Blog

By Ara McEwen, VEV

Barbara Lanctot and Maurice Champagne will lead classes as part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program, beginning May 23.

Barbara’s class is titled: G is for Grafton, K is for Kinsey

When was the last time you read a detective thriller? Docent emeritus Barbara Lanctot will explore the history of the detective novel before and after Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, one of the first female professional detectives in modern fiction. Grafton’s detective series, A is for Alibi through Y is for Yesterday,is alphabetic, a tour de force. Barbara’s class will help participants understand how the trailblazer author broke barriers. The three-day seminar focuses on two of Gafton’s works.

Interestingly, the genesis of the seminar was a “lightbulb” moment in which Barbara realized, during a challenging period of her own life, that she could lead a Newberry course about Sue Grafton—one of her favorite novelists—whose passing precluded her writing career. Grafton never finished Z.
The Newberry’s ready adoption of Barbara’s proposal re-ignited a passion for the genre, and Barbara really looks forward to teaching G is for Grafton, K is for Kinsey.

A CAF Docent since 1973 and Docent Emeritus, Barbara Lanctot has an MA in literature from the University of Detroit. She designed and taught the course “Literary Studies in the Detective Novel” for DePaul University’s School for New Learning. Prior to retirement, she was a managing editor at World Book Encyclopedia.

Cost and registration information is available on The Newberry Library website at https://www.newberry.org/S18Detective

Maurice’s class is titled: Art Nouveau in Chicago

Art Deco as an architectural style in Chicago is well established, but what about Art Nouveau? Docent Maurice Champagne will speak in depth about Art Nouveau at The Newberry Library in June. In two sessions, the seminar will feature both a review of signature elements and a special presentation of little-known Art Nouveau sites around Chicago. The second session includes a walking tour of the downtown area, where Maurice will bring Art Nouveau to life.

Maurice’s fascination with Art Nouveau was established years ago, during his travels throughout Europe, especially Brussels and Paris; it has grown steadily since. The spacious and sprawling design sensibilities of Art Nouveau found a place in his imagination. Since then Maurice has continued to nurture the idea of a formal class about Art Nouveau. This program grew seamlessly from a series of PowerPoint presentations to the current curriculum. The Newberry Library was a natural fit for such a showing (his brother worked there for many years) and he has a devoted “following” from his “Chicago Fire” class at the Newberry two years ago.

Maurice is very active at the CAF. A recipient of the One Team Award, he has been giving tours—Skyline Vistas, High Lights City Lights, Schools by Bus, Parks by Bus, Chicago Murals, Cliff Dwellers as well as others. The next time you see him, give him a handshake! Also, ask him about adaptive reuse and his tour of mid-western Sullivan Banks.

A member of the Chicago Architecture Foundation since the mid-1970s, Maurice took tours with friends and was so engaging that he was invited to apply for the role of docent. Since then he has committed countless hours to CAF. With degrees in education and the humanities, and before he started creating new tours for the CAF, he worked as a computer consultant.

Cost and registration information is available on The Newberry Library website at https://www.newberry.org/S18ArtNouveau. Although this session is full, you may call (312) 255-3700 to be on the waitlist.