Husb and I went to a lovely evening at GS Artists (formerly Galerie Simpson) on Swansea’s High Street yesterday. In an evening celebrating Saint David’s Day (the patron saint of Wales) the talented Tomos Sparnon introduced the first of a series of Welsh Conversationals, Welsh Language events at the gallery focusing on ‘Mynegiant’ (Expression) in Welsh art. It was bi-lingual in an easy and lighthearted way, with a slide show of work that illustrated the list of Welsh words. He covered artists Gwen John, Peter Prendegast, Seren Morgan Jones, Ogwyn Davies, Tim Davies and his own, rather lovely, work. Of course, I had a scribble. And made notes, And learned some new Welsh words. And there was some lovely home-made leek quiche made by the effervescent Jane Simpson.
It sounds a wonderful event! I love the word ‘mynegiant’ – i looked it up and it merely said ‘expression’ – it seems it means a lot more than that! Lovely little sketch… wish I could draw!
It was great. Tomos used the word Mynegiant to describe the overall approach to art used by the artists illustrated in his talk.
I’m still struggling on with Gaelic – really making no progress although I love it… It’s the way words are used and the way a single word can encompass a whole picture of ideas that keeps me going… I wonder if I should switch to Welsh?
That’s a good point. Lots of written Welsh as soon as you cross the bridge!
It’s very different to Gaelic, apparently. Gaelic is a Goedelic Celtic language and Welsh is Brythonic, like Cornish, Cymbric and Breton. The old Brythonic merged with Latin during the Roman invasion so it’s a bit more familiar
Yes, maybe Welsh being spoken in places I can actually reach without flying will make it more accessible!