DISCOVERY DAYS
Discovery Days are held at Moor Park Mansion and include tea/coffee and a light lunch within the ticket price. Each day includes two one-hour lectures before lunch and one lecture after lunch. Registration is from 10.00. The first lecture begins at 10.30 and the afternoon lecture ends typically at 3.15pm. Please explore the list below and click the links for full details of each Discovery Day and to download the flyer/booking form.
Members have priority for all our bookable events. However, non-members are welcome to express an interest in attending a specific event by contacting the Event Organiser (contact details are on the relevant flyer). Should places still be available, they may at the discretion of the Event Organiser be made available to non-members or members of other Arts Societies, in order of application date.
Travel Broadens the Mind - Artists and their Travels from Van Eyck to Gauguin
5 November 2024 at 10:30:00
Booking closes
29 October 2024
Parau api by Paul Gauguin
Speaker:
Clare Ford-Wille
Through Italy and Europe to Africa and the South Seas, today we explore the lure of travel and its impact upon the work of a wide range of artists from the Renaissance to the 19th Century.
Opera - The Melting Pot of Culture
6 February 2025 at 10:30:00
Booking closes
30 January 2025
Finale of Die Zauberflöte, Royal Opera
Speaker:
Sarah Lenton
Remarkably, there are more festivals and opera houses now than ever. This Discovery Day charts opera's evolution from its 17th century beginnings right through to the present. On the way we will discover how closely connected opera is with the politics and tastes of the people who pay for it.
1925 Paris Arts Decoratifs Exhibition and its Influence on Design
3 April 2025 at 09:30:00
Booking closes
27 March 2025
Paris Exhibition 1925 Official Poster, detail
Speaker:
Mary Alexander
The aim of this famous exhibition was to showcase France, and Paris in particular, as the leader in highest quality luxury goods. Was there a single distinctive style, or many? And how did the stylistic influences spread so rapidly? Mary Alexander will recreate for us in three lectures what it would have been like to be there - but save us the 55 acres foot slog!
The Maya Heritage - Ancient and Modern Maya Culture
5 June 2025 at 09:30:00
Booking closes
29 May 2025
Bonampak mural c. 790 AD
Speaker:
Chloë Sayer
The civilisation of the ancient Maya of central America reached its peak between AD300-900 and today some six million Maya still carry on many of the traditions of their ancestors. This Discovery Day will explore their rich cultural heritage, both ancient and modern.