Old Monterey Foundation continues its free Lecture and Wine & Cheese Reception event series on Thursday, June 27, 2024, sponsored by The Marcia F. Devoe Fund of the Community Foundation for Monterey County.

Susan Shillinglaw, a Steinbeck scholar, and Sherry Flumerfelt, Executive Director of the Western Flyer Foundation, will present an insightful and interesting lecture including fascinating historic images:

“Steinbeck, Ricketts and the Western Flyer: The Intersection of Science and the Arts”

When

Thursday, June 27, 2024 - 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Free Lecture/Q & A: 6:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.

Free Wine & Cheese Reception: 7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Where:

Irvine Auditorium, McCone Building, MIIS, 499 Pierce Street, Monterey

Pre/Registration Information:

Please pre-register for this free event at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/steinbeck-ricketts-and-the-western-flyer-the-intersection-of-science-and-the-arts-tickets-914936849747?aff=oddtdtcreator

About the Presentation:

From 1930 through 1948, writer John Steinbeck and marine biologist Edward F. Ricketts forged a tight creative bond. They sparked one another and shared innovative ideas about animal communities, group behavior and survivability of species. The quality of that friendship is best conveyed in their 1940 collaborative expedition to the Baja intertidal, a trip that is captured in Sea of Cortez (1941), and in the narrative portion published ten years later, The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1951). The purse seiner they chartered for their 1940 voyage, the Western Flyer, has been restored by the nonprofit Western Flyer Foundation as a vessel for marine research and education.

Attendees can enter to win a drawing for a free tour of the docked Western Flyer.

About the Presenters:

Steinbeck scholar Susan Shillinglaw will discuss the quality of their friendship and the two men’s collective work in humanities and sciences. Western Flyer Foundation Executive Director Sherry Flumerfelt will share the story of their journey on the Western Flyer and of the vessel’s loss, recovery, and future as an inspiration for new generations of marine scientists, writers, and artists.

Susan Shillinglaw is a Professor Emerita of English at San Jose State University, where she taught for 37 years and, for 18, was Director of the Center for Steinbeck Studies. In 2013 she was honored as SJSU President’s Scholar. From 2015-18 she was Director of Salinas’s National Steinbeck Center. She has written three books on Steinbeck and written introductions for several Penguin Classics editions. Currently, she is completing a study of Steinbeck’s landscapes.

Sherry Flumerfelt, Executive Director of the Western Flyer Foundation, has spent the past 25 years working for ocean nonprofits including the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust, Environmental Defense Fund, California's Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, California Fisheries Fund, EcoTrust, and the Coral Reef Alliance. Born and raised in London, Ontario, Canada, she holds an MA in Anthropology and International Development from the University of Guelph.

For more information: www.oldmontereyfoundation.org or call Mary Ann Leffel at (831) 402-4616 or email mal@leffelconstruction.com.

The lectures are very popular, so attendees are urged to come early to secure a seat.

This presentation is suitable for ages 9 and up.

The event is hosted and sponsored by the Old Monterey Foundation.

About Old Monterey Foundation

The Old Monterey Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was formed on February 14, 2011, with the specific mission and purpose of promoting, supporting and enhancing the artistic, cultural and historic environment of historic Downtown Monterey, California. The group is well known for their work with the Art-in-the-Adobes event that was held from 2011-2013 as well as other fundraisers, lectures and events. Its private/public partnership with the City of Monterey helped to greatly improve the Lower Presidio Historic Park with interpretive historic signs, benches, tables and an ADA-compliant walkway.

A recent Old Monterey Foundation project in 2023 involved the sponsorship, planning and installation of “Advancing Peace Together”, a large 14x40 mural on the Monterey Path of History. It is located on the side of the McCrone building on Pierce Street on the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) campus. The mural by artist, Guillermo “Yermo” Aranda, represents the 45 languages that are taught at MIIS. The mural, painted by over 60 volunteers, was a joint project between the Middlebury Institute, its Committee on Art in Public Places, and Old Monterey Foundation.

For more information, go to www.oldmontereyfoundation.org.