Current and Upcoming Art Shows
Note: The Hunnewell Building lecture hall is often used for meetings and classes. Please call 617.384.5209 for exhibition availability. Hunnewell Visitor Center hours.
Interpreting an Urban Wild
Illustrations by Anne Parker Schmalz
January 17 – March 22, 2009
Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall
Arnold Arboretum
Reception with the artist
Saturday, January 17, 2009, 1:00–3:00pm
Artist Anne Schmalz creates illustrated interpretive signs that encourage travelers in the Bussey Brook Meadow to look closely at this unique urban wild within the Arboretum landscape. The seasonally rotated signs along the Blackwell Footpath invite visitors to notice wildflowers, seed pods, animal tracks, and signs of ecological change in a reclaimed urban landscape. The signs are sponsored by the Arboretum Park Conservancy, the advocacy group that initiated the footpath’s construction. Anne’s precise illustrations, rendered in ink and delicate watercolor-pencil, frame interpretive content in an almost poetic manner. Brought indoors for this exhibition, these signs serve equally well as works of art and educational tools.
Anne retired to Boston with her husband in 2001. They enjoy the many parklands and trails that bring Bostonians closer to nature. She has cultivated her drawing skills with classes at the Arboretum, Wellesley College, and the South Shore Art Center. She also exhibits along the Neponset Greenway in Dorchester.
Where Art and Science Meet
A Celebration of the Life and Art of Esther Heins
April 4 – May 31, 2009
Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall
Arnold Arboretum
In large format botanical illustrations, many from the living collections of the Arboretum, Esther Heins combined her talent for drawing with a passion for flowers. She possessed an extraordinary ability to create works of both meticulous accuracy and great artistic beauty. According to Arboretum Director Emeritus Peter Ashton, “Through the eyes of Esther Heins, the intrinsic beauty of all plants becomes apparent.”
One of the great women botanical artists, Esther Heins lived in the Boston area almost all of her 99 years. This special retrospective celebrates her life and offers a rare opportunity to appreciate the subtle power of her original works of art.