Portals of Discovery Fall Semester Arrives at Reynolda House

Press Room

Portals of Discovery Fall Semester Arrives at Reynolda House Museum of American Art

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

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. (August 19, 2008) ---Reynolda House Museum of American Art will begin its fall season of continuing education courses this month. The Portals of Discovery offerings include several courses related to the museum's fall exhibition, "Seeing the City: Sloan's New York" and two courses developed in collaboration with Wake Forest University and the Winston-Salem Symphony.

The season will open with "Against Happiness," a course based on the widely-acclaimed book by Wake Forest University Professor of English Eric Wilson, "Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy." In rejecting what he calls inauthentic happiness "as immediate gratification, as superficial comfort, as static contentment," Wilson calls on readers to embrace the depth of feeling and philosophy found in the work of great melancholics such as DaVinci, Beethoven, Dickinson, Proust, and Lincoln. The course will meet on Tuesdays from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., beginning August 26 and concluding September 16. Cost is $100, $75 for members and students.

Last spring music lovers had their first taste of "Musical "U": How to Listen to a Symphony." Beginning September 10, this monthly Portals of Discovery offering will be 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. Each class will focus on aspects of symphonic composition, performance, and how orchestral music connects to listeners. Topics include "The ABCs of Attending a Symphony Concert," "Planning a Symphony Season," "Remembering Lenny, American Musician Extraordinaire," and "The Magnificent Mr. Handel and his Messiah." The class continues on October 15, November 18, and December 9 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Cost is $100, $75 for members and Winston-Salem Symphony Maestro Circle, $25 for students.

"Seeing the City: Sloan's New York" opens October 4, 2008, and four courses in the fall curriculum will relate to the exhibition. Ranging from literature and film to hands-on printmaking, each course will enhance one's appreciation of the exhibition and offer a better understanding of New York City during the first half of the 20th century.

The line-up includes "Intaglio Printmaking," taught by Wake Forest University Professor of Art David Faber in his campus studio. Intaglio was a technique used by artist John Sloan to create images of the neighborhood landmarks and city streets he roamed. The class begins October 14. Cost is $150, $120 for members and students.

Dale Pollock returns to teach "How to Watch a Movie: Great Films of New York." Each film gives a very different view of New York, and with each screening, students will analyze the six main roles in the making of a film: screenwriter, director, cinematographer, editor, production designer, and composer. The class begins October 27. Cost is $150, $120 for members and students.

Wake Forest University Professor of English Barry Maine will guide readers through a close reading of "New York Stories" and the novella, "Washington Square," by Henry James, tracing the author's fascination with the city of his birth. The class begins October 29. Cost is $150, $120 for members and students.

In "Learning from an American Master: Robert Henri's The Art Spirit," Reynolda House staff will lead a discussion of artist Robert Henri's classic 1923 compilation of notes, essays, and letters. Henri was the leader of the Ashcan School of American Modernism, an influential teacher, and colleague of John Sloan. Studio art will be included in the course. The class begins November 5. Cost is $100, $80 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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