Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Ringling College Reveals its Summer Semester

Registration is open for the 2024 summer semester at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Ringling College, which offers noncredit educational opportunities for adults to pursue new interests, expand intellectual horizons, and enrich their lives. The semester, which runs May 13-July 2, 2024, features more than 40 single-session courses, tours, presentations, movies, and hands-on programs covering a wide variety of topics, including arts and entertainment, history, music appreciation, health, literature, philosophy, religion, and science. Semester highlights include Opera Houses: Musical Landscapes of Power; What Wall Street Doesn’t Want YOU to Know; Why Are You Left-Handed or Right-Handed?; Creating the Florida Landscape You Love; The Early Days of Comic Books (1939-1948); and a tour of St. Petersburg’s Imagine Museum and Duncan McClellan Gallery. Classes are offered at Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.

Tour highlights of the summer 2024 semester include:

 Marietta Museum of Art & Whimsy

During this guided tour with founder Marietta Lee, hear firsthand why she created a museum dedicated to the creative human spirit that raises the importance of whimsical art. This unique museum showcases a collection of light-hearted paintings, sculptures, stained glass, and artworks in a range of mediums.

Highwaymen at City Hall

Collector Roger Lightle leads this guided tour of the Florida Highwaymen exhibition at City Hall. The Florida Highwaymen emerged in the 1950s in the agricultural communities of Fort Pierce and Gifford, Florida. They were prolific painters who sold their artwork from the trunks of their cars during the post-World War II boom because they were unable to exhibit through traditional means due to racial barriers. 

St. Petersburg Tour: Imagine Museum and Duncan McClellan Gallery

A comprehensive docent-led tour through the entire Imagine Museum offers participants a deeper understanding of the artists, their inspirations, and the techniques behind their creations. The Duncan McClellan Gallery is a transformed former fish and tomato packing plant. Now a work of art in itself, the multi-functional space is a meeting place for glass artists. The sculpture garden and the hot shop are not to be missed.

Course highlights of the summer 2024 semester include:

Opera Houses: Musical Landscapes of Power

Explore the fantastic designs of opera houses throughout the world. Milan’s Teatro alla Scala is perhaps the most famous opera house in the world, the Sydney Opera is one of the most distinctive and unique buildings considered a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture, and the Metropolitan is the largest house with a 38,000-seat capacity. The evolution of architectural styles from Beaux Arts to more recent innovative styles will be presented including locations in China, Dubai, and Azerbaijan.

What’s it Worth?