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Our speaker for the January 3rd Women’s Circle Breakfast is James Welu, Director Emeritus of the Worcester Art Museum. His presentation is titled “Vermeer’s Mania for Maps.” No other painter from seventeenth century Holland expressed a greater interest in cartography than Jan Vermeer. His detailed depictions of maps and globes coincide with the great age of exploration and map making. As the leading authority on Vermeer’s use of cartographic material, Jim will demonstrate that all of the maps and globes in Vermeer’s paintings can be identified, though few originals still exist. These cartographic objects and the ways in which Vermeer used them not only add further meaning to his allegorical subjects and scenes of everyday life, they also shed light on Vermeer’s working method, including his possible use of the camera obscura. James Welu joined the staff of the Worcester Art Museum in 1974 as Assistant Curator and went on to serve six years as Chief Curator and 25 years as Director.

This harmonious quartet of bass, piano & saxophone with Nancy on vocals and light percussion is a crowd pleaser. This evening we take a musical journey with the “Composers of the Great American Songbook”.

The Impressionists were painters of light, painters of nature, and painters of human nature. Having little in common, except a common enemy, the Academy, artists like Monet, Renoir and Degas defied convention and changed the way the whole world looked at art. Like a stone dropped into a still pond, the ripples from this revolutionary style of painting spread out, influencing a whole new generation of artists.

This is a fun 6-session program for Chinese language and culture by GCF Foreign Language Center. It’s known that learning another language is one of the most effective and practical ways to improve intelligence, keep your mind sharp, and buffer your brain against aging. Come join us for a new experience that will open yourself up to a whole new world of culture and experience. Xin Xin, the Chinese instructor, has been teaching Chinese language and culture for over 25 years, in China, Japan, and the US. Previous registration was required.

Author Ted Reinstein returns to Southgate to share “the Quintessential New England Community Experience” with his book New England’s General Stores: Exploring an American Classic. The general store, as old as America itself, harkens back to a simpler time and a more innocent and rural nation. It was a place to pick up mail, the newspaper, and perhaps chat over a cup of coffee and a warm wood stove. And in tough times, it was a place that often treated customers like family, extending credit when no one else would. The general store was real-life Norman Rockwell—deeply woven into America’s cultural identity, an integral part of the nation’s self-portrait from its earliest days. Fact is, the general store is still very much here, and very much in business. What’s more, like the diner, it has seen a resurgence. In some places, it is even being reimagined for a new era. Ted Reinstein has been a reporter for “Chronicle,” WCVB-TV/Boston’s award winning— and America’s longest-running, locally produced—nightly news magazine since 1997. In addition, he is a regular contributor for the station’s political roundtable show and writes a weekly opinion column.