Jefferson Unitarian Church, Golden   

"Before Monet, there was Pissarro," writes the Denver Art Museum in its announcement of the extraordinary exhibition "Camille Pissarro: The Honest Eye," open from October 24, 2025, to February 8, 2026. This course will focus on the life and times of Camille Pissarro, his unusual background, and how he became the supporter and mentor to the famed painters of his milieu: Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cassatt, Sisley, and Morisot—the Impressionists known as the painters of "soft skies and radical ideas." Also included in the six PowerPoint presentations will be those painters who influenced Pissarro and how he in turn influenced those who followed him. The course will be presented in two formats: Tuesday mornings in person at Jefferson Unitarian Church and Wednesday mornings via Zoom. Participants may attend either or both presentations.

Participants will pay for only six classes, but the facilitator is offering two bonus sessions: a morning at the museum on Tuesday, January 27, and an all-French breakfast on Tuesday, March 3.

This course will have the same format as Spring Term 2024, but with different composers and historic events. This class is for lovers of music and history. During each session, we will learn about one particular time in a composer's life and the composition it inspired. Our chosen composers are Mozart, Beethoven, Glinka, Wagner, Shostakovich, and Crumb. Histories will cover the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires, France during and after the Revolution, Russia and its tsars, Germany and the industrial revolution, the Soviet Union under Stalin, and the United States during the Vietnam War. Each session is selected from "Music as a Mirror of History," a lecture series by Professor Robert Greenberg, a prolific presenter of music-related topics for Great Courses who presents in a lively, engaging style. Here he turns to connections between specific compositions and their historical context. Many of these topics will have somber backstories. We will hear and view one lecture per session, leaving ample time for discussion and further exploration.

Join former professional dancers Joy and Jeffrey Engel for an insider's view of the life of a professional ballet dancer. The Engels will share their experiences and insights using videos and discussions to explore how young ballet students develop into professional dancers. The first class will focus on the different training styles and student progress using videos of classes from some of the world's major ballet academies. The next class will feature dancers auditioning and in competitions. The last two classes will explore the challenging career of a professional ballet dancer with videos of rehearsals and onstage performances. Comments and questions from class members are always appreciated.

The Blues: Roots and Branches, Part 2 continues to explore The Blues, its origins, evolution and expansion into other musical genres, particularly rock 'n' roll. This course is independent of The Blues, Part 1 and can be taken and enjoyed without one having taken Part 1. The class includes lectures, music, music video, documentaries and class discussion. The class will focus upon the important and influential musicians of The Blues and its branches, as well as others whose contributions helped the genre and its "branches" to grow, evolve and branch out. There will also be lecture and discussion regarding the connections between The Blues and its branches and the socioeconomic and historical influences upon The Blues and the musical genres that evolved out of The Blues. The class will conclude with an examination of the recent and current state of The Blues, including some recent video of current Blues musicians, such as Joe Bonamassa, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Kingfish Ingram.

Among the important and influential musicians and contributors to be discussed in Part 2 will be (not in the following order) Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Sam Phillips, Elvis Presley, the Chess Brothers, Chuck Berry, Lonnie Donegan, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Jimmie Page, Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, Buddy Guy, Albert King, Freddie King, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Joe Bonamassa.

In this deep dive into the elegant and accessible poetry of Mary Oliver, we'll study a wide variety of her poems in depth and then have fun doing our own writing. You'll have an opportunity to share, but this is always optional. We hope most of all that students enjoy the process of creating a poem—it's not as difficult as it appears. We welcome aspiring or practicing poets of all levels, but take particular interest in those who are new to the craft.

This class will feature two or more videos per session, followed by a discussion of the subjects featured in each video. The films will be primarily documentaries and TED Talks focused on issues of importance and current interest. These topics are guaranteed to be wide-ranging. Please join us and bring your curiosity, discussion skills, and sense of humor.