July Free First Thursday

Thursday, July 6, 2023
5 - 8 pm

Join us for a relaxing evening of art, community and plant music! Learn more about the many different ways to engage with nature and the plants around us. Enjoy live music performances, art-making activities and talks showcasing Isabella's love for plants and her historic collection of horticulture.

Listen to the sounds of nature with Luminary Skooby Laposky and musician Charles Copley as they create a live sound mix using plants within the Jordan Garden and Courtyard. Skooby and Charles will use biodata sonification devices to measure electricity generated from live plant material to create beautiful, ambient music—literally giving voices to the plants around us! Come by the studio to create unique prints using plant materials inspired by our beautiful horticulture. The Cafe is open late for dinner and drinks.

Print with Plants! | 5 - 8 PM
Bertucci Education Studio
Stop by the Studio for lively drop-in art-making activities inspired by our current exhibition. In collaboration with Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artist, Kate Wildman, explore the art of printmaking and create a horticulture-inspired print using naturally-dyed fabric, linoleum stamps, and other plant-related materials. All materials will be provided.
Ask A Horticulturist | 5:30 - 7 PM
Courtyard
Meet members from our Horticulture team and learn about 'Summer Blues' in the courtyard. We'll answer your curiosities about how we grow this sweet, summer palette including agapanthus, delphinium and hydrangea for public delight.
Palm Readings

Neighborhood Salon Luminary, Skooby Laposky and musician Charles Copley will play the plants and trees in the Jordan Garden, reading their biodata and turning those measurements into a generative composition of dreamy, ambient music. Come outside and sit by the tree as you listen to the sounds of nature.
Plant Music in the Garden | 5:30 - 6:30 PM
Jordan Garden
Plant Music in the Garden | 7:30 - 8:30 PM
Courtyard, Historic Palace

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Skooby Laposky is a sound designer and artist based in Cambridge, MA and Hudson, NY. Through the use of biodata sonification and deep listening techniques, Laposky creates generative real-time sound installations, musical recordings, and live performances based on the dynamics of ecosystems that are often hidden or unconsidered.

Recent projects include the ongoing public art project Hidden Life Radio and his site-specific musical project Palm Reading with L.A.-based guitarist Charles Copley. Their latest location release is a collection of compositions recorded in Joshua Tree National Park. Upcoming location releases include the Wadi Qelt oasis in Palestine and Ein Gedi in Israel.

Image Courtesy of artist

Charlie Copley, is a guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A native of Cambridge, MA, Copley is currently based in Los Angeles, CA. As a songwriter, his work is indebted to the traditions of folk music, soul and blues melodies, and the heartbeat of dance and electro. He records ambient and instrumental music under the moniker Amber Chrome. Copley is one half of the duo Palm Reading, creating live, improvised guitar performance to accompany music generated by real-time plant biodata. Palm Reading records live, on-location to create sonic time capsules that speak to the natural environment of a certain place. Palm Reading has recorded in such locations as Joshua Tree National Park, Walden Pond, and the Wadi Qelt Valley in Palestine.

Image Courtesy of Mimi Raver

Katherine Wildman is a Boston-based interdisciplinary artist whose work is informed by the dreamworld, natural world, cosmos, astrology and the absurd. Her practice weaves together many processes and mediums such as fibers, stone-carving, printmaking, ceramics and more. She received her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in 2019 and has exhibited works at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Fountain Street Gallery, Beacon Gallery, and Gallery 263. She has attended residencies at Vermont Studio Center and Pilotenkueche; and is a 2020 recipient of the City of Boston’s Artist Career Development Grant. She is currently an artist in residence at the Boston Center for the Arts and a Visiting Lecturer at Massachusetts College of Art & Design. She is also a proud co-conspirator of the DIY space 10b projects, founded by local Boston artist, Corinna D’Schoto.

Image Courtesy of Melissa Blackall

Free days are supported in part by the Wallace Minot Leonard Foundation and the Liberty Mutual Foundation.

Education and community programs receive support from the Vertex Foundation, Rowland Foundation, the Yawkey Foundation, The Beker Foundation, Liberty Mutual Foundation, The Hamilton Company Charitable Foundation, Thomas Anthony Pappas Charitable Foundation, and Janet Burke Mann Foundation.

Studio activities are generously sponsored by the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust.

The Neighborhood Salon is supported in part by the Barr Foundation ArtsAmplified Initiative and the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust.

The Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the state of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.