Celebrate the Olympics with PEM!

[Editor's Note: The following was provided by the Public Relations office of the Peabody Essex Museum.]

On August 9 - 10, the Peabody Essex Museum is pleased to celebrate the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics with a special ATRIUM ALIVE focused on Chinese Art and Culture.  The public is invited to explore PEM’s renowned Chinese art collection while taking part in an array of free activities planned for the weekend, including:

• Ping-pong matches led by MIT’s nationally-ranked players in the forecourt of Yin Yu Tang
• Traditional Chinese music performances by Silk Road Project musician, Hu Jianbing
• Tai Chi family workshops held in the PEM’s stunning East India Marine Hall
• Lion Dance performances and martial art demonstrations in the atrium
• Documentaries, readings, art activities, and more!

Visitors are also encouraged to explore Yin Yu Tang, an authentic Chinese merchant’s house from the Qing dynasty and the only example of its kind in North America.  For more information on Yin Yu Tang, please visit: http://pem.org/yinyutang

A schedule of the weekend’s events can be found here: August 9, August 10.

Polar Attractions at the Peabody Essex Museum’s Art & Nature Center

[Editor's Note: The following was provided by the Public Relations office of the Peabody Essex Museum.]

Salem, Mass. — The Peabody Essex Museum invites you to discover our planet’s polar regions in a new exhibition at the museum’s Art & Nature Center.

As magnificent as they are vulnerable, the Arctic and Antarctic inspire contemporary artists to capture the expansive panoramas, sculptural ice formations and resilient life thriving at the ends of the earth.

Polar Attractions explores creative responses to the polar environment and the science of climate change through 47 works of contemporary art and interactive stations.

“This exhibition encourages families to experience the polar regions through artwork and activities that demonstrate how nature and human influences have shaped these distinct, biologically important ecosystems over time,” said Jane Winchell, The Sarah Fraser Robbins Director of the Art & Nature Center and PEM curator of natural history. “Visitors will be surprised by the range of color, scale and texture in the show. We hope they will think of this exhibition as an opportunity to see parts of the world most of us will never have a chance to visit.”

Works conveying the unique viewpoints of more than 30 North American artists — including Native Alaskans and Canadian Inuit — are presented in four interconnected thematic sections: Ice, Landscape, Wildlife, and Human Interaction. Continue reading »