This “Classmate News” column that you are now reading was written in mid-December!

Alas, there is a serious lack of actual news from you. Presumably many of you are caught up in your holiday and winter activities and will share all those goings on when you get a chance. Right? Right!

That said, we do have one bit of news to share. Neil Schilke and Frank Quirk and their wives, Ro and Betty, were in France last fall where they visited Paris and took a memorable river boat cruise that started in Bordeaux and included miles of vineyards and other sights in that region. Neil writes that he was particularly awe-struck by the Bassins des Lumieres, a huge, digital art center located in a former WWII submarine maintenance facility near the coast of Bordeaux.

The Schilkes (left) and Quirks enjoying a meal at Restaurant Jules Vernes, a Parisian culinary hotspot in the Eiffel Tower.

While on the topic of art, you might like to know that photographs from the class collection at the Johnson Museum are being put to good use—not just on exhibit but in teaching for a variety of classes such as Intro to Judaism, Surrealism and Apocalypse, and Spanish for Heritage Speakers. In the fall semester, for example, Bruce Davidson’s Time of Change, Selma, Alabama, 1965 was installed in the Sukenik teaching gallery as part of an installation put up concurrently with the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection exhibition Fashioning the Bounds of Free Speech.  And, last spring, Olivia Parker’s Still life was used for the class “Monuments, Museums, and Memory: Introduction to Public History” and Foto Ada’s Untitled halftone collage was used in two classes: “Negrismo, Negritude, and Surrealism in the Caribbean” and “Empire and Vampires.” These and all the photos in our Class collection can be viewed right here on our website and also on the Johnson Museum website.

The 35 outstanding images in the Class collection were purchased through your gifts to the Class of 1962 Gift Fund. According to Annie Abernathy, Curatorial Assistant, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, our “continued support and generosity makes such an impact here, as you can tell just from this handful of examples…” Consider making a gift to the Class of 1962 Gift Fund when you pay your dues or at any time.

Hope to hear from you soon. Have a lovely spring.  Judy Prenske Rich (email Judy) | Alumni Directory.