simply add standard tickets to all nine shows in the season to your basket and the discount will be automatically applied (subject to availability). Or call the box office on 0208 348 8716.
Leaves on the pond – watercolour – 61x46cm. DeeMcLean 2018. All rights reserved
The restoration of the ecology at the Model Boating Pond on Hampstead Heath
A Year at the Boat Pond is an exhibition of watercolours, acrylics and mixed media that documents the restoration of the ecology at the Model Boating Pond on Hampstead Heath in London following the rebuilding of its dam in 2015-16. The paintings record the aquatic and meadow planting taking root and growing through the seasons.
Journeying through the places that she is emotionally attached to, and looking at how they are all intimately linked by the changing global climate, Dee McLean’s paintings reflect how beautiful and precious our ecosystems are, exploring the relationship between our landscapes and ourselves.
She has written a book in conjunction with the exhibition which explores the geology and history of the Heath, the work done on the ponds and looking at the how the changing global climate has led to the changes in our weather patterns making this environmentally important work necessary. Dee will give you an opportunity to hear about the project in a talk on Saturday 13th and Saturday 20th at 2pm.
Dee studied Illustration at Harrow School of Art and went on to a career in Medical Illustration. She has also had several exhibitions of botanical paintings and drawings and taken on private commissions. Dee is now bringing her love of science and art back into painting, drawing and writing, and hopes that through her art she can remind us that we can all play a part in protecting our own environment.
Dee’s projects take her around the world, painting directly from the geology, flora and fauna she finds on her travels, looking to capture the ephemeral nature of our environment.
Following on from this show, Dee has an exhibition of her Gulf Coast paintings in Covington, Louisiana, USA in May 2019.
All Dee’s projects have a local charity attached to them. Heath Hands, who are the voluntary organisation on the Heath, will receive a donation from all sales of original paintings, the book, prints and cards from this project.
One Moment In Time Theatre present their own version of the classic folk tale The Enormous Turnip – but with a magical twist! We follow the tale of a young girl called Rosie who dreams of carving a special turnip lantern for the Festival of Light. To plant and harvest the turnip, Rosie will need plenty of help from the audience, her animal friends and one small but very important gnome! Little does Rosie know how absolutely enormous her turnip will grow!
“The show was completely magical and the puppetry exquisite. The children were hooked from the outset.”
– Samantha Lane, artistic director, Little Angel Theatre, London
Using beautiful puppetry and engaging story-telling, this performance captivates children’s attention as the action on stage unfolds. The Enormous Turnip is perfect for young children and fun for the whole family.
The Enormous Turnip takes place at Lauderdale House on 13 October, starting at 10:30am. Suitable for children aged 2 and up.