Acting, Art, & Art History   

This is a course for practicing artists to paint together in a great open space, sharing ideas and receiving instruction when requested. Format includes discussion and hands on learning.

This is an invitation to everyone who’s played a few improv games (at OLLI or elsewhere) and wants to play more. I call improv “play for intelligent adults.” And play deserves a lot of respect! Humans (and loads of other critters) are biologically wired to play. And like all other universally held biological characteristics, the urge to play exists to increase our chances of survival. Having said all that, the objective of this class will not be to discuss fun, but to make it. Please join us if this sounds like your cup of tea!
Repeat in-person course. Format includes lecture, discussion, film, hands-on, movement.

“The printing of pictures...brought a completely new thing into existence... It is hardly too much to say that since the invention of writing there has been no more important invention than that of the exactly repeatable pictorial statement (i.e., the print)”— William Ivins, Prints and Visual Communication. We will examine the history and technique of prints from 1440 to the present. We will discuss the political and social impact prints have had on culture, learn to identify specific printmaking techniques, and explore landmarks in artistic expression in printmaking through readings, lectures, and group discussions, including a discusson of the definitions of an “original print.” New remote course. Format includes lecture.
SUGGESTED MATERIALS: Prints and Printmaking: An Introduction to the History and Techniques, Antony Griffiths, ISBN 9780394326733

This course challenges the commonplace view of Van Gogh as a consummate painter of nature. In Michael Lobel’s book, Van Gogh and the End of Nature, the author argues Van Gogh was engaged in the transformation of the environment wrought by the industrial revolution, pollution, and modern technologies. Following Lobel’s chapter organization — Introduction, Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Color — the class will examine Van Gogh’s work in the context of the elements, environmental conditions, and motifs. Art History, as well as stylistic development, are subtexts. New course. Format includes lecture and discussion.

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Van Gogh and The End of Nature, Michael Lobel, ISBN 9780300274363

Starting with a review of 20th Century Modernism up to 2023, this course will cover the explosion of Perpetual Contemporary Art to the present. We will use The Metropolitan Museum guided tour format of viewing thematic exhibitions with dialogue between a “facilitator” and participants. This will include worldwide players and explore reactionary movements and attitudes. This is a “shared inquiry” course where knowledge of Art History is not required. It is about viewing art and having a discussion. Format includes lecture and discussion.