Boston Flora

Tag: Lesley University

  • Saturday, February 7 – Sunday, March 22 – Elevated: An Orchid Exhibition

    Elevated celebrates the beauty and wonder of orchids in combination with captivating aerial sculptures by artist Cicely Carew (@cicelycarew). Featuring a stunning display of more than 2,500 orchids, this year’s orchid exhibition transforms the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill’s subtropical conservatories into an immersive world of color, movement, and botanical brilliance. Inspired by the forms and rhythms of nature, Carew’s “flying paintings” soar overhead—a joyful expression of the connection between art and nature.

    Cicely Carew (b. 1982, Los Angeles, CA) is a Boston-based artist, educator, and wellness facilitator whose work brings together color, movement, and emotion in joyful and unexpected ways. Her multimedia practice blurs the boundaries between artistic disciplines—mixing painting, collage, sculpture, printmaking, sound, and video—to create vibrant, immersive experiences that invite viewers to pause, breathe, and reconnect.

    Carew works from a place of improvisation and intuition, using layers of color and texture to explore ideas of freedom, transformation, and play. Her art celebrates the unknown and reminds us that healing and discovery often come through curiosity and openness. Each piece feels alive, full of energy and possibility, offering space for viewers to find their own meaning and sense of balance.

    Carew earned her MFA from Lesley University’s College of Art and Design in Cambridge, MA, and her BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, MA. Carew’s work has been featured at institutions across Massachusetts, including the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Fuller Craft Museum, the Fitchburg Art Museum, The Commons in Provincetown, and Simmons and Northeastern Universities. Her work is also part of several permanent collections, such as the Harvard Art Museums, the Boston Public Library, the Fitchburg Art Museum, the U.S. Consulate in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program, Google, and Fidelity Investments.

    For complete details visit www.nebg.org

  • Thursday, May 1, 7:00 pm – Good Soil

    Porter Square Books is excited to welcome author Jeff Chu to celebrate the release of his book, Good Soil. Author Kristin T. Lee will join Chu in conversation. This event will take place on Thursday, May 1 at 7pm at Porter Square Books (1815 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140).

    In his late thirties, Jeff Chu left his job as a magazine writer and found himself at Princeton Theological Seminary’s “Farminary”—a twenty-one-acre working farm where students learn to cultivate the earth while examining life’s biggest questions. Now, he unpacks what he learned about creating “good soil,” both literally and figuratively, drawing lessons from the rhythms of growth, decay, and regeneration that define life on the land.

    In gorgeous, transporting reflections, Chu introduces us to the cast of characters, human and not, who became his teachers. While observing the egrets that visit the pond, the worms that turn waste into fertile soil, and the Chinese long beans that get passed over in the farm’s CSA, Chu considers our desire to belong, the story behind the food on our plate, and the significance of his own roots. What is the earth trying to tell us, if we’ll only stop and listen?

    Good Soil helps readers connect to the land and to one another at a time when we seem drawn most to the phones in our hands. For nature lovers, foodies, and anyone who has daydreamed about a more fulfilling life, this book is a tribute to friendship, to the sacredness of our bond with the natural world, and to how love can grow from the unlikeliest of places.

    Our Cambridge store offers validated parking in the lot on Roseland St. behind Lesley’s University Hall. Register at https://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/jeff-chu-author-good-soil-conversation-kristin-t-lee

  • Thursday, April 10, 7:00 pm – To Wildness

    Porter Square Books is thrilled to welcome Julia Thacker to discuss her collection of poetry, To Wildness. Author Katherine Hollander will introduce Thacker. This event will take place on Thursday, April 10 at 7pm at Porter Square Books (1815 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140).

    To Wildness is winner of the 19th annual Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize, and was chosen by the internationally acclaimed poet, Paul Muldoon. As Joan Houlihan says in her enthusiastic endorsement, “Teeming with image, sensation and sound, the poems in To Wildness tumble us into a glorious exuberance of catalog and character, rural landscape and dark imaginings (‘We ate ants peeled from bark, a rain of plums / when he rattled the trees. Lumbering. Shackled.’). Ancestral voices speak from the grave; fabulist figures like the girl buried with a finch tell their stories; and contemporary ghosts only the narrator sees abound (Let me touch them as they pass.) A southern gothic atmosphere hovers here: shapes twisting in the dark and the language to conjure them near. What a rich and thrilling collection!”

    In recipes, spells, odes and elegies, To Wildness conjures what has been lost and what remains. These are poems of the body. They rub up against one another and knock elbows. Plum Jam calls preserving fruit as spiritual labor: To be elbow deep in a barrel/arms gloved crimson. In this collection, the dead reside alongside the living. Ancestors roost in trees, having forgotten language, their coats inside out. Others sulk in the eaves, their ears clogged with clover. The past made vivid renders an extravagant present and offers a balm to the isolation of the contemporary world.

    Our Cambridge store offers validated parking in the lot on Roseland St. behind Lesley’s University Hall. Register at https://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/julia-thacker-author-wildness

  • Wednesday, October 20, 10:00 am – An Update on the Boston City Hall Project,Online

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s October meeting will take place October 20 at 10:00 am online on Zoom. Kate Tooke, Associate Principal, ASLA, PLA, will discuss the Boston City Hall Plaza redesign and the next stages in the process. The City of Boston has a short video we recommend to bring you up to speed on the project before the meeting: https://www.boston.gov/departments/public-facilities/city-hall-plaza-renovation

    Kate is a landscape architect at Sasaki. Her project leadership, strategic thinking, design eye, and technical skills have been instrumental in the success of diverse projects ranging from master planning to site-scale work. As a naturally interdisciplinary thinker, she excels at collaborating across disciplines to craft elegant, contextual solutions to complex design challenges.

    Prior to discovering landscape architecture, Kate was a high school math and physics teacher in the Boston Public School system. Her passion for inspiring and empowering urban youth infuses her work as a landscape architect. She values engaging stakeholders in the design of their own urban public spaces through lively workshops, and is particularly interested civic open spaces that support the play and learning of city children. Kate pursues independent research on children’s outdoor environments, including schoolyards, playscapes, and outdoor classrooms.

    Kate holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Massachusetts, a master’s degree in education from Lesley University, and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Dartmouth College. She earned the 2011 National Olmsted Scholar award, the highest honor of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF), for her work on urban schoolyards, and has since served on LAF’s board of directors. Kate remains active in the academic world through teaching appointments at the Rhode Island School of Design and University of Massachusetts Amherst as well as through volunteer work with local public schools.

    Please note: As COVID and its variants create new challenges, we have decided to hold this presentation virtually on ZOOM. If you are a Garden Club member, you will receive a notice. If you are not a member and are interested in attending, click HERE and we will put you on the notification list.

  • Thursday, October 29, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm – Plant Diversity Symposium, Online

    Join The Native Plant Trust and The Nature Conservancy on October 29 from 9 – 1 for our first-ever virtual symposium to unveil a new analysis of plant diversity in New England, a collaboration between Native Plant Trust and The Nature Conservancy. This symposium delves into goals and strategies for conserving plant diversity in the wake of development and climate change. Through multiple interactive digital formats, we will address what the new data analysis tells us about the current status of plant diversity, how it guides priorities for plant conservation, and what approaches are being used to meet conservation goals. The Plant Diversity Symposium sheds new light on the intersection between plant conservation, land management, and land protection. This program, originally scheduled last June at Lesley University, was canceled due to COVID-19. Register at www.NativePlantTrust.org and keep checking our website for the most up-to-date details. $48 for sponsor members, $60 for nonmembers.

  • Friday, June 12, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm – Plant Diversity Symposium

    Join The Native Plant Trust on Friday, June 12 from 10 – 5 at Lesley University in Cambridge for the unveiling of a new analysis of plant diversity in New England, presented as a collaborative report between Native Plant Trust and The Nature Conservancy. This symposium delves into goals and strategies for conserving plant diversity in the wake of development and climate change. Through multiple interactive formats, we will address what the new data analysis tells us about the current status of plant diversity, how it guides priorities for plant conservation, and what approaches are being used to meet conservation goals. The Plant Diversity Symposium sheds new light on the intersection between plant conservation, land management, and land protection. Keep checking our website, www.nativeplanttrust.org, for the most up-to-date details. Covid-19 may preclude the event, or cause a postponement. $105 for sponsor members, $125 for nonmembers.

  • Thursday, May 9, 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Mount Auburn Ecosystem Project Showcase

    For the past two years, Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge has partnered with Lesley University on a series of biodiversity research and education studies throughout the 175-acre refuge. Join them on May 9 from 4 – 7 for summary presentations by Lesley faculty members on their work at Mount Auburn, including data collection on various species of invertebrates, pollinators, and bats, as well as the development of new educational materials and programs to engage the public and promote STEAM learning. The afternoon will feature guided walks (4 pm), presentations in Bigelow Chapel (5 pm), and a reception with opportunities to chat with the researchers on their findings (6:15 pm). Free and open to the public.

  • Thursday, November 15, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Emerald Necklace Conservancy 2012 Annual Meeting

    Join the Emerald Necklace Conservancy as they come together to thank their volunteers, members, and friends, and look forward to a resilient future for our parks. The meeting will take place Thursday, November 15, beginning with a reception at 5:30. The program will begin at 6:30. The event will take place at Northeastern University Curry Student Center Ballroom, 346 Huntington Avenue in Boston.

    Featuring Keynote Speaker Coleen O’Connell
    “Urban Parks: Ensuring a Resilient Future”

    Coleen O’Connell, an educator for 26 years, is an instructor at Lesley University in Environmental Studies, focused on Ecological Teaching and Learning. She was the former Education Director of the Audubon Expedition Institute and Executive Director for the Geocommons College Program.

  • Saturday, May 1, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Medieval Gardens Workshop

    This one-day workshop on Saturday, May 1, from 10 – 4, traces the history and evolution of medieval gardens in western Europe, from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance. Topics of discussion include the varieties and influence of monastic gardens, the impact of the water gardens of Islamic Spain, and the exquisite ornamental gardens of the fifteenth century, designed solely for pleasure and sensual delight. Selected slide images of paintings and manuscript illuminations illustrate details of medieval gardeners at work, the tools they used and the surprising views of their garden designs.

    The image below is the re-created medieval garden Commanderie des Templiers de Coulommiers.  The buildings were part of a monastery belonging to the Knights Templar.  The garden design, inspired by paintings of medieval gardens, was designed by Joel Chatain, a landscape architecture graduate from Versailles, and the work was carried out by young volunteers.  Extensive use is made of wattle fencing.

    The course is taught by Priscilla Baumann, Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Boston University, and is part of the Lesley University/Art Institute of Boston’s  Spring Seminar Series in the Arts.  The cost of this workshop is $100, and it will take place at University Hall, Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Room 4-040.  To register, or for more information, log on to www.lesley.edu/aib/EXTRA/courses.html, or email darcadip@aiboston.edu.

    http://www.gardenvisit.com/assets/madge/coulommiers_medieval_garden_2061_jpg/600x/coulommiers_medieval_garden_2061_jpg_600x.jpg

  • Saturday, February 20, 1 – 3 pm – Summer in Winter: Paintings by Anthony Apesos

    The Arnold Arboretum invites you to a reception with artist Anthony Apesos on Saturday, February 20, from 1 – 3 pm, at the Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall in the Arnold Arboretum.  The exhibit, Summer in Winter, will be on view January 9, 2010 through March 3, 2010, and Mr. Apesos will also give an artist talk on Thursday, February 25, from 6:30 to 8 pn.  For more information log on to www.arboretum.harvard.edu.

    Anthony Apesos has been painting the Arboretum since he moved to Jamaica Plain in the early 1990s. His recent series of paintings shows the Arboretum at the height of summer’s verdant glory. A perfect antidote to winter weather, Apesos depicts the wide-ranging Arboretum landscape in deep summer, from the rugged outcrops of Hemlock Hill to the meadows from which dawn redwoods spring.

    Anthony Apesos is a professor of painting and art history at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. His paintings are inspired by such landscape artists as George Inness, John Constable, and Samuel Palmer.