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WHAT DO WE SEE HERE?

Keys to Appreciating Art with Sevan Melikyan
Mondays, 11 am, EST/8 am, PST  
January 25–March 1, 2021
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Registration Status: OPEN
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Tour Cost: $15 per session or $75 for series of 6

We can't escape Sevan's wry humor and knowledge for long. After a hiatus for us all to recharge, we can eagerly begin a new art appreciation series. These lectures will lend themselves to a more general understanding of paintings: What symbols do we see in the artist's baskets of tricks? How do these symbols inform the viewer about a particular painting? How often and when in art history do we stumble across these symbols? Let Sevan take you on an Armchair Journey to answer these questions.

 

This series will begin on January 25 and run through March 1. The six classes will be every Monday at 11:00 est. Each class will be approximately one and one-half hours, so ease into your armchair with a large glass of your favorite beverage.

 

This series will close in March, almost one full year since our Armchair Journeys started. I would never have believed that our homebound series would last this long. Many, many thanks to Sevan, who began the Armchair Journeys, and also to all the teachers who have helped lighten our covid isolation.

Schedule*

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January 25–Key saints in art (who's that holding keys there?) It's good to know your saints, at least the most common ones. Museums are filled with their portraits, and it's entertaining to spot them and see how artists chose to tell their stories.

 

February 1–Key mythological figures in art. Some gods are absolute darlings of artists like Venus (or was that Aphrodite?), Apollo, Bacchus, Hercules, Diana. They were once everywhere. Then they disappeared and came back again. In any case, they are here to stay in any great museum, so we better know who they are and their stories.

 

February 8–Key subjects in art. Oh no! Not another crucifixion! What? Another naked woman on a sofa? There are subjects in art that keep coming, and it's good because we can rise above them and start seeing qualities such as creativity, artistry, and inventiveness between them.

 

February 15–Key genres in art (portraiture, landscape, genre, abstract, etc.). Let's classify art by genres and name the artists who set the standards in each genre.

 

February 22–Key art movements, from Ancient to Modern and a few in between, let's divide art history into periods and find those artists who help define them.

 

March 1–Let's put it all together in a museum (Museum TBD). Now that we've learned some keys to art, let's see if we can spot them in a museum and appreciate art as we've never before.

3. Cezanne - The Bathers (Philadelphia M

Cezanne–The Bathers, Philadelphia Museum of Art

1. El Greco - The Tears of Saint Peter (

El Greco–The Tears of Saint Peter,

Museo Soumaya, Mexico City

2. Caravaggio - Bacchus ((Uffizi Florenc

Caravaggio–Bacchus, Uffizi, Florence

5. Willem de Kooning - Woman I (MoMA, Ne

Willem de Kooning–Woman I, MoMA, New York

4. John Singer Sargent - Portrait of Mad

John Singer Sargent–Portrait of Madame X,

The Met, New York

Hosts

YOUR HOSTS

sevan melikyan (photo by colin jorgensen
Sevan Melikyan
Instructor & Tour Guide

Sevan Melikyan is the director of Wired Gallery in High Falls, New York, a founding member and director of Chagall in High Falls, Inc., a lecturer on art museums, and an artist. In 2013, Art Society of Kingston presented Melikyan with its ASKars award in recognition for his “significant contributions to the arts” and The Ulster County Executive recognized Melikyan as an Arts Ambassador. Prior to the U.S., he lived in Paris, France where he earned a BA focusing on arts marketing, and prior to that, in Istanbul, Turkey, where he was born of Armenian parents in 1965.

 

One August afternoon, during the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, I was fortunate to meet Sevan through my friend Jon Nakamatsu. When Naki won the Van Cliburn in 1997, Sevan was the marketing person there and his wife Maria was Naki’s manager. Sevan and Maria came to the Cape one summer to meet up with Naki (and to hear some great music). We got to know each other quite well over long nights of card games at our dining room table.

 

" . . . these trips with you cannot be closer to my core values of sharing amazing art through the ages, with which we also learn about ourselves and our civilization. And my hope is always that at the end of it, people are left to believe in humanity, on our own power to create amazing, positive things. And I also hope they smile, because...I like to be funny!”

joan_hill.jpg
Joan Hill
Owner, Host, & Director

Years ago, it was suggested to Joan that she might offer an art program, and she jumped at the chance of a lifetime. Bringing together all of her life's passions, the development and administration of Artful Journeys is an exhilarating process for Joan.

 

Joan was born and raised in the apple country of the Hudson River Valley in New York; her father was a gentle, very tolerant, educated land surveyor, and her mother was the efficient business administrator and home engineer. The youngest of four children, Joan was encouraged to pursue anything she wanted, but also to do her best. Sometimes that was very difficult, especially succeeding three very accomplished siblings.

JOURNEY COST

Cost

  • Each session will cost $15 or $75 for all 6 lectures

  • PayPal is preferred; however, we do take checks   

  • You will receive an email with the Zoom link to the lecture with instructions on how to login within 24 hours of presentation

To register for a session or the series, please click below:

A Zoom link will be provided by email within 24 hours of each meeting.

For details or questions, please click here to contact Joan Hill.
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