The Power of Art

The Foundation of Wayne Community College will offer a course based on the 2006 BBC series "The Power of Art." The four-week course will be held on four consecutive Mondays starting February 11.

Participants will view four installments in Simon Schama’s series profiling Rembrandt, Jacques-Louis David, Pablo Picasso and Mark Rothko after which Foundation Arts and Humanities Program Director Bill Brettmann will lead discussion.

The videos explore dramatic turning points in lives of the artists and examines a work that defined the career of each. It is described by the BBC as "not … about things that hang on walls, it is not about decor or prettiness. It is a series about the force, the need, the passion of art ... the power of art."

According to Mr. Schama, a history and art professor who wrote and presents the series, "The power of the greatest art is the power to shake us into revelation and rip us from our default mode of seeing.

After an encounter with that force, we don't look at a face, a colour, a sky, a body, in quite the same way again. We get fitted with new sight:

in-sight."

The class will meet 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in Room 101 of the Walnut Building.

Cost for the course is $20 for individuals and $35 for couples.

The number of participants is limited. To register for these courses, call (919) 735-5152, ext. 360 and leave a message with the class title, your name and telephone number.

The Foundation is a non-profit organization that works to promote and to broaden the base of community support for educational opportunities at Wayne Community College. In addition to bringing programs such as this one to the community, the Foundation assists WCC students and awarded scholarships worth $207,360.00 to 320 students in the last academic year.