Boston Flora

Tag: Harvard University

  • Inspired By Nature: Five Printmakers at the Arnold Arboretum Online Exhibition Through July 19

    Please note that all exhibitions are suspended due to the closure of the Hunnewell Building and Visitor Center as part of Harvard University’s COVID-19 response. See our current art exhibition online.

    When our Visitor Center reopens, on site-exhibitions will resume and continue to be free and open to the public in the Hunnewell Building at 125 Arborway, Boston.

    For five printmakers, sketching trips to the Arnold Arboretum solidified what they already had in common—the many ways that nature and plant life informs their art. Although their media covers a wide range of print techniques, and each artist has a unique approach to their art, all are attracted to the natural world, often trees. From white line woodcut to monotype, a keen sensibility of botanical life emerges that is portrayed through the eye and craft of these artists.

    Printmakers Arlene Bandes, Lynda Goldberg, Mary Beth Maisel, Amy McGregor-Radin, and Gayle Smalley have been meeting monthly for more than ten years to discuss works in progress. They critique, support, and challenge each other to explore beyond the limits of their art. Ideas, sketches, and current prints are shared. There is a commonality that emerges in the art exhibited in this show of homing into the essence of nature.

    Each artist is an active member of the Nature Printing Society, an international association of artists whose philosophy is based on respect for nature as demonstrated through the art of the print. Members have exhibited in numerous galleries and museums including Attleboro Art Museum, The Art Complex Museum (Duxbury), The Boston Athenaeum, and the Fuller Museum of Art (now Fuller Craft Museum), among others. Maisel and Goldberg contributed chapters to The Art of Printing from Nature, published by the Nature Printing Society. Goldberg and Bandes are instructors in the Greater Boston area. For more information on this exhibition or individual works, please contact arbweb@arnarb.harvard.edu. See a post on ARBlog to learn how this show was affected by, and was adapted to COVID-19.

    Chinese Chestnut by Gayle Smalley 10 ¾” x 7 ¼” Monotype copyright 2020 Gayle Smalley

  • Thursday, June 4, 2:00 pm – 2:30 pm – Painting Edo

    “Painting Edo” at the Arnold Arboretum is a collaboration between the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and the Harvard Art Museums, inspired by the exhibition Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection.Observing artworks from the exhibition alongside the living collections of the Arnold Arboretum, we invite you to marvel at the remarkable accuracy with which artists of the Edo period (1615–1868) in Japan rendered their botanical subjects.  In this online talk, Rachel Saunders, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Curator of Asian Art, and William (Ned) Friedman, Director of the Arnold Arboretum, will discuss the striking Magnolia sieboldii, also known as Siebold’s magnolia or the Oyama magnolia. After a close look at a very rare painted specimen in the Feinberg Collection with Rachel, Ned will bring us into the Arboretum’s landscape to learn about the live specimen’s unique biology and gorgeous bloom.  
    This virtual program will take place live in Zoom. Free admission, but registration is required. Rain date Friday, June 5. Register here: https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Frp8sRcWTqG1S_aZKI7gZg

  • Sunday, June 7, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Collections Up Close: Vines Take the Stage

    Vines twine and twirl, grasp and cling, as well as offer beautiful flowers and unique fruits. Join the Arnold Arboretum on June 7 at 1 pm for a tour with Leventritt Shrub and Vine Arboretum Horticulturalist, Greg LaPlume, to hear about the Arboretum’s variety of vines, their maintenance, and those that would work well in your own garden. There will also be family activities to discover these special members of our woody plant collections. 

    Additional details to come.

    This is a drop in activity. The event will be taking place in the Leventritt Shrub and Vine Garden. Street parking is available on Arborway Road.

    In case of inclement weather, contact 617.384.5209. As with all activities scheduled in this age of Covid-19, please call in the event this event must be cancelled.

    Clematis ‘Westerplatte’ 334-2006*A

  • Thursday, June 4, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Gardening for Butterflies and Moths

    Learn how to attract butterflies and moths to your garden and cater to their unique lifecycle requirements in this Arnold Arboretum June 4 program focused exclusively on lepidopteran-friendly gardening techniques. Colin McCallum-Cook will describe the food plants required by caterpillars, the flowers needed to provide nectar, and importantly, the habitat requirements for successful overwintering of cocoons in the garden. The session will take place in the Hunnewell Building from 5:30 – 8:00 and is $25 for Arboretum members, $32 for nonmembers.

    Lepidopteran conservation in New England is more important than ever, as many formerly common species are now threatened with extirpation.

    Colin McCallum-Cook will also show you how to use citizen science applications to monitor species in your garden and contribute valuable data to the cause of lepidopteran conservation. To register call 617-384-5277, or visit http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu. As with all programs scheduled in this age of Covid-19, please call in advance to confirm the course will be able to be held as scheduled.

  • 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.

  • Tuesday, March 17, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm – The Herbal History of World War II – POSTPONED

    Based on research completed for her recent book, Plants Go to War: A Botanical History of World War II, Judith Sumner will discuss the importance of herbs and medicinal plants in the war effort. From the County Herb Committees in England to South American cinchona (quinine) missions, plants played essential roles in treating wartime illnesses and conditions. We’ll examine the botanical origins of treatments for ailments ranging from bacterial infections and tropical parasites to vitamin deficiencies and bombing-induced stress. The Tower Hill Botanic Garden talk on March 17 from 11 – 12:30 will also include historical perspective on the cultural and medicinal role of herbs in the Third Reich, including the cultivation of extensive herbal gardens at concentration camps.

    Judith Sumner is a botanist who specializes in ethnobotany, flowering plants, plant adaptations, and garden history. She has taught extensively both at the college level and at botanical gardens, including the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and Garden in the Woods. Judith graduated from Vassar College and completed graduate studies in botany at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She studied at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and at the British Museum (Natural History) and did extensive field work in the Pacific region on the genus Pittosporum. She has published monographic studies in the American Journal of Botany, Pollen et Spores, and Allertonia, as well as monographing two families for Flora Vitiensis Nova.

    The session is $15 for THBG members, $20 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.

  • Sundays, March 8 – April 5, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm – Cannabis Lecture Series

    Learn more about the plant that has been making news and sparking change across the country. In each lecture, experts will cover a different topic related to cannabis, as well as its connection to people throughout history. Topics include ethnobotany, evolution, horticulture, taxonomy and genetics, and hemp. Join us for one lecture or all. 

    March 8 will feature Peter Apicella, University of Connecticut, on Genetics and Taxonomy. March 15 lecture is on Horticulture with Maggie Kinsella of Coyote Cannabis Corporation. On March 29, John de la Parra of Harvard University’s Herbaria teams with Ernest Anemone of the Arnold Arboretum to talk about Ethnobotany, and finally, on April 5, Monique McHenry of University of Vermont speaks on Evolution. $20 per lecture for Tower Hill members, $25 for nonmembers. Register at www.towerhillbg.org.


  • Thursday, March 12, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Holiday Houseplant Hangover

    Did you receive plants as gifts over the holidays? Are they looking a bit sad at this point and are you wondering whatever to do with them? Or are you simply a houseplant hoarder whose enthusiasm has waned with the winter months? If yes, let plant propagator and horticulturist Sean Halloran raise your plants—and your hopes—up a notch. In this March 12 Arnold Arboretum class, beginning at 6:30 pm in the Hunnewell Building, Sean will share tips for getting your plants back on track to becoming home enhancements instead of embarrassments. In advance, email close-up photos of your plants and plant problems so that Sean can be sure to address specific horticultural challenges you may be facing. Email (preferred): adulted@arnarb.harvard.edu; or bring images to class.
    Fee $10 member; $15 nonmember

    Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

  • Wednesday, February 26, 6:00 pm – Olfaction in Science and Society

    The sense of smell plays a critical role in human behavior, from warning us of potential dangers to attracting us to certain foods, places, and people. Harvard scientists Catherine Dulac, Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology; Lee and Ezpeleta Professor of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, and Venkatesh Murthy, Raymond Leo Erikson Life Sciences Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard, study the molecules, cells, and brain circuits that underlie olfaction and the social behaviors that aromas can elicit. In this Wednesday, February 26 program, they will engage in a conversation with internationally recognized olfactive expert Dawn Goldworm to discuss how neurobiological research on olfaction relates to our everyday experiences.

    Advance registration is recommended. Program begins at 6 in the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street in Cambridge. Presented by the Harvard Museum of Natural History in collaboration with the Harvard Brain Science Initiative

    Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage

  • Saturday, March 7, 9:30 am – Cultivating Place: Women in Horticulture and Place-making

    In this year’s “cultivating women” symposium, we highlight contemporary efforts by women to create, share, and preserve greenspaces for all and will showcase the importance of community spaces in this era of increasing urban and suburban density. Speakers: Jennifer Jewell, Creator/Host, Cultivating Place, NPR Radio Show and Podcast; Garden Writer Kaki Martin, ASLA, PLA, Principal of Klopfer Martin Design Group ; Kristin McCullin, Horticulturist, Allen C. Haskell Public Gardens ; Patricia Spence, President and CEO, The Urban Farming Institute of Boston.

    Fee $50; Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

    Co-sponsored by the Mary M.B. Wakefield Charitable Trust and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.