"Nature As Artist": A Free, Self-Guided, Virtual Tour of the Harvard Museum of Natural History

The Harvard Museum of Natural History and Harvard Museums of Science & Culture present a new self-guided, virtual tour along the theme of "Nature as Artist." http://bit.ly/NatureAsArtistVirtualTour

Nature has long inspired we humans to imagine and create art. Dancers, designers, musicians, painters, and sculptors – they are all found in the natural world. Embark on this journey through the exhibit galleries of the Harvard Museum of Natural History, where we will reveal intriguing, and often surprising, sources of creativity and connection between the realms of nature and art.

Learn about crystallized color by looking at an elbaite tourmaline specimen from our mineral gallery, marvel at a Blaschka glass model of an apricot branch in the Glass Flowers gallery and Blaschka-made glass sea anemones in the Sea Creatures gallery. Visit the honeybees in the anthropods exhibit and discover how they achieve mastery in the architecture of their hives. Get to know a Triceratops fossil, African pangolin, and Indian Peafowl, and the coordinated movement of schooling fish. Sing with the whales in the Great Mammal Hall and recreate Peter and the Wolf in the New England Forests Exhibit.

As you navigate through the tour, use the icons at the bottom left of your screen to pause, read the descriptions, and explore the galleries. When you are ready to move to the next tour stop, simply click the play icon at the bottom left of your screen. To begin the tour, click the play icon.

Image courtesy of the Collection of Blaschka Glass Invertebrates, Museum of Comparative Zoology © President and Fellows of Harvard College