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Annapolis
New Weekend Workshops Offered through St. John’s College’s Continuing Education & Fine Arts Programs

FOR RELEASE:  August 5, 2009
CONTACT: Patricia Dempsey, 410-626-2539
patricia.dempsey@sjca.edu

 

What can you learn in a weekend?  Immersion is a time-honored way to go deep and explore ideas. This fall St. John’s Continuing Education & Fine Arts Program presents new weekend programs. Participants spend Saturday and Sunday in tutor-led preceptorials on topics that include: “The Greatness of Rome in Livy’s ‘Ab Urbe Condita,’”and“Freud: ‘The Ego and the Id.’” Participants will also explore works such asAugustine’s “Confessions” (Books 1 – 10) and Shakepeare’s “Othello.” Participants canalso immerse themselves in a two-day workshop on the painted sketch. While working en plein air, artists will sketch and paint gardens, historic buildings, and other landscapes on St. John’s campus.

Weekend preceptorials and workshops meet three times over the course of one weekend: from 10 a.m. to noon and from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday, followed by brunch. For more information contact Molly Burnett, 410-626-2530 or Molly.Burnett@sjca.edu. Classes are open to individuals 18 and older.

Weekend Preceptorials: A preceptorial is composed of approximately 15 students and one tutor engaged in the study and discussion of a single book, work, problem or theme. Weekend preceptorials meet three times over the course of one weekend: from 10 a.m. to Noon and from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to Noon on Sunday, followed by brunch.

Shakespeare:  “Othello”
October 17 and 18
Tuition $135, includes brunch on Sunday

Shakespeare’s “Othello” begins like a love story, but quickly changes course to become a story of suspicions, revenge, and murder. One of Shakespeare’s most deeply psychological plays, “Othello” probes the nature of the jealous mind, the origins of good and evil, politics and nature, race and sex.

Augustine: “Confessions” (Books 1 – 10)
October 3 and 4
Tuition $135, includes brunch on Sunday

Augustine developed the new form, the autobiography, to address the questions: Who am I? What do I know? How am I able to know myself? Those who read Augustine’s “Confessions” accompany him on a profound, raw, spiritual journey.

Shakespeare: Sonnets
October 24 and 25
Tuition $135, includes brunch on Sunday

Participants in this preceptorial will study and discuss a handful of the sonnets that are about the ravages of time and the relation of love and sex. Some attention will be given to metrical and formal details. 

 

Freud: “The Ego and the Id”
September 26 and 27
Tuition $135, includes brunch on Sunday

Freud’s understanding of the nature and structure of the psyche changed over the course of his career. A close reading of “The Ego and the Id” will provide both insight into Freud’s general understanding of the unconscious as well as the meaning of his concepts of id, ego, and super-ego.

The Greatness of Rome in Livy’s “Ab Urbe Condita”
September 19 and 20
Tuition $135, includes brunch on Sunday

In this preceptorial, participants will read selections from the beginning of one of Rome’s greatest historians, Titus Livius. The class will be specifically interested in what “greatness” means and how Rome from its earliest beginnings exemplifies this concept and reality.

Weekend Fine Arts Workshop:

The Painted Sketch
October 3 and 4;  9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Tuition: $150, includes lunch both days

This two-day workshop will explore the painted sketch. While working en plein air on St. John’s campus, artists will sketch and paint the gardens, historic buildings, landscapes and College Creek. The workshop will focus on capturing quick sketches and personal expression.