2025 -LECTURES

Wednesday 8th January 2025 – online lecture – 7:30 pm

RICHMOND ART SOCIETY

“John Lavery: an Edwardian Portraitist and a Glasgow Boy”

Maria Chester has been researching Lavery’s life and work and will be delivering a talk which will portrait a unique Scottish artist, one of the so-called “Glasgow Boys” those who change forever our perception of Scottish art of the 20th century.

https://www.richmondartsociety.com/

FRED OLSEN CRUISE LINES – “BOLETTE”

From 21st January 2025 to 05 February 2025 I’ll be delivering lectures on this beautiful ship. In order to do this, I prepared specific lectures about the places we will be visiting.

I will be delivering a programme of insightful talks to deepen the cultural, artistic and historical understanding of the destinations the cruise will be exploring, helping to enjoy the natural beauty of the places the cruise visits.

THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
NEW GENETICS
AMAZONIA – OLDEST ROCK ART IN THE AMERICAS
SLAVERY AND RELIGION IN LATIN AMERICA
PATAGONIA I – MAPUCHES
PATAGONIA II – THE KINGDOM OF ARAUCANIA AND PATAGONIA

All these lectures will be delivered while sailing on the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

CREATIVE RETIREMENT – MANITOBA – CANADA

VIA ZOOM – THURSDAYS – MARCH 2025

A series of three talks about the magnificent cities built by the ancient civilisations of the Americas. Some of them, such as TENOCHTITLAN were completely destroyed by the Spanish Conquistadors that built the city of Mexico on top of Tenochtitlan ruins. Others, like TEOTIHUACAN and PALENQUE are the most visited ancient cities in the continent.

THURSDAY 13TH MARCH – TEOTIHUACAN: THE PLACE WHERE THE GODS WERE BORN
THURSDAY 20TH MARCH – PALENQUE – OVERVIEW OF THE PALACE OF PAKAL
THURSDAY 27TH – MACHU PICCHU – THE INCA JEWELL HIDDEN IN THE ANDES

GUELPH SUMMER CLUB – CANADA

VIA ZOOM – MONDAYS

Another series on La Belle Epoque delivered to this very active senior club. La Belle Epoque – named like this after the WWI – was a time of enjoyment and progress. Science, art, theatre, literature, technology all of these had a big development. Electricity brought light to homes and factories and it changed our life forever. Trams, buses, telephone, were used for the first time. It was a period of splendour and still catches our imagination.

MONDAY MARCH 24TH 2025 – LA BELLE EPOQUE:AN INTRODUCTION
MONDAY APRIL 07TH 2025 – LA BELLE EPOQUE: THE BIRTH OF CINEMA
MONDAY APRIL 14TH 2025 – LA BELLE EPOQUE: LES BALLETS RUSSES

CEDRIC MORRIS: a gardener, an artist and a revolutionary art teacher

https://www.maltingsberwick.co.uk/whats-on/cedric-morris-exhibition-tours-with-professor-maria-chester/

From June 7th to 4th October 2025, always on Saturdays at 1:00 pm I’ll be taking small groups in these study-tours, analyzing and enjoying the work of Cedric Morris and also, we will see the intriguing work of his life partner, Arthur Lett-Haines.

A 2-HOURS LECTURE ON CEDRIC MORRIS – September 26th 2025-10 am|12 m

I prepared a 2-hours talk on the life and work of this unique artist who applied teaching methods ahead of his time, in his well established art school at Benton End. The talk will be at The Barracks, in Berwick upon Tweed. Tickets available online. NOTE: This new venue has less seats than the Henry Travers Studio so please book your place early.

Cedric Morris (1889 – 1982) was one of the most talented painters of the natural world in twentieth-century British art.

Morris met his partner the artist Arthur Lett-Haines on Armistice Day in 1918 and in 1939 they established the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing at Benton End, a rambling Tudor cottage in the Suffolk countryside.

Notable students at the school included Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling and it was in the cottage’s gardens that Morris developed his lifelong interest in horticulture, subsequently becoming famous for breeding exotic varieties of Irises.

This new exhibition explores Morris’ relationship with Lett-Haines and Benton End, his travels across Europe to find and paint new plant species and his lifelong affinity with the natural world.

This is the first major presentation of Morris’ work in the North of England and includes works on loan from Tate, National Portrait Gallery, Gainsborough’s House, Philip Mould Gallery and a number of private collections.