Lia and William Poorvu Gallery, Schlesinger Library, 3 James Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
This dual tour of two Harvard Radcliffe Institute exhibitions—In Their Own Voices: Black Women’s Lives from the Archives and A Female Landscape and the Abstract Gesture—is an opportunity to view and celebrate materials and artworks by and about Black women. For more information email: events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
Families need nature at all times of the year! We’ll go on a StoryWalk to learn how a little bird can bring back the Sun! Then we will go inside and make a paper model of an Eastern chickadee.
Join program assistant Shirley Hunt to explore the role of recorded music in Nam Jun Paik’s audiovisual work Electronic Opera #1. An accomplished musician and independent scholar, Hunt will share insights into the history, cultural context, and interpretation of musical material used in the creation of this artwork.
Join us for a winter foraging walk to learn what wild plants can be foraged and brewed into tea. Visit some of the Arboretum's tastiest winter plants, from sweet birch and sweet fern to sassafras and spicebush. You may even get to taste some of the teas yourself! Led by Manager of Adult Programming and Events Sarah Nechamen and Horticulturist Brendan Keegan.
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge
Join the fall 2023 Public Building & Architecture Tours of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, housed within Le Corbusier’s only building in North America, led by architecture students. Walk through and learn more about the layered history of the building, its brutalist and modernist structural features, and the educational and cultural legacy of the Carpenter Center at Harvard University.
Join curator Sarah Laursen for a tour of the exhibition Objects of Addiction: Opium, Empire, and the Chinese Art Trade. The exhibition explores the entwined histories of the opium trade and the Chinese art market between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. Laursen will share how these two commodities—acquired through both legal and illicit means—have had a lasting impact on the global economy, public health, immigration law, education, and the arts.
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 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.
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.
Dusk in December is a perfect time to look and listen for Great Horned Owls, often heard calling throughout the Arboretum’s collections. Join Horticulturist Brendan Keegan and Zoo New England's Matthew Kamm to hear about the owls' breeding and nesting behavior, learn how to go owling ethically, and possibly hear and see a few owls as well.
What is a conifer, exactly? How is it different from an evergreen, or a gymnosperm? Join docent Paul Eldrenkamp as he leads us through the different types of conifers and how to identify them, the reasons behind their distinctive needle-like forms, and their rise and fall in evolutionary history.
Our galleries are full of stories—this series of talks gives visitors a chance to hear the best ones! The talks highlight new works on view, take a fresh look at old favorites, investigate artists’ materials and techniques, and reveal the latest discoveries by curators, conservators, fellows, visiting artists, technologists, and other contributors.
Join staff as they discuss and activate this experimental device from 1930 by László Moholy-Nagy, a Bauhaus pioneer.
Join curator Sarah Laursen for a tour of the exhibition Objects of Addiction: Opium, Empire, and the Chinese Art Trade (September 15, 2023–January 14, 2024). The exhibition explores the entwined histories of the opium trade and the Chinese art market between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. Laursen will share how these two commodities—acquired through both legal and illicit means—have had a lasting impact on the global economy, public health, immigration law, education, and the arts.
Families need nature at all times of the year! We’ll collect sticks, cones, leaves, seeds, and all kinds of natural materials from the forest floor, and then we’ll make our Fairy Houses among the maples!
Join us for a tour of the Arboretum, designed for a blind or visually impaired audience. Tour seasonal plant highlights and learn about Arboretum history from a trained docent, as you experience the Arboretum through smell, touch, sound, and detailed verbal descriptions.
Accessibility: This tour will take place entirely on paved roads inside the Arboretum. The route is relatively flat and is accessible to wheelchairs and walkers. The tour will cover one mile or less, depending how quickly the group moves. Service animals are welcome.
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge
Join the fall 2023 Public Building & Architecture Tours of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, housed within Le Corbusier’s only building in North America, led by architecture students. Walk through and learn more about the layered history of the building, its brutalist and modernist structural features, and the educational and cultural legacy of the Carpenter Center at Harvard University.
Online or at Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford St., Cambridge and Peabody Museum, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
Join Stephanie Mach (Diné), Peabody Museum Curator of North American Collections and Diné (Navajo) guests for a panel conversation about the ways they each care for Navajo cultural heritage within their various areas of work and interest.
Following the panel conversation, attendees are encouraged to visit the Hall of the North American Indian at the Peabody Museum where Harvard students will be available to share information about key cultural items on display.
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.
Bussey Brook Meadow is left mostly untouched by human management and interference, creating a flourishing urban wild with wildflowers, wetland, and both native and introduced plants and animals. Join Dr. Peter Del Tredici to explore this unique space and learn about the history of the meadow, the plant patterns that appear there, and the long-term ecology of the site.