Daily Archives: May 21, 2023

Saturday, June 3, 8:00 pm – Mushroom Modulations

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Native Plant Trust proudly presents its first visiting artist, Christine Southworth. Christine is a Lexington-based multimedia composer whose work primarily involves nature—lightning, honeybees, coral reefs, spiders, snowflakes, and, currently, mushrooms. Her new work incorporates photographs and videos of mushrooms growing at Garden in the Woods and around Middlesex County from summer 2021 through the present, and she is using these to create an immersive performance environment. The electrical currents given off by mycelium networks are thought to be used as communication between different fungal fruiting bodies. Surrounded by her images of mushroom colonies growing and fading throughout the seasons, she will make music with live mushrooms that she has grown by “listening to” slight electrical variations in the colonies via electrodes placed on different parts of the fruiting growth and converted to sound. The performance will be followed by a discussion with the artist.

The event takes place June 3 at 8 pm at Garden in the Woods in Framingham. $15 for NPT members, $18 for nonmembers. Register at http://www.nativeplanttrust.org/events/mushroom-modulations/

Wednesday, May 24, 6:00 pm Eastern – Tenacious Women: A History of Preservation in New England, Online

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At the forefront of New England’s preservation movement were women bringing a passion for preservation to the communities where they lived. Yet, somehow, these tenacious women’s histories are often overlooked or lost from the record. Join preservation services manager for northern New England Elizabeth Paliga as she traces women’s participation in preservation through the late nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and elevates their contributions in preserving New England’s history.    This Historic New England online talk will be held Wednesday, May 24 beginning at 6 pm Eastern

Elizabeth Paliga joined Historic New England in 2021 as the Preservation Services Manager for Northern New England. She oversees fifty-one privately-owned easement properties, working with homeowners to answer questions about routine maintenance as well as review proposals for larger projects. She also engages with the cultural history of the region by researching the lives of the people who lived at these properties. Elizabeth previously worked with local governments in Scotland to protect vulnerable properties from insensitive alteration. She holds a MSc in Architectural Conservation from the University of Edinburgh and two BAs, in Archaeology and Architectural Studies, from Boston University.

Tickets are free; donations are encouraged. Register HERE