HOME /

Events

    MassQ Ball 2022: Origin

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    The MassQ Ball 2022: Origin will feature the diverse artistic expressions of Boston’s communities of color. Interact with the landscape in new and creative ways, transform into a walking work of art through the practice of MassQing (a ritual application of paint to the face derived from ancient traditions of body decoration), and enjoy performances and art work by Boston cultural artists including:

    2:00pm–4:00pm:

    • ...

    Read more about MassQ Ball 2022: Origin

    MassQ Ball 2022: Origin | Making of Ceremonial Vessels

    Location: 

    Hemlock Hill and Conifer Collection, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Led by Bengali culture worker Pampi, this audience participatory workshop allows attendees to weave love letters into hand-crafted ceremonial vessels for their loved ones. Vessels will be fashioned out of natural materials sourced from the Arboretum grounds and displayed in the MassQ Ball on July 9.

    Learn more and RSVP for this event.

    Read more about MassQ Ball 2022: Origin | Making of Ceremonial Vessels

    Stoneroot Epistle Artists’ Talk: Regenerational Collaboration

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Join artist Daina Swagerty and poet Joyce Swagerty for a conversation about Stoneroot Epistle, their artistic collaboration now on view at the Arboretum's Hunnewell Visitor Center. Their show invites us to contemplate our capacity for wonder through the lens of an acorn through the seasons. Select pages of vivid imagery and inspirational poetry offer a layered landscape exploring the movement of universal journey.

    ...

    Read more about Stoneroot Epistle Artists’ Talk: Regenerational Collaboration
    2022 Jun 22

    Art Show | Meaningful Beauty: The Vibrant Vocabulary of Honeysuckles

    Repeats every weekday until Sun Jul 24 2022 .
    12:00pm to 4:00pm

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Enjoy a multimedia glimpse into how plants use visual signals to communicate with the world around them with Wendy Clement’s multimedia exhibition using the design initiatives of Chris Ault’s Interactive Multimedia class at The College of New Jersey. Now on view at the Arnold Arboretum’s Hunnewell Building.

    Learn more about the exhibition...

    Read more about Art Show | Meaningful Beauty: The Vibrant Vocabulary of Honeysuckles

    Director’s Series | Life: The Arnold Arboretum as an Institution of Public Health

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum—Online

    The Arnold Arboretum's sesquicentennial Director's Series traces the Arnold’s significance in the landscape architecture movement, value for the people of Boston, and leadership in creating global connections between plants and people.

    Panelists include:

    • Dr. Michelle Kondo, Research Social Scientist, UDSA-Forest Service

    • Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space, City of Boston

    • Laurence Cotton, Consulting Producer, “Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing...

    Read more about Director’s Series | Life: The Arnold Arboretum as an Institution of Public Health
    2022 May 16

    Art Exhibit | Stoneroot Epistle: Collage and Words in Conversation

    Repeats every week on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday until Sat Jun 25 2022 .
    12:00pm to 4:00pm

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum (Hunnewell Visitor Center), 125 Arborway, Boston

    Visit the Arnold Arboretum's newly reopened Hunnewell Visitor Center and immerse yourself in this truly unique exhibition. The book, Stoneroot Epistle, was born out of Joyce Swagerty (Harvard class of '78) and Daina Swagerty's desire to understand the connection between themselves, the natural world, and the universal journey inspired by the African diaspora. The project by this mother and daughter was a spiritual adventure.

    ...

    Read more about Art Exhibit | Stoneroot Epistle: Collage and Words in Conversation

    Art Exhibition | Seeds for Tomorrow: Woody Plants of the Arnold Arboretum

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum—Online

    Laura Fantini uses colored pencil to render seeds in exquisite, hyper-realistic drawings. This series is called “Hope,” and therein lies the power of seeds. They are emblematic of both birth and growth—small, complicated, and extraordinary, like the wonderful drawings in this exhibition.

    Learn more about and view this virtual exhibition....

    Read more about Art Exhibition | Seeds for Tomorrow: Woody Plants of the Arnold Arboretum

    In the Groves

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Immerse yourself in the deep beauty of trees in this story and music journey through the Arboretum. Led by Oracle award-winning storyteller Diane Edgecomb and Celtic harper Margot Chamberlain, this unfolding performance of ancient tales and songs from cultures around the world takes place in a variety of groves—birch, cherry, and evergreen—at some of the Arboretum’s loveliest spots.

    This event is free, but registration is required and limited. Not designed for children under 12, and dogs are not allowed. COVID guidelines will be followed.

    ...

    Read more about In the Groves

    "Every Pecan Tree": Trees, Meaning, and Memory in Enslaved People’s Lives

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum—Online

    This is the third lecture in the Arnold Arboretum's 2021 Director's Lecture Series. Tiya Miles takes up the pecan tree as inspiration for exploring the meaning of trees in the lives of enslaved African Americans. Using a family heirloom, slave narratives, oral histories, and missionary records, her talk underscores the importance of trees in the Black experience of captivity and resistance, ultimately revealing the centrality of the natural world to Black, and indeed human, survival.

    ...

    Read more about "Every Pecan Tree": Trees, Meaning, and Memory in Enslaved People’s Lives

    A History of Path-Making at the Arnold Arboretum

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum—Online

    At the time of its founding in 1872, the land on which the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is sighted was a patchwork of farmland and forest. As the Arboretum was planted, pathways were developed to lead people through the picturesque landscape. As the landscape developed, economies shifted, wars took place, and directors changed. Each of these factors subtly influenced shifts in the park’s path system. Join the Arnold Arboretum on Zoom with Jared Rubinstein as he reveals the layers of change in this beloved landscape.

    ...

    Read more about A History of Path-Making at the Arnold Arboretum

    Over Time: Through Art, the Impact of Change in the Arboretum Landscape

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum—Online

     

    Five decades of weekly walks in the Arnold Arboretum find expression in Ginny Zanger’s art. “Ambling” gives her time to sketch and paint. Using the unique possibilities of her favorite medium—watercolor—and printmaking, Zanger explores, with articulate interpretations, the Arboretum’s rich botanical display. In this online show, most of her work is on Yupo, a silky, polypropylene paper that enhances the flow of the watercolor.

    ...

    Read more about Over Time: Through Art, the Impact of Change in the Arboretum Landscape

    Urban Ponds: Essential Ecosystems for the Enjoyment and Discovery of Nature

    Location: 

    Online Event

    Ponds are one of many beautiful features of the Arnold Arboretum’s ecosystem and landscape. The Bradley Rosaceous Collection garden is the setting for three eco-rich ponds—Dawson, Faxon, and Rehder—named for former Arboretum staff. Photographer Bruce Wilson brings his now practiced eye to the discovery of shadows, reflections, visitor interaction, and flora in those ponds, as well as in an urban pond in Newton. His pond images complement the trees, emphasize the subtle or saturated colors of water, and capture interactions between visitors and the scenes of rich pondlife.

    This...

    Read more about Urban Ponds: Essential Ecosystems for the Enjoyment and Discovery of Nature

    Opening Reception for The Path Taken: Photography by Lawrence Mullings

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Join the Arnold Arboretum for an opening reception for their newest exhibition, The Path Taken: Photography by Lawrence Mullings.

    On any given day, Lawrence Mullings can be found exploring the paths and hidden corners of the Arboretum. While walking in the landscape to regain his health, his joy in photography was rekindled. He saw how the Arboretum was many different things to him, and to the many different people who come here from around the neighborhood and around the world. To Mullings, the Arboretum is its trees, as well as the myriad ways visitors enjoy them...

    Read more about Opening Reception for The Path Taken: Photography by Lawrence Mullings

    Photography with Chris Morgan

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Chris Morgan is fascinated by the patterns and textures in nature, the shapes of trees, and the movements of birds. He captures these beautifully in his photographs, which were on display at the Arnold Arboretum in the winter of 2019.

    In this program, Chris will discuss his photographic interests and methods in the classroom and then move outdoors to demonstrate his techniques. Class participants will be able to learn alongside Chris, evaluating views, debating camera angles, and considering focal points in order to shoot better images. Participants should bring their...

    Read more about Photography with Chris Morgan

    The Light You Cannot See: Infrared Photography by Betsey Henkels

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Opening Reception with the Artist: Saturday, October 26, 1:00pm–3:00pm

    Betsey Henkels uses the camera to explore the world in two ways—first by noticing and appreciating objects that she might otherwise overlook, and second, by transforming ordinary scenes into prints that are compelling and unexpected. Henkels spent many hours in the Arboretum, photographing tree canopies, bark, and above ground roots in infrared. Infrared is magical and mysterious. The photographer shoots images without knowing exactly what will show up in the print. Looking through the viewfinder of an...

    Read more about The Light You Cannot See: Infrared Photography by Betsey Henkels

    Art Workshop: Revealing the Wild Print

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Join the Arboretum's exhibiting artist, Steffanie Schwam, in this hands-on workshop. You will make your own unique monoprint on paper or fabric, using leaves from the Arboretum's collections, paint, printmaking tools, recycled materials, and the inspiration of the surrounding landscape.

    Note: This workshop is appropriate for ages 8 and up. An adult must accompany anyone between ages 8–12.

    Cost: $15 for members; $25 for nonmembers.

    ...

    Read more about Art Workshop: Revealing the Wild Print

    Art Workshop: Cyanotype Printing for Families

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Sarah Cross, the Arnold Arboretum's exhibiting artist of Between the Leaves, will hold a cyanotype printing workshop for families. Join Sarah to make beautiful blue prints of leaves and blooms found at the Arboretum, while you learn about this alternative printing technique. After making your own unique cyanotype photogram, you will be able to take it home. All materials will be provided.

    Please note: This free drop-in activity is appropriate for ages 7 and up.

    ...

    Read more about Art Workshop: Cyanotype Printing for Families

    Art Workshop: Making Art in the Landscape

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Join Paul Olson, the Arnold Arboretum's exhibiting artist of Drawn to Paint, for a sketching workshop "en plein air" (outside, in the landscape). Olson, an instructor at Mass College of Art and RISD, will focus on teaching you to sketch trees from direct observation outdoors. He will encourage you to think about simplifying your design with just the essential shapes to make a good composition in light pencil. Then, you can use ink and water for an expressive tonal image. Bring pencils and sketchbooks; some supplies will be available.

    Cost: $10 for...

    Read more about Art Workshop: Making Art in the Landscape

    The Art of Botanical Prose

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    All writers must contend with translation. A poet translates the movement of a dancing figure into a brief couplet, and an essayist translates the noise and commotion of the city where she lives into a single paragraph. The three-dimensional world filters into text, and when done especially well—the realm of literature and art—readers often forget that translation has even occurred.

    In this talk, Jonathan Damery, the associate editor for Arnoldia, will provide a readerly tour through horticultural and botanical reference books, encouraging readers to see the artistic endeavor...

    Read more about The Art of Botanical Prose

Pages