Hanging Leaves: Bangkok Installation, by Joan Backes

I always appreciate the stark and intricate beauty of winter’s bare branches, but there’s something about the curtain of falling leaves at the end of the Atrium at work that’s good for my autumn-loving soul.  Recently, I had an opportunity to interview Branching Out artist Joan Backes for the Peabody Essex Museum’s Connected, to ask about her multinational leaf collection, working in a storybook forest, and more.  You can read her responses here: “Leafing Out with Joan Backes.”

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.

— Albert Schweitzer

This will also be my last post for Connected, as after five remarkable years at PEM I am moving on to a new position with the New England Museum Association, starting in February.  All my past Connected posts can be found here, and I’m looking forward to sharing my continuing museum adventures with you as always here on Brain Popcorn.

Though I say a fond farewell to PEM, there’s a whole world of interdisciplinary adventures yet to be had! (Mega Mega Planet by Josh Simpson, photo by Allison White)