I append here the information on our next meeting, the full schedule of the JASNA-Vermont Region events for 2010-11, and the year’s schedule for the JASNA-Massachusetts Region. We certainly can say the Northeast is doing its very best to share and enjoy Jane! ~ if only one could go to all of them…
***
You are Cordially Invited to JASNA-Vermont’s September Meeting
Marsha Huffon
~Viewing Austen through Vermeer’s Camera Obscura*~
~Ms. Huff is the current President of JASNA~ *An illustrated lecture pairing paintings by Vermeer with scenes from Austen’s novels
**********
Sunday, September 26, 2010 2 – 4 pm
~ An event of the Burlington Book Festival ~
~ Sponsored by Bygone Books ~ Hosted by: Champlain College, Hauke Conference Center 375 Maple St Burlington VT
Free & Open to the Public! Light refreshments served
JASNA ~ Vermont ‘Dates for Your Diary’ ~ 2010 – 2011
September 26, 2010, 2 – 4 pm
“Viewing Austen through Vermeer’s Camera Obscura” With JASNA President Marsha Huff
Burlington Book Festival ~ sponsored by Bygone Books
Place: Champlain College
December 5, 2010, 2 – 5 pm
Annual Jane Austen Birthday Tea !! w/ Dr. Peter Sabor [McGill University] on the Juvenilia*
and Dr. Elaine Bander [Dawson College / JASNA-Montreal] on Mr. Darcy*[*subject to change]
Place: Champlain College
$20. / person
March 27, 2011, 2 – 4 pm
“Jane Austen’s London in Fact and Fiction” A visual tour w/ Suzanne Boden & Deb Barnum
Place: Champlain College
June 5, 2011, 2 – 4 pm
Music in Jane Austen’s World: A Concert with Dr. William Tortolano [Professor Emeritus, St. Michael’s College]
Place: Chapel at Vermont College of Fine Arts [Montpelier]
$10. / person
******************************
JASNA-Massachusetts Region ‘Dates for your Diary’ ~ 2010-2011
September 19, 2010
Pamela Bromberg: “The Films of Northanger Abbey:
‘are they all horrid?’
SPECIAL EVENT October 17, 2010
John Wiltshire: “Mr. Darcy’s Smile”
November 14, 2010
Sarah Emsley: “Everything She Ever Wanted: Marriage and Power in Novels by Jane Austen and Edith Wharton”
December 12, 2010
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION: TBA
March 20, 2011
Nancy Yee: “John Thorpe, Villain Ordinaire: The Modern Montoni/Schedoni”
May 1, 2011
Rachel Brownstein: “Why Jane Austen?”
*********************
Hope you can join us for some [or even better, all] of the events!
“My idea of good company, is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.” [Jane Austen, Persuasion]
Well, just another summer weekend, lounging around in a lovely old Inn – a Victorian reproduction of a Georgian style house – in a sleepy Vermont town surrounded by mountains; being waited on by the Inn’s owner and most excellent cook for lavish breakfasts, a full Afternoon Tea, and a dinner reminiscent of the repast at the Netherfield Ball [lacking ‘white soup’ of course but that is saved for winter gatherings!]; and all this with lively discussions of Jane Austen and Sense & Sensibility late into the evening – Absolutely Perfect!
The Governor’s House in Hyde Park Vermont has been hosting these Jane Austen Weekends for the past few years – I have been to a few of the evening events and have stayed for those weekends where I was speaking – each event is made more special by the participants, people from all over who have found their way, for their very different reasons, to mingle with complete strangers and talk about Jane. This past weekend brought a full house of fourteen people [sixteen to include Suzanne and me…] –
*A mother celebrating her 50th birthday, her only wish for her two daughters [one still in high school, the other in college] and her two sisters to share in her love of Austen – none of them [except the Mom!] Austen readers in the least. After being subjected to a nine-hour car ride listening to a BBC audio of S&S ALL the way, they arrived bleary-eyed and just FULL of S&S, and now I can safely say, all ready to go home to read the book! [love these convert stories!] – they win the “We’ll do anything to keep peace in the family [and this S&S thing isn’t so bad after all]” Award!
**********************************
*A couple from Minnesota [the husband one of the best sports I have yet to encounter!] – he created a complete notebook of his wife’s ‘Jane Austen Collection’ – a bibliography of all her books, resources on the Regency period and Austen’s life, and a collection of all the emails received on their Minneapolis Region events – what a gift, a surprise no less! – and he actually really seems to be quite taken with Jane himself – though not so far as appearing in a superfine waistcoat [nor flannel for that matter!], pantaloons and hessians! – hopefully next time! – and his wife, a joy to see another so taken with Austen, re-discovering her, as so many do after the kids have left the house and there is time to reflect and savor – and she is enjoying all the recent sequels [with perhaps the exception of P&P and Zombies, a gift to her, that like me, she cannot quite get beyond that first page!] – they win the “Couples who read Austen together have a finer understanding of Love” Award!
********************************
*Another family, “dragged” away for the weekend by the elder Austen-loving daughter, good sports all – her Mother, her Aunt, and her younger sister – all cramming the reading of S&S into their busy lives over the past month [we did discover that those who were still cramming their S&S the night before the quiz, fared far better than those of us who actually have read the thing ten times!] – the Aunt came from a distance so a family reunion of sorts – they win the “Now will you finally believe me when I keep saying how wonderful Austen is” Award! [I think they believe her now…] – AND First Prize in the “Love to dress up in Regency” Award!
*****************************
[two Austen-quoting friends with Suzanne pouring Tea]
*Two young women who love Austen, can recite most lines from the books AND movies on command [my son can do this with Caddyshack – and my goodness, how much more enjoyable to hear the quotes from Austen!], brought along the sister of one of them whose husband dropped them all off so he could mountain bike Vermont for a few days – they did their knitting and needlepoint and completed the very difficult Jane Austen puzzle in no time at all – [[but alas! the Regency dress made by hand by one of the sisters was not quite finished – she promises to wear it next time!] – they win the “We LOVE Jane Austen and want to shout it to the whole world” Award!
********************************
And the conversation? – Suzanne talked about the “lay of the land” during this Regency period – the government, town and village life, domestic life, AND the proper serving of Tea; I spoke on traveling in S&S – the economics, the distances, and the carriages of each of the characters [Willoughby and his curricle getting far too much attention] – and much discussion on who is “sense” and who is “sensibility” and what does “sensibility” mean anyway, and how does the first sentence compare to the opening line of Pride & Prejudice, and a most gruelling but laughter-inducing quiz with fabulous prizes, and of course the MOVIES – so many different opinions on each of the adaptations – Hugh Grant is to die-for to Hugh Grant is a wimp; Colonel Brandon is way cool in his waistcoat to Marianne is quite right to be disgusted with his aches and pains; Mr. Palmer we all agreed is the best of the comic characters, his wife a silly fool and more the pity for him [and Hugh Laurie got well-deserved high marks] – and though it was an S&S weekend, Colin Firth, a.k.a. Mr. Darcy was never far from the table conversation [as is quite proper] and the 2005 rendition causing quite the heated talk – endless chat, not one thought really completed, but certainly all agreeing that a more delightful weekend would be hard to come by!
On a personal note, one always finds at these gatherings how very small the world is – one group from a small town in New Jersey “I would never have heard of” which turned out to be where my college roommate grew up and I had visited it a number of times; and the mother of the other mother-daughter group was in the Army at the same place and same time that my husband and I were in the early 1970s – we were nearly neighbors!
And of course, great kudos and a hearty thank you to Suzanne who runs these weekends so beautifully, bringing so many people from all parts of the country together – new friends found in this resplendent world of Jane Austen – a step back from the 21st century for a few short days that energizes and soothes at the same time – Jane would approve, I have no doubt – she was there, after all…
… the Austen-era feeling certainly was helped along with a
leisurely morning carriage ride through the Stowe Vermont woods…
… and letter-writing exercises with quills
[but alas! no Darcy to mend our pens] …
…and mulling over that very difficult quiz!
… and reading up on carriages, bonnets in hand awaiting an outing …
**********************************
Next up:
series 3: Sense and Sensibility Friday evening talk: Making Sense of the Regency World
Friday – Sunday, September 10 – 12, 2010 Friday – Sunday, January 7 – 9, 2011
A leisurely weekend of literary-inspired diversions has something for every Jane Austen devoteé. Slip quietly back into Regency England in a beautiful old mansion. Take afternoon tea. Listen to Mozart. Bring your needlework. Share your thoughts at a discussion of Sense & Sensibility and how the movies stand up to the book. Attend the talk entitled ~ “Making Sense of Jane Austen’s World” * ~ Test your knowledge of Sense & Sensibility and the Regency period and possibly take home a prize. Take a carriage ride. For the gentleman there are riding and fly fishing as well as lots of more modern diversions if a whole weekend of Jane is not his cup of tea. Join every activity or simply indulge yourself quietly all weekend watching the movies. Dress in whichever century suits you. It’s not Bath, but it is Hyde Park and you’ll love Vermont circa 1800.
**************************
* “Making Sense of Jane Austen’s World” – Inn owner Suzanne Boden will be talking on the architecture, furnishings and other decorative arts of the Regency Period; Deb Barnum of JASNA-Vermont [yours truly] will be talking about travel in the late 18th and early 19th century – the horse and carriage era – and how Austen’s characters travelled in Sense & Sensibility – [and there is a lot of moving about in this book!]
*Or come for just an afternoon or evening and choose from these activities:
Informal Talk with Coffee and Dessert, Friday, 8:00 p.m., $14.00
Afternoon Tea, Saturday, 3:00 p.m., $20.00
Book Discussion and Dinner, Saturday, 7:00 p.m., $35.00
Jane Austen Quiz and Sunday Brunch, Sunday, 11:30 a.m., $15.00
YOU’RE INVITED TO WATCH JANE AUSTEN’S FAVORITE PASTIME …
YOU’VE READ ABOUT ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCING
IN AUSTEN’S NOVELS ~
YOU’VE SEEN IT IN FILMS LIKE “PRIDE & PREJUDICE”~
NOW YOU CAN SIT ON STAGE TO LISTEN TO THE BEAUTIFUL LIVE MUSIC,
WATCH THE COSTUMED DANCERS
(MANY DRESSED IN AUSTEN-ERA GARB),
AND, IF YOU LIKE, INDULGE IN TASTY REFRESHMENTS AT THE BREAK
ACROSS THE LAKE An English Country Dance Gala
on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain
SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 2010
8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Elley-Long Music Center
223 Ethan Allen Ave.
Colchester, VT
(in Fort Ethan Allen, off Route 15)
Prompting by Orly Krasner
Music by Earl Gaddis ~ violin
Mary Lea ~ violin & viola
Jacqueline Schwab ~ piano
Wayne Hankin ~ woodwinds & more
SPECTATOR’S PRICE, AT THE DOOR: $10 with sumptuous refreshments at break, $5 without
*Please bring a chair or blanket, an umbrella for the sun [or a bonnet!], and a picnic lunch if you wish [desserts and ice teas will be provided]
************************************
• Upcoming Events: [please contact us to be on our mailing list]
September 26: JASNA President Marsha Huff on “Viewing Austen through Vermeer’s Camera Obscura” [Champlain College] December 5: Annual Birthday Tea with Professor Peter Sabor on the Juvenilia and Prof. Elaine Bander on Mr. Darcy [Champlain College] March 27, 2011: “Jane Austen’s London in Fact and Fiction” w/ Suzanne Boden & Deb Barnum [Champlain College] June 5, 2011: A Concert with William Tortolano at Vermont College of Fine Arts
If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad….
[Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey]
The holidays and Jane Austen’s birthday! – lots going on – so I offer you a sampling of what’s happening in the New England area [to include New York and New Jersey!], starting with JASNA-Vermont’s very own Annual Birthday Tea next Sunday:
6 December 2009: 2-5 pm
Annual Jane Austen Birthday Tea!
Prof. Philip Baruth * (University of Vermont) “Badly Done Indeed: In Which Austen’s Mr. Knightley is Revealed to be a Whimsical and Emotional Teen Basket-Case”
Featuring ~
~ English Afternoon Tea ~ ~ Classical Harpist Rebecca Kauffman **~ ~ Gift Emporium with Local Artisan Crafts & Austen related Books ~
Place: Champlain College, Hauke Family Campus Center (375 Maple St.), Burlington $15./ person / $5. / student Please register by sending in the JASNA December 2009 dec tea reserve form or leave a comment below
JASNA December 2009 flyer– please let your friends know / post this in your place of work or anywhere else to encourage attendance!
Philip Baruth
* Philip Baruth is a Professor of English at the University of Vermont specializing in eighteenth-century British literature. He is also a novelist and an award-winning commentator for Vermont Public Radio. His most recent novel, The Brothers Boswell (Soho, 2009), is a literary thriller set in eighteenth-century London. It follows James Boswell and Samuel Johnson as they are stalked about the city by Boswell’s jealous and mad younger brother, John. And just recently, Philip stopped writing commentary in order to run for the State Senate from Chittenden County. His campaign website is Baruth2010.com; his blog is Vermont Daily Briefing.
**We are honored to have Rebecca Kauffman join us for this year’s Tea! She is currently principal harpist for the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Harrisburg, PA, a position she has held for 29 years. She is also the second harpist with the Reading Symphony Orchestra, Reading, PA, and the former principal harpist with the Lancaster and York Symphony Orchestras, both in Pennsylvania. Rebecca has appeared as the featured soloist on numerous occasions with the Harrisburg and York Symphonies, the Millersville University-Community Orchestra, the Hershey Symphony, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra in Ithaca, NY, and the Lancaster Chamber Ensemble. She has also performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Kennett Square Orchestra, Vermont Symphony Orchestra and the Binghamton NY Philharmonic. She has appeared in concert with a wide variety of concert artists. For more information, please visit her website at RebeccaKauffman.com
***********************************************
Coming in January to Hyde Park, Vermont:
Jane Austen Weekends The Governor’s House in Hyde Park
100 Main Street
Hyde Park, Vermont
Friday – Sunday, January 8 – 10, 2010 Pride and Prejudice Friday evening talk: The Naive Art of Georgiana Darcy
with Kelly McDonald
Friday – Sunday, January 29 – 31, 2010 Sense and Sensibility Friday evening talk: Making Sense of the Regency World
with Suzanne Boden & Deb Barnum
Jane Austen Society of North America- Massachusetts Region Sunday, Dec. 13th, 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. Wheelock College, Brookline Campus 43 Hawes Street, Brookline, Mass.
Celebrating Jane Austen’s Birthday Join us as we celebrate the birthday of “our Jane”! We will enjoy light refreshments, including a birthday toast, and entertainment by the JASNA Massachusetts Players.
Cost is $20 per person ($15 for JASNA Massachusetts members*). Please R.S.V.P. by Tuesday, December 8th
Wheelock College’s Brookline campus is easily accessible. By subway, take the Green “C” line to Hawes Street or Green “D” line to Longwood. See reverse for driving directions. Additional driving and subway info: http://www.wheelock.edu/about/abodirections_brookline.asp
Gore Place, in Waltham, MA, announces its Annual Holiday Tea and Tour with a special theme The Art of Romance in the Austen Era on Dec. 4, 5, 11, 12 and 19. Seatings are at 1 and 3pm. Admission is $40/pp tour included. For details, please visit their website at: GorePlace.org
December 4, 5, 11, 12 & 19Seatings at 1 & 3pm$40 per person, $35 Gore Place members.
Advanced tickets required, call: (781) 894-2798includes special themed tour The Art of Romance in the Austen Era Join us for our annual Holiday Tea a wonderful way to ring in the season! Enjoy a traditional English tea of scones, savory tea sandwiches and assorted sweets all served in the Great Hall and Withdrawing Room of the beautiful 1806 Governor Gore Mansion. After your tea, enjoy a special tour entitled: The Art of Romance in the Austen EraLed by a guide in period dress, you will view sumptuous rooms and hear tales of romance in Austen’s time. The tour is included in your Holiday Tea & Tour admission.Tickets must be purchased at least one week in advance.
To purchase tickets, please call (781) 894-2798. Group rates available.
GORE PLACE
52 Gore Street
Waltham Massachusetts 02453-6866
voice: (781) 894-2798 • fax: (781) 894-5745 • E-mail: goreplace@goreplace.org
copyright 1999-2009 Gore Place Society
Gore Place is an historic house of the Federal period.
*********************************************
NEW YORK: JASNA-New York Metropolitan Region
[Please note that this event is sold out – to be put on a waiting list, please go to their website at JASNANY.org for information]
Birthday Regional Meeting Saturday December 5, 2009 2:00 p.m. At the Midtown Executive Club 40 West 45th Street, NYC
Dr. Cheryl Kinney will explore the treatment of women’s illnesses in Regency England, including childbirth, infectious disease, and venereal disease. We will learn who provided health care in the early 1800s in England and the treatmentsavailable. Dr. Kinney will also discuss sickness and health in Austen’s novels.
*****************************************
JASNA-NY is fortunate to have The Morgan Library & Museum right in their midst!
The JASNA-NY Metro Region has a number of special events coming up in conjunction with the Jane Austen exhibit at the Morgan. The Region has been working with the Morgan education department to develop some of these programs (see below for details). [In case you have been living in a bubble for the past few months, visit the Morgan Library & Museum website for information on this exhibit!]
In addition, JASNA-NY is co-sponsoring two events: A preview of the new Masterpiece Classic’s Emma and a panel discussion “From Gothic to Graphic” [see below]
All programs will be held at The Morgan Library & Museum
225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, NYC
At the Morgan: A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life & Legacy November 6, 2009 – March 14, 2010
Public Programs:you must register with The Morgan directly
Gallery Talks:
Friday, February 26, 7 pm
A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy
Clara Drummond, Assistant Curator, Literary and Historical Manuscripts, The Morgan Library & Museum
Lectures and Discussions:
1. A preview of MASTERPIECE Classic’s Emma with Rebecca Eaton
January 20, 2010 [Wednesday] 6:30 PM*
Join MASTERPIECE executive producer Rebecca Eaton for a sneak preview of scenes from the new four-hour adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, starring Romola Garai, Jonny Lee Miller, and Michael Gambon. Emma will be broadcast on three Sundays beginning January 24, 2010 on PBS/Thirteen (www.pbs.org/masterpiece). This event is cosponsored by the Jane Austen Society of North America, New York (JASNA-NY).
Tickets: Tickets are free. For advance reservations call 212.685.0008, ext. 560, or email tickets@themorgan.org.
2. From Gothic to Graphic: Adapting Jane Austen Novels
January 26, 2010 [Tuesday] 6:30 PM*
Jane Austen’s works continue to inspire new generations of writers working in popular literary genres. In a lively presentation, authors of recently published books discuss their unique twist on Austen with Juliette Wells, Manhattanville College. Participants include Ben Winters and Jason Rekulak (Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters), Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway (Lady Vernon and Her Daughter), and Nancy Butler (Pride and Prejudice graphic novel). This program is cosponsored by the Jane Austen Society of North America, New York ( JASNA-NY).
Tickets: $15 for Non-Members; $10 for Morgan and JASNA-NY Members
*The exhibition A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy will be open at 5:30 pm especially for program attendees.
3. Reading Jane Austen, with Patrice Hannon
Wednesday, January 27, 3-4:30 pm: Pride and Prejudice
Wednesday, February 10, 3-4:30 pm: Emma
Wednesday, February 24, 3-4:30 pm: Persuasion
Patrice Hannon, author of Dear Jane Austen: A Heroine’s Guide to Life and Love and 101 Things You Didn’t Know About Jane Austen, leads a reading group on three of Austen’s most beloved novels. The group will closely examine the texts of Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion, paying particular attention to matters of style. Sessions will take place in the historic family rooms of the nineteenth-century Morgan House. The group will be reading from the Penguin Classics edition of the novels. Light refreshments will be provided. Advance tickets are recommended as space is limited. Patrice is also a JASNA-NY member.
Tickets (3 sessions): $45 for Non-Members; $35 for Members
Films:
1. Jane Austen on Screen:
To coincide with the exhibition A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy, the Morgan is screening two acclaimed cinematic adaptations of Austen’s literary masterpieces.
Sunday, January 24, 2 pm Pride and Prejudice (1940, 118 minutes)
Director: Robert Z. Leonard
All the wit and wisdom of Jane Austen’s popular comedy of manners is vibrantly brought to life in this classic film adaptation starring Greer Garson as the spirited Elizabeth Bennet and Laurence Olivier as the arrogant and dashing Mr. Darcy.
Friday, February 12, 7 pm Sense and Sensibility (1995, 135 minutes)
Director: Ang Lee
Emma Thompson received an Academy Award for the screenplay of Ang Lee’s feature adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel about two sisters-pragmatic, ironic, Elinor (Thompson) and passionate, willful Marianne (Kate Winslet)-and their struggle to find romantic happiness in a society obsessed with financial and social stature. Hugh Grant (Edward Ferrars), Alan Rickman (Col. Christopher Brandon), and Greg Wise (John Willoughby) round out the superb cast.
Films are free with museum admission. Tickets are available at the Admission Desk on the day of the screening. Advance reservations for Morgan Members only: 212.685.0008, ext. 560, or tickets@themorgan.org.
Music and Dance:
Friday, March 12, 7-8:30 pm Dancing with Darcy
To celebrate the final weekend of A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy travel back to Regency England for an evening of period music and dancing in the Morgan’s elegant Gilbert Court. Join Beverly Francis and Country Dance * New York for an English country dance demonstration, audience participation, and live music. Free.
Family Programs:
1. Sunday, December 6, 2-5 pm Winter Family Day Celebration Join us for our annual family day celebrating the exhibitions A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacyand Charles Dickens’s Christmas Carol. Travel back to the days of the English Regency with art workshops that will bring Jane Austen’s fashion sense to life. Then move on to Victorian London to meet Charles Dickens and his famous characters through the original play Goblins, Ghosts, and Geezers: The Making of Scrooge*, improvisational skits, and other activities. Marianna Loosemore will be reading “My Beautiful Cassandra” while Nili and Jerry will be talking to children about life in J.A.’s time.
For a complete schedule, visit http://www.themorgan.org. All events are included with admission to the Morgan.
*There will be two performances of Goblins, Ghosts, and Geezers: The Making of Scrooge at 2:30 pm and 4 pm. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis on the day of the program.
2. Saturday, February 6, 2-4 pm Paper Dolls at the Ball: Jane’s Fashion for Kids
To coincide with A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy educator Deborah Lutz leads a workshop that begins with a short tour of the exhibition that features a series of humoristic prints illustrating the extravagances of fashionable ladies and gentlemen of Austen’s time. Children will design evening costumes for women or men using paper doll templates, a wide variety of quality decorative papers, and colorful trimmings. Appropriate for ages 6-12.
Tickets: Adults: $6 for Non-Members; $4 for Members; children: $2
And finally, also note that the Morgan currently has the following noteworthy exhibits that will be closing in early January:
1.William Blake’s World: “A New Heaven Is Begun” September 11, 2009, through January 3, 2010
Drawn from the Morgan’s extensive holdings of works by William Blake (1757–1827), this exhibition is the museum’s first more than twenty years devoted to the breadth of his literary accomplishments and artistic influence. See online exhibition
2. Rococo and Revolution: Eighteenth-Century French Drawings October 2, 2009, through January 3, 2010
Rococo and Revolution: Eighteenth-Century French Drawings features more than eighty exceptional drawings almost exclusively from the Morgan’s renowned holdings. Artists represented in the exhibition include Antoine Watteau, Jacques-Louis David, François Boucher, and Jean-Honoré Fragonard, among others. See selected images from the exhibition
3. Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol November 20, 2009, through January 10, 2010
Dickens’s original manuscript of A Christmas Carol, on view in Mr. Morgan’s Library, serves as the centerpiece of the Morgan’s holiday programs.
CONNECTICUT: there are a few interesting exhibits at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven of interest to fans of Jane Austen: [see the Center’s website for more information]
Mrs. Delany and her Circle 24 SEPTEMBER, 2009 — 3 JANUARY, 2010
This exhibition will explore the life, world and work of Mary Delany, née Mary Granville (1700 – 1788). Though best known for her almost one thousand botanical “paper mosaics” now housed in the British Museum, which she began at the age of 72, Mrs. Delany used her craft activities to cement bonds of friendship and negotiate complex, interlinked social networks throughout a long life passed in artistic, aristocratic, and court circles in Georgian England and Ireland.
Through landscape drawings, paper cuts and collages, textiles, and manuscript materials, the exhibition will show the range and variety of Mrs. Delany’s art. Among her most extraordinary efforts was a court dress embroidered with a cascade of naturalistic flowers, which united her interests in floriculture and fashion. Parts of this dress have recently been rediscovered and will form the center of a reconstruction of Mrs. Delany’s world. Her art work will be shown in the context of natural history, which informed and underpinned her productions. Shells, corals, botanical drawings, and publications related to the collections of the 2nd Duchess of Portland, with whom Mrs. Delany lived and worked alongside, will also form part of the exhibition, allowing viewers to reattach the vital threads connecting female accomplishment and the pursuit of science in the eighteenth century.
Mrs. Delany and Her Circle has been co-organized by the Yale Center for British Art and Sir John Soane’s Museum. It will be accompanied by a major publication that will serve as an exhibition catalogue, and will contain essays addressing many aspects of Mrs. Delany’s life, craftwork, and letters in the wider context of eighteenth-century culture. [The Center is the only U.S. venue for this exhibition.]
Horace Walpole (1717 – 1797) was the youngest son of Robert Walpole, first earl of Orford and prime minister under both George I and George II. Horace’s birthright placed him at the center of society and politics, and of literary, aesthetic, and intellectual circles. His brilliant letters and other writings have made him the best-known commentator on social, political, and cultural life in eighteenth-century England. In his own day, he was most famous for his personal collections, which were displayed at Strawberry Hill, his pioneering Gothic-revival house on the banks of the Thames at Twickenham, outside London, and through which he constructed narratives of English art and history.
This groundbreaking exhibition seeks to evoke the breadth and importance of Walpole’s collections at Strawberry Hill by reassembling an astonishing variety of his objects, including rare books and manuscripts, antiquities, paintings, prints and drawings, furniture, ceramics, arms and armor, and curiosities. These will be drawn from international public and private collections as well as those of the Center and Yale’s Lewis Walpole Library in Farmington, Connecticut.
Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill has been organized by the Center, The Lewis Walpole Library, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with contributions by an array of distinguished international scholars. [The Center is the only U.S. venue. The exhibition has been generously supported by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. ]
Please join JASNA Central New Jersey for a birthday toast to Jane Austen at the Cranbury Inn, 21 South Main Street, Cranbury, New Jersey on Saturday, December 5, 2009 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Celebrate Austen’s 234th birthday, plan and discuss the year’s upcoming programs, and share our love of all things Austen. Should you be so inclined, please feel free to bring a short reading selection of your choice to get us all in the spirit. [ See their website for more information.]
[For events in your area, visit the JASNA.org website for other regional news]
I write this Sunday morning, gentle reader, because “dinner” never broken up until Midnight! A good time was had by all, don’t you think??
***
Saturday in Hyde Park (Vermont) dawned fairly grey. The rain that had plagued Washington and New York City ceremonies yesterday has wended its way northward – but only enough to dampen, never enough to wet events for our Austen participants.
Suzanne’s Breakfast begins with a tasty honeydew slice, followed — if you would like — by oatmeal (a warm crunchy nut concoction today!), and finishes with stuffed French toast – served with real maple syrup, of course!
The dining room windows open out to a lovely view of green lawn, with hazy mountains closing in on the trees which are still green — but in a month’s time will display an explosion of color. On this grey day, a bit more cloud-cover hides the scenery from sight.
Let me introduce you to some of the Austenites here: There is Marilyn and Lenice, fast friends since high school, who hail from Texas (Marilyn had come to last January’s Persuasion weekend). Stacy, from Upstate New York (Ithaca way), has come with her sister Cheryl and their mother Cathy and family friend Marie. Maria, an avid hiker heading to Killington for a few days after this weekend, traveled up from Florida. There are a couple people much more local: our avid Austen-fan Mkay is here (yeah!) and later in the day will see the arrival of Diane and her husband, all coming down from my old home-area of Essex.
As breakfast ends, it is decided that Kelly will join Marie and Ann, a UMASS grad student, on a horse-and-buggie ride down in Stowe. The large party has been divided into groups of 3-4-3 and given half-hour segments. Our appointment with the horses is for 11:30 a.m.
Maria has gone on ahead, so Ann and I zoom through the narrow backroads of Hyde Park and Morristown (passing a nice used bookstore, which I haven’t visited in a few years but would recommend: The Red Brick Bookshop) and come off onto Route 100 just as the town of Stowe, with its shops and tourists, opens out into ‘downtown’. Our goal is Gentle Giants, up on the Mountain Road. The rain that sprinkled a tiny bit while I had popped down into Johnson to mail a bill (booooo!!!!) and then back up Route 15 to grab a little cash and some candies at the local BigLots!, now comes a bit more steadily. The distant sound of tinkling sleigh bells heralds the arrival of the foursome occupying the carriage in the ride ahead of ours.
Red-haired Rochelle, the owner-operator, greets us, saying “I thank God every day for working with these animals, and in this beautiful place.” Given the uncertain weather, we all were taken out in the buggy with a retractable roof. Brave Maria decids to sit on the box with the driver — although, she confesses sotto voce, that she is afraid of heights! She later confirms that she did indeed have a quite good view. That leaves Ann and I in the back, under the hood. Our carriage seems to be the one IDed as the ‘vis-a-vis’, for four. Our horses were the greys, Jack and Mack
We travel at quite the leisurely pace (undoubtedly necessitated by the country lane, as well as the length of the horse-trail — which, if taken at break-neck speed, would shorten the half-hour drive), but what surprises is the time the horses take for doing horsey-kinds-of-things. When they have to ‘go’, they have to go – and they halt in mid-stride. According to Rochelle, when one relieves, the other one will follow suit. So you sit and wait. That’s something you never see in the movies!
When I first joined the Austen weekends, back at the end of January, the threesome staying the entire weekend went on a SLEIGH ride; how wonderful that must be! This time of year, with the seasons just about to change from summer to fall here in New England, it is a quiet ride through lush greenery, sometimes crossing the Stowe Recreational Path and sometimes plotted beside a clear, babbling stream. The turn-around is an expansive field, which offers beautiful views of a cloud-enshrouded Mount Mansfield.
As we exchange our carriage for our cars (and a drive down into Stowe for a brief look-around), I close this diary briefly.
Professor Joan Klingel Ray, past President of JASNA
Author of Jane Austen for Dummies
Talk and Book- signing to be followed by
A Mini-Concert with Impropriety and The Burlington Country Dancers
Place: Hauke Center, Champlain College
Sunday, December 6, 2009 2-5pm
Annual Jane Austen Birthday Tea w/ UVM Professor Philip Baruth [topic TBA]
Place: Champlain College
$15./ person
Sunday, March 21, 2010, 2-4pm
“Learning to Love a Hyacinth: Emotional Growth in Northanger Abbey” Ingrid Graff, Independent Scholar
Place: Champlain College
Sunday, June 6, 2010, 2-4pm
Box Hill Picnic “Austen / Adams ~ Journeys with Jane & Abigail” JASNA-Vermont’s Kelly McDonald!
in Deb Barnum’s Garden
[ Bring-Your-Own-Picnic to celebrate Emma ]
Please join us for any and all events!
[please contact us directly through the blog if you would like more information]
******************************
I am also posting here the 2009-2010 schedule of the JASNA-Massachusetts Chapter, as many of us like to attend their events; for more information, please contact Nancy Yee at jasna [dot] yee at gmail [dot]com
JASNA Massachusetts 2009-2010 Program
Sunday, September 13, 2009 ~
Henderson House: Mini-Conference: “The Power of Place in Austen’s Life and Work.”
Plenary Sessions:
Alistair Duckworth
Elaine Bander
Breakout Sessions:
Marcia Folsom
Ann Morrissey
Isa Schaff
Sunday, September 13, 2009
12 noon – 5 p.m.
Henderson House Conference Center
Weston, Massachusetts
A leisurely weekend of literary-inspired diversions has something for every Jane Austen devoteé. Slip quietly back into Regency England in a beautiful old mansion. Take afternoon tea. Listen to Mozart. Bring your needlework. Share your thoughts at a discussion of Pride and Prejudice and how the movies stand up to the book. Attend the talk entitled The World of Jane Austen. Test your knowledge of Pride and Prejudice and the Regency period and possibly take home a prize. Take a carriage ride or sleigh ride. For the gentleman there are riding and fly fishing as well as lots of more modern diversions if a whole weekend of Jane is not his cup of tea. Join every activity or simply indulge yourself quietly all weekend watching the movies. Dress in whichever century suits you. It’s not Bath, but it is Hyde Park and you’ll love Vermont circa 1800.
Note that our very own Kelly McDonald will be speaking on “Georgiana Darcy and the ‘Naïve Art’ of Young Ladies” ~ Looking into the lives of ladies like Georgiana Darcy (Pride & Prejudice), as expressed through their artwork.
[from “Mrs. Hurst Dancing”, illus. by Diana Sperling]
Jane Austen in Vermont 
