Recap of Winter Spring 2017 Courses

"From Bauhaus to Cape Cod House " with Julie Mockabee
​The German Art School, The Bauhaus, that existed between the two World Wars, was a melting pot of innovation in modern art and architecture.This course will take a look at the history The Bauhaus, its founder, Walter Gropius and his contemporaries.  We will explore the International Style of Architecture and how it ultimately relates to America and Cape Cod.  We will talk about the beginning of the modern style of architecture and how students and teachers of the Bauhaus eventually brought these modern ideas to America and how those ideas filtered through the country and what impact they had on Cape Cod. 
Classes will include slide lectures, short films, hand-outs to take home, hands-on experiments in the International Style techniques and activities themed on the preliminary course ideas from the Bauhaus.  Participants will be encouraged to bring their imaginations and also be ready for discussion. Along with learning the history of the Bauhaus the class will get to try some activities inspired by Bauhaus teaching methods such as color theory and basic design elements. We will also try our hand at creating International Style architecture models. 


"BLEAK HOUSE" with Rhoda Flaxman
Mystery. Madness. Murder. Suspense. Theatricality. The Law. Social commentary. Patriarchy. Pollution. Contagion. Victorian childhood. Humor.  Horror.  Double narration. The urban poor. Government. Philanthropy. Medicine. Fairy tale. The comic imagination. Reform. London fog. Class, gender, sex. Love. Ideal womanhood.

Literary critics consider Bleak House to be Charles Dickens’ greatest novel. Certainly it encompasses all the topics listed above, and more. In this course we will attempt to put all these elements together, and members of the class can volunteer to report on one of these key themes. At the conclusion to the course, we’ll decide whether the critics are correct!


"Faulkner Goes To Hollywood" with John Dennis Anderson
​Art vs. Commerce. Highbrow Novels vs. Lowbrow Movies. Modernist Masterpieces vs. Pop Culture. Until he won the Nobel Prize in 1950, William Faulkner struggled to balance his literary ambitions with writing work that would sell. In the 1930s, while revising the novel he considered the best book yet written by an American (Absalom, Absalom!), he was “slaving away” as a screenwriter in Hollywood on the Wallace Beery picture Slave Ship.
           
In this class, we will look at how highbrow met lowbrow in Faulkner’s career. We will survey his experiences as a screenwriter in Hollywood and read, view, and discuss works by Faulkner adapted for the screen. We will start with one of Faulkner’s most innovative novels, As I Lay Dying (1930), and the 2013 film adaptation by James Franco before considering Faulkner’s first stint in Hollywood in 1932 as a result of the notoriety of his scandalous gangster novel Sanctuary. The class will also read Faulkner’s 1948 novel Intruder in the Dust, an adolescent coming-of-age novel about race relations that anticipates To Kill a Mockingbird, and we will explore some of the live television adaptations of Faulkner’s work in the 1950s in the first Golden Age of Television.
 

"Long Point Gallery" with Grace Hopkins  
Founded in 1977 by 13 Cape artists—and closed in 1998--this important co-operative gallery revitalized the Provincetown art colony, spawned new galleries, and attracted dealers and collectors in its heyday. Its importance grew with the importance of Provincetown, recognized in 2010 as “home of the nation’s oldest art colony” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In the mid-20th century the town became both cradle and hub of the revolutionary Abstract Expressionist movement. Having opened its first art school in 1899, the legendary Hans Hofmann taught here for 35 years , joined by artists like Franz Kline, Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollack. In time Robert Motherwell arrived, and became one of the founders of the Long Point Gallery.

​Wellfleet abstract photographer Grace Hopkins is the daughter of one of Long Point’s founders, Abstract Expressionist Budd Hopkins, and April Kingsley, who wrote the definitive: The Turning Point: The Abstract Expressionists and the Transformation of American Art. Grace’s course will take advantage of her long friendships with important Provincetown artists and include visits to some of their studios. Text for the course is Long Point: An Artists’ Place, by Mary Ellen Ebell.
 

"Cape Cod History" With Don Wilding
​Join historian and writer Don Wilding for a fascinating look at the hidden history and stories of the Outer Cape. Using historic images and video, Wilding, a local history columnist for Cape Cod newspapers and journalist for 30 years, wanders back in time to cover some of the great storms, shipwrecks, lifesavers, lighthouses, landmarks, and dune shack life from Provincetown to Monomoy. Wilding is a co-founder of the Henry Beston Society and is on the Board of Directors for the Eastham Historical Society. He is the author of two books, “Henry Beston’s Cape Cod,” for the Beston Society, and “A Brief History of Eastham,” due to be published this summer by The History Press.


​"Fighting the Good Fight" with Seth Rolbein 
​A Trump presidency has moved many people to consider and reconsider their roles in the public, political, and civic process.  For some, the election laid bare longstanding concerns about how our government works, who influences its decisions, and whether political power (like economic clout) has been concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.  For others, dismay about the federal outcome suggests a "doubling down" on local and regional efforts to build strong communities, and coalesce grassroots response to achieve tangible results, and protest.
 
But what does that actually mean?  What are the tactics, levers, and fulcrums that engaged citizens can employ, taking the next steps beyond marches and emotional expressions that might satisfy legitimate personal needs, but don't accomplish real change?  Are there key issues locally that can become rallying and organizing points to build the kind of citizen power that redirects our government all the way to Congress and the White House?

The course will be driven by case studies intended to answer specific questions about both the issues facing our communities, and how public and political action can accomplish specific goals.  The underlying issue will be to understand the difference between "identity politics," which focuses on individuals, personalities and elections, vs "issue politics," which focuses on building community strength around a winnable goal, then channeling political power in new directions going forward.
 

"Politics in Fiction" with Linda B. Miller
How do contemporary writers connect their personal stories to larger political events? How do the past, present and future appear in characters and plots that resonate with “dark” times, times that challenge them and us to question authority with its pretenses and vulnerabilities? What are the differences between fiction and film in shaping historical memories that may or may not be universal? Must we live with experiences that do not transcend cultural differences and heritages? 
Explore these and other related issues in provocative readings drawn from: Umberto Eco, Numero Zero; Amos Oz, Judas; Magda Szabo, The Door; Kanan Makiya, The Rope; Anthony Marra, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena OR The Tsar of Love and Techno; Hilary Mantel, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher; Kamel Daoud, The Mersault Investigation and Albert Camus, The Stranger; Philip Roth, American Pastoral; Hisham Matar, Anatomy of A Disappearance OR The Return; Ward Just, Forgetfulness. 

A private visit to the Gropius House in Lincoln, MA and a walking tour of Six Moon neighborhood in Lexington led by Bruce Clouette with Betsy Bray  
Walter Gropius, founder of the German design school known as the Bauhaus, was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. He designed Gropius House as his family home when he came to Massachusetts to teach architecture at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. There will be a private tour of the house, (with photography allowed) lunch on your own at a local restaurant. There will be a 40 minute walking tour of Six Moon Hill,  a neighborhood of mid-century modern homes in the afternoon lead by Bruce Clouette.