Village University

We anticipate most of these classes will remain online for Fall 2021  and will provide final location details prior to registration. 

 

 

Join us on October 7th for a special tribute lecture to honor the memory of Benson Saler. 

Benson Saler, a longtime Village University instructor, passed away this past winter. For 10 years after his retirement, Benson taught a number of classes for our community. To honor his memory, and to share the gifts that Village University offers with our community, his wife Joyce would like to host a lecture in his memory. This year we are fortunate to hear from Larry Brink who will share his background and work, as well as give you a preview of his upcoming course. 
More details coming soon. 

Around the Art World in 80 Days with Steven Kendall
Forget the pandemic. Hop on board your private Air C-C flight for the fun, educational vacation you may not be ready to embark on right now. We’ll Zoom you from Boston to New Zealand, with stops in London, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Florence, Saint Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Chicago and New York before arriving home ten weeks later. Each week you’ll visit one of the world’s greatest art museums. You’ll see the museum, learn about its history and, most of all, see and discuss its greatest art. Experience masterpieces from 1400 to today, genres from Realism to Contemporary, and venues from a former Parisian train station turned art palace to a mind-boggling seaside sculpture park in New Zealand. Whether you love art or want to learn more about art, grab a glass of wine, fasten your seat belt and settle in for a flight around the art world.
10 Tuesdays, September 21st – November 23rd, 10 – 11:45 am

Not Just Your “Hallelujah Chorus”: Great Choral Works From Four Centuries with Keith Daniel*
Choral singing is one of the deepest joys of humanity, and something we have done since we learned to talk. We will focus on seminal choral works from Monteverdi to now, examining oratorio, Mass, opera choruses, symphonic works with chorus, and smaller choral pieces. This is a listening course, and no prior knowledge of music is necessary, just a love of great choral works.
12 Wednesdays, September 22nd – December 15th, 11 am-12 pm

 

The Buddha’s Teachings on Social and Communal Harmony with Tony Fairbank
Using Bhikkhu Bodhi’s book of the same name, we will examine the Buddha’s teachings on matters ranging from conflict resolution to the forging of harmonious relationships within and among societies. The selections, all drawn from the Pāli Canon, the earliest record of the Buddha’s discourses, are organized into ten thematic chapters, which treat such topics as anger, good friendship, intentional communities, the settlement of disputes, and establishing an equitable society. For details, see www.dianwu.org/social-and-communal-harmony. Whether 2500 years ago or the present day, humans create conflict, and yet hope for peace. This concise, yet rich volume offers much to discuss and reflect on, and provides a wealth of ideas (and practices) to consider as we all move forward in these, our own challenging times.
6 Wednesdays, September 29th – November 3rd, 1-2:30 pm

Introduction to Native American History and Sites with Greg Paris
The American continents have been home to a vast number of Native cultures and civilizations for at least 15,000 years, a span of time that dwarfs the 1000 years since their first tentative contact with European (Viking) explorers or the mere 400 years of post-Colonial history. We will partition time into five overlapping segments. Deep time will cover the peopling of the Americas from 15,000 BP through the Archaic around 1000 BCE and introduce several hypotheses about Native origins. The next 2000 years will encompass Woodland, Mississippian, Mesoamerican and South American cultural developments and archaeology up through Cahokia. The Euro-contact period will include interactions with Vikings, trading, exploration and conquest pre-settlement. The Colonial settlement phase covers from Jamestown and Plymouth until the present. We will not shy away from the devastation wrought by post-contact epidemic, genocide and relocation, nor from the conflicts of post-Colonial New England. The final segment focuses on a variety of Native sites, introducing concepts of archaeoastronomy and ceremonial stone landscapes. We will close with a field trip to a nearby site that preserves some of the pre-Colonial Native American landscape. A diverse reading list will be distributed in advance of the first session.
6 Thursdays, September 30th – November 4th, 10-11:30 am

 

Photography Through an Artistic Lens with Larry Brink
What distinguishes a snapshot from a fine art photograph? How do intent, point-of-view or composition impact the power and meaning of a photograph? By focusing on the “art of photography,” this 5-week course examines how artists employ photography to creatively express ideas, messages and emotions. The 1st class will introduce you to 50 noteworthy photographs. Then, in sessions that follow, several guest photographers will share their work. During each class, we’ll utilize the language of photography as a tool for discussion and learning. While we won’t concentrate on technique per se, we will touch on cameras, digital features, printing and the like. Since all of us take photos — in one form or another — a richer understanding of the medium and creative methods should be valuable to everyone. At the last session, you’ll have the option to share your own photography with the class. You need not be a “photographer” to enjoy and benefit from the content of this course.
5 Thursdays, October 14th – November 18th, 1-2:30 pm