Inside // Outside

Inside // Outside

Stasias Gallery

44 E Cedar St

Chicago, IL


https://www.stasiasgallery.com/

https://stoodio.art/artist


On view: March 2 – March 28, 2024

Opening Reception: Saturday March 2, 2024, 6 – 10 pm


Inside // Outside features work by Chicago-based artists Gwen Yen Chiu, Ellen Holtzblatt, Dale Pesmen, Sheri Rush, and Paarshav Shah. The show highlights monochromatic black-and-white works that straddle the line between abstraction and representation.

25th International Open

25th International Open

Woman Made Gallery

1332 S Halsted St

Chicago, IL

https://womanmade.org/


On view: March 2 – 30, 2024

Opening Reception: March 2, 2024, 4 – 7 pm


Gallery Hours:

Thursday through Sunday, noon – 5 pm

The Studio Door

Vestiges of the Tide

Miller Art Museum

107 S 4th Ave

Sturgeon Bay, WI 

https://millerartmuseum.org/news


On view: January 20 – April 6, 2024


Museum Hours:

Monday 10 am – 7 pm

Tuesday through Saturday 10 am – 5 pm


Join us on Friday, March 1, 2024 starting at 4pm for a new installment of 'The Studio Door' with featured artists Mary Porterfield and Ellen Holtzblatt. Guests are invited to stay for an artist reception following the conversation in celebration of the museum's newest exhibition, "Vestiges of the Tide" from 5:30 – 7pm. The events are free and open to the public.


𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗗𝗼𝗼𝗿 | 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟭, 𝟰 – 𝟱𝗽𝗺

Join Curator Helen del Guidice in conversation with artists Mary Porterfield and Ellen Holtzblatt for an engaging discussion exploring their careers, artistic practices, and the development of their two-person exhibit, "Vestiges of the Tide." An audience Q&A will follow.


𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 | 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟭, 𝟱:𝟯𝟬 – 𝟳𝗽𝗺

𝙑𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙞𝙙𝙚 features drawings and paintings by Chicago-based artists Mary Porterfield and Ellen Holtzblatt. Porterfield works in the medical field as an occupational therapist and is also a talented portraitist committed to rendering her elderly, infirm subjects with images that address recurring struggles in healthcare. In tandem with Porterfield, Ellen Holtzblatt presents works from her Song of Songs series, a collection of portraits of her elderly mother that convey that love, desire, and the need for human contact are universal. Together, the two create an emotionally charged exhibit that offers viewers a powerful, poetic experience.

Vestiges of the Tide

Vestiges of the Tide

Miller Art Museum

107 S. 4th Avenue

Sturgeon Bay, WI


January 20 to April 6,2024

Opening reception: :March 1, 2024

A World Without Time: Portraits of the Artist's Mother

October 30 – November 20, 2023

Opening Reception: November 1, 3:30 pm


Gallery Hours:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10 am – 5 pm

Tuesday, Thursday 11 am – 5 pm

Saturday 11 am – 2 pm


SXU Gallery

St. Xavier University

3700 W 103rd Street

Chicago, IL

https://www.sxu.edu/academics/clae/liberal-arts-and-humanities-division/art-design/exhibits.aspx


image: The Earth Was Wild and Waste, oil on panel, 36" x 48"

Don't Drag Me Down: Today's Battle for Liberation

June 11 – July 16, 2023

Opening Reception: October 5, 2023, 5 – 8 pm


Koehnline Museum of Art

1600 Golf Road

Des Plaines, IL


image: Tazria, woodcut on Japanese paper

Home Not Home

June 24 – July 10, 2023

Opening Reception: June 24, 2023, 6 – 10 pm


Anysquared Projects

Agitator Gallery

3851 W Fullerton

Chicago, IL


image: The Wind Passes Over It and It Is Gone, oil on linen mounted on panel, 40" x 60"

Strings of Resilience: A Tribute to Violins of Hope

Governors State University: April 12 to May 23

Governors State University, Center for Performing Arts, 1 University Dr, University Park, IL


The members of the Jewish Artists Collective Chicago, in collaboration with the Jewish Community Centers of Chicago, have created an exhibition titled, "Strings of Resilience: A Tribute to Violins of Hope," to commemorate the Violins of Hope events. The eight visual artists: Berit Engen, Alan Hobscheid, Ellen Holtzblatt, Dorit Jordan Dotan, Judith Joseph, Carol Lezberg Neiger, Beth Shadur and Jane Weintraub, , responded to the violins in the collection and the accompanying stories to testify to the strength of spirit of the musicians who played these violins and loved their instruments and their art. The range of media in the artwork includes watercolor, tapestry, woodcut, oil paint, ink drawing, multi-media sculpture, and digital media.


Image: Ellen Holtzblatt, Silent, 39" x 25", ink on Japanese paper

Freeport Art Museum Juried Exhibition

19th Annual Regional Juried Exhibition


May 6 to July 29, 2023

Opening Reception: May 6, 2023, 5 pm


Freeport Art Museum

121 N. Harlem Avenue

Freeport, IL


image: I Sought the One I Love, oil on linen mounted on panel, 48" x 36"

Never Forget

April 24 - May 17, 2023


Christopher Art Gallery

Prairie State College

202 South Halsted Street

Chicago Heights, IL


image: Bereshit 6:11, woodcut on Japanese paper, 7.5" x 14"

Opening Reception: A World Without Time

April 1, 2023

4 to 7 pm


Space 900 Gallery

816 Dempster Street

Evanston, IL


Please join me for the opening reception for my exhibit, A World Without Time. The works that are included in this exhibit are deeply personal, reflecting the realities of caring for and my evolving relationship my 99 year-old mother. I find myself also searching for my own place in the time/space continuum as a 66 year-old woman artist/daughter/mother/soon to be grandmother.

A World Without Time

In the exhibit, A World Without Time, Ellen Holtzblatt reflects on caring for her 99 year-old mother, as she also contemplates her own movement through the time/space continuum as a woman/artist/daughter/mother/soon to be grandmother. Holtzblatt’s paintings and drawings explore the connections between figure, place, and time.


April 1 – April 30, 2023

Opening Reception: 4/1 4–7 pm

Closing Reception: 4/30 2–5 pm


Gallery Hours:

Friday and Saturday 12–4 pm


Space 900 Gallery

816 Dempster Street

Evanston, IL


image: Garden at Low Tide, oil on linen, 48" x 84"

Raw

2-person show with artists Ellen Holtzblatt and Mary Porterfield, curated by Beth Shadur


January 3 to February 2, 2023


Christopher Gallery

Prairie State College

202 S Halsted Street

Chicago, IL


image: My Own One, oil on linen panel, 8" x 8"

Generations: 30 Years of Woman Made Gallery

Curated by Jae Green and Marisa Miles

June 11 – July 16, 2022


Woman Made Gallery

2150 . Canalport Avenue, 4A-3

Chicago, IL


Generations is an exhibition celebrating the past and envisioning the future of WMG and its values. Through this exhibition, WMG asked alumnae artists to reflect back upon the importance of feminist art space in their art practices, careers and relationships. Art in this exhibition speaks of motherhood and the right to choice, the nuances of intersectional thought and ways in which women hold hands to build each other up. A deep dive into the gallery’s past arrived up to moments of witness into activism, rebellion, the need for rest and the abundance of wealth when it comes to community and connections.


Forty-one alumni artists have come together in this exhibition to build a narrative of support, evolution, courage and solidarity.


image: As One That Found Peace, ink on Japanese paper, 25" x 39"

Our Muses: Art and the Family Archive

Thursday, June 3, 2021 at 6 pm


https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-muses-art-and-the-family-archive-tickets-155857681521

https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/events/translucent-beauty-and-other-guardians


Join us for a conversation with HATCH artists, Ellen Holtzblatt, Juan Molina Hernandez and invited artist Kalen Na'il Roach.


What happens when artists plunge into the familial sphere as a source of inspiration and as content for their art practice? This event is associated with the exhibit Translucent Beauty and Other Guardians on view at the Chicago Artist Coalition until June 16, 2021 curated by Juelle Daley with artists, Ellen Holtzblatt and Juan Molina Hernández.


Ellen Holtzblatt, Kalen Na'il Roach and Juan Molina Hernandez will discuss their art practice and the use of family members as content and inspiration for their artwork. Do we ever fully know them? They also lay bare the complexities of parenthood and how one manifests “taking care” when executed by adult children. This inability to fully “see through” the prism of familial identity is explored and compelled the artists to create portraiture as renditions or glimpses of the sitter’s interiority. The artists seem to ask, what do I see when I look at you? I see myself, I see nothing, I see vulnerability and fragility at the same time as resilience. This intersection results in unique portraits of mothers, fathers, nephews, cousins, grandparents who become mirrors of a self that lurks for clues and possible resemblance.


This event is also co-organized with the Center for Black Diaspora and the Center for Latino Research.

Translucent Beauty and Other Guardians

Through June 16, 2021


Translucent Beauty and other Guardians is a meditation on familial relationships, its fault lines, frictions and the ferocious love that can emerge during intimate times spent together.


These elements form the axis around which the paintings, drawings and photographs of the artists, Ellen Holtzblatt and Juan Molina Hernández orbit. They also lay bare the complexities of parenthood and how one manifests “taking care” when executed by adult children. The artists create environments of safety and protective landscapes that form as guardians to watch over family members. Both artists become the Other Guardians of their family narratives with images imbued with dignity and reverence but devoid idolatry or glorification. In doing so, tenderness and implicit familial messiness come together like a floral arrangement crafted to honor, protect and make reproachments whether the subjects are still among the living or dead.


Chicago Artists Coalition

2130 W Fulton

Chicago, IL


Open Wednesdays 10-2 and Fridays 3-7 by appointment

https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/events/translucent-beauty-and-other-guardians


Image (from left to right): Ellen Holtzblatt, My Beloved, 60 “ x 30”, oil on linen, 2019 ; Juan Molina Hernández, mi otro yo (my other me), dimensions vary, 2020

Is It Real?

Is This Real? is a 2-person exhibition featuring landscape and figurative paintings and drawings by Ellen Holtzblatt and imaginative, surreal gouache paintings and sculptures by Kathy Weaver.

Through her paintings and drawings, Ellen Holtzblatt explores the profound connections between the physical and spiritual world. Kathy Weaver uses her imagination fired by buried memories and a love of technology to comment on the status quo. Both artists are on a journey to find meaningful coincidence that lead to a deeper connection with the universe.


Gallery Studio Oh

4839 N Damen

Chicago, IL

https://www.facebook.com/events/486227962742997/


image: For Reiko 6, ink on paper, 5.5" x 9"

Survey 2

A group exhibition featuring new works by HATCH 2019-2020 residents at @cacoalition, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗙𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗮 𝗧𝗼𝘀𝗶, 𝗝𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝗞𝗼𝗰𝗵, this exhibition will be on view from March 19, 2021 through April 29, 2021.


Survey 2 asks the twelve artists to reflect on and share the distinct ways they relate to time: How do you manifest the connection between process and object, both enduring and ephemeral? With a deep look into the process and methods of each artist-in-residence, the exhibition is a survey of the different scales at which time is perceived, seized, and reshaped through diverse artistic practices.


Chicago Artists Coalition

2130 W Fulton

Chicago, IL


https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/events/survey-2

Isolation Chronicles

An online exhibition experience curated by Sergio Gomez exploring many aspects of the isolation and confinement we have all experienced since 2020. Visit the show at https://www.sergiogomezcurates.net

The exhibition is sponsored by @artnxtlevel and @artplacer.app


image: Until the Day Breathe, ink on Japanese paper, 39" x 25"

Momentum

Springboard Art Center

1910 W North Avenue

Chicago, IL


Opening Reception: Friday April 9 and Saturday April 10

by appointment, reserve a ticket


image: After Light Darkness Rose 2, oil on paper mounted on panel, 10" x 8"

Evanston + Vicinity Biennial

Evanston + Vicinity Biennial


Evanston Art Center

1717 Central Street

Evanston, IL


January 16 to February 14, 2021


https://www.evanstonartcenter.org/exhibitions/2021-evanston-vicinity-biennial


image: As Fierce As Death, oil on linen, 16" x 16"

Open Studio

Open Studio


Cornelia Arts Building

1800 W Cornelia Avenue, Chicago


March 6, 6 to 10 pm


Please visit me in studio #116. Two floors of art, wine and food!


https://www.corneliaartsbuilding.com/2020/02/01/march-2020-cornelia-arts-building-open-studios/


photograph of my studio by Jordan Scott

Life in Progress

Life in Progress


Hairpin Arts Center

2810 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago


Opening reception: Saturday, March 7, 2020 6:30 to 10:30 pm


http://anysquared.com/LIP2020.html?fbclid=IwAR0cY0Z7e__X7Q-W_Vnrs1qVhDPdmUeqH6dVrDx6vSaEEa2g9VbR0bHFu8o


image: My Beloved, oil on linen, 60" x 30"

i am. an immigrant

i am. an immigrant

Curated by Dorit Jordan Dotan


The Institut fur Alles Mogliche, Berlin, Germany


Opening Reception, March 5, 18:30 - 21:00

Gallery talk March 8, 10:45-12:00


https://www.facebook.com/events/772255633271911/


image: Bereshit 6:11, woodcut on Japanese paper, 7.5" x 14"

HATCH Residency

I am excited to announce that I am accepted as a HATCH Resident at the Chicago Artists Coalition! The program is an incubator for three resident curators and twelve resident artists to collaborate, develop artistic practices, exchange ideas, and exhibit work. Stay tuned for more news about upcoming exhibits and programs! https://chicagoartistscoalition.org/residencies/hatch-projects

Relative Relations

September 12, 2019 to June 30, 2020
Opening Reception: September 12, 2019, 5:30 to 7:30 pm / Program 6:30 pm
Register

Dr. Bernard Heller Museum - Jewish Institute of Religion
Hebrew Union College
One West Fourth Street
New York, NY

Seventy artists explore human connections shaped by genetics, proximity, interests, and shared destiny in “Relative Relations,” on view at the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum at HUC-JIR/New York through June 2020.

Curator Laura Kruger explains, “This exhibition highlights the connections that provide for the amazing melding of the human race, an ever-widening network of interests, talents, commitment, and broadening diversity.

From Here to There

September 23, 2019 to January 19, 2020
Opening Reception: Monday, September 23, 2019 | 5:30 to 8:00 pm
RESERVE BY SEPTEMBER 13

Artist Talk: The Journey
Sunday, October 27, 2019 | 12:30 pm

Artist Talk: Stories That Move Us
Thursday, January 9, 2020 | 6:30 pm 

Spertus Institute
610 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL

Four contemporary artists—Linda Robinson Gordon, Ellen Holtzblatt, Lilach Schrag, and Michelle Stone—explore the relationship between the physical and spiritual. Works include drawings, paintings, sculptures, and videos.

Unlikely Pairings

August 22 to September 27, 2019
Opening Reception: Friday, September 6, 6-9 pm

Gallery Studio Oh!
4839 N. Damen Avenue
Chicago, IL 

Featuring: Julie R. Amrany, Walter Fydryck, Luis Guzman, Ellen Holtzblatt, Oscar Joyo, Lea Basile Lazarus, Beatriz Ledesma, Tom Megalis, Holly Meyers, Bryan Northup, Eileen Meindl O’Hagan, Raul Pizarro, Lee Rainboth, Jeffrey Repko, Howard Russo, Gene Skala, Kevin Slattery, Carol Stitzer, Kasia Szczesniewski, Juliann Wang

A Passing Day: Land and Light

March 12 to May 14
Opening reception: March 23, 2018, 5 - 7 pm
Gallery talk: March 26, noon

Fermilab Art Gallery
Kirk Road and Pine Street
Batavia, IL

The art gallery is open to the public Monday to Friday, 8am to 4:30 pm.  Sign in at the reception desk in Wilson Hall atrium.

In A Passing Day: Land and Light, Ellen Holtzblatt's art explores the connection between the physical and the spiritual – the memories of the body that reside in the soul.  Her recent landscape paintings of the Midwestern prairie and the Icelandic tundra become an allegory for psyche and emotion, as she considers place and how one’s surroundings impact feelings and thoughts – seeking lands that seem beyond the control of humans.
 

Between Earth and Sky

February 12, 2018 to March 9, 2018
Opening reception: February 13, 10:30 am to noon
Artist Talk: February 13, 11:30 am

Robert F. DeCaprio Gallery
Moraine Valley Community College
9000 W. College Parkway
Palos Hills, IL

 

Intuitive Hemispheres

February 10, 2018 to March 3, 2018
Opening reception: February 10, 6 pm to 10 pm

Agitator Gallery
1112 N Ashland
Chicago, Il 60622

Intuitive Hemispheres is a show that explores the work of two radically different artists whose work visually deals with the representation of subjective psychological and emotional states in dramatically different ways. Both artists by turning deeply inward, plumbing the subconscious and becoming radically in tune with their own emotions, present the viewer with at times lucid, terrifying, and deeply moving representations of the feelings that we all share in two dramatically different visual ways.

Far From the Front Lines

September 7 - October 1, 2017
Opening Reception: Friday, September 8, 6-8pm

Evanston Art Center
1717 Central Street
Evanston, IL 60201

This exhibition brings together a community of artists who strongly feel that art is personal, that the personal is political, and the political is very personal. The twenty-two North American contemporary artists selected for this exhibition were among those who responded to the call to create art about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As in many mediums, perspective derives from distance; being far away opens up a natural space for new viewpoints.  Artists who are Far From the Front Lines have created an opportunity for artful dialog beyond borders. It allows both the audience and the artists themselves to actively promote meaningful change in our minds, where all borders ultimately reside. 

The Jewish Art Salon's "Jerusalem Between Heaven and Earth", curated by Ori Z. Soltes for the Jerusalem Biennale 2017

October 1 to November 16, 2017
 

Hamachtarot Museum
1 Mishol Hagvura st. 
Jerusalem, Israel

Baer Art Center Residency, Iceland

I am very happy to announce that I have been invited to attend a residency at the Baer Art Center from June 10 to 23, 2017.  The center is located on a beautiful seaside farm facing the Arctic Circle.  I am excited to immerse myself in the landscape and light of the midnight sun!

Voices of Wisdom: New Work by Fellows of the 2015-16 Midwest Jewish Artists Lab.

Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Spertus Institute
610 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL

RSVP required

Christopher Art Gallery

Memory
Christopher Art Gallery

Prairie State College
202 S. Halsted
Chicago Heights, IL

February 8, 2016 to March 8, 2015
Reception: February 11, 4:30 to 7 pm

Solo exhibit of landscape paintings at Harold Washington Library

My landscape paintings will be exhibited in the cases on the 8th floor of the Harold Washington Library from February 1, 2016 to April 15, 2016.

400 S. State Street
Chicago, Il 60605

Spertus Institute - Midwest Jewish Artists Lab

I have been selected to participate in the Midwest Jewish Artists Lab through Spertus Institute,an innovative project designed to forge collaborations, inspire new work, and broaden the impact of the arts in Jewish life. 

Jerusalem Biennale 2015

I am excited to announce that a project I am a part of, Women of the Book, will be exhibiting in the Jerusalem Biennale at The First Station.  My woodcut, Tazria, will be included in the exhibition.  In addition, the image was selected for inclusion in the Biennale catalogue.

Exhibit at Yeshiva University Museum, NYC

Fields of Dreams: Living Shmita in the Modern World

 
Four of my paintings will be included, as part of a larger exhibition about the biblical concept of Shmita.  The exhibit will open on June 7, 2015.

Holtzblatt Paintings at Glimer Gallery Explore Tension Between the Physical and Spiritual

From Birth to Memory was just featured in The Chicago Sun-Times and was included in this weekend's Sun-Times Mix!

From Birth to Memory

Josef Glimer Gallery

207 W Superior, Suite 200
Chicago, IL

Opening reception:
November 21, 2014
6:30-9:00 pm

A Studio Visit with Ellen Holtzblatt

In preparation for Holtzblatt’s exhibit From Birth to Memoryopening at Josef Glimer Gallery on November 21, assistant director Nicole Rhoden sat down with the artist in her Rogers Park studio to discuss how her practice is shaped by spirituality, familial dynamics and the mystery that lies between personal and collective memory.

 

MAAT 30th Anniversary Celebration

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

LeRoy Neiman Center

37 S. Wabash Ave.
Chicago, IL 60603

October 2 - 12, 2014

Gendering Desire: Liberation, Power and Pleasure

October 2 - 24, 2014

Public Reception: Thursday, October 2, 5 - 8 p.m.


Koehnline Museum of Art

Oakton Community College

1600 East Golf Road, Des Plaines, IL 60016


Memory and Birds

Renaissance Court Gallery, Chicago Cultural Center


January 31 to April 13, 2014

Opening Reception: January 30, 2014, 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm


As Subject and Object: Contemporary Book Artists Explore Ancient Hebrew Texts

As Subject and Object: Contemporary Book Artists Explore Sacred Hebrew Texts showcases the work of 14 contemporary book artists who explore traditional themes in unconventional ways. 


June 14 to September 29, 2013


Museum of Biblical Art, New York




Northern Trust: Celebrating Black History Month and Women's History Month

February 1 - March 29, 2013

Reception: March 13, from 3:15 to 5 p.m.


Northern Trust Canal Building 

801 S. Canal Street
Chicago, IL 60607


Exhibiting Artists:
Rose Blouin, Hyangsook Cho, Henrietta (Henny) Dubois, Andrea Harris, Ellen Holtzblatt, Renee Williams Jefferson, Pamela Michelle Johnson, Sioban Lombardi, Kathleen Blankely Roman, Shirley Sullivan, and Dorian Sylvain



Under the Wings: Birds from the Field Museum

March 1 to 31, 2013

Artist Talk and Workshop: March 28, 6-7 p.m.


Harold Washington Library Center, 8th Floor

400 S. State St., 60605




Memory and Birds

A. Montgomery Ward Gallery
University of Illinois at Chicago
750 S. Halsted
Chicago, IL

August 27 to September 27, 2012
Opening reception: September 12, 4pm to 8pm

Member Spotlight Exhibit


Chicago Artists’ Coalition is pleased to present ELLEN HOLTZBLATT in this month’s Member Spotlight, featuring work from her painting series, Yizkor, an introspective exploration of the relationships among memory, birth and death.

May 11-31, 2012

Opening reception: May 11, 6-9pm 


Chicago Artists' Coalition
217 N. Carpenter Street

Chicago, IL 60607

15th International Open

March 2 to April 26, 2012
Opening reception: March 2, 2012 6-9 PM

Woman Made Gallery
685 N Milwaukee Ave.

Chicago, IL 60642

Chicago Celebrates Woman's History Month

As part of Women's History Month, I will be exhibiting paintings from My series, Yizkor, at the Bucktown-Wicker Park Library through the month of March, 2012.

Bucktown-Wicker Park Library
1701 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

Song of the Land

Annual juried exhibition of the Jewish Women Artists Network, a special interest group within the Women's Caucus for Art (WCA.) Juried by Ruth Weisberg.

January 20, 2012 to May 31, 2012
Reception: Thursday, February 23, 5:00 – 7:00 PM

Multiple, Limited, Unique

My artist book, "Sefer Hana," is included in the exhibition, "Multiple, Limited, Unique, selections from the permanent collection of The Center for Book Arts in New York, NY.  The collection will be traveling through 2013 to Savannah College of Arts and Design, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Museum of Printing History, Lafayette College, and the Book Club of California.