SummerFest 2025 Catalog
SummerFest 2025 Catalog
SummerFest courses are on campus on Fridays, June 6, 13, 20, 27
Dates and times for Off-Friday courses are shown below
Registration open to current LLI members and nonmembers ($25 per course)
Registration starts May 27 and ends June 7, 2025
SummerFest courses will be held on campus on Fridays, June 6, 13, 20, and 27. Two off-Friday courses will be held on Wednesdays, June 4, 11, 18, and 25, and one will be held on Thursdays, June 5, 12, 19, 26.
Course Enrollment: Open to all members (free with 2024-2025 membership) and nonmembers ($25 per course).
Click on any of the titles below to see expanded information. The complete SummerFest catalog with all course details (such as course limits, classroom locations, dates, etc.) is located on the Bard LLI website in ProClass. Once you have accessed ProClass, choose “SummerFest 2025” from the “Semester” list on the left.
SummerFest Registration: There will be a one-class priority registration starting at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 27th, and ending at 7:00 p.m. During that day, people may register for one course only. Then on Wednesday, May 28, at 9:00 a.m., people may register for as many courses as they want on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration will continue until June 7. Log into ProClass to register.
on-campus courses
Friday - Period 1
9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Friday, First Period: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: After American artist John Singer Sargent died at his London home 100 years ago, his creative reputation quickly declined. Critics scoffed at his oil portraits and ignored his extraordinary watercolors. He was considered a relic. Over time, however, contemporary artists and critics rediscovered Sargent’s technical brilliance, bravura brushwork, and insightful readings of his sitters. His work now commands jaw-dropping auction prices. America reclaimed one of its great artists. On the centenary of his death, we will honor this consummate artist at SummerFest by exploring Sargent’s life, career, and technique; discussing selected works; and learning about his American models, patrons, and friends.
Presenter: Shelley Weiner grew up in Brooklyn, graduated from Colby College (BA), and attended the MDiv program at Earlham School of Religion. She worked in print production for graphic designers and book publishers, represented commercial printing firms in the Northeast US, taught technical MacOS/iOS classes to educators and corporate clients for Apple, and owned an Apple-authorized training center in the Hudson Valley for 15+ years. She geeks out over history, languages, art, travel, and music.
Producers: Joanne A. Meyer, Mary McClellan
Class limit: 25
Friday, First Period: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: The goal of this course is to create a team effort to learn and enjoy investing. The instructor will guide students in “paper trading,” where no actual currency is involved. Both experienced investors and beginners are welcome. It is meant to be a group effort at learning, sharing, and polishing stock-trading skills. William J. O’Neil’s book How to Make Money in Stocks is suggested reading but is not required.
Presenter: Charlie Hobson has been involved in learning, teaching, and training sessions as well as solving and developing programs in manufacturing and marketing. His interest in the stock market began in the late 1990s. As a result, he has seen the big dot.com collapse and many market swings.
Producer: Dorothy Baran
Class limit: 16
Friday, First Period: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: Lee Woodman and participants will read and discuss work by time-honored poets—poets who provide arresting examples of the craft of poetry, both free verse and formal—through metaphor, tone, rhythm, rhyme, and line. After experiencing the way various poets use these tools, participants will write some “loosening up” exercises, using speed prompts provided about sounds, settings, senses, and things. Each session will end with time to write a longer poem with suggestions for topics and imagery. Both beginners and seasoned writers are welcome—all that’s needed is a sense of fun, curiosity, and faith in the magic of language.
Presenter: Lee Woodman is the author of the “Scapes” poetry series. She won the 2025 IPA Gold Award for Poetry, the 2020 William Meredith Prize for Poetry, and the 2021 Atlantic Review International Poetry Competition Merit Award. Her five published collections include HOMESCAPES, MINDSCAPES, LIFESCAPES, ARTSCAPES, and SOULSCAPES. Woodman has been a guest on radio shows and podcasts, including The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress, The Authors Show, Goodnews Broadcasting, and IPA: GAB TALKS. https://www.poetleewoodman.com
Producer: Eleanor Wieder
Class limit: 15
Friday, First Period: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: This class is for everyone who loves to sing and for those who think they can’t! We’ll focus the first part of each session on vocal technique and then have a community sing, including singing in parts. Nancy will accompany the class on the piano and will select songs from Broadway, popular, and folk music. Students will experience the joy of singing together. An ability to read music is not required, but an open spirit and kindness to fellow singers is a must!
Presenter: Nancy Theeman, PhD, has had a lifelong career in music that includes performance and teaching. She is a pianist and singer who has performed in the United States and abroad. She has chaired music programs at schools in Westchester County and has directed numerous musicals there. She has conducted community choirs and for 30 years she ran Touring Talent, a program in which high school students go to local senior residences to share their talents.
Producer: Suzanne Holzberg
Class limit: 22
on-campus courses
Friday - Period 2
Fridays, 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Fridays: 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: Have you ever thought of writing a song but didn’t know how to begin? This course will help you discover your creative potential and start the journey of writing a song. We’ll examine well-known songs and discuss what works and what makes them so memorable. Then, through a series of exercises and prompts, participants will be guided through the process of getting their thoughts on paper. Melodies can be hummed or put to music by the presenter on acoustic guitar. NO MUSICAL EXPERIENCE IS NECESSARY, although a piano and guitar will be available for those who play (optional).
Presenter: Sharon Klein is a veteran of the Greenwich Village music scene of the ’80s and ’90s and a regular performer on the contemporary folk and Americana music scene in the Hudson Valley. She wrote her first song at 17 and landed a publishing deal with Burt Bacharach’s company in her early 20s. Her music has been performed in such varied places as the US Open, Saturday Night Live, and the Super Bowl. She has written over 100 songs.
Producer: L. Walker
Class limit: 18
Fridays: 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: Man traps, sad sacks, eccentrics, martyrs, and marvelous artists: there are enough stereotypes of single ladies for everyone. The class will provide time enough for discussion in this lively survey of dames who defy definitions—and who, nevertheless, were defined by movies (streamable for free or a small fee) to be watched before each session. Some candidates for dissection: Late Spring (Yasujirō Ozu, 1949), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Ronald Neame, 1969), My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, 1979), and Hollywood’s ultimate ‘80s-style cautionary tale, Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne, 1987).
Presenter: Lisa Schwarzbaum(LLI) was a nationally known critic at Entertainment Weekly from 1994 to 2013. She served on the selection committee of the New York Film Festival from 2004 to 2008 and was co-host of a weekly movie review program on CNN from 1998 to 2001. She appeared regularly on radio and TV, including as co-host on Roger Ebert & The Movies. She is a former chair of the New York Film Critics Circle.
Producer: Fern Fleckman
Class limit: 25
Fridays: 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: This program examines the vexed interchange between humans and animals in commodity culture. We encounter animals daily, although likely we pay little attention to, or don’t recognize, these encounters for what they really are. We eat animals. We wear them. Our beauty, health, and home products are tested on them. Animals perform for us and satisfy our need for intimacy, entertainment, and novelty. Human action and indifference remove animals from their natural lives and display them for a variety of human pleasures. Western culture and its mix of theologies generally positions animals as subservient to humans. Laws subjugate their bodies in the same discursive frame that prompted Harriet Beecher Stowe to originally use the subtitle The Man That Was a Thing for her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Presenter: Reverend Ed Ingebretsen, PhD, holds degrees in Theology and Ethics and a Doctorate in American Studies /Theology. His publications (books, journals) consider the intersection of gender, race, theology, and popular cultures. He concentrates on nonhuman animal ethics and American race and social history.
Producer: Mary McClellan
Class limit: 25
Fridays: 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: In this course, students will use classic problem-solving techniques, such as pattern recognition, making a table, or drawing a diagram, to solve a variety of mathematical challenges. The explanation will incorporate a hands-on approach to understanding age-old mathematical problems such as the Seven Bridges of Königsberg and the Tower of Hanoi. In addition, attendees will learn some magic tricks based on mathematics. Time permitting, other topics may include the mathematics behind the bar codes that facilitate the supermarket checkout process and the best strategy for a variety of popular games.
Presenter: Beth Goldberg is a New York State Master Teacher Emeritus. After receiving her MBA, Beth worked in the banking industry for about 20 years. When she moved to the Hudson Valley, Beth decided to embark upon a new career in education and attended the Bard Master of Arts in Teaching Program. She was a secondary school mathematics teacher for nearly 20 years and math department chair until her retirement in June 2024.
Producer: Anne Brueckner
Class limit: 20
Fridays: 11:00 a.m. – noon (1 hour class)
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: Awareness Through Movement® is a practice of sensing, feeling, thinking, and moving that helps reduce chronic tension and pain and improve movement in daily life. As students are guided verbally through simple movement sequences, they learn to reduce excess effort, recognize stressful habits, and explore easier alternatives for more freedom, comfort, and pleasure in being embodied. Participants need to be able to get down to the floor (with assistance if needed) and bring adequate padding for lying down, such as a thick mat or two-three yoga blankets, as well as a few towels.
Presenter: Margaret Pierpont (LLI), a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner, has taught Awareness Through Movement® at LLI since 2017 and offers her own classes on ZOOM. She has extensive experience in dance, yoga, relaxation, and meditation, and is a Certified Laban Movement Analyst and graduate of the Integrated Study and Practice Program at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. She is particularly interested in helping people reduce stress and become more self-sufficient as they negotiate the changes of aging.
Producer: Margaret Shuhala
Class limit: 20
on-campus courses
Friday - Period 3
1:00 p.m. until 2:30 p.m.
Friday, Third Period: 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: This class will provide a fascinating look at all things Australian, from its inception as a European colony to today’s rich and varied country of 27 million people. Students will examine Australia’s literature, art, music, government, geography, and animals. They will understand the Aboriginal relationship with the land for 50,000 years, the mission experience, and the “lost generation.” The course also examines early settlers, outback experiences, gold field riots, and Suffragists. Students will read contemporary writings on Australia’s role in Gallipoli, Vietnam, racism, and the immigrant experience. Readings, most of which are no longer than one page, will be sent ahead of time.
Presenter: Michael Beames, a native of Adelaide, South Australia, discovered his lifelong passions for art, history, and storytelling early on. While attending a student exchange program at Buffalo State College, he met Sara, who would become his partner in life and adventure. After earning a bachelor’s degree in education and teaching in the Australian bush, he reunited with Sara in San Francisco. Michael subsequently transitioned to a career in the graphics industry. In 1990, he and Sara embraced entrepreneurship by founding a glass giftware company in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Producer: Gary Miller
Class limit: 25
Friday, Third Period: 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: This course uses Sam Shepard’s play Fool for Love to explore the art and artistry of producing a play on Broadway. Participants should read the play before the class starts. They will be assigned to groups, in which they will have to select a Broadway theater and work on the major elements of producing a play—walking through the steps of capitalization and investment, budgeting, unions, marketing, casting, hiring directors and designers, the rehearsal process, previews, opening night, and sustaining a commercial run in a competitive New York market.
Presenter: Margot Harley co-founded the Acting Company with the late John Houseman in 1972. She produced numerous Broadway and off-Broadway award-winning plays. She was administrator of the drama division of the Juilliard School from 1968 to 1980 and has appeared in several Broadway and off-Broadway productions as an actress and a dancer. Ms. Harley is a member of the National Theatre Conference and on the Board of the British American Drama Academy. She received the Acting Company’s John Houseman Award in 2002.
Presenter: Ian Belknap is the artistic director of New York Stage and Film. Founded in 1985, Stage and Film has been an incubator for new work for Broadway, off Broadway, and theaters nationwide. Stage and Film has been a part of the Hudson Valley arts community since its inception with a founding partnership at Vassar College and currently enjoys a relationship with Marist College, which hosts its summer residency programs. Ian is also the former Artistic Director of the Tony Award-winning theater The Acting Company, where he was monitored by and worked with Margot Harley.
Producers: Judith Anastasia, Mary McClellan
Class limit: 16
Friday, Third Period: 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025 (final class will be held at the Barn at WaveCrest in Hyde Park)
The Barn has limited seating. There are stairs. Standing is required.
Description: Sculptor/painter Madeleine Segall-Marx will present background and anecdotes of her 10-year art project, which offers the idea that if we listen to the “enemy’s” story, perhaps we would be less inclined to kill him. She collected 25 personal stories from people caught in war around the globe, and with each, she created a visual artwork. There will be three classroom discussions. The fourth class will be a trip to the project, which is permanently installed in a beautiful barn on her property in Hyde Park. Madeleine has presented a lecture on this project at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
Presenter: Madeleine Segall-Marx, a former instructor of figurative sculpture, has won myriad awards for her work, including the Dutchess County Executive Arts Award to an Individual Artist. When president of the National Association of Women Artists, she developed programs for its members that involved social justice issues. Her journey in the Listening to the Enemy Project (supported by grants from NYSCA and the Puffin Foundation) led to her involvement with helping Iraqi refugees and with Nepal’s Tharu population.
Producer: L. Walker
Class limit: 25
Friday, Third Period: 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: You are born with an innate spirituality that can flourish through deliberate awareness and practice. Awakening to this spirituality may nurture hope, broaden your perception of life, and connect you more deeply with the world. Participants will deepen their connection with the spiritual guidance system embedded in life’s fabric, fostering optimism and a greater sense of purpose. This experiential workshop focuses on practices to enhance your awareness of:
- Intuition: the awareness, inner perception, insight,
- Synchronicities: the dialogue between your inner and external experiences,
- Intention: deliberate asking,
- Conditioning: patterns of behavior, thoughts, and reactions that challenge growth.
Presenter: Meredith Caplan, JD, is currently focused on working with individuals and groups to develop, strengthen, and promote spirituality and practices as a direct connection and alignment with our innate, deep sense of knowing and healing. She has worked as a human rights lawyer, a women’s rights advocate, an adjunct professor, and the director of Strategic Initiatives at the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Producer: Eleanor Wieder
Class limit: 16
Friday, Third Period: 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
June 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025
Description: Imagination is the gateway to the soul. Stimulating the imagination is life-affirming. Creativity opens us up to our endless possibilities no matter our age. Through the creative processes and personal experience, an individual can realize how every moment lived is a creative moment, how every moment lived is an inspiration. When an individual explores their inner landscape, the exploration creates a deeper understanding of life. Through sound, movement, process-oriented writing exercises, discussion, and active imagining, one taps into their creative impulse. The creative process taps into the infinite. Bring writing materials and wear comfortable clothing.
Presenter: Lois Walden. Author, librettist, singer, songwriter, record producer, performer, teaching artist, creative spirit, and now a death doula, Lois Walden embraces life and inspires others through her writing, music, and teaching. Her life and music have been profiled on CBS Sunday Morning and Good Morning America. Her debut novel, One More Stop, was a Lambda Literary Awards finalist and a Waterstone’s New Voices finalist. She is also the author of the novel Afterworld. Read More about Lois at https://www.loiswalden.com.
Producer: Janet Pincus
Class limit: 16
off friday, in person
date & time
as noted in course description
Wednesdays, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
June 4, 11, 18, 25
Description: This class takes us inside studios, galleries, and an architectural archive to see the work of contemporary artists. Presenters are the artists or curators who will speak about the exhibited work, as well as the inspirations, processes, and materials. Students will experience multiple visual art forms, including conceptual art, abstract art, architecture, ceramics, photographic art, and sculpture. Participants must be able to stand for some time, walk, and climb stairs.
June 4: Center for Photography at Woodstock, Kingston, NY
Students will view work from these exhibits, guided by a curator.
The Rose is a sprawling exploration of collage as feminist form, strategy, and genealogy. It includes works by over 50 contemporary women artists.
Larry Fink: Sensual Empathy includes works from Fink’s seminal series Social Graces as well as some of his civil rights and jazz imagery.
Flashpoint! Protest Photography in Print, 1950 – Present is an exhibition of photobooks, posters, DIY zines, and independent journals.
Presenters: CPW: Staff
June 11: Studio of Mary Frank, Bearsville, NY
Mary Frank’s studio is an ever-changing environment filled with a dizzying array of materials. Drawing from this great variety in her daily practice, her visual vocabulary incorporates traditional paints, canvas, charcoal, pencil, photography, ceramics, and organic objects to express her ideas. A studio visit will offer a fascinating insight into her unique approach to creating and the fearless curiosity that informs her art.
Presenter: Mary Frank
June 18: ‘T’ Space Rhinebeck, Rhinebeck, NY
‘T’ Space, a project of the Steven Myron Holl Foundation, explores the intersection of art, architecture, and ecology. Students will tour three buildings with Susan Wides, director and curator of The Architectural Archive, containing thousands of architectural models and artwork; ‘T’ Space Gallery showing the works of conceptual artist Charisse Pearlina Weston, whose glass sculptures explore light, shadow, and sound; and the Ex of IN House, an off-the-grid guest house and architectural masterpiece. After the tour, participants may walk the grounds.
Presenter: Susan Wides
June 25: Studio of Jean Feinberg, Craryville, NY
Jean Feinberg will invite the participants into her studio. She works on a small scale with a reductive geometric abstraction incorporating three-dimensional elements. She will discuss her history and influences as well as her approach, materials, and working process.
Presenter: Jean Feinberg
Presenters: Multi, listed above
Producer: Suzanne Holzberg
Class limit: 15
Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m. – noon
June 4, 11, 18, 25
Description: The customary story of Montgomery Place focuses on the Livingston family and its efforts to transform this landscape from a working farm into a picturesque riverside estate. But who inhabited this site for the centuries before the Livingston’s mere 184-year tenure as property “owners”? What are the land’s millennia-old natural features that give spirit and character to the locale? Whose mind and hands were responsible for the actual changes? Through readings, discussions, guided walks, and personal observations, we’ll explore the obvious and not-so-apparent evolution of the landscape. We’ll also meet a varied cast of characters who played more than just a supporting role as we take a broader and deeper look that goes beyond the customary story.
Presenter: Henry Woods. Upon retiring after a 35-year career as a teacher, media developer, and academic administrator, Henry Woods became a volunteer docent trained by Historic Hudson Valley at Montgomery Place in 2011. Later, with encouragement from Bard, he developed a new series of outdoor tours focused on the changing landscape. Henry’s most recent narratives are strongly influenced by the new perspectives he has gleaned from the Bard’s Rethinking Place initiative.
Producer: Mary McClellan
Class limit: 20
Thursdays, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
June 5, 12, 19, 26
Description: Move, Groove, and Improve is an open-level dance class that focuses on building strength and stamina and improving balance and flexibility while learning proper placement and technique. We start with an easy warm-up followed by a fun combination. The combinations are choreographed to music from different decades and a variety of world music. Perfect for beginning dancers and those who just love to move to stay in shape and healthy! The class will be held in Mary Rotella’s Red Hook dance studio.
Presenter: Mary Rotella, BFA, has performed on Broadway, on national tours, and in many regional productions. She has directed and choreographed productions in the United States and abroad, and continues to work professionally. Her teaching experience includes various styles and levels of dance.
Producer: Eleanor Wieder
Class limit: 20
Credits
Curriculum Committee
Mary McClellan, Chair
Kathryn Clark, Secretary
Dorothy Baran
Anne Brueckner
Barbara Danish
Fern Fleckman
Carmela Gersbeck
Susan Hinkle
Suzanne Holzberg
Joyce Kanner
Emily Michael
Gary Miller
Chuck Mishaan
Margaret Moran
Janet Pincus
Cathy Reinis
Margaret Shuhala
L. Walker
Leslie Weinstock
Eleanor Wieder
Catalog Team
Deborah Lanser, Chair
Anne Brueckner
Susan Christoffersen
Cristina Ochagavia
Margaret Shuhala
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