Harvard Museum of Natural History (26 Oxford Street) and Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology (11 Divinity Avenue)
Teen Saturdays is designed for Latino high school students. Workshops delve into four fascinating traditional celebrations from Central America. Participants will embark on a journey to discover diverse festivals that shape societies in El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. During each workshop, teenagers will visit exhibits, use art and language to create original works, and challenge their sense of what a tradition can be through discussion. We will learn about the historical and social contexts behind these festivities, their cultural symbolism, and the values they embody...
Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery, Byerly Hall, 8 Garden St., Cambridge
Join the artist Alia Farid for a tour of Water Stories: River Goddesses, Ancestral Rites, and Climate Crisis and a discussion of the artwork Chibayish, 2023. Chibayish is part of a larger group of works that Farid has developed since 2018, focused on the impact of extractive industries on southern Iraq and Kuwait's ecological and social fabric.
Join curatorial assistant Casey Monahan to explore how investigating the verso (reverse side) of a painting can sometimes help construct the history and provenance of a work. Monahan will share how details such as labels, numbers, and other elements that are normally “unseen” are essential for curators as they research and catalogue works in the collections.
Join us for an evening of art, fun, food, and more! This event is free and open to everyone.
Gather with friends and mingle inside our Italian-inspired courtyard while taking in the smooth sounds from DJ C-Zone. Browse the museum shop and chat over a snack or drink for purchase from local vendors. And of course, wander the galleries to take in our world-class art collections—over 50 galleries to explore! Don’t forget to check out the current exhibitions.
Join curator Jen Thum for a tour of the exhibition Seeing in Art and Medicine. Thum will share insights about the museums’ medical humanities program for radiologists—on which the exhibition is based—the curatorial process, and what can be gleaned through close looking.
How wild, really, is Albert Bierstadt’s wilderness in Rocky Mountains, "Lander’s Peak"? Curatorial intern Saffron Sener will discuss this American landscape.
Please join us at the Harvard Art Museums for an afternoon of family-friendly activities open to all ages. Explore the museums with scavenger hunts and family conversation cards; use your eyes, mind, and imagination to engage deeply with works on view; and play with clay, wire, and shadows in the Materials Lab.
The event is free and open to the public. Sign-up for certain activities during the day, such as art-making workshops, will occur on-site and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery, Byerly Hall, 8 Garden St., Cambridge
Join the artist and educator Evelyn Rydz for an afternoon of conversation and collective artmaking within the exhibition Water Stories: River Goddesses, Ancestral Rites, and Climate Crisis, on view September 18–December 16, 2023.
The exhibition presents artworks that tell alternative stories of water experience in the context of climate change, while encouraging viewers to appreciate the multivalent meaning of water and their own relationship to it. Rydz has repeatedly observed the increasing impacts on natural and cultural ecosystems throughout her various field...
Practitioners of art and medicine are trained to discern fine details and changes in skin coloration. But what even is "skin color"? In this workshop, led by artist and medical student William Shen, we will begin by viewing the exhibition Seeing in Art and Medicine to discuss how representation of skin colors, or lack thereof, has influenced art and medicine throughout history. We will explore the biological origin of skin color and learn how artists recapitulate this process through paint and synthetic materials.
Shen will show you how to dissect complex hues into...
Harvard Museum of Natural History (26 Oxford Street) and Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology (11 Divinity Avenue)
Teen Saturdays is designed for Latino high school students. Workshops delve into four fascinating traditional celebrations from Central America. Participants will embark on a journey to discover diverse festivals that shape societies in El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. During each workshop, teenagers will visit exhibits, use art and language to create original works, and challenge their sense of what a tradition can be through discussion. We will learn about the historical and social contexts behind these festivities, their cultural symbolism, and the values they embody...
Join us for a hands-on workshop on traditional Chinese brush painting with master brush painter Qingxiong Ma. Enjoy this opportunity to slow down, try your hand at re-creating elements of the natural world, and ponder your connection to the natural environment.
To inspire you before the workshop, visit the Asian art galleries on Level 2 to view the installations The Living Earth in Gallery 2740 and Human vs. Nature in Gallery 2600, both of which feature paintings focused on nature.
Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
Learn more about this joyful holiday, a national symbol of Mexico. Enjoy craft activities for the young and young at heart. Personalize a sugar skull (extra fee), learn about the natural history of Mexico, watch live folk dance and mariachi performances, purchase traditional pan de muerto, hot chocolate or specialty cocktails. Contribute your message of love to honor and celebrate the lives of the departed at the museum’s altars.
Activities are free except where noted. RSVP by October 25 at 12:00pm and check in on arrival.
Join an evening of art, fun, food, and more! Gather with friends and mingle inside the museums' Italian-inspired courtyard while taking in the smooth sounds from DJ C-Zone. Browse the museum shop and chat over a snack or drink for purchase from local vendors. And of course, wander the galleries to take in world-class art collections with over 50 galleries to explore!
Harvard Museum of Natural History (26 Oxford Street) and Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology (11 Divinity Avenue)
Teen Saturdays is designed for Latino high school students. Workshops delve into four fascinating traditional celebrations from Central America. Participants will embark on a journey to discover diverse festivals that shape societies in El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. During each workshop, teenagers will visit exhibits, use art and language to create original works, and challenge their sense of what a tradition can be through discussion. We will learn about the historical and social contexts behind these festivities, their cultural symbolism, and the values they embody...
Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
"Shrink" yourself down to "walk" into an ancient Maya vessel using augmented reality! Maya women were often essential for uniting kingdoms. When a marriage was arranged between Maya royal families, kings would exchange gifts like this ceramic three-legged plate for serving chocolate. Use the museum's iPad as a "magic window" to discover fine details on one such plate that cannot be seen on the actual artifact. A gallery facilitator will guide you through the experience and will share more about the Maya.
This is a drop-in activity for International Archaeology Day — no...
Harvard College Observatory Plate Stacks, 47 Concord Ave., Cambridge
During Massachusetts STEM Week, join us for an evening celebrating remarkable women in astronomy from across the galaxy. Enjoy a dynamic lecture on exciting applications of astronomy, explore a captivating exhibition in the Great Refractor, engage in family-friendly STEM activities, and cap off the night with fall refreshments and stargazing.
Remarks from ProfessorLisa Kewley, Director, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Welcome remarks from Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll, highlighting...
Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery, Byerly Hall, 8 Garden St., Cambridge
Join the curator Jinah Kim and the artist Atul Bhalla for a tour of Water Stories: River Goddesses, Ancestral Rites, and Climate Crisis and a discussion of the artwork I was Not Waving but Drowning II.
After years of observing ecological deterioration and alienation of the river from urban communities, Atul Bhalla ritualistically submerged himself in the Yamuna River, alluringly captured in the set of fourteen serial photographs on loan from the Harvard Art Museums. Kim and Bhalla will discuss this work and its context within the gallery.
In this conversation, Simone Browne and Mimi Ọnụọha will examine how artists have critically grappled with the hidden infrastructures of surveillance today, and explore the consequences of what is made visible through data.
A reception will follow in the related Surveillance exhibition at the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard Science Center, 1 Oxford Street, second floor, Cambridge, MA, from 7:30pm–8:15pm.
Lia and William Poorvu Gallery, Schlesinger Library, 3 James St., Cambridge
Join a tour of the Solidarity! Transnational Feminisms Then and Now exhibition led by student guides and staff from the Schlesinger Library.
Solidarity! Transnational Feminisms Then and Now features 50 years of transnational feminist collections held at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. Through a rich array of materials—including posters, newspapers, photographs, and memorabilia—the exhibition explores the promises and limits of global feminist solidarity, while highlighting the key role of iconography in transnational feminist and...
Join exhibition curator and Houghton librarian Molly Schwartzburg for a special guided tour of At the Limits of the Book: Bindings from the Houghton Library Collections. This 45-minute tour will include discussion of the themes of the exhibition, highlights from the materials on display, and ample time for participant questions.