In nature, brilliant colors appear in myriad places—along the surface of a bubble, on butterfly wings, after a rainy day, or through a windowpane. Remarkably, many of these hues don’t involve any chemical dyes or paints. Instead, these colors originate from the internal material structure and their interactions with light. This Harvard Museum of Natural History workshop on February 1 from 2 – 3:30 pm will dive into the world of “structural color,” zooming in on fascinating structurally-colored materials in nature with microscopes and zooming out to applications of structural color for next-generation materials. As the finale, workshop attendees will craft holographic rainbow chocolate to take home. No prior science background is required to participate in this class. All attendees must be 18 or older. $30 Harvard Museum members, $35 nonmembers. Register at https://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/event/holographic-chocolate-secrets-structural-color
Since the mid-20th century, US parks have evolved from highly programmed recreation spaces to ones that harken back to the 19th century, when strolling in nature and enjoying cultural offerings resonated with urban dwellers. Our monuments – those silent artifacts of history – have evolved along a similar course. As our nation becomes more culturally aware, many monuments are scrutinized for the values, meaning, and individuals they celebrate. Signe Nielsen, landscape architect and former President of the Public Design Commission, which owns all the public art in New York City, will discuss strategies to address controversial monuments in search of a deeper understanding of history. Nielson will highlight one park, Little Island, which embodies recent trends in park design and the intersection of art, nature, and culture. This Harvard Graduate School of Design lecture will take place September 26 at 12:30 pm at Gund Hall, 112 Stubbins in Cambridge, and is free and open to the public.
Signe Nielsen has been practicing as a landscape architect and urban designer in New York since 1978. Her body of work has renewed the environmental integrity and transformed the quality of spaces for those who live, work and play in the urban realm. She believes in using design as a vehicle for advocacy, to promote discourse on social equity and community resilience. She has served on multiple panels to effect positive change. A Fellow of the ASLA, she is the recipient of over 100 national and local design awards for public open space projects and is published extensively in national and international publications. Ms. Nielsen is a Professor of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture at Pratt Institute in both the Graduate and Undergraduate Schools of Architecture and is the former President for the Public Design Commission of the City of New York. Born in Paris, Ms. Nielsen holds degrees in Urban Planning from Smith College, in Landscape Architecture from City College of New York, and in Construction Management from Pratt Institute.
Learn how to capture the beauty and variety of plant forms with pencil and paper in this two-hour online workshop with the Harvard Museum of Natural History on September 25 at 9:30 am Eastern. With a focus on close observation, we’ll explore a range of techniques for achieving more accurate drawings and delve into contour, foreshortening, and shading to create volume and depth. The class will be limited to 12 participants, allowing ample time for individual feedback. All skill levels are welcome. $30 for Museum members, $35 for nonmembers. Register at https://hmnh.harvard.edu/event/sketching-plants-and-flowers-0
As a free urban park and naturalized landscape in the heart of Boston, the Arnold Arboretum plays an important role in supporting health and wellness in our community. Connecting Boston’s neighborhoods to trees and wildlife, our landscape offers an exceptional environment for enhancing our relationship with plants and tapping into the physical and mental benefits of immersion in nature. For individuals and families of people challenged by memory loss, a guided walk through the Arboretum landscape can be an enriching experience and sensory feast for all. On Saturday, June 8 at 10:00 a.m., Arboretum Director William (Ned) Friedman will lead a free guided tour developed to engage individuals with dementia and their caregivers. Register for this special opportunity to meet some marvels of the botanical world, enjoy seasonal highlights, and take in the wonderful sights and scents of late spring at the Arnold Arboretum.
The public is invited to a free talk on March 27 at 12:30 pm at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall Loeb Library Lobby, with Pedro Gadanho. Rather than slowly immersing in the subject of the ecological emergency, if one suddenly dives into its depths, the experience can be irreversibly transformative. Based on a personal trajectory of exhibitions, books and projects, this talk dwells on how such a radical reversal can alter not only one’s worldview, but also what kind of action and practice one accepts to pursue after their priorities have undergone a radical change.
Pedro Gadanho is an architect, curator and author. A 2020 Loeb Fellow from Harvard University, Gadanho holds an MA in art and architecture, and is a PhD in architecture and mass media. From 2012 to 2016, he was the curator of contemporary architecture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, where he coordinated the Young Architects Program and curated exhibitions such as 9+1 Ways of Being Political, Uneven Growth, and A Japanese Constellation. Between 2015 and 2019, he was the founding Director of MAAT, the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, in Lisbon, where he initiated more than 50 exhibition projects, including shows and publications such as Utopia/Dystopia, Tension & Conflict, and Eco-Visionaries. During 2020-21, he led a bid for European Capital of Culture 2027 by a coalition of 17 cities in Portugal’s interior, and became a Guest Professor at the University of Beira Interior. He has edited the BEYOND bookazine, the ShrapnelContemporary blog, and contributes regularly to international publications. He wrote Arquitetura em Público, a recipient of the FAD Prize for Thought and Criticism in 2012. In 2022, he launched Climax Change! How Architecture Must Transform in the Age of Ecological Emergency (ACTAR Publishers: New York/Barcelona).
Anyone requiring accessibility accommodations should contact the Public Programs Office at (617) 496-2414 or events@gsd.harvard.edu.
Join the New England Botanical Society on Friday, April 5 for its monthly meeting. Ted Elliman, MA botany/ecology instructor, retired, Native Plant Trust, and Lauren Brown, Connecticut author, VP Connecticut Botanical Society, will speak on Unlocking the Grasses, Sedges, and Rushes: Fresh Approaches to Identifying These Challenging Plants. Non-members may register for the meeting access link here.
You are invited to the Margaret McCurry Lectureship in the Design Arts on March 19 at 6:30 with Petra Blaisse, in conversation with Grace La, Niels Olsen, and Fredi Fischli, at the Harvard Graduate School of Design Gund Hall Piper Auditorium in Cambridge. Free. Designer Petra Blaisse discusses her forthcoming publication Art Applied, Inside Outside(2024), a kaleidoscopic view of her work across interior, exhibition, and landscape design over three decades. This comprehensive survey encompasses renowned projects, including the recently completed Taipei Performing Arts Center; the Kunsthal Rotterdam; Biblioteca degli Alberi in Milan, a park spanning almost ten hectares; and LocHal Library in Tilburg, a vast factory repurposed using an architecture of semitranslucent curtains. Joining the conversation are the GSD’s Grace La, Chair of the Department of Architecture; Niels Olsen, John Portman Design Critic in Architecture; and Fredi Fischli, John Portman Design Critic in Architecture.
Petra Blaisse, Inside Outside’s lead designer, works in a multitude of creative areas including interior design, landscape architecture, exhibition and textile design. After an education in the visual arts and work for commercial photographers and filmers she became assistant curator at the Applied Arts department of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In 1986 she became free-lance exhibition designer.
While realizing a series of experimental installations and exhibitions with the Rotterdamse Kunststichting (1988) and OMA (1987-1992), Blaisse’s assignments extended to the architectural field, where her focus on interior interventions (material, colour, light) and large-scale curtains developed, parallel to her life-long passion for gardening. After a two-year period of practical schooling in the early 90’s to gain botanical knowledge, Blaisse decided to add garden design to her practice.
Since 2016 Inside Outside is led by Blaisse and partners Aura Luz Melis (architect) and Jana Crepon (landscape architect) in collaboration with long-time colleague Peter Niessen (fashion designer). The studio specializes in the creation of dynamic, ever-changing environments of various levels of complexity, both inside and outside.
Fungi come in many weird and wonderful shapes, colors, and sizes that make them both fun and challenging to draw. This Harvard Museum of Natural History class on March 26 at 9:30 am with Rachel Mirus will introduce a few easy-to-see features on different types of mushrooms and lichens and explore strategies for capturing them on the page. We will use brush pens, a versatile medium that works well inside for formal projects or outside for field sketching.
The online group will be limited to 12 participants, allowing ample time for individual feedback. All skill levels are welcome. We are publishing this notice early because the art instruction classes tend to sell out early. $30 for Museum members, $35 for nonmembers. Register at https://hmnh.harvard.edu/event/drawing-fungi-brush-pen
On Friday, March 1, the New England Botanical Society will hold its monthly meeting at 7 pm at Harvard University’s Haller Lecture Hall and also live via Zoom. Dr. John Daigle, Professor of Forest Recreation Management, School of Forest Resources, University of Maine in Orono, will speak on Building a Community of Interest and Response to an Invasive Species Threatening Maine’s Ash Trees and Wabanaki Cultural Lifeways. Free. Non-members may register for the meeting access link here.
For the past 15 years, Dr. John J. Daigle, a citizen member of the Penobscot Nation, has been working on a project mobilizing diverse interests to address potential threats from invasive species in Maine – the case of the Emerald Ash Borer. The research seeks to study and facilitate the ways that Wabanaki, basket-makers, tribes, state and federal foresters, university researchers, landowners and others come together to prevent, detect, and respond to the threat of Emerald Ash Borer. He has published research with co-authors on outreach and education, management, and policy. In 2023, the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik or APCAW was created, offering informative webinars and in-person trainings, as well as a dedicated APCAW website for recorded sessions and other program information.
Take in the sights and sounds of the Arnold Arboretum under the light of a full moon on January 25. Facilitator Bob Linscott will lead the group through some mindfulness in nature practices as we meander along the paved road to our final nighttime viewing location on top of Bussey Hill. Meet on January 25 at 6 pm in front of the Hunnewell Building. Registration is required at https://arboretum.harvard.edu/events/event-signup/?id=82536
Accessibility: This program will take place entirely on paved roads. We will ascend some moderate hills. Facilitator Bob Linscott is a certified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teacher at Brown University and Center for Mindfulness at UMASS Memorial Health Care.
In the event of inclement weather, registrants will be notified via email. If you have questions, please email publicprograms@arnarb.harvard.edu or call the Visitor Center desk between 10:00am and 4:00pm at (617) 384-5209.
