Materials Lab Workshop: Modeling Material Culture in Paper

This workshop is inspired by the exhibition Dare to Know: Prints and Drawings in the Age of Enlightenment, which explores how the graphic arts inspired, shaped, and gave immediacy to new ideas in the so-called age of reason. It invites visitors to embrace the Enlightenment’s same spirit of inquiry—to investigate, to persuade, and to imagine. The exhibition is on view at the Harvard Art Museums through January 15, 2023.

We will first gather in the galleries with Elizabeth Rudy, the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints, and visiting artist Angela Lorenz. Rudy will explain the main themes of the exhibition and focus on a few works that present mysteries that remain unsolved. Lorenz will show examples of her “McSpheres” (Material Culture Spheres). These spheres serve as a low-tech, open model for the 3-D visualization of objects. She developed them as tools to explore, categorize, and describe any object in the world—and to create connections with other objects. Participants will have an opportunity to closely examine and discuss the selected works together in the galleries. We will then proceed to the Materials Lab to fashion our own McSpheres. A conversation about the participants’ creations and the works in the exhibition will conclude the workshop.

Lorenz sees the McSphere as “a call and response specific to Dare to Know, but [also as] a way to access critical thinking that applies to any object, environment, cupboard, refrigerator, living room or neighborhood. Some people will go micro to the carbon atom and the water cycle, others macro to settler colonialism and global trade.” The artist’s hope is that the McSphere will serve as a tool for the exploration of objects in other museums, neighborhoods, and contexts.

Led by:
Elizabeth Rudy, Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints, Harvard Art Museums
Angela Lorenz, Artist

No prior experience necessary. Bring your imagination, curiosity, and creativity! This workshop will take place in the Materials Lab, Lower Level.

$15 materials fee. Registration is required and space is limited. Registration for this workshop will open on Saturday, October 1, 2022 at this link, and participants will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis. To join the waitlist, please email am_register@harvard.edu. Minimum age of 14.

Please see the museum visit page to learn about our general policies for visiting the museum.

The Harvard Art Museums are committed to accessibility for all visitors. For anyone requiring accessibility accommodations for our programs, please contact us at am_register@harvard.edu at least 48 hours in advance.