Kurita’s 16×30 “Buds of Spring” Sudbury, MA 2016, is an albumen print created from Talbotype paper negatives. This is an early photographic process that involves using paper coated with silver iodide.  Talbotype is also known as calotype which has Greek origins meaning “beautiful impression”.

What if naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau had been a photographer?

The answer to that question is the focus of an exhibit at Northern Essex Community College.

To commemorate the 200th anniversary of Thoreau’s birth, Japanese-born, fine art photographer Koichiro Kurita, tries to answer that question with an exhibit titled “Beyond Spheres”. The large format exhibit runs from Saturday, Sept. 16, through Saturday, Oct. 28, at NECC’s Linda Hummel-Shea Artspace in the Harold Bentley Library on the Haverhill campus, 100 Elliott St.

An opening reception and talk will be held Thursday, Sept. 28, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the ArtSpace.

The 30 pieces on exhibit are a homage of sorts to Kurita’s two most influential mentors – Thoreau and photography pioneer Henry Fox Talbot. Kurita has created handmade photography with the same depth of thought and reflection on man’s coexistence with nature as Thoreau.

“Beyond Spheres is an address of gratitude to my two mentors whom I never met,” he said. “Beyond Spheres is about my visual journey to understand Thoreau’s perception as I trace the writer’s footsteps through New England and the goal is for these photographs to interpret the essence of Thoreau’s philosophy and love of nature through the medium of photography.”

Kurita launched the Beyond Spheres project in 2010. He sees it as a logical extension of his continuing search for an answer to the question “What if Thoreau had been a photographer? The aim of this project was, and is, to give pictorial form to Thoreau’s ideas and writings by employing the methods used by his contemporaries

From October 2015 through 2016 Kurita explored remote and hidden sites along the Ipswich, Concord, Assabet, Sudbury and Merrimack Rivers, retracing portions of the 1839 journey chronicled in Thoreau’s book “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.” As many of the shooting locations were accessible only by canoe, this new series of photographs of terrain less traveled yielded images of exceptional beauty.

Born in Ashiya City, Japan, Kurita studied perceptual psychology in college where he also learned to use a camera. Inspired by Thoreau after reading “Walden”, he gave up his career as a commercial photographer to work on nature landscapes. Over the last 30 years he has exhibited internationally and been collected by major museums including the Museum of Fine Arts/Boston, the Museum of fine Arts/Houston, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, and the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum to name a few.

The exhibit is sponsored by the NECC Art Department & the NECC Foundation.

For additional information contact Marc Mannheimer at mmannheimer@necc.mass.edu

Allison Belisle, Nursing

Allison Belisle of Haverhill always had an interest in nursing, but it took some time for her to realize it was truly her calling.

After graduating from Haverhill High School in 2009, Allison attended a small private school in Pennsylvania, where she majored in German planning to be a teacher.

When she became disillusioned with that, she returned home to Haverhill, and, at the urging of her father, enrolled in college close to home at Northern Essex.

That led to an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts: Journalism/Communications from Northern Essex in 2014 but, still, she couldn’t stop thinking about nursing. Allison decided it was time to listen to her instincts. She took her prerequisite science courses and jumped right in, starting Nursing I in the fall of 2014 when her now three-year old son Cooper was just one-year old.

Balancing classes, studying, and clinical rotations with being a wife and mother wasn’t easy but Belisle credits her family for their support.

Her mother and her mother-in-law provided child care during the week and her  husband, Bryan, did whatever he could to help. As she says “he carried me through.”

This spring, she received a nursing associate degree with high honors from Northern Essex, and she’s now studying for her nursing boards and interviewing for jobs. Her summer plans include a trip to Germany with her son to visit her maternal grandparents.

In the fall, she will continue on for a bachelor’s degree in nursing, attending an online program or Regis North which offers bachelor’s degrees on NECC’s Lawrence Campus. Eventually, she’d like to earn a master’s degree and teach nursing. “It feels surreal. I can’t believe I made it through,” she says. “I’m excited to get into the field, where I’m meant to be.”

NECC History Professor Rich Padova will unveil his new book to the college community on Friday, September 22.

Did you know that Patricia Nixon was the first vice presidential spouse to earn the equivalent of a master’s degree? Or that Vice President John Nance Garner’s wife, Mariette, served as his private secretary and office manager, causing a controversy since it was a “paid” position?

Well we didn’t either.

But Northern Essex Community College history Professor Rich Padova sure does because he has researched all the wives of the Vice Presidents of the United States. He has even interviewed Vice President Dick Cheney’s wife Dr. Lynne Cheney.

Padova has compiled his research in a self-published book titled, “Who Are They?  A Look at Vice Presidential Spouses from Abigail Adams to Karen Pence.” As the name implies, it is a biographical overview of all of the Second Ladies of the United States from Abigail Adams to Karen Pence.

The book will premier for an internal NECC audience only on Friday, Sept. 22, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Bentley Library on the Haverhill campus.  All students, faculty, and staff who pre-ordered a complimentary copy of the book can obtain their copy then. There will be extra copies on hand for those who did not pre-order, but who would still like a complimentary copy.

Padova will make a brief presentation about the book at noon, followed by a “social hour.”  Refreshments will be served.

“Many of these women are not known or have been forgotten,” said Padova. “Thus, I thought it was important to highlight their lives and contributions.”

This book comes 10 years after the publication of his first book, “First in The Nation: One Insider’s View of the New Hampshire Presidential Primary from 1980 to 2004,” which was inspired by his own personal experiences as a campaign volunteer in the nation’s lead-off presidential primary every four years. His current book was inspired by the fact that there is no comprehensive book that talks about all of the vice presidential spouses together.

“Both of my books combine my love of history and writing,” Padova said. “I am self-publishing this book, as I did with the first one, because I like to exercise complete control over the direction of my book, without the dictates of a publisher. I like the freedom and flexibility that goes with self-publishing, and it’s more fun.”

The highlight of the book is an interview with Dr. Lynne Cheney, wife of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who graciously agreed to be interviewed for the chapter written on her.

The book will be introduced to the general public on Sunday, Oct. 1 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the community room at Lawrence Heritage State Park, 1 Jackson Street at Canal.

For additional information contact Padova at rpadova@necc.mass.edu

Adults 50 and older who are interested in learning for the fun of learning are invited to check out the series of seminars planned this fall by Northern Essex Community College’s College of Older Learners (CoOL).

This fall’s seminars cover a wide range of topics from “Genetic Engineering” to “What is Comedy” to “Global Weather.”  Those interested are invited to attend a seminar showcase on Tuesday, August 29 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Hartleb Technology Center on the Haverhill Campus, 100 Elliott St.  Each teacher will present an overview of his or her seminar so participants can decide which seminars are the best fit with their interests.

All of the seminars meet on a designated week-day for six consecutive weeks, unless otherwise noted, at the Haverhill campus or off-campus. The cost is $30 for each seminar and seminars run September to mid-October and late-October to November.

For additional information visit the CoOL seminar website or contact NECC’s Christine DeRosa, 978 659-1225 or dderosa@necc.mass.edu.

With campuses in Haverhill and Lawrence, Northern Essex Community College offers over 60 associate degree and certificate programs as well as hundreds of noncredit courses designed for personal enrichment and career growth.  Nearly 6,000 students are enrolled in credit associate degree and certificate programs on the Haverhill and Lawrence campuses; and another 3,000 take noncredit workforce development and community education classes on campus and at the Opportunity Works building at 671 Kenoza St., located next to the Haverhill campus, and at businesses and community sites across the Merrimack Valley. For more information, visit the website at www.necc.mass.edu.