Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Sunday, April 24 – Wednesday, April 27 – Inspired by the Sea: The Material Culture of Newport and Other Ports of Call

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There is still time to register for the 2016 Newport Symposium, to be held April 24 – 27. The sea has always been the heart of Newport’s cultural identity. Through the 17th and 18th centuries, maritime enterprise forged cultural connections between cosmopolitan Newporters and makers, traders and collectors in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. But even as the city’s economy shifted away from trade towards scientific inquiry and recreation in the 19th and 20th centuries, the environment, heritage and mythology of the sea ensured that Newport remained a wellspring of artistic inspiration.

Tom Michie, Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, will speak on Real and Imagined Luxury Goods and their Impact on New England.  Patricia Kane of the Yale University Art Gallery will give a talk entitled Faithfully Made of the Best Materials: Cabinetmaking in Rhode Island, and Karina Corrigan, H.A. Crosby Forbes Curator of Asian Export Art at The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem will present Asia In Amsterdam: The Culture of Luxury in the Dutch Golden Age, and all that happens before lunch on Monday!  For a complete list of speakers and topics, and we assure you the list is tantalizing, visit http://www.newportmansions.org/learn/newport-symposium/symposium-program

$550 for members of the Preservation Society of Newport County, $600 for general public.  Register online at www.newportmansions.org.

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Through February 14, 2016 – Drawing Trees, Painting the Landscape: Frank M. Rines (1892-1962)

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Draftsman, landscape painter, teacher, and writer, Frank M. Rines had an intense interest in, and skill for, drawing trees. He produced five books on drawing, which were mid- 20th century guides for instruction in landscape and tree drawing techniques. In Design and Construction in Tree Drawing, he concentrated on the form and structure of trees. Rines was skilled in the art of observation, taught and was committed to students and communities of artists throughout Boston and New England. As a draftsman and painter, he worked in pencil, watercolor, oil, and charcoal. Rines’s work is included in a number of museum collections including Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and Dartmouth’s Hood Museum in New Hampshire. The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University will mount an exhibit of Frank M. Rines in the Hunnewell Building through February 14, 2016.

Note: The Hunnewell Building lecture hall is often used for meetings and classes. Please call 617.384.5209 for exhibition availability, and refer to Hunnewell Visitor Center hours at  http://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/visit/hours-services-and-policies/.

Through July 31 – Trees and Reflections: Paintings by Erica S. Nazarro

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Erica S. Nazzaro has been expressing herself creatively through the arts all her life. She expresses the feeling a place conveys rather than the realistic image of what she sees. Erica is spontaneous and curious, using accidents as opportunities. Her painting is a meditative exercise where she becomes the vessel of connection between the environment, her feelings, and the materials she uses. Erica’s paintings are moments in nature captured and provides a serene and calming effect. She graduated from The School of the Museum Of Fine Arts in 1984 and went on to get her Masters in Social Work in 2003. She now combines her art and therapeutic work in a healing process with transitional age youth, families, and children. She is a member of Uforge Member Collective, Newton Watercolor Society, Jamaica Plain Artists Association and Hyde Park Artists Association. The July exhibit will take place at the Connolly Branch of the Boston Public Library, 433 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain.

Wednesday, July 8, 2:00 pm – 5:30 pm – Japanese Tea Ceremony

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On Wednesday, July 8, from 2 – 5:30, join Allan Palmer, Tea Master, Urasenke School, and Martha Wright, adjunct instructor, in the demonstration of the 400-year-old tradition of chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony, all with the surroundings of the newly renovated Tenshin-en, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston’s Japanese Garden.  Visit www.mfa.org/lectures for tickets, or call 1-800-440-6975.  $52 MFA members, $65 nonmembers.

Sunday, April 26, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Dora Lee: Celebrate Japanese Spring with Ikebana

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Dora Lee, past president of the Boston Chapter of Ikebana International, demonstrates Sogetsu Ikebana, from basic to freestyle, at the Barbara and Theodore Alfond Auditorium at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston on Sunday, April 26 from 3 – 4. This demonstration is part of the Museum’s Art in Bloom celebration. Free event ticket and Museum admission required. Go to www.mfa.org for more information.

Wednesday, April 22, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Naoya Hatakeyama: Personal Landscapes

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One of Japan’s leading contemporary photographers, Naoya Hatakeyama has presented award-winning images that explore the relationship between urbanization and the natural world, some of which are on view in the exhibition In the Wake: Japanese Photographers Respond to 3-11. Since 2011, Hatakeyama has returned to his tsunami-ravaged home of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture to photograph the transformed landscape. On Wednesday, April 22, from 7 – 8 in the Harry and Mildred Remis Autitorium at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, hear how his experiences in Japan and abroad have influenced his process, body of work, and personal philosophy. The lecture is part of the Rad Smith Program in Japanese Art. Image below: Naoya Hatakeyama, 2013.10.20 Kesen-cho from the series “Rikuzentakata 2011–2014” (detail), 2013. Photograph, C print. © Hatakeyama Naoya / Courtesy of Taka Ishii Gallery.

To order tickets by phone, call 1-800-440-6975; to order in person, visit any MFA ticket desk.

Monday, April 27, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm – Christian Tortu: East Meets West

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As part of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston Art in Bloom celebration, renowned floral designer Christian Tortu will appear at the Harry and Mildred Remis Auditorium on Monday, April 27, from 10:30 am – 12:30 pm.  He will present a floral demonstration and illustrated lecture.  His arrangements combine his love of nature with an East Meets West aesthetic.  MFA members $60, nonmembers $65.  Tickets may be purchased online at http://www.mfa.org/programs/special-event/christian-tortu-east-meets-west.

From the Archives: Flower Arranging

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The Garden Club of the Back Bay is not known as an “arranging” garden club,  although we have always boasted many talented floral designers among our members.  Our primary Club emphasis is tree care, and flower shows are something of a side line activity.  Delving into our Archives, however, we find members have a long history of providing arrangements to local events.

The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay gave a supper party for Boston’s City Counselors at the home of Lawrence Perera on Marlborough Street in 1968, and the Garden Club filled the home with bouquets.  During a subsequent Neighborhood Association house tour, Garden Club members decorated the home of host Kitty Winter for the tea associated with the tour.  Mrs. Melvin Johnson created a “particularly interesting flower arrangement” for the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union, formerly located on Boylston Street.  Our presence at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston at Art in Bloom also dates to the event’s inception, and members participate in the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts competitions at the New England Spring Flower Show.

This year, guests at our Twilight Garden Party on Thursday, June 4 at The Chilton Club will enjoy more bouquets created for the event by The Garden Club of the Back Bay.  We hope to see you then.

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Wednesday, November 19, 6:00 pm – An Emerald Evening

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An Emerald Evening celebrates one of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s founders and newly appointed Life Trustee, former Governor Michael S. Dukakis.

Michael has been a champion of parks and open space long before and continuously after his terms as Governor. As a life-long Brookline resident, he personally invests in the beauty of the Emerald Necklace by picking up trash as he walks through the park to work each day. Out of public office, he continues to advocate for the benefits of urban park land and the people who depend on their resources. He has challenged all of us to follow suit.

An Emerald Evening will be held on November 19, 2014 at 6 p.m. in the Koch Galleries of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The evening will include a lively reception and the awarding of the Olmsted Award of Excellence to our honored guest.

Visit http://www.emeraldnecklace.org/emerald-evening/ for more information, to become a sponsor or purchase tickets. All proceeds from the event will directly support the Conservancy’s programming in the Emerald Necklace park system.

Friday, October 3, 8:00 am – 3:30 pm – Nichols House Museum Symposium: In the House and on the Web, 21st Century Strategies for Interpreting Historic Interiors

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On Friday, October 3, five speakers from Europe and the United States will come together to share experiences from their museums and heritage sites which have successfully integrated technology into interpretations of their historic interiors and landscapes. From mobile applications to virtual recreations, learn from these 21st-century innovators and come away with cutting-edge ideas from museum professionals around the world. Please join The Nichols House Museum for this full-day event, 8 – 3:30, at The Boston Athenaeum, 10 1/2 Beacon Street in Boston. $75 fee.

Speakers:

Lee Glazer, PhD- Associate Curator, American Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
Victoria Kastner – Historian, Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California
Annie Kemkaran-Smith – Curator (Art Collections) Down House, National Collections Group, London, UK (pictured below)
John A. Sibbald – Founder and First Chairman, Virtual Hamilton Palace Trust, Hamilton, Scotland
Loic Tallon – Senior Mobile Manager, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Optional Activities

Lunch is available either at the Union Club (additional $45 per person) or on your own. More information coming soon on a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to tour two recently re-installed British period rooms, the dining room from Hamilton Palace (1700) and the drawing room from Newland House (1748), with Thomas S. Michie, Russell B. and Andree Beauchamp Stearns Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Art of Europe. Additional fee will be required.
Cancellation Policy

Full refunds will be given for cancellations received by Friday, September 26, 2014. No refunds will be made after September 26, 2014. Register by calling 617-227-6993, email info@nicholshousemuseum.org, or register online at www.nicholshousemuseum.org/symposium_2014.php.