Have you really looked at a flower lately? After sketching and dissecting flowers, we will use stereo microscopes to look at the floral structures hidden within, learning to recognize them across a variety of flower forms. This Arnold Arboretum session is led by Ana Maria Caballero McGuire, a Nature Education Specialist at the Arboretum. Limited to 16 per session.
Free, but registration requested. Register at www.arboretum.harvard.edu
More than enough food is produced to feed every person, yet nearly 40% of food is wasted in the United States. This waste squanders our natural resources and has negative impacts on the environment and the economy. The Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic has been at the forefront nationally in terms of educating about the relevant laws, supporting innovative models to increase food recovery, and driving policy change at the federal, state, and local levels to align incentives to reduce food waste. Emily Broad Leib will share the key knowledge developed by FLPC, providing an overview of the causes of food waste, the key legal and policy opportunities, and a snapshot of current trends in federal and state government approaches to the issue. on February 24 at 7 pm as part of the Directors Lecture Series at the Arboretum.
Emily Broad Leib founded Harvard’s Food Law and Policy Clinic and is recognized as a national leader in Food Law and Policy. She was named by Fortune and Food & Wine to their list of 2016’s Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink. The list highlights women who had the most transformative impact on what the public eats and drinks. Broad Leib was one of the inaugural recipients of Harvard President Drew Faust’s Change Solutions Fund in 2015.
Fee Free. Members only. Registration required as seating is limited. The Director’s Lecture Series is a benefit of membership. Become a member of the Friends of the Arnold Arboretum.
Jake Grossman, PhD, Putnam Postdoctoral Fellow, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, will speak in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum on January 28 at 6:30 pm.
Most of us have an intuitive sense of what counts as “biodiversity” and why it is important to live in a biodiverse world, but these questions have also powered decades of revelatory and complex ecological research.
Join Putnam Postdoctoral Fellow Jake Grossman for an exploration of the world of biodiversity research. Our focus will be on how scientists define and quantify biodiversity and how biodiversity loss affects the way that ecosystems work. Jake will share highlights from his dissertation research, which entailed the use of experimentally planted “forests” to study the role of biodiversity in supporting tree growth, health, and nutrient use.
Free, but registration requested. Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.
William “Ned” Friendman, PhD, Arnold Arboretum Director and Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, will kick off the 2020 Director’s Lecture Series on Monday, February 3 at 7 pm in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum. The Director’s Lecture Series is a benefit of membership, so if you are not already a member, join the Friends of the Arnold Arboretum now.
“Eastern Asia – eastern North America temperate woody disjuncts” is a mouthful. But, once you get the hang of it, you will discover the fascinating evolutionary stories of botanical emigrants that have journeyed from Asia to North America and evolved into much of what now makes up forest ecosystems in the eastern United States. You will also discover that the Arnold Arboretum holds one of the most important collections of such disjuncts, and that for nearly a century and a half, has been facilitating family reunions between such long-separated evolutionary cousins. This biogeographic story of temperate trees and shrubs began to unfold in the mid-nineteenth century with none other than Charles Darwin and Asa Gray, then Harvard Professor of Natural History. Wait until you hear about their correspondence!
Fee Free. Members only. Registration required as seating is limited. Register at https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?EventID=1
Cure the winter doldrums! Students in this Arnold Arboretum workshop on January 15 from 5 – 7 will learn the basics of bulb forcing and will plant a layered bulb container containing daffodils, hyacinths, grape hyacinths, and tulips. Bulb arrangements will be taken home to nurture and enjoy. Fee for all materials, including bulbs, soil, and container, is included in the cost of the class.
Limited to 10; register early. Register no later than Monday morning, January 13 as we must prepare materials for this class. The session will be led by Tiffany Enzenbacher, Manager of Plant Production at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. $40 for Arboretum members, $48 for nonmembers. Register at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.
Take a 90-minute walk in the Arnold Arboretum on January 5 with docent Bob Mayer from the Main Gate to Bussey Hill and back. The focus will be on winter birds, as well as the woody plant collection.
Meet inside the Main Gate off the Arborway (parking is along the Arborway). This tour is in conjunction with the Brookline Bird Club.
Free, but registration requested at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu
For cancellations due to inclement weather, call 617-384-5209 by 5:00pm January 4.
Put down the hedge shears! Through both classroom instruction and hands-on field training, this Arnold Arboretum class on December 14 from 9:30 – noon will include whats, whys, and hows of proper pruning approaches and techniques.
Instructor Andrew Gapinski will focus on small ornamental trees, young shade trees, and shrubs with general approaches towards maintaining a plant’s natural form and encouraging health and vigor. Note: Pruning for fruit production will not be covered in this offering. Dress for indoor and outdoor learning. The class will begin in the Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, and is $38. Register at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu
Betsey Henkels uses the camera to explore the world in two ways–first by noticing and appreciating objects that she might otherwise overlook, and second, by transforming ordinary scenes into prints that are compelling and unexpected. To make these transformations, Henkels experimented with different techniques–she slowed down shutter speeds, threw subjects out of focus, tipped scenes upside down, and came in close.
Then, she discovered infrared. Infrared is magical and mysterious. The photographer shoots images without knowing exactly what will show up in the print. Looking through the viewfinder of an infrared camera, only the light that’s visible to the eye is seen–not the “near infrared” light that the camera records. Henkels spent many hours in the Arboretum, photographing tree canopies, bark, and above ground roots, hoping to capture their spirits. She photographed them in infrared, which show green as white, darkens the sky, and makes clouds prominent. Strange colors are introduced, and a different fresh and surprising world of Arnold Arboretum trees is opened up, even to those of us who know and love them.
This Arnold Arboretum exhibition in the Hunnewell building runs from October 25 – February 2, with an opening reception on October 26 from 1 – 3. Free and open to the public. For more information visit www.arboretum.harvard.edu.
The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University will be the site of an exhibit running July 26 – October 13, entitled Between the Leaves: The Unique Prints of Sarah Cross. There will be a free opening reception on Saturday, July 27 from 1 – 3, and a cyanotype workshop on Sunday, July 28 from 10 – noon (registration required.)
Between the Leaves focuses on the ephemeral quality of light. Behind each photograph is Sarah Cross’s hand in the physical construction of what is set up in front of the camera, or through a cathartic printing process. The artist works with a range of photographic media, including 4″ x 5″ color negatives, and gum bichromate printing to create photographs. After a strong degree of photoshop manipulation, the prints are made through the historic gum bichromate process. With this lengthy process, each color is printed as a single layer, resulting in fragile, painterly, and unique prints. Although large in physical presence, these prints are meant to express small invitations to reverie.
Join Paul Olson, the Arnold Arboretum’s exhibiting artist of Drawn to Paint, for a sketching workshop “en plein air” (outside, in the landscape), on Saturday, July 13 from 1 – 3, beginning in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum. Olson, an instructor at Mass College of Art and RISD, will focus on teaching you to sketch trees from direct observation outdoors. He will encourage you to think about simplifying your design with just the essential shapes to make a good composition in light pencil. Then, you can use ink and water for an expressive tonal image. Bring pencils and sketchbooks. Some supplies will be available. Fee $10 member, $20 nonmember
Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.
