Botanical Lessons

This is a long overdue post to celebrate Botanical Lessons, which opened at Cooper Hewitt on June 8 and will be on view until December 2020. The exhibition explores the intersections between nature and design in the 19th century through models, books, and periodicals that provided up-close views of the natural world at a time when microscopes and image protection were not yet widely available.

I had the privilege of assisting assistant curator of modern and contemporary design Emily Orr in curating this show as part of my curatorial capstone project, which was a phenomenal learning experience and opened my eyes to the scientific and educational revolution that happened in the 1800s. More importantly, perhaps, it was an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the most important design museum in the US and contributing to creating educational content that will hopefully inform and inspire hundreds of visitors.