Ralph Osborn Retrospective – August 9 to September 2, 2019

August 9 – September 2
Opening Reception: August 9, 7:00 to 9:00 PM
Jacoby Arts Center, 627 E Broadway, Alton, IL 62002

The Retrospective of Ralph Osborn’s paintings features more than 30 works, provided by Chautauquans and local collectors, with a theme of the River and the Chautauqua experience. The exhibit will be located in the Jacoby’s East (Morrison) Gallery. Mark Hurd is the Exhibit project director, and will hang the show.

Ralph Osborn was a life long Chautauquan who was a prolific painter through the late 1960s, 70s and 80s. His subject matter consisted mainly of riverboats along the palisades of the Mississippi River and scenes of life in our Chautauqua valley. This is a great opportunity to see over 30 large format oil on canvas paintings in ornate frames, and additional small works. The Historical Society hopes you can come to the champagne reception.

August 11, 2019 – Young Musicians Series

Julie Holzen, Cellist

7:30 PM, Chautauqua Town Hall

The 13th Annual Young Musicians Series program features cellist Julie Holzen.

Julie enters her senior year this fall at the Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. She is a Cello Performance major. Julie lives in Dardenne Prairie, Missouri. As a high school student Julie performed with the St. Louis Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Missouri All State Orchestra. She was an award winning chamber musician in the Preparatory Program at the Community  Music School of Webster University. Julie performed with the Oberlin Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in January 2019.

Julie is also a teacher. She is a sectional and chamber music coach with the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra and with the Oberlin Community Music School. It’s a family thing—her parents are both school music teachers in St. Louis.

August 18, 2019 – Platform Lecture

Tim Tomlinson: Chautauqua, An American Icon

7:30 PM, Chautauqua Town Hall

The Chautauqua movement had a limited lifespan, generally defined as the half-century between the 1870s and 1920s. The movement was influential in the social, cultural, and economic world of that half-century. It had two very different presences–the permanent assemblies like our Chautauqua and a traveling tent show that moved from town to town across the country. In both forms the movement provided the forum for the debate about serious matters of the day:  religious and racial tolerance, women’s suffrage, the development of trade unions, child labor legislation, the conservation of resources, and more. It was the radio, television, and blog of its time. In the Depression, post-Depression, and WWII periods the movement faded significantly. All but a few of the permanent assemblies closed their doors and sold their lands, while the traveling cultural circuses have disappeared from the landscape.

This is the Historical Society’s 17th Annual Platform Lecture.  Tim Tomlinson, currently president of the Society, has been active in the national Chautauqua movement for many years.  He has visited each of the remaining permanent assemblies, and was the Chautauqua Trail Annual Conference keynote speaker at Monteagle, TN in 2016.