Boston Flora

Tag: Harvard Museum Of Natural History

  • Now Open – In Search of Thoreau’s Flowers: An Exploration of Change and Loss

    In Search of Thoreau’s Flowers is a multisensory experience that marries art and science through a modern interpretation of Henry David Thoreau’s preserved plants. Thoreau was prolific in his practice of collecting botanical samples and plants are important indicators of how our world is responding to climate change.

    A close reflection on Henry David Thoreau’s legacy brings into sharper focus his deep commitment to environmental conservation and civil disobedience, as well as his trove of treasured poems and essays. His decision to make his home at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts solidified Thoreau’s devotion in his role as a naturalist. Through his close relationship with the woods of Walden he observed the ebb and flow of the natural world first-hand. Thoreau’s journals reveal detailed observations on local flora and serve as poignant reminders of our responsibility to protect plant communities.

    Plants are important indicators of how our world is responding to climate change and Thoreau was prolific in his practice of collecting botanical samples. Long preserved in the Harvard University Herbaria, 648 specimens serve as the foundation of this new exhibition. The digitization of these specimens inspired the creation of beautiful blue cyanotypes that are in direct conversation with illuminated rotating selections of Thoreau’s originals and immersive large-scale projected visualizations. The exhibition invites visitors to experience emotionally resonant connections to the profound loss of natural diversity caused by human-induced climate change. The exhibition urges us to ask, “what do Thoreau’s findings tell us about what plants are winning, and what plants are losing, in the face of climate change today?” The show is on view at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge. To learn more, and to learn hours and admission rates, visit https://hmnh.harvard.edu/search-thoreau-flowers-exploration

    Artwork by Leah Sobsey

  • Saturday, November 14, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Fabulous Fungus Fair, Online

    Explore the wondrous world of fungi! Join Harvard students on November 14 from 2 – 3:30 for a closer look at the mushrooms, yeasts, and molds found in gardens, forests, labs—even in our own refrigerators. This popular annual event turns virtual this year, featuring videos created by Harvard students. Join the webinar to participate in live conversation in response to student projects. Be prepared to see fungi in a whole new way!

    Zoom Registration information at https://hmsc.harvard.edu/event/fabulous-fungus-fair-0.

    To join the program, you will need to download the free Zoom app in advance. If you already have Zoom, you do not need to download it again. For details on how to improve your Zoom experience, visit the How to Attend an HMSC Program webpage

  • Wednesday, October 7, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm, or Saturday, November 7, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – Drawing Plants & Flowers in Colored Pencil, Online

    In this online Harvard Museum of Natural History workshop with artist and educator Erica Beade, participants will explore the versatile medium of colored pencil as they capture the form and beauty of botanicals. After discussing materials and techniques and looking at examples, each participant will experiment with drawing botanical subjects of their own choosing.  Groups will be limited to 10, allowing ample time for individual feedback. All skill levels are welcome.

    Class will be held over Zoom. The link to the class will be sent out to participants two days before the program date. Two date and time choices are October 7 from 1 – 3, and November 7 from 9:30 – 11:30.

    Members $30/Nonmembers $35. Advance registration required. See also: Adult Classes

  • Saturday, September 26, 9:30 am – 11:30 am, or Wednesday, September 30, 2020, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Drawing Plants & Flowers, Online

    Capture the beauty and variety of plant forms with pencil and paper in this Harvard Museum of Natural History online workshop with artist and educator Erica Beade. Participants will explore botanical drawing techniques through close observation and practice with contour, gesture, foreshortening and shading. Groups will be limited to 10, allowing ample time for individual feedback. All skill levels are welcome.

    Class will be held over Zoom. The link to the class will be sent out to participants two days before the program date. Choose between September 26 from 9:30 – 11:30, and September 30 from 1 – 3.

    Members $30/Nonmembers $35. Advance registration required.

  • Thursday, May 21, 6:00 pm – From the Hands of the Makers – Cancelled

    From 1886 to 1936, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka applied their artistic talents and knowledge of natural history to create an exquisite collection of glass models of plants to support the botanical education of Harvard students and the public. This May 21 Harvard Museum of Natural History program will explore the history, conservation, and relevance of the Glass Flowers in the twenty-first century, and introduce the publication The Glass Flowers: Marvels of Art and Science at Harvard, a compendium of new photographs that captures the beauty and magnificent detail of the models. Featured speakers are Jennifer Brown, Collection Manager, Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants, Natalja Kent, Photographer, Scott E. Fulton, Head Conservator, Ware Collection, and Donald H. Pfister, Asa Gray Professor of Systemic Botany and Curator of the Farlow Library and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany. The program is free and open to the public, with a book signing and exhibit preview to follow.

  • Saturdays, April 18, April 25, and May 2, 9:30 am – 11:30 am – The Art of Botanical Drawing – Postponed

    Explore the beauty and variety of plant forms using pencil, watercolor, and colored pencil. This three-session Harvard Museum of Natural History course will introduce botanical drawing techniques through close observation and practice with contour, gesture, foreshortening, shading, and color. All skill levels are welcome. Instructor: Erica Beade. Fees: $180 HMNH members/$198 nonmembers. Advance Registration required at  www.hmnh.harvard.edu. Classes meet at 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge on April 18, 25, and May 2, from 9:30 – 11:30.

  • Thursday, November 21, 6:00 pm – The Remarkable Nature of Edward Lear

    Robert McCracken Peck, Curator of Art and Artifacts, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University , will speak at a free public lecture on November 21 at 6 pm in the Geological Lecture Hall of the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge.

    Edward Lear (1812–1888), best known for The Owl and the Pussycat and other nonsense poetry, was also an accomplished painter of birds, mammals, reptiles, and landscapes, and an adventurous world traveler. His paintings of parrots, macaws, toucans, owls, and other birds are among the finest ever published. Robert McCracken Peck will discuss the remarkable life and natural history paintings of this beloved children’s writer, who mysteriously abandoned his scientific work soon after achieving preeminence in the field.

    Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage

  • Sunday, November 3 – Entomology Workshops: Pinning and Learning

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, will present three separate one hour Entomology Workshops in Pinning and Learning on Sunday, November 3, beginning at 10 am with instructor Mickey Alice Kwapis.

    The first session will work with butterflies. Learn about the anatomy and life cycles of insects and prepare your own beautiful butterfly specimen for display. Participants will explore the wild world of insects through a visit to the arthropod gallery, accompanied by an activity where you will learn to prepare and preserve a butterfly that you get to display in your home. Tools and illustrated instructions are provided for students to keep.

    The second session, from 11:15 – 12:15 will deal with Cicadas. Explore large tropical insects from an evolutionary standpoint with a hands-on look at gargantuan species. Utilizing sustainably sourced empress cicadas (8″+ wingspan), students will learn about insect development and anatomy by preparing and preserving specimens of their own. Each student will get to keep a set of illustrated instructions, tools, and their own finished specimen to display at home. With newfound knowledge, students will also get to explore the arthropod gallery to take in all of the subtle nuances of Earth’s invertebrate species.

    The third hour. from 1:00 – 2:00, deals with Atlas Beetles. Advance registration is required. The cost for the butterfly session is $35 for Museum members and $40 for nonmembers, and the Cicada and Atlas Beetle sessions are $45 for Museum members and $50 for nonmembers. Register at https://hmnh.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming/event-audience/adults

    Cicada

  • Saturday, October 26, 9:30 am – 12:00 noon – The Art and Science of Mushrooms

    Learn about the science of mushrooms through observations of local fungi, and then try your hand at capturing different mushroom types. Artist and educator, Erica Beade, will introduce techniques for achieving more accuracy, volume, and texture in drawings, while Harvard scientist James Mitchell will provide an overview of local mushrooms based on specimens in hand. This Harvard Museum of Natural History program takes place Saturday, October 26 from 9:30 – 12 at the Museum at 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge. $55 Museum members/$60 nonmembers Click here: Advance registration required.

  • Opening August 31 – Fruits in Decay

    Imagine an orchard, lush and bursting with ripe fruit in the sweltering summer sun. Not all of the fruit weighing down the branches and vines will be fit to consume. Some strawberries will dampen and shrivel with mold, some peaches will be blighted in the shade, and some pears will become pockmarked with age.

    However, there is a beauty in this natural decaying process that repeats with each season. Perhaps the rot will be cut away and the fruit will be preserved as jam, jellies, pie, or compote. Maybe a hungry child or traveler will wander through the orchard rows and choose a less-than- perfect specimen for their late afternoon snack. Right now, in orchards in New England and beyond, microscopic agents are at work consuming the fruit to its core in a world beyond our sight.

    The Harvard Museum of Natural History is pleased to present Fruits in Decay, a special new exhibit in the Glass Flowers Gallery that explores blight, rot, and other diseases on summer fruits. It features exquisitely detailed glass botanical models of strawberries, peaches, apricots, plums, and pears made by famed glass artist Rudolf Blaschka between the years 1924-1932. On display for the first time in nearly two decades, these models capture—with astonishing realism—the intricacies and strange beauty of fruits in various stages of decay.

    Donald H. Pfister, Curator of the Farlow Library and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany and Asa Gray Professor of Systematic Botany, praises the work of Blaschka, “Rudolf Blaschka’s last work centered on the creation of these models of diseased fruits. They are the culmination of his lifelong attention to accuracy and innovation. They illustrate the effects of fungi as agents of disease in plants and point to their importance in agricultural systems.”

    Fruits in Decay includes more than twenty glass specimens depicting common agricultural diseases and the effects of fungus such as peach leaf curl, gray mold, brown rot, soft rot, blue mold, shot-hole disease, stony pear, pear scab, fire blight, and leaf spot.

    Visitors will be able to see the delicate artistry of these celebrated Blaschka specimens August 31, 2019 through March 1, 2020. Fruits in Decay will replace the collection’s Rotten Apples exhibit, which will remain open until August 25, 2019.