July 12th, Taney Parish Centre, Dundrum, County Dublin.
Morning
10.00: Registration/Coffee
Official Opening of the Symposium
Special Guest: Ms Virginia Teehan, CEO, The Heritage Council.
Followed by our symposium exploring on two principal themes:
Session One: the life and work of Elizabeth Corbet Yeats, and
Session Two the importance of place to the creative development of the Yeats Sisters & Evelyn Gleeson’s Dun Emer and Cuala industries, featuring:
Dr. Sinead McCoole, Irish historian and author of: Mollie Gill: From Cuala Girl to Revolutionary Woman (2006)
Dr. Antonia Hart, historian, researcher and writer of: The Commercial Lives of Irish Women, 1850-1922: Business as Usual (2025)
Laura Thornton, Lecturer in Visual Art Education in Froebel Dept. of Primary and Early Childhood Education, Maynooth University.
Paper titles/abstracts and detailed itinerary to follow later in May.
Chair: Dr Angela Griffith, art historian, principal investigator of Cuala Press Project, Schooner Foundation, in partnership with Trinity College Library and Assistant Professor, Department of the History of Art and Architecture, Trinity College Dublin.
A light lunch will be served.
Dr Ruth McManus, Associate Professor in Geography and Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Dublin City University, and
Dr David Caron, art historian and author of: Michael Healy, 1873-1941: An Túr Gloine’s stained glass pioneer (2023).
Afternoon
Two separate events:
Valerie Syms Martin, President of the Irish Water Colour Society of Ireland will host a demonstration of brushwork and watercolour techniques, capturing some of the themes illustrated in Elizabeth’s four published art manuals:
Brushwork (1896), Brushwork studies of flowers, fruits and animals (1898), Brushwork copy book (1899), and Elementary brushwork studies (1900).
and
A guided walking tour of places central to the Sisters lives and work will be conducted by John Lennon, local historian. This will include St. Nahi’s Church and graveyard, where Susan and Elizabeth are buried, and the Dundrum Library, which will host an exhibition, in partnership with the Irish Guild of Embroiderers, of a series of contemporary individual pieces reflecting on the Cuala pressmark ‘the lone tree’ which was designed by Elizabeth 100 years ago in 1925.
Early researchers’ platform
Dr Lyndsey McDougall, PhD, Belfast School of Art, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Ulster University
“The Dun Emer Guild and the Loughrea Cathedral Banners: Lily Yeats’ Creative Leadership in the Irish Arts and Crafts Revival”
Audience Q&A and discussion.
Each session will be chaired, followed by a Q&A.
Guided Historical Tour of the National Print Museum
On Sunday 13th July, delegates will have the opportunity to understand the craft of letterpress printing by joining a special Guided Historical Tour at the National Print Museum, Beggars Bush, Dublin.
This Symposium is made possible with the collaborative partnership of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Heritage & Libraries; the Cuala Press Project, Trinity College Dublin; National Print Museum, the Irish Guild of Embroiderers and Yeats Society Sligo.
Bookings for the Symposium can be made through our eventbrite page:
The Yeats Sisters 