Art historian and photographer Patricia Howard introduces the world of the photo surrealists and explores how they pushed the boundaries of photographic imagery in the 1920s to 1940s. Create your very own surrealist collage as part of the experience. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Use pressed botanicals such as flower petals, grasses, and leaves, along with watercolors and colored pencils, to make seasonal artworks. Learn how to select and press plant materials and create compositions with both organic shapes and rigid shapes.

Internationally renowned for iconic works such as Under the Wave off Kanagawa, Katsushika Hokusai designed popular woodblock prints on a range of subjects for more than five decades. National Museum of Asian Art curator Kit Brooks examines his print works. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Aaron Burr was a hero of the Revolutionary War, a United States senator, and the third vice president, preceded only by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Yet his legacy is usually defined by his role in the presidential election of 1800, his potential attempt to create a breakaway nation for which he faced a trial for treason, and most notably his 1804 duel with Hamilton leading to Burr’s indictment in two states for murder. Historian Ralph Nurnberger discusses the many facets of this fascinating early American political leader and whether he’s best remembered as a patriot or a villain.

Join geologist Kirt Kempter as he explores the geology of Western National Parks over the course of 2023, with an in-depth look at one location every month. This program spotlights the Death Valley National Park in California as part of a spring series, focused on parks in Utah, New Mexico, and California.

Circular weaving is a fun and versatile technique for new weavers as well as experienced fiber artists. Learn how to warp and weave on several sizes of circle looms as you create projects from coasters to cushions to home décor.

The Treaty of Versailles, designed to be the final chapter of World War I, was the handiwork of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French Premier Georges Clemenceau, and American President Woodrow Wilson. Their idealistic goal of establishing "not Peace only, but Eternal Peace" was never realized. Historian Kevin Matthews explores how that unfulfilled legacy is still being played out in Asia and the Middle East and in Europe and the United States as well as how the men of Versailles created the world we live in.

This series takes you on a thematic tour of four important topics in ancient Chinese history, the third session focusing on law. Justin M. Jacobs, a professor of Chinese history at American University, gives you a nuanced overview based on the latest scholarship and illustrated with copious slides.  

Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s work reflected one central tenet: “To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful and pretty. …There are too many ugly things in life as it is without creating still more of them.” He reveled in lush color that can be seen in his sensual nudes, family portraits, landscapes, and genre depictions such as The Luncheon of the Boating Party. Art historian Bonita Billman showcases selections from his more than 4,000 works as she illustrates why Renoir is one of the most highly regarded—and joyful—artists of his time. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Through lectures and drawing exercises, learn how Renaissance artists used the Golden Ratio, the Rule of Thirds, three-point perspective, and the Fibonacci spiral—as well as how these elements can provide dynamic visual interest to your own compositions, no matter the medium. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

For centuries, the coastal location and diverse landscape of Maine’s Acadia National Park have drawn people in search of beauty and inspiration. The region also has been a haven for scientists, whose written records, specimen collections, and oral histories have provided baselines for understanding environmental change. Author and scientist Catherine Schmitt shares the story of science in Acadia.

During the Late Bronze Age, the Mediterranean region was the stage on which Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Minoans, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Cypriots, Trojans, and Canaanites interacted—a cosmopolitan world system that came to a dramatic halt in 1177 B.C. Historian Eric Cline surveys a period of achievement, upheaval, and catastrophe as he draws on the newest data on the civilizations of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean and their fates.

Art warmups enable students to jump right into their projects knowing there are no “wrong answers.” Students work with positive and negative space, do quick sketches, go beyond the color wheel, and use mixed-media techniques to build layers and texture.

The radical innovations made by European and American painters and sculptors between 1900 and 1960 forever altered the way we think about visual art. In a richly illustrated course, art historian Nancy G. Heller discusses major works by the period’s seminal painters and sculptors, emphasizing their broader socio-political and aesthetic contexts. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)

Get the most out of your digital mirrorless or SLR camera by taking part in this workshop, which provides a solid introduction to these cameras’ features and potential.

Your orchids are thriving and blooming. If you’re wondering what’s next in your orchid adventure, this class is for you. Learn about the conditions necessary to raise vigorous, healthy orchids for shows—and tips on transporting competition-ready orchids.

Take a visual journey through the years of World War II in Poland and related significant locations—Warsaw, Krakow, and Gdansk—as author and tour guide Christopher Skutela sheds light on the war and its implications. Knowing what happened in Poland provides a deeper understanding of the history of the rest of Europe and a perspective that can help create a better future, Skutela says.

There’s nothing "Mickey Mouse" about the impact the Walt Disney Company has had on the entertainment business. Media historian Brian Rose traces how the company evolved from a small cartoon studio in 1923 to one of the most powerful forces in worldwide entertainment today.

Did Britain’s Lord Elgin rescue ancient Greek marble sculptures and architectural fragments—including a 24-foot marble frieze—from the Parthenon in the early 19th century or did he steal them? Greece's position is clear: The country wants them back from the British Museum. Join art historian Joseph Cassar in an exploration of these ancient sculptures made under the supervision of architect and sculptor Phidias and the controversies that have swirled around them since they left Greece. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Herman Melville’s tale of yearning, obsession, wreckage, and deliverance has drawn generations of readers into its obsessive, unfinished quest. They’ve seen reflected in its pages the urgent questions of their times, including issues of democracy, race, sexuality, labor, and environment. Samuel Otter, a professor of English at Berkeley University, explores the reception of Moby-Dick, ways of reading this surprising and heterogeneous book, and the strange qualities of a work that attempts, as one critic noted, to “incorporate everything.”

In 1940, Winston Churchill famously ordered his Special Operations Executive to “set Europe ablaze.” Soon this top-secret army of mavericks began a program of sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines. Historian Rory Cormac traces how Churchill’s enthusiasm for intelligence operations drove a global secret war.

As members of the Religious Society of Friends, Quakers in colonial America were the first group of white Christians to confront slaveholding as a religious problem that demanded social action. Historian Richard Bell recounts this untold story, focusing on the dramatic antislavery crusades and wildly different tactics of three 18th-century Quakers: Benjamin Lay, a hermit; John Woolman, a shopkeeper; and Anthony Benezet, a schoolteacher.

We used to think of fossils as being composed of nothing but rock and minerals, but we were wrong. Today, scientists and the science of ancient biomolecules—pigments, proteins, and DNA that once functioned in living, but now extinct, organisms—are opening a new window onto the evolution of life on Earth. Dale E. Greenwalt, a research associate at the National Museum of Natural History, is your guide to these astonishing breakthroughs.

This series takes you on a thematic tour of four important topics in ancient Chinese history, the final session focusing on eunuchs. Justin M. Jacobs, a professor of Chinese history at American University, gives you a nuanced overview based on the latest scholarship and illustrated with copious slides.  

Take a much closer look at your photographic subjects through the art of macro photography. Get an introduction to the technique’s aesthetics and design, as well technical tips on lenses, close-up focusing distance, depth of field, tripod use, lighting, and other key elements.

Relations between the United States and China are at their lowest point since the 1970s. The superpowers are still highly integrated through trade and conflict remains unlikely, but what President Biden calls an “extreme competition” is well underway. Three of Washington’s leading analysts provide insights into whether and how U.S.-China relations can be managed peacefully in a panel moderated by Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States.

Water has shaped civilizations and driven centuries of advances in science, technology, health, and medicine. But these achievements brought consequences: unsustainable water use, ecological destruction, and global climate change. Scientist and water expert Peter Gleick outlines how the lessons of the past can be the foundation of action to support a sustainable future for water and the planet.

Art historian and photographer Patricia Howard introduces the world of cyanotypes, a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue and white print. Create your own in this unique studio arts program. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Note: Registration for this Soldiers and Dioramas online camp will close two weeks (Monday, June 5, 2023) before the camp's start date to ensure the kits arrive to participants in time at home.

Omaha was one of the five beach landings on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Split between the American 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions, the primary objective was to secure a 5-mile beachhead to link Omaha Beach with the nearby Gold and Utah landing sites. Campers enjoy using miniature soldiers, wargames, and films to learn about the D-Day invasion and its significance to World War II. They investigate miniatures and terrain boards to learn about this important battle and stimulate ideas for building their own dioramas. Campers receive 1/72-scale plastic soldiers that they can trade with one another and paint, then make a terrain board for display or wargaming with their soldiers.

Participant-provided Supply List

Please have all these materials on hand before the first session.

• Masking tape
• Elmer’s liquid glue (no glue sticks)
• Something to protect your workspace from glue, paint, and sand; at least 9 x 12 inches.You can use things like old placemats, newspaper, file folders, cardboard, etc.
• Basic acrylic paints to last multiple weeks in black, white, red, yellow, browns, and tans, and light and dark green and blue. A full set available on Amazon contains all needed colors and more. For those with more painting experience and advanced brush control, consider the Army Painter acrylic paint set (available on Amazon) or Vallejo paint set (available on Amazon)
• Nylon or synthetic paint brushes including fine round brushes for details and small flat brushes for larger areas. Suggested sets: Amazon nylon brush set; Michael's synthetic value pack. For participants in more than one session of Soldiers & Dioramas, multiple sets of brushes are recommended.

Note: Registration will end starting Friday, June 16, 2023.

Ever look at a piece of art in a museum and wonder what went into its creation? Young artists get the answers through virtual visits to collections at the American Art Museum, African Art Museum, the Hirshhorn, and the National Gallery of Art. Works by the great masters offer understanding of  their inspirations and methods. Adventurers set up a home studio as they use their imaginations to create many different types of art influenced by what they’ve seen.

Whether early stone carvings or produced by satellite imagery, maps are part science and part art—and an indispensable reflection of the way we view our world and ourselves. Geographer John Rennie Short, author of Cartographic Encounters: Indigenous Peoples and the Exploration of The New World, chronicles the dramatic evolution of mapmaking over the course of human history.

Many famous fairy tales—think Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk—appear to be quite conventional. But they can be wonderfully disruptive to our expectations. Folklorists Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman discuss modern LGBTQ+ twists on old tales and share some very unconventional fairy tales.

For several days after the death of young King Edward VI in early July 1553, two women considered themselves the ruler of England: his Catholic half-sister Mary Tudor and Lady Jane Grey Dudley. Tudor scholar and historian Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger explores the woman at the heart of the conflict as she considers the life and character of Jane Grey; the political and personal forces at play in Tudor England; Jane’s complicated relationship with Mary Tudor—and why it was necessary for one of them to lose her life.

The Glass House, the iconic former Connecticut home of architect Philip Johnson, is now a National Trust for Historic Preservation site that serves as a center for art, architecture, and culture. Hilary Lewis, chief curator of the Glass House, examines it as a signature work of modern architecture, its roles as a laboratory for architecture and a salon for the arts, and the extraordinary and complex figure behind it. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Jews through the ages were seen as pious and thoroughly immersed in Jewish life, standing apart, often by force, from their non-Jewish neighbors. But rare materials in the Jewish Theological Seminary Library offer a different, more nuanced picture. David Kraemer, the library’s director, examines how specific communities of Jews lived with their neighbors, experiencing life first as human beings and then as Jews.

Long-term drought, vast population growth, and wasteful agricultural practices rooted in a century-old legal compact have triggered a crisis along the Colorado River. In a two-part series, Bill Keene, a lecturer in history, urban studies, and architecture, reviews the backstories and contemporary repercussions of major water shortages in the American West and explores possible methods of providing water for some 44 million people in seven states and portions of Northern Mexico who depend on the Colorado River.

William Louis-Dreyfus (1932–2016) was a poet, businessman, and committed art collector whose collection of close to 4,000 works represents over 50 years of discovery and dedication. Shaped by curiosity, an open mind, and a lifelong fascination with the power of visual media, Louis-Dreyfus’s collection remains remarkable today for its depth and diversity. Get an introduction to this one-of-a-kind collection in a program that begins with a recorded message by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus about her late father’s passion for art. Then, Paul Glenshaw (of Smithsonian Associates’ Art+History series) hosts a live-streamed illustrated lecture about this extraordinary and fascinating collection presented by Mary Anne Costello and Christina Kee, the curators at the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Germany has some of the world's most challenging vineyards to maintain, but the effort is well worth it. Erik Segelbaum reveals why the country’s wines are mainstays of any sommelier's toolkit for food-and-wine pairings in a delicious exploration of the wines of Germany and their rich histories.

Adobe Lightroom is the most useful (and user friendly) software for organizing and editing images, usable for both RAW and JPEG image files. This two-session workshop offers users an overview of the program, with a focus on working with the essential Library and Develop modules for organizing and editing your files.

White-line woodcuts are multicolor images printed from a single block of wood. Learn to create your own by cutting a nature print or simple line drawing into a single wood block with a knife or gouge, creating the “white lines” when printed.

The pterosaurs are the flying reptiles so often mistakenly called pterodactyls. Although pterosaurs’ fossils are rarer than those of their dinosaur cousins, we still have a remarkable range of them, from sparrow-sized babies to giants with wingspans of nearly 33 feet. Paleontologist David Hone dives into what we know about these fascinating flying reptiles.

The notion that a picture is worth a thousand words is meant to convey the power of imagery. But what of the power of words at the intersection of art and literature? In this summer series, David Gariff, senior lecturer at the National Gallery of Art, examines the collaboration of photographer Walker Evans and writer James Agee. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Note: Registration will end starting Friday, June 23, 2023.

Plant and animal species and ecosystems across the globe are endangered by human activity and climate changes—but there are scientists working to save them, including at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Professionals from the field and an interactive online tour of conservation success stories inspire the Earth optimist within. Adventurers research endangered species, engineer solutions to habitat management issues, and develop a campaign to spread the word.

With their forward gaze and quiet flight, owls are often a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and foresight. But what does an owl really know? And what do we really know about owls? Jennifer Ackerman, author of the New York Times bestseller The Genius of Birds, pulls back the curtain on the nature of the world’s most enigmatic birds as she explores the rich biology and natural history of owls and examines remarkable new scientific discoveries about their brains and behavior.

Discover the joy and power of reflective writing inspired by visual art. Guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface, writers of all levels can slow down, look closely, question, wonder, and write inspired by Hughie Lee-Smith's intriguing painting The Beach. These reflections can become fertile creative ground for memoir, poetry, and more.

Note: Registration for this Soldiers and Dioramas online camp will close two weeks (Monday, June 12, 2023) before the camp's start date to ensure the kits arrive to participants in time at home.

In the summer of 1942, German forces launched a campaign to siege the city of Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. A major turning point in the European Theater of World War II, this massive battle saw a monumental retreat of German and Axis powers after they could not hold the city through the harsh winter and Soviet military resistance. Campers enjoy using miniature soldiers, wargames, and documentaries to learn about World War II’s Eastern Front, with particular focus on Germany’s extended siege of Stalingrad. They investigate miniatures and terrain boards to learn about this important battle and stimulate ideas for building their own dioramas. Campers receive 1/72 scale plastic soldiers that they can trade with one another and paint, then make terrain boards for display or wargaming with their figures.

Participant-provided Supply List

Please have all these materials on hand before the first session.

• Masking tape
• Elmer’s liquid glue (no glue sticks)
• Something to protect your workspace from glue, paint, and sand; at least 9 x 12 inches.You can use things like old placemats, newspaper, file folders, cardboard, etc.
• Basic acrylic paints to last multiple weeks in black, white, red, yellow, browns, and tans, and light and dark green and blue. A full set available on Amazon contains all needed colors and more. For those with more painting experience and advanced brush control, consider the Army Painter acrylic paint set (available on Amazon) or Vallejo paint set (available on Amazon)
• Nylon or synthetic paint brushes including fine round brushes for details and small flat brushes for larger areas. Suggested sets: Amazon nylon brush set; Michael's synthetic value pack. For participants in more than one session of Soldiers & Dioramas, multiple sets of brushes are recommended.

Meet your new favorite coworker: Henry David Thoreau. In their book Henry at Work, John Kaag and Jonathan van Belle rethink how we work today by exploring an overlooked aspect of the multi-faceted transcendentalist: Thoreau the worker. They reveal that his ideas have much to teach us in an age of remote work and automation in which many people are reconsidering their working lives.

Being just the right distance from the sun helps make Earth habitable, but the composition of our atmosphere is a key ingredient. Natalie Burls, the director of the Climate Dynamics Program at George Mason University, discusses the crucial role Earth’s atmosphere plays in determining its climate, how Earth’s climate has varied in the past, and how we are the changing the composition of Earth's atmosphere and thus its climate.

Learn the history behind who made steel in the United States, starting with the time of the Civil War, and where steel is made today. Using dramatic imagery from the National Museum of Industrial History and the Historic American Engineering Record, historian Mike Piersa and photographer Jeremy Blakeslee vividly showcase the growth, evolution, and sometimes death of facilities that were capable of producing millions of tons of steel per year.

Note: Registration will end starting Friday, June 30, 2023.

How can something that covers 71% of the Earth’s surface be so vulnerable to damage by humans? Adventurers join leagues of scientists, including some from the Smithsonian, in efforts to keep the world’s oceans healthy. They take on ocean exploration and study, marine preservation, and sustainability efforts with virtual visits to the Natural History Museum; conduct research on the Smithsonian’s Ocean Portal; and participate in ocean cleanup challenges right from home.

Processing your own 35mm or 120mm black-and-white film is cost-effective and typically yields better results than sending it to a commercial lab. Acquire the skills you need to process film at home in this information-packed session, with topics such as stages of the chemical developing process, negative storage, film scanners, and printing options.

In this class, students are introduced to the basic steps of how to create a convincing portrait using charcoal or graphite. All levels of experience welcomed.

Light can make or break your photos. Understand the essentials of shooting in a natural-light setting as you learn to gauge the direction of light; recognize degree of diffusion; minimize (or emphasize) lens flare; and control conditions with lens hoods.

Even before film, television, and social media, a royal wedding captured the attention of the world. But what really mattered after the grand celebration was over? Historian and author Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger examines four marriages that shaped the evolution of the English and British monarchy, including a political union, an international power couple, and a loving modern king and queen who restored the reputation of the throne.

The elegance of hand-lettered calligraphy is unmatched by machine. This class gives students a chance to learn the basics of this graceful and stylish art in a relaxed and supportive setting.

Create a personal and powerful record of experiences by drawing and painting moments from your life that you include in your sketchbook.

Beginning students as well as experienced painters explore watercolor techniques and learn new approaches to painting through demonstration, discussion, and experimentation.

The beautiful decorations of religious and secular manuscripts are centuries-old Islamic traditions. Learn the elements of gold-leaf manuscript illumination in the Afghan tradition.

Note: Registration will end starting Friday, July 7, 2023.

Suit up and strap in to virtually experience a week as astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Adventurers encounter artifacts from historic missions during online visits to the Air and Space Museum, the Udvar-Hazy Center, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. They read star charts, design and conduct experiments that have been (and could be) done aboard the ISS, build miniature satellites, and create space-inspired artworks.

This introductory course teaches the basic skills needed for drawing. Working with a variety of materials and techniques, including charcoal and pencils, students explore the rendering of geometric forms, volume, and perspective, with an emphasis on personal gesture marks.

Designed for beginners who want to learn how to use their digital or mirrorless camera as a creative tool, students will gain skill in technical aspects of photography so that they can concentrate on composing beautiful images.

When Nazi Germany seized land from Czechoslovakia in 1938, the military force of an isolationist United States was smaller than Portugal’s. But that same year, President Franklin Roosevelt’s order to dramatically expand domestic U.S. airplane production was the first step in the monumental transformation of American enterprise that brought victory in World War II. Historian Craig Nelson shares how FDR’s skillful leadership turned a nation wary of war into an arsenal of democracy ready to take on the dangers of another world war.

Join geologist Kirt Kempter as he explores the geology of Western National Parks over the course of 2023, with an in-depth look at one location every month. This program spotlights Yosemite National Park as part of a summer series, focused on parks in California, Oregon, and Wyoming.

Note: Registration for this Soldiers and Dioramas online camp will close two weeks (Monday, June 26, 2023) before the camp's start date to ensure the kits arrive to participants in time at home.

In 1281, Kublai Khan (son of Genghis Khan) launched a Mongol naval attack on Japan, only to have his ships—and hopes of conquest—dashed by massive typhoons. Campers enjoy using miniature soldiers, wargames, and film to learn about the invasion. A detailed representation of an attacking Mongol fleet and Samurai defenders offers them insights into the battle and stimulates ideas for building their own dioramas. Campers receive 1/72-scale plastic soldiers that they can trade with one another and paint, then make a terrain board for display or wargaming with their soldiers.

Participant-provided Supply List

Please have all these materials on hand before the first session.

• Masking tape
• Elmer’s liquid glue (no glue sticks)
• Something to protect your workspace from glue, paint, and sand; at least 9 x 12 inches.You can use things like old placemats, newspaper, file folders, cardboard, etc.
• Basic acrylic paints to last multiple weeks in black, white, red, yellow, browns, and tans, and light and dark green and blue. A full set available on Amazon contains all needed colors and more. For those with more painting experience and advanced brush control, consider the Army Painter acrylic paint set (available on Amazon) or Vallejo paint set (available on Amazon)
• Nylon or synthetic paint brushes including fine round brushes for details and small flat brushes for larger areas. Suggested sets: Amazon nylon brush set; Michael's synthetic value pack. For participants in more than one session of Soldiers & Dioramas, multiple sets of brushes are recommended.

Whether you want to work in digital or film, this course offers a solid foundation for new photographers ready to learn the basics. Topics include camera functions, exposure, metering, working with natural and artificial light, and composition.

Take your paintings to the next level by learning watercolor techniques to create washes and contrasting textured areas using drybrush, splattering, and lifting.

Learn to create patterns of light and dark in watercolor through demonstrations and hands-on exercises.

Acquire the basic skills to work with the versatile and portable rigid heddle loom—a great entryway into weaving scarves, placemats, dishtowels, and more.

Dorothy Liebes was one of the most influential textile designers of the mid-20th century. The exhibition “A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes” opens at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum on July 7. Join organizers Susan Brown, associate curator and acting head of textiles, and Alexa Griffith Winton, manager of content and curriculum, to explore Liebes’ life and work.

For centuries, people have speculated about the possibility of planets orbiting distant stars, but only since the 1990s has technology allowed astronomers to detect them. Astrophysicist Joshua Winn provides an inside view of the detective work astronomers perform as they find and study exoplanets and describes the surprising—sometimes downright bizarre—planets and systems they have found. He also considers how the discovery of exoplanets and their faraway solar systems changes our perspectives on the universe and our place in it.

Learn the history of redwork quilts and how this type of embroidery, primarily done in red but also in blue and black, can be used to make beautiful, delicate botanical illustrations. Students create designs based on plants native to their area, transfer those designs onto fabric, and then make a basic small quilt using their embroideries. A great class for nature lovers, gardeners, and anyone who is new to embroidery.

Create your own story as you learn to upcycle book pages as surfaces for drawing, painting, and collage using gelatin plate prints, textures, photo transfers, drawing, painting, and text redaction.

It takes a village! In this class, students construct their own tiny houses, which they personalize working in paper-mache, acrylics, and mixed-media.

Whether you work digitally or on film, this course is ideal for students who are familiar with their cameras but are interested in expanding their understanding of photography fundamentals.

Slow things down as you learn to capture movement and low light scenes with longer shutter speeds. Topics covered include panning, zoom effect, intentional camera movement, tripods, drive modes, neutral density filters, and the camera settings required to take slow shutter-speed photos in bright light, low light, twilight, and night.

We’ve all heard of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, that trinity of askers of questions—often without answers. But Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes contemplated, questioned, and theorized before Socrates, and important philosophers followed Aristotle, such as Epicurus and Zeno. Author and professor Ori Z. Soltes considers how these brilliant minds addressed the varied layers of reality and why so many of their conclusions remain exciting and relevant.

Ever since its origins in an ancient civilization along the Indus River, the complex culture of South Asia has led to the creation of some of the world’s most remarkable art and architecture. Robert DeCaroli, a professor in the department of history and art history at George Mason University, highlights the artistic traditions and historical changes in the Indian subcontinent from the earliest archaeological evidence to the onset of colonialism. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)

Explore the spectrum of floral design. Sourcing (with a focus on sustainability), making the most of seasonal flowers, creating centerpieces, wiring techniques, and photographing your work are all among the practical areas covered.

In this class, learn to create handcrafted jewelry. This experience is perfect for students new to jewelry making and those with experience who want to refresh their skills.

A sunlit balcony, a window box filled with flowers, and a welcoming doorway—there is no mistaking when these architectural details are part of a home in France. Working from your own photos or ones provided by the instructor, learn to capture these unique details in flowing watercolor.

Take command of your photographic vision as you learn the basics of your camera’s exposure functions. Learn to control the properties of your images through the understanding of apertures, shutter speeds, depth of field, shutter motion effects, equivalent exposures, and exposure modes.

Experiment with painting styles such as Cubism, Suprematism, and Abstract Expressionism to learn practical applications of the concepts and techniques of Modernism. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

From the vantage point of 71 years, the monumental Normandy invasion smoothly unfolded on June 6, 1944, according to a meticulously detailed plan, with 3 million men, 47 divisions, and 6,000 ships piercing Nazi defenses in an inevitable and unstoppable march to Berlin. In reality, Operation Overlord was an almost-impossible political and logistical nightmare to conceive and execute. David Eisenhower provides a wider panorama of the daring cross-Channel operation that opened a new Western front under the leadership of his grandfather General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force.

Off the coast of southern California, the 8 Channel Islands and their encircling waters are home to over 2,000 species of animals and plants—145 of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Jasmine Reinhardt, a National Park Service interpretation and education program manager, covers the diverse history, geography, and unique flora and fauna of these islands, as well and the people who were drawn to them over the centuries and those who protect them today.

Anyone who encountered Leonard Bernstein will never forget the experience. Music lecturer Saul Lilienstein, who studied conducting with Bernstein and frequently performed with him, explores the dimensions of his musical contributions, his charisma, and the complexities of his life. This music-filled day is the perfect prelude to the upcoming Maestro, a Bernstein biopic in which Bradley Cooper doubles as director and star.

Why is Virginia Woolf considered one of the most important authors of all time? Join Joseph Luzzi, a professor of literature at Bard College, as he explores Woolf’s remarkable literary contributions. Discover why her innovative writing style, extraordinary emotional insights, and profound level of learning continue to enchant readers worldwide and attract new audiences.

In an artist-led series designed to provide a tranquil midday break, create small but satisfying works of art as a way to hit “pause” and incorporate a bit of creativity into your at-home routines.

Note: Registration will end starting Friday, July 14, 2023.

Pack your bags and choose a date in history! Adventurers hop into a time machine and travel to a different past civilization each day. Virtual visits to view Egyptian mummies in the Natural History Museum and ancient Chinese artifacts in the Asian Art Museum immerse them in the arts, games, and history of civilizations around the world and across time. Where—and when—will you go next?

Sometimes scary but always intriguing, the world’s top predators also are quite necessary. Robert Johnson, a wildlife specialist and conservationist; Sharon Gilman, a biology professor specializing in vertebrates and science education; and Dan Abel, a marine science professor and shark specialist, share facts and tell stories about these fearsome and often misunderstood animals.

The full mobilization of American society during the Second World War prompted a massive, multi-faceted advertising campaign from the federal government’s Office of War Information (OWI). The posters that emerged from the OWI remain some of the most eye-catching and memorable mass-audience images in memory. Historian Christopher Hamner explores those well-known posters, focusing on two important themes: the differing portrayals of America’s enemies, and the evolution of what were deemed acceptable roles for men and women amid the turmoil of war.

Weekly lectures, demonstrations, and work-along periods provide a solid creative and technical foundation to working with mosaics. Select from eight unique patterns designed by the instructor with the option to work in either glass tiles or unglazed porcelain.

Fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli never considered herself a dressmaker. Instead, she saw herself as an artist working in the medium of fabric, often in tandem with the subversive artists and photographers of the 1930s. Historian and curator Elizabeth Lay examines how Schiaparelli and the Surrealists experimented with new materials and a new artistic expression as Europe moved closer and closer to war. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Washington’s movers and shakers once strolled the streets of Dupont Circle, where Massachusetts Avenue was the city’s most fashionable residential address with opulent mansions built to impress Washington society. After the Great Depression, many of these magnificent houses were converted into embassies, social clubs, and offices. Carolyn Muraskin, founder of DC Design Tours, offers stories of the capital’s ruling class and their links to the history of Washington’s premier promenade.

Our native forests, meadows, and wetlands are nature’s grocery store, chock-full of enticing raw ingredients just ready for the picking. Liana Vitali, a naturalist at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary and Anne Arundel County Park Ranger Victor Jones explore the makings of foraged feasts that can be found in the mid-Atlantic region. They serve up video vignettes that include cooking demonstrations of their favorite natural edible treats as well as go-to recipes for noshing on nature—ethically and sustainably of course.

The year 1973 offered plenty of social and political drama, but amid the crises it was a remarkable one for filmmakers throughout the world. Grab your popcorn and join film historian Max Alvarez as he toasts a remarkable year at the movies, one in which theater screens (remember them?) lit up with The Exorcist, Amacord, The Way We Were, Last Tango in Paris, Paper Moon, and François Truffaut’s valentine to cinema Day for Night.

The light, movement, and colors of the beach have long been an inspiration for artists. In this workshop, explore the techniques of masters of seaside painting as preparation for creating your own beach memory.

Students learn how to use their ISO settings to darken and brighten photos, and how this relates to other camera settings such as aperture and shutter speed.

From pulled pork to ribs to brisket, African American barbeque has something to tempt everyone. In his first cookbook, pitmaster Ed Mitchell explores the method that made him famous: North Carolina whole-hog barbeque. Mitchell and his collaborators on Ed Mitchell’s Barbeque, his son Ryan Mitchell and food historian Zella Palmer, join barbeque historian Howard Conyers for a conversation on the rich history and traditions of African American barbeque.

From Amarone to Barbera, Brunello to Chianti, Chiavennasca, and everything beyond, sommelier Erik Segelbaum explores Italy’s grapes and regions, proving that the alphabet never tasted so good. This immersive program includes a curated personal tasting kit to enhance the experience.

Spend the day learning to capture your travels with loose lines and painterly colors. Discover how to simplify a scene and to compose and draw more organically and confidently. This go-with-the-flow technique is perfect for studies, travel journals, and finished fine art.

Create four different fancy-fold cards sure to impress any recipient. Fancy folds look challenging, but this workshop walks you through all the steps. Detailed instructions provide you with everything you need to create fancy folds on your own after the class.

Learn simple techniques for transferring images to a gel plate for printing, layering, masking, and brushwork.

The notion that a picture is worth a thousand words is meant to convey the power of imagery. But what of the power of words at the intersection of art and literature? In this summer series, David Gariff, senior lecturer at the National Gallery of Art, examines William Blake’s roles as poet and painter. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Curator Elizabeth Lay welcomes John Botello, creative manager of the White House–Executive Residence, for an image-rich program on 21st-century style at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He offers behind-the-scenes glimpses of his work on events and interior design, and shares what goes into planning—down to the smallest detail—projects from a state dinner to the annual holiday decorations.

Note: Registration will end starting Friday, July 21, 2023.

How do science and art fit together to improve our lives? An artist’s influence can be found in all kinds of objects, like tools, furniture, cars, and technology. In this week-long exploration, Adventurers investigate the collections at the Renwick Gallery, the Hirshhorn, Cooper Hewitt, and the National Gallery of Art to find inspiration for STEAM-inspired challenges and creative projects. What kind of amazing and functional art will you create? 

Mark-making is the essential practice of committing an idea to a surface. In this class, students explore mark and pattern making as the first step toward developing fully realized works of art. Intuitive exercises use a variety of simple tools to generate many types of marks.

Explore your relationship to individual colors and how they connect to many facets of your life. Practice simple, playful acrylic painting techniques incorporating all the colors of the spectrum, plus black and white. Then begin to record personal stories in a journal to use every day.

Learn watercolor techniques specific to botanical illustration, including dry brushing and creating small details, while working from sketches or photos of real flowers.

Far from simply being a president who was assassinated weeks after taking office, James Garfield might be the most accomplished American statesman of the 19th century says his biographer C.W. Goodyear. He shines a spotlight on a forgotten president and progressive statesman who quietly shaped the rise—and fall—of Reconstruction and was a national peacemaker whose attempts to heal rifts in the postwar Republican Party resulted in his murder.

Planetary scientist Rebecca Ghent, co-investigator on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, discusses our Moon’s history of impact cratering and examines the significance of the impact record for understanding the evolution of the Moon and other solar system bodies.

Balance is frequently mentioned as an attribute in painting, drawing, and design but rarely in photography. Learn how to incorporate this concept of arranging positive and negative elements in space to achieve an aesthetically pleasing outcome in your previsualization process and create stronger compositions.

Labeled a Surrealist because of the fantastical, often nightmarish quality of her paintings, Frida Kahlo always countered that she didn’t paint dreams: She painted her own reality. Art historian Nancy G. Heller examines the brief, often-difficult life that shaped that reality and examines Kahlo’s work, looking beyond the famous self-portraits to include landscapes, still lifes, and other distinctive subjects.(World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Beginning photographers learn how to use histograms, a graphic display of the brightness levels of pixels in an image—and an essential guide to achieving the correct exposure.

Noted for its organic, sinuous, and seductive styles, the Art Nouveau movement in modern art and design—called the New Style—developed out of the arts and crafts and aesthetic movements. In a richly illustrated seminar, art historian Bonita Billman explores the style’s origins, identifying characteristics, and chief creators in England and France. Though it flowered for only a decade or so, Art Nouveau has had a long-lasting influence and popularity. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)

George Washington left America only once, when he sailed to Barbados with his half-brother Lawrence in 1751. Historian Ralph Nurnberger details this lesser-known but significant voyage and highlights the impact it had on the 19-year-old Washington, his career, and the outcome of the American Revolution.

Learn the fundamentals of drawing the human body through an exploration of the skeleton, planes of motion, gesture, and musculature. Virtual anatomy software, a digital figure drawing site, and a variety of props allow students to discover how to convey motion.

Learn to embrace and celebrate the unpredictability, versatility, and beauty of watercolor. Class discussions cover supplies; color theory, palettes and pigment control; and various exercises and experiments to achieve different effects.

In this mixed-media challenge, imagine your dream home, then bring its tiny interior to life using paper-mache, acrylics, and other techniques.

Sharpen your knowledge of focus and depth of field through in-class discussion and homework assignments. Gain a better understanding of focus modes, area modes, and hyperfocal distance/focusing. DSLR, mirrorless, and film cameras are welcome.

This class is designed for students interested in sharpening their figure drawing skills by focusing on the most challenging and expressive details of the human figure: the head, hands, and feet.

From colossal Olmec heads to the paintings of Frida Kahlo, Aztec temples to Mexican murals, this survey of Latin American art sweeps through centuries and locations including ancient Mesoamerica, coastal Peru, and the top of the Andes. Michele Greet, the director of the art history program at George Mason University, traces the significant creators, works, influences, and trends that defined and shaped the arts of Latin America from their earliest expressions through the 19th and 20th centuries. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)

Colored pencils, an often-over-looked dry medium, is coming into its own. Whether used in fine art or illustration, they can enliven work with rich, vibrant color and a dizzying range of effects. Learn basic to intermediate methods and strategies with colored pencils.

Learn to develop your photographic vision and take better photos by learning a more deliberate approach to composition, balance, and lighting conditions while keeping it simple.

This course examines fundamental concepts of composition and their practical application in studio-art practice, offering participants tools to enrich their work as well to analyze and appreciate visual art in general. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Apart from a few “design heroines,” many of the women who gained prominence in the world of design in the first half of the 20th century are lost to the traditional narrative. In a two-part course, design historian and curator Elizabeth Lay brings them to light as she focuses on two generations of women working as skilled design professionals in the modern era—some of whom you might know and others whose work may be new to you. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Historian Dan Flores chronicles the epoch in which humans and animals have coexisted in North America—a place shaped by evolutionary forces and momentous arrivals of humans from Asia, Africa, and Europe. These arrivals precipitated a massive disruption of the teeming environment they found. In telling the story, Flores sees humans not as a species apart but as a new animal entering a place that had never seen our like before.

Join geologist Kirt Kempter as he explores the geology of Western National Parks over the course of 2023, with an in-depth look at one location every month. This program spotlights Lassen Volcanic and Crater Lake National Parks as part of a summer series, focused on parks in California, Oregon, and Wyoming.

Few people are neutral about Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She generated legions of fans—and detractors—through her bestselling books The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and the philosophy of Objectivism she founded and espoused. Why is Rand so controversial to this day? Onkar Ghate, a senior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute, explores some of the central ideas of Rand’s worldview and why they continue to draw both devoted adherents and impassioned rejection.

Forty thousand years ago, humans began to paint animals, mysterious symbols, and even people on cave walls. For over a century, researchers have been interested in how these images were created and what they might have meant. Paleolithic archaeologist April Nowell explores cave art and related objects and how cutting-edge technology is leading to a new understanding of the lives of Ice-Age peoples. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

For more than seven decades, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks made America laugh. Media historian Brian Rose takes a look at (and gives a listen to) their extraordinary achievements, from their work together on comedian Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows” and their creation of the classic 2,000-year-old man sketches to their accomplishments as writers, directors, and performers.

Discover your inner artist or poet, or both, in this course that lets you delve into mixed media and poetry. Using discussions, research, and experimentation, create both visual and written works of art.

Each of us began life as a single cell, eventually emerging as a dazzlingly complex, exquisitely engineered assemblage of trillions. This metamorphosis constitutes one of nature’s most spectacular yet commonplace magic tricks—and one of its most coveted secrets. Physician and researcher Ben Stanger offers a glimpse into what scientists are discovering about how life and the body take shape, and how these revelations stand to revolutionize medicine and the future of human health.

The great 16th-century Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder may be best remembered as one of the pioneers of genre scenes in Renaissance art. However, this master of the ordinary, especially of scenes inspired by peasant life, was steeped in the humanist culture of his era. Art historian Aneta Georgievska-Shine explores how Breugel’s wonderful inventiveness and wit are reflected throughout his oeuvre—where almost every painting becomes a point of departure for a deeper philosophical consideration. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Adobe Lightroom is the most useful (and user-friendly) software for organizing and editing images, usable for both RAW and JPEG image files. This two-session workshop offers users an overview of the program, with a focus on working with the essential Library and Develop modules for organizing and editing your files.

Bead weaving offers an endless possibility of stitches, designs, and color combinations to explore and create. The class focuses on how to start and finish wearable pieces, create patterns, and choose bead colors and finishes.

In a program highlighted by live performances, pianist and lecturer Rachel Franklin traces Kurt Weill’s creative journey from Weimar Germany to Broadway. He explores the early works that led to Weill’s extraordinary partnership with Bertolt Brecht and his subsequent artistic evolution in the United States, working with lyricists including Ira Gershwin, Langston Hughes, and Maxwell Anderson—collaborations that produced such beloved songs as “Speak Low,” “September Song,” “Lost in the Stars,” and “My Ship.”

At the turn of the 20th century, Vienna was the capital of a great empire ruled by the Hapsburgs. The city was a center of political power as well as avant-garde culture, home to some of the world’s greatest composers, architects, writers, and artists. Two who helped define this age of glamour, elegance, and decadence were artists Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Art critic and advisor Judy Pomeranz explores the lives and art of these extraordinary individuals, examines how they were influenced by their time and place, and illustrates how powerfully they reflected them in works both beautiful and shocking. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

America’s most famous avenue, connecting the White House and U.S. Capitol, hasn’t always been a grand thoroughfare. Pennsylvania Avenue and the surrounding neighborhood has been renovated, re-imagined, and revitalized over and over again. From Murder Bay, a center of crime, gambling, and prostitution to the stately boulevard of presidential inaugurations, Carolyn Muraskin, founder of DC Design Tours, unfolds the story of a metamorphosis along America’s Main Street.

For centuries, people believed the deep was a sinister realm of fiendish creatures and deadly peril. But as cutting-edge technologies have allowed scientists and explorers to dive miles beneath the surface, we are beginning to understand this underworld: It’s a place of soaring mountains, smoldering volcanoes, pink gelatinous predators, and sharks that live for half a millennium. Join award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Susan Casey for a dive into the deep ocean.

Reflecting thousands of grape varieties, Italian wine is an immensely complex subject that can make even the most knowledgeable sommelier's head spin. Sommelier Erik Segelbaum unravels the subject in a delicious exploration of some wonderful yet lesser-known Italian wines. This immersive program includes a curated personal tasting kit to enhance the experience.

Learn floral papercraft techniques, using different weights of both crepe paper and floral wire, to create the beautiful clematis, known to gardeners as the queen of climbers.

He was an uncompromising modernist, a great chronicler of the American South, and an inspiration—as well as immovable obstacle—for the generations of writers who followed. William Faulkner stands as one of the greatest, and one of the most problematic figures in American literature. Michael Gorra, author of The Saddest Words: William Faulkner’s Civil War, focuses on a trio of Faulkner’s greatest novels in a reading series: The Sound and the Fury, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom!

Experience the power of reflective writing guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface. Inspired by works of art by Georgia O'Keeffe and poetry by Mary Oliver, explore the lessons that the summer season offers us when we slow down, look closely, and reflect. The workshop is designed for writers of all levels.

Americans today expect their president to be not only chief executive, commander in chief, chief consoler, and chief crisis manager. They also expect our national leader to be our celebrity in chief. In an era in which media stardom is a key part of public life, leaders need to understand and participate in popular culture to be effective. Join journalist, historian, and author Ken Walsh as he surveys the presidents across the centuries who made the most effective use of their celebrity, those who didn’t—and why.

Bonsai, tiny trees in pots or miniature landscapes on trays, have delighted and intrigued people for centuries. Join Michael James, the U.S. National Arboretum’s bonsai curator, and Ann McClellan, author of Bonsai and Penjing: Ambassadors of Peace and Beauty, for an an illustrated talk about the arboretum’s National Bonsai & Penjing Museum and its unique collections. They share stories about how the diminuitive trees were created and came to Washington, plus a few tips on how to care for them.

The White House Historical Association’s new book Furnishing the White House: The Decorative Arts Collection is a collaboration of four White House curators who have witnessed the celebrated collection evolve since the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. Contributors William G. Allman and Melissa C. Naulin and the book’s principal photographer Bruce M. White discuss their experiences acquiring, conserving, storing, and photographing objects in the White House Collection.

The history of medicine is replete with advances made by hard-working maverick doctors who made astonishing progress against humankind’s deadliest diseases. Yet surgeon Andrew Lam says one factor spurred more medical breakthroughs than any other: war. He reveals how D-Day, Luftwaffe bombing raids, top-secret Liberty ship cargo, and aerial dogfights bequeathed to humanity innovations in surgery, cancer treatment, and trauma care that still serve us today.

Try your hand at animal portraiture, whether done in a realistic or slightly abstract style, while learning the proper use of the colored pencil medium.

To many people, a skeleton is just a hopeless pile of bones. But to a forensic anthropologist, skeletal remains are the key to identifying an individual and how and when they died. And nowhere else do they get a better understanding of decomposition than at the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee, aka the body farm. Dawnie Wolfe Steadman, the director of the center, digs into how forensic anthropologists from around the world learn from these bodies.

The paintings of the Hudson River School artists define our image of early 19th-century America. Works by Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Frederic Edwin Church, and other lesser-known artists synthesize the spirit of European landscape masters with the distinctly American view of nature, science, and spirituality reflected in Thoreau and Emerson. Art historian Heidi Applegate examines why the Hudson River School artists were so popular, how they fell out of favor, and why their art has generated renewed interest. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

The notion that a picture is worth a thousand words is meant to convey the power of imagery. But what of the power of words at the intersection of art and literature? In this summer series, David Gariff, senior lecturer at the National Gallery of Art, examines the multifaceted relationship between Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

In 17th-century Rome, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, assembled one of the greatest art collections in history, which is still displayed today in the Borghese Gallery. Renaissance art expert Rocky Ruggiero examines the history of the Borghese Gallery and its collection of artistic treasures. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

There’s more to keeping your brain in tip-top shape and lowering your risk for dementia than crossword puzzles, brain games, and Sudoku according to scientist and author Marc Milstein. Drawing on his book The Age-Proof Brain: New Strategies to Improve Memory, Protect Immunity, and Fight Off Dementia, he examines why serious mental decline may not be an inevitable part of aging—and how individuals can boost short- and long-term brain health.

Mars is the most explored planet in our solar system besides Earth, and for good reason. Although its surface is cold and inhospitable, evidence from nearly 50 years of robotic exploration suggests that Mars was once much more Earth-like. Katie Stack Morgan, the deputy project scientist on the Perseverance rover mission and a mission scientist on the Curiosity rover mission, explains why Mars remains the best place in the solar system to look for signs of ancient life.

French Impressionist art, filled with color, light, and scintillating brushwork, was an act of extreme rebellion when it appeared in the 1870s. The work of modern masters Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cassatt, and Morisot led to the radical art of the next decades’ post-impressionists including Seurat, Cézanne, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. Art historian Nancy G. Heller explores the sources, masterpieces, and later influences of these rebels, including their impact on 20th century art. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)

The history of Catholicism in America—and of America itself—cannot be told without the history of the Jesuits. David J. Collins, SJ, of Georgetown University offers a panoramic overview of the Jesuit order in the United States from the colonial era to the present and places it against the backdrop of American religious, cultural, and social history.

Utterly extraordinary as pianist, conductor, and composer, throughout his life Sergei Rachmaninoff bestrode the musical world like a colossus. In his 150th birthday year, popular speaker and concert pianist Rachel Franklin celebrates his prodigious mastery of all these fields in a two-part course enlivened by recordings, video clips, and demonstrations at her piano.

Washington, DC was built on American Indian land, but Indigenous peoples are often left out of the city’s narrative. Elizabeth Rule, an assistant professor at American University and Chickasaw scholar-activist, shines a light on the contributions of Indigenous tribal leaders and politicians, artists, and activists to the history of the District of Columbia.

England is by far the largest and most populous of the three nations that occupy the island of Britain, but how did its borders take their current shape, and why did Wales and Scotland maintain their distinctive national identities, despite eventually coming under English rule? Historian Jennifer Paxton recounts how Germanic settlers mixed with the existing Celtic-speaking population at the end of Roman rule in Britain, leading to the rise of several small kingdoms that coalesced into the entity that we know as England.

In an afternoon of artistic experimentation designed to deepen skills in visual expression, explore five modes of visual thinking: working from memory, observation, imagination, narrative, and experimental approaches.

Join geologist Kirt Kempter as he explores the geology of Western National Parks over the course of 2023, with an in-depth look at one location every month. This program spotlights Yellowstone National Park as part of a summer series, focused on parks in California, Oregon, and Wyoming.

While Judy Garland was among the greatest live entertainers in show biz history and one of the top recording artists of her time, her appearances in front of the camera remain her legacy. Media historian Brian Rose examines her remarkable Hollywood career, which began in her young teens at MGM and continued with such timeless classics as The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, Easter Parade, and her stirring comeback in 1954’s A Star is Born.

When Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile married in 1469, they incorporated not only their two kingdoms but also independent Spanish dominions into a large, unified country that wielded political and religious power over much of Europe for years. Tudor scholar and historian Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger traces the history of this famous couple and their lasting impact on the thrones of several European nations.

Edward Hopper is widely regarded as one of the great American realists of modern art. His works capture a quintessential view of New York City that became part of our cultural fabric. Indeed, many noir films of the 1940s and 1950s reflect Hopper’s vision of city life reflected in his paintings: austere, silent, moody, and lonely. Art historian Bonita Billman explores the highlights of Hopper’s career and examines the sociopolitical and cultural contexts in which he lived and worked. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

During the American Revolutionary War, the British military made big promises to enslaved Americans. In return for taking up arms against the patriots, enslaved people won pledges from British commanders that they would be freed when Britain won the war. But what happened once Britain lost? Historian Richard Bell explores these Black fugitives’ extraordinary odyssey through the remainder of Britain’s global empire after 1783 to examine the ways they tried to pursue happiness and forge an African American diaspora.

For many American high school students, reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel The Scarlet Letter from 1850 is a literary rite of passage, introducing them to the time’s moral codes and the Puritans’ notions of gender, sexuality, and religion. Joseph Luzzi, a professor of literature at Bard College, explores the nuances of Hawthorne’s language and style and the ways in which his vivid characters and their plights relate to concerns in the modern world.

Since ancient times, the Ganges has been embodied as the goddess Ganga, and her reach stretches well beyond the riverbanks. Art historian Robert DeCaroli traces the Ganges from its origins in the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal, exploring historic and sacred locations along the way. He also examines the art and architecture used to enhance and replicate access to Ganga’s sacred waters. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

The late 19th century in New York City was an era of exquisite mansions, beautiful parks and squares, and palatial public buildings—all magnificent markers of the Gilded Age and the wealth that made it possible. Yet the city was a study in dichotomies, an urban society whose facets were both celebrated and critiqued in the writings of Edith Wharton and Henry James and boldly exposed by Jacob Riis in his photographs of immigrant life. Lecturer George Scheper surveys the cultural panorama of New York and the contrasting realities of its inhabitants.

With September marking the start of Piedmont’s truffle season, it’s only fitting to explore the complementary wines of one of Italy's most famed regions—one that boasts more DOCGs than any other. Sommelier Erik Segelbaum spotlights the range of notable semi-alpine Piedmont wines and why they belong at almost any dinner table. This immersive program includes a curated personal tasting kit to enhance the experience.

For more than a century, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov have captivated readers with their spellbinding narratives, philosophical brilliance, and insights into human psychology and spirituality. Joseph Luzzi, professor of literature at Bard College, takes you inside two of the most consequential novels ever written and explores how their insights continue to illuminate our lives today.

The Myth of the Lost Cause, created by ex-Confederates as a social and cultural movement to define the Confederacy’s value and justify the just-concluded Civil War, remains part of contemporary America. Historian Stephen D. Engle challenges the enduring Southern reverence for the Confederacy as he examines issues central to the myth over generations by targeting its origins during Reconstruction, its cultural endurance through the 1920s and the Great Depression, its challenges to the Civil Rights era, and its symbolism in rallying patriotism today.

Many young readers list reading J.D. Salinger’s blockbuster novel, The Catcher in the Rye, as one of their most formative experiences with literature. Joseph Luzzi, a professor of literature at Bard College, revisits this epochal work to see how it has aged since its publication in 1951, highlighting the ways in which readers continue to see themselves reflected in the tormented character of its complex protagonist, Holden Caulfield.

The churches of Italy are renowned for their artistic treasures, from Giotto’s 14th-century frescoes in Florence, Padua, and Assisi to Giacomo Manzu’s great 20th-century bronze doors for St. Peter’s in Rome. In a splendidly illustrated seminar, art historian Sophia D’Addio of Columbia University explores churches that represent some of Italy’s greatest repositories of sacred art. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)

Step from the bustling sidewalks of the Left Bank in Paris into a veritable treasure house: the Cluny Museum. The remains of ancient Roman baths and the Gothic Paris residence of the abbots of Cluny provide the fairy-tale backdrop for marvels of medieval art. Barbara Drake Boehm, a curator emerita of The Met Cloisters, explores the museum, renovated and reopened last year. The masterpieces inside include the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, sculpture from the Cathedral of Notre-Dame that was buried during the French Revolution, and a Jewish wedding ring hidden by its owner during the Black Death. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Anatolia’s colorful history has left a windfall of riches—ancient ruins, ornate Byzantine churches, supremely elegant mosques, and splendid Ottoman palaces. In an illustrated series, Serif Yenen, a Turkish-born tour guide and author, highlights the heritage and splendor of ancient Turkey through an examination of some of its cultural gems.