Happy Women’s History Month! Each year, the month of March is dedicated to celebrating the contributions of women both past and present, recognizing the struggles and challenges behind their victories, and strengthening the continued fight for equity.
But what happens when March comes to an end? After all, one month hardly seems long enough to honor the social, cultural, and professional contributions of so many trailblazers. While there are a variety of ways to continue celebrating women all year round, learning about the legacies of revolutionary women is the one we know best here at CALA.
This summer, we’re offering courses that aim to share the stories of women who’ve changed the world and provide an outlet for confronting the norms and stereotypes that shape our daily lives. Here are some of our favorites:
“WOMEN OF MYSTERY”: CHRISTIE, SAYERS, HIGHSMITH, AND FRENCH
Read novels by three women who are in the mystery writers’ hall of fame and a current author who has been praised as “one of the greatest crime novelists writing today” in this exciting course beginning July 8.
IT COULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT THEM: WOMEN WHO SHAPED THE COURSE OF MODERN ART
This course invites you to delve into the remarkable lives of exceptional women who have exerted an enormous influence on the course of modern art, from Katherine Dreier, artist and co-founder (with Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp) of Société Anonyme, to art historian and curator Marcia Tucker, founder of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, to Gertrude Stein, writer and patron of the arts.
Classic gothic heroines like Catherine Earnshaw or Mina Harker are among the most widely recognized and frequently adapted literary characters of all time. Analyze these thrilling, infuriating, irresistible portrayals, and explore whether heroines from the past two centuries can show us — to paraphrase Jane Austen — how to be the heroes of our own lives.
THE ART OF PRESENTATION: PORTRAITS OF (FAMOUS) WOMEN
Creating the likeness of women has intrigued artists and fascinated art lovers for centuries. How to depict a woman? In this course, we will look at the wide range of possibilities, from the most famous portrait—Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa— to ultra-contemporary photography, including self-portraits, mythological portraits, portraits in disguise, heroic and state portraits, famous sitters, mistresses, queens, and notorious ladies.