Spring Portals of Discovery Courses Begin at Reynolda House

Press Room

Spring Portals of Discovery Courses Begin at Reynolda House Museum of American Art

Friday, January 16, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sharyn Turner
336.758.5580
sturner@reynoldahouse.org
or Sarah Mansell
336.758.5524
manselss@reynoldahouse.org

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (January 16, 2009) February heralds a new series of spring Portals of Discovery continuing education courses at Reynolda House Museum of American Art. Several of these courses relate to the museum's spring exhibition, "American Impressions: Selections from the National Academy Museum" and explore a deeper understanding of the exhibition artists, their work, and their historic counterparts in American literature. Other courses are offered in collaboration with such organizations as the Winston-Salem Symphony and the Piedmont Opera Company.

The spring season opens with "Musical "U": How to Listen to a Symphony." This monthly course, taught by Wake Forest University Professor of Music David B. Levy, Winston-Salem Symphony Music Director Robert Moody, and Winston-Salem Symphony Education Director and Assistant Conductor Matthew Troy, focuses on aspects of symphonic composition, performance, and how orchestral music connects to listeners. Programs include "Orchestral Headliners," "Exploring Brahms's Symphony no. 2," "Spanish Inflections," and "Ode to Joy: Exploring Beethoven's Symphony no. 9." The class will be held on February 4, March 3, April 6, and May 7 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Registration is $100 for the series, $75 for Reynolda House members and Winston-Salem Symphony Maestro Circle, and $25 for students.

Think opera's too stuffy? Try "Opera 102." This course, team-taught by University of North Carolina School of the Arts Instructor of French Michel Berta, Wake Forest University Professor of Music Peter Kairoff, and Piedmont Opera Company Artistic Director and Resident Conductor Jamie Albritten will take the mystery out of opera. Site visits, tours, and a performance of Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" are included. "Opera 102" begins on Wednesday, March 11 and will continue for three additional sessions meeting from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Registration is $125, $100 for Reynolda House members, the Norman Johnson Society, and students.

"American Impressions: Selections from the National Academy Museum" opens February 28 and will be on view through June 28. The following Portals of Discovery courses will range from period literature to hands-on printmaking to a course on Shakespeare's women that will include theatrical presentations.

Artists Mona Wu and Cynthia Leonard lead "Impressionist Printmaking," a monotype printmaking class in which participants will be inspired by the brilliant colors in the work of the American Impressionists. Using transparent and opaque oil-based inks, students will employ several techniques mastered by artists like Mary Cassatt and Childe Hassam.

This Saturday class will meet for four sessions beginning February 7 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Registration is $100, $80 for members and students.

Author of "The Awakening," Kate Chopin was also known as a short story writer of regional fiction. In "The Spontaneous Expressions of Impressions Gathered," led by Aimee Mepham, students will explore the stylistic and thematic intersections between Chopin's stories and the American Impressionist works on view. Students will also keep a writing journal in order to gather and produce their own fictional "impressions." Writer Aimee Mepham has led writing workshops at Indiana University and Washington University and is the marketing and communications specialist in the Office of Entrepreneurship and Liberal Arts at Wake Forest University. This course will meet on six Monday evenings beginning February 9 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Registration is $125, $100 for members and students.

Patricia Toole, former adjunct professor of theatre at Wake Forest University, leads "Shakespeare's Women," an exploration of Shakespeare's female characters and their interactions with fathers, brothers, lovers, and foes. Sessions includes two scenes performed by drama students and directed by faculty of Wake Forest University and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. A panel of directors, actors, and professors of theatre will discuss Shakespeare's women with students. The course is taught in three evening sessions beginning May 4 from 6 to 8 p.m. Registration is $100, $80 for members and students.

Edith Jones Wharton's insight into New York's upper classes came honestly; her family was said to have inspired the expression "keeping up with the Joneses." In "Portals Unabridged: Edith Wharton's New York Stories," Wake Forest University Professor of English Barry Maine guides a close reading of the author's short stories. This course will meet on six successive Wednesday evenings beginning May 20 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Registration is $150, $120 for members and students.

"Between Fathers and Daughters: Enriching or Rebuilding Your Adult Relationship" will be taught by Linda Nielsen, a nationally recognized expert on father-daughter relationships and professor of women's studies and education at Wake Forest University. She will use self-assessment quizzes, films, lectures, and discussion to show students how to enrich or rebuild their adult relationships. An unusual but unforgettable Father's Day gift! This course will be held on two Saturday afternoon sessions, May 2 and 9 from 12 to 4 p.m. Registration is $125, $100 for members and students.

For a complete list of Portals of Discovery courses, dates, and registration information, please visit reynoldahouse.org or call 336.758.5900.

Reynolda House Museum of American Art is one of the nation's premier American art museums, with masterpieces by Mary Cassatt, Frederic Church, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe and Gilbert Stuart among its permanent collection. Affiliated with Wake Forest University, Reynolda House features traveling and original exhibitions, concerts, lectures, classes, film screenings and other events. The museum is located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the historic 1917 estate of Katharine Smith Reynolds and her husband, Richard Joshua Reynolds, founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Reynolda House and adjacent Reynolda Gardens and Reynolda Village feature a spectacular public garden, dining, shopping and walking trails. For more information, please visit reynoldahouse.org or call 336.758.5150.

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