Today

Creative Foundations: Cyanotypes

Celebrate Knowing Nature: Stories of the Boreal Forest with a guided tour and workshop! First, go inside the exhibition with Jane Winchell, PEM’s Sarah Fraser Robbins Director of The Dotty Brown Art & Nature Center and Curator of Natural History, and discover the biodiversity and global importance of our northernmost forests. Afterward, join artist Patricia Scialo to learn how to make cyanotype prints:...

Hello Day: Salem Says Hello… Again

On May 1, 1971, Mayor Samuel Zoll proclaimed it “Hello Day.” Fire station bells rang across Salem at noon. Residents poured into the streets — along Essex Street, across the Common — to do something radical in its simplicity: say hello to each other. A rock band made up of Salem High students played on the Common. A conceptual artist...

Our Favorite Day

Join us for a reading of the book Our Favorite Day by Joowon Oh. Follow Papa as he goes about his favorite day of the week: Thursday, when he gets to eat dumplings, fly kites and go on other everyday adventures with his grandchild. Korean writer-illustrator Joowon Oh brings this family story to life through warm watercolor and cut-paper artwork....

Salem Horror Fest Opening Night

Programming includes keynote address from Victoria Price, a Q&A between Andrea Subisatti and Mick Garris, screening of the Jury Award–winning short film, and a screening of Sleepwalkers. Salem Horror Fest is a celebration of diverse voices and innovative filmmaking in a genre that best reflects our cultural demons and anxieties. We currently in are in our 9th year and can’t...

Field Studies (Symbiosis) Performance and Q&A

Field Studies (Symbiosis) looks at forest ecology from a variety of perspectives, beginning with an aerial overview of the Canadian Boreal Forest and moving through the dynamic processes that shape the landscape, including wind, water, pollination and the hidden forest communication channels of the micro-rhizomes in the soil. Three multidisciplinary artists collaborated over nine months and completed a weeklong residency at...

Field Studies (Symbiosis) Performance and Q&A

Field Studies (Symbiosis) looks at forest ecology from a variety of perspectives, beginning with an aerial overview of the Canadian Boreal Forest and moving through the dynamic processes that shape the landscape, including wind, water, pollination and the hidden forest communication channels of the micro-rhizomes in the soil. Three multidisciplinary artists collaborated over nine months and completed a weeklong residency at...

Creative Kids: Knowing Nature

Creative Kids: Knowing Nature will engage students ages 11–13 with PEM’s current exhibition Knowing Nature: Stories of the Boreal Forest and the interactive Art & Nature Center. Students will spend the week exploring themes of the natural world, trekking through the gardens and green spaces on PEM’s campus and making art, writing and creating multimedia works in response to their...

Cedar Bark Mat Weaving Demonstration

Join artist Elizabeth James-Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag) for a demonstration of the Native American art practice of weaving a mat from the inner bark of a cedar tree. After the session, see her nature-based artworks featured in the Knowing Nature exhibition. James-Perry, a restoration ecologist, will also discuss how she sustainably harvests and prepares natural materials from the forest, including plant...

Creative Kids: Knowing Nature

Creative Kids: Knowing Nature will engage students ages 11–13 with PEM’s current exhibition Knowing Nature: Stories of the Boreal Forest and the interactive Art & Nature Center. Students will spend the week exploring themes of the natural world, trekking through the gardens and green spaces on PEM’s campus and making art, writing and creating multimedia works in response to their...

Creative Kids: Knowing Nature

Creative Kids: Knowing Nature will engage students ages 11–13 with PEM’s current exhibition Knowing Nature: Stories of the Boreal Forest and the interactive Art & Nature Center. Students will spend the week exploring themes of the natural world, trekking through the gardens and green spaces on PEM’s campus and making art, writing and creating multimedia works in response to their...

Creative Kids: Knowing Nature

Creative Kids: Knowing Nature will engage students ages 11–13 with PEM’s current exhibition Knowing Nature: Stories of the Boreal Forest and the interactive Art & Nature Center. Students will spend the week exploring themes of the natural world, trekking through the gardens and green spaces on PEM’s campus and making art, writing and creating multimedia works in response to their...

Live Animal Encounter with Joy Marzolf

Know before you go In-person Location: Main Atrium Included with admission Children and youth under age 16 always receive free admission! Learn about forest animals here in New England and around the world. Animals of the forest have special adaptations to survive. How do they find food and avoid predators? How do some species deal with extreme temperatures and other...