For Such a Time as This: Calling on Esther Across the Ages

Who was Esther, what is her legacy, and how has she been used as a heroic symbol throughout history? Join Reverend Gloria Hammond-White, Co-Pastor of Bethel AME Church; Celene Ibrahim, Islamic scholar and cultural historian; and Rabbi Rachel Adelman of Hebrew College for a conversation that spans the ages, exploring the roles of women in religious texts as archetypes for faith, leadership, and bravery. How have people found themselves and their struggles reflected in these sacred texts and used them as validation for a wide range of beliefs?

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Jamie Diamond: Monstra Te Esse Matrem, 2026

All of us play roles every day. For some, that role is “mother.” But no person inhabits a single role, and no person can play their roles perfectly at all times. When she was eight years old, Gardner Artist-in-Residence Jamie Diamond witnessed her own mother's mask come off. This drove Diamond to write a letter to herself, outlining what kind of mother she would be. That letter marked the beginning of her engagement with the concept of motherhood, fraught with contradictory societal expectations, glorified and belittled. Diamond’s work for the Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade, outside of the Gardner Museum, is the latest manifestation of this exploration. In&nbsp;Monstra Te Esse Matrem&nbsp;(show yourself to be a mother), Diamond, now a mother herself, challenges the idealization of motherhood with an image that is both self-portrait and fantasy, asking: what does it mean to be a mother?&nbsp;&nbsp; Image: Jamie Diamond: Monstra Te Esse Matrem, 2026 [rendering] © Jamie Diamond. Image courtesy of Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston&nbsp;

Picturing Isabella 

How do you picture Isabella Stewart Gardner? The Museum’s founder came of age alongside photography, but as her celebrity rose, Isabella hid from the camera. She began to curate images of herself as carefully as the galleries of her Museum. Through a lifetime of photographs, we can trace Isabella’s complicated and evolving relationship to her image, fame, and legacy. As a young woman, she was photographed in the formal style typical of her time. As she grew older, she deliberately cultivated a public persona that was both dramatic and enigmatic. When she did agree to be photographed, she worked only with collaborators she knew and trusted, and frequently appeared veiled or turned away from the camera, just an impression. Picturing Isabella&nbsp;collects girlhood and travel photos, candids with friends and pets, posed studio images, newspaper clippings, and other archival materials to create a sketch of Isabella Stewart Gardner, whose camera-shy behavior guaranteed her Museum as her most enduring portrait.&nbsp;

Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self

Imagine you could be a different version of yourself. What parts of your identity might you reinvent? Since the 1920s, artists have used photography to create and share alter egos that are distinct from their public-facing identity.&nbsp;Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self&nbsp;gathers historical and contemporary images by artists from across the globe who engage with a character, an icon, an avatar—a persona. Ranging from playful to political to provocative, the 80+ works in&nbsp;Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self&nbsp;time-travel and gender-bend, mythologize, mask, and mirror. They are an invitation towards empathy and creativity. They represent possibility. How will you re-envision yourself?&nbsp;

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum 

Studio Workshop: Portraiture with Evoke Tintype

Visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's special exhibition, Picturing Isabella, and see historic salt, albumen, and platinum prints of a woman who fashioned her own public persona. You are then invited to suspend time in silver, using tintype photography to create a nostalgic, otherworldly portrait of yourself. The artists of Evoke Tintype Photography will teach you the process behind this 20th-century artform and allow you to reimagine yourself as an inhabitant of Isabella's bygone Boston in your very own tintype.&nbsp;

Visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's special exhibition, Picturing Isabella, and see historic salt, albumen, and platinum prints of a woman who fashioned her own public persona. You are then invited to suspend time in silver, using tintype photography to create a nostalgic, otherworldly portrait of yourself. The artists of Evoke Tintype Photography will teach you the process behind this 20th-century artform and allow you to reimagine yourself as an inhabitant of Isabella's bygone Boston in your very own tintype.

Self-Reflections: An Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop

Experience the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's new exhibit, Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self, through ekphrasis, the practice of creating poetry in response to a work of visual art. Participants will spend time in the exhibition and be guided by poet Precious Musa to engage closely with the art, cultivating reflection and conversation before ultimately penning their own response to the works that resonate with them.

Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

The Gardner’s new series, Thursday Night Music, launches with a bang. Making their Gardner debut, Ensemble Signal performs Steve Reich’s seminal minimalist work, Music for 18 Musicians.  Music for 18 Musicians is an hour-long work featuring four grand pianos, three full-size marimbas, two xylophones, three singers, clarinet, violin, and cello. Drawn from a wide variety of influences including Balinese gamelan, plainchant, and jazz, it premiered 50 years ago in 1976. Music for 18 Musicians continues to loom large in today’s musical landscape; David Bowie included the 1978 recording among his 25 favorite albums of all time. This will likely be the first time the piece has been performed by a professional ensemble in Boston, just in time for the anniversary of its premiere and Reich’s 90th birthday. You won't want to miss it!

Persona: An Exploration in Four Parts

Why does an artist take on a persona? How might the creation and embodiment of a persona be an exploration of the personal, cultural, or political? Deepen your engagement with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's new exhibition, Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self, by joining us for an artistic interrogation of the concept of “persona. ” Co-curators Pieranna Cavalchini and Melissa Harris will begin the conversation by introducing the exhibition and the 30 artists featured within it before turning it over to three of those creatives: Narcissister, Hakeem Adewumi and Jamie Diamond.&nbsp;&nbsp;

What Rembrandt Saw: The History of Stealing, Conserving, and Protecting Art in Boston

Anthony Amore, the Gardner Museum’s Director of Security and Chief Investigator, has spent the last two decades safeguarding the Museum’s collection of great historic and cultural value. As one of the world’s leading art crime experts, he has also authored numerous books on the subject of art theft. Holly Salmon,&nbsp;John L. and Susan K. Gardner Director of Conservation, has likewise dedicated over 20 years to the care and wellbeing of Isabella’s acquired objects, conserving the works for the “education and enjoyment of the public forever.” With unique perspectives to share on the story of the Dutch Room, the empty frames, and the stolen artworks, Anthony and Holly will discuss the Gardner’s place in the history of art crime, the history of the Dutch Room, and why thieves target the work of Rembrandt, one of the world’s most stolen artists. &nbsp; A book signing with Anthony will conclude the event. Copies of Anthony’s books will be available for purchase in Calderwood Hall before and after the conversation.

The History of the Black Madonna: Spirituals Made Visual

Join us as vocalist and Minister Nedelka K. Prescod offers a musical opening to a discussion on the depiction of Black women in Christian iconography. Crite’s celebration of the everyday woman, in tandem with his deep faith, led him to contribute beautiful and affecting imagery to the centuries-long tradition of the Black Madonna. Taking inspiration from the current exhibition <a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/visions-black-madonnas">Visions of Black Madonnas</a> in the Fenway Gallery, this program examines that history from the <a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection/12086">Black Glass Madonna</a> of 1500s Europe acquired by Isabella Stewart Gardner to Crite’s images of Mary as a Black mother on public transportation. George W. Russell, Jr., Chair of the Harmony and Jazz Composition Department at Berklee College of Music, will accompany the musical introduction by Reverend Prescod.

Gardner’s Eden: A Conversation & Book Signing

Join us for a special evening with James Prosek—award-winning artist, writer, and naturalist—in celebration of&nbsp;Gardner’s Eden, one of the Museum’s newest publications and the culmination of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/contemporary-art/artists/prosek-james">Prosek’s 2018 residency</a>&nbsp;at the Gardner. In conversation with Pieranna Cavalchini,&nbsp;Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art&nbsp;at the Gardner Museum, Prosek will trace the roots of inspiration for the book and provide insights into his artistic practice. An audience Q&amp;A and book signing will conclude the event. Copies of&nbsp;Gardner’s Eden&nbsp;will be available for purchase from&nbsp;<a href="https://gift.gardnermuseum.org/collections/museum-publications/products/gardners-eden">Gift at the Gardner</a>.&nbsp;

“The Street is Memory”: Resisting Boston’s Urban Removal

Allan Rohan Crite was both a history keeper and anti-gentrification activist, using his renderings of his neighbors in the South End and Lower Roxbury to document the displacement caused by urban renewal, which Crite referred to as “urban removal.” Join us as we discuss this complex history and the ways in which community trusts, neighborhood activists, policy makers, and artists today are striving to preserve and protect Boston’s diverse neighborhoods and communities.     Image Credit: Allan Rohan Crite (American, 1910–2007), Burning and Digging: South End Housing Project, January 1940. Watercolor with ink and white highlights, 38 x 28 cm (14 15/16 x 11 in.) Boston Athenaeum, Gift of the artist, 1971 (A U9 Cri.a. 1940.b). Courtesy of the Allan Rohan Crite Research Institute and Library

Indigenous Peoples' Day: Interwoven

Celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day with community and family through art-making, storytelling, and more as we come together, learning how we may weave our individual identities into a whole that honors all of its diverse parts. We are stronger when we are woven together. The Gardner Museum is honored to collaborate with Erin Genia (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate), Hawk Henries (Nipmuck), Yvonne Peterson (Chehalis), and Elizabeth James Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag) to acknowledge and respect Indigenous wisdom and traditions that strengthen communities.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Photo Credit: Billy Weiss&nbsp;

Saturday Open Studio 

Inspired by the Museum’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/summer-2025-exhibitions">summer exhibitions</a>, which explore gardens as sites of connection and creative potential, this season’s Open Studios activity invites participants to create their own garden through illustrations. Let your imagination take root and learn to draw a variety of flowers, fruits, vegetables and other objects to produce your very own paper garden. The activity was designed by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/about/polly-thayer-starr-artists">Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Artist</a>&nbsp;Rayna Lo.&nbsp;

S22: conversations

Wondering what to do in Boston? Places to eat? Free activities? Good for a group? Date night spot? Girls night out? The best things to do? Ask Joyraft!

Best places to go in Boston? Things to do? Places to eat?

Questions & answers about things to do in Boston

Recs 💬

Community recs 💬

S4: top picks

The most fun, cool and unique things to do in Boston. Can’t miss events, shows and experiences. Concerts, restaurants, bars, free things in Boston and beyond.

The most fun and cool events happening around Boston

Hot and new things to do in Boston

Hot & new

Hot & new 🔥

S11: happening this weekend

What to do in Boston this weekend? From festivals, concerts, performances, free events, screenings and more, Joyraft has the best things to do in Boston.

25+ things to do in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville this weekend

Things to do in Boston this weekend

This wknd

This weekend for you

S21: roundups

Our top picks: outdoor dining, free events, spring festivals, best bars, upcoming concerts, museum parties - the latest in and around Boston.  Slug: joyraft-top-picks-best-things-to-do-boston-ma

Top picks of the best things to do in and around Boston

Joyraft picks: Boston’s best things to do

Roundups ⭐️

Curated by Joyraft ⭐️

S28: calendar experiences

This week in Boston

This week in Boston 📆

This week 📆

S20: c+d experiences

Discover new, unique events and experiences happening in and around Boston. Perfect for date night, good for a group or with a friend. Be the first to know.

The newest events happening in and around Boston

The newest events on Joyraft

Just added

Just added to Joyraft

S16: editor picks

The most unique and can’t miss things coming up in Boston / Cambridge / Somerville and beyond. Festivals, food, drinks, fairs, concerts, art and free activities.

Unique and Can’t Miss Things to Do in Boston

Can’t-miss things to do in Boston 🚨

Can't-miss things to do 🚨

S2 (A): top experiences

The most popular things to do on Joyraft. Concerts, restaurants, bars, events, parties, openings, kid friendly, date ideas, free things in Boston and beyond.

Top 20 things to do in Boston

Top 20: Joyraft’s most popular

Top 20

Top 20 on Joyraft

S3 (A): trending experiences

Discover can’t miss events and things to do in Boston. The most fun, unique and cool events coming to the Boston area this spring and summer.

The hottest events happening in Boston

Trending events on Joyraft

Trending 📈

S19: interest based

Kid-friendly events in Boston

S18: interest based

Where to eat and drink in Boston? Joyraft has Boston’s newest bars, restaurants and specials. Drinks and pre fixe dinner menus. Cambridge & Somerville too.

Where

isgm

Experiences

For Such a Time as This: Calling on Esther Across the Ages

Jamie Diamond: Monstra Te Esse Matrem, 2026

Picturing Isabella

Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self

Studio Workshop: Portraiture with Evoke Tintype

Studio Workshop: Portraiture with Evoke Tintype

Self-Reflections: An Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop

Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

Persona: An Exploration in Four Parts

What Rembrandt Saw: The History of Stealing, Conserving, and Protecting Art in Boston

The History of the Black Madonna: Spirituals Made Visual

Gardner’s Eden: A Conversation & Book Signing

“The Street is Memory”: Resisting Boston’s Urban Removal

Indigenous Peoples' Day: Interwoven

Saturday Open Studio