Animals All Around

On Saturday, June 20th, the Peabody Essex Museum invites families to celebrate the opening of PEM’s newest exhibition Trash Menagerie, with an action-packed day of activities focusing on creatures and creativity. Make a giant sea turtle from recycled paper, create a fabulous finned fish from discarded detergent bottles, and build moveable 'trashimals' to bring home. Visitors can enjoy a screening of the Oscar-winning animation, Wall-E, and stay on for Garbage Warrior, a documentary about sustainable architecture. All activities are free with museum admission. Full event details may be found below:

• Plastiquarium Creations: An Artist Demonstration with David Edgar (Noon - 4pm) Trash Menagerie contributing artist and arts educator David Edgar makes fish of all sizes from discarded plastic containers. See the transformation from laundry detergent bottles to fabulous finned fishes.

• Moveable Trashimals: Drop-in Art Activities (Noon - 4pm) Create your own moveable animal from discarded materials with Trash Menagerie artist Anne Cubberly. Display your creature in our temporary menagerie, then take your work of art home to live with you!

• Scrap-Paper Animal (1 - 3pm) Collaborate with environmental artist Kyle Browne to create an enormous paper collage sea turtle!

• Wall-E (Rated G) (1 - 2:40pm) Set in the early 29th century, this Oscar-winning computer-animated film follows the story of a robot named Wall-E who is designed to clean up a polluted, abandoned earth.

• Garbage Warrior (Not rated) (3 - 4:20 pm) This inspirational film documents renegade architect Michael Reynold and his battle to build earthships -- long-lasting, eco-friendly, off-the-grid homes built out of garbage.

On view in PEM’s interactive Art & Nature center from June 20th, 2009 through May 2010, Trash Menagerie presents over 30 inventive animal sculptures made from what most of us throw away, from baking tins to water bottles, piano keys to plastic bags. Purchase tickets for the films and ticketed events here and see an image slideshow here.

About the Peabody Essex Museum

The Peabody Essex Museum presents art and culture from New England and around the world. The museum's collections are among the finest of their kind, showcasing an unrivaled spectrum of American art and architecture (including four National Historic Landmark buildings) and outstanding Asian, Asian Export, Native American, African, Oceanic, Maritime and Photography collections. In addition to its vast collections, the museum offers a vibrant schedule of changing exhibitions and a hands-on education center. The museum campus features numerous parks, period gardens and 24 historic properties, including Yin Yu Tang, a 200-year-old house that is the only example of Chinese domestic architecture on display in the United States.

HOURS: Open Tuesday-Sunday and holiday Mondays, 10 am-5 pm. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

ADMISSION: Adults $15; seniors $13; students $11. Additional admission to Yin Yu Tang: $5. Members, youth 16 and under and residents of Salem enjoy free general admission and free admission to Yin Yu Tang.

INFO: Call 866-745-1876 or visit our Web site at www.pem.org.