Tai Chi Series

Sept. 15–Oct. 27

(Saturdays) 9–10:30 a.m.

Discover the health and fitness benefits of tai chi in this seven-part series led by instructor Kathy Chyan. This outdoor class is suitable for beginning and intermediate students. Members: $150. Non-Members: $170. Registration: 626-405-2128.

Botanical Illustration Series: Orchids in Watercolor

Oct. 20, 27 & Nov. 3

(Saturdays) 9 a.m–3 p.m.

Learn to accurately portray the unique features of orchid flowers, foliage, and roots in this botanical watercolor series led by artist Lisa Pompelli. Students should bring a small potted orchid plant to each class. Prior drawing skills are strongly recommended. Members: $275. Non-Members: $295. Registration: 626-405-2128.

Civil War Living History Day

Oct. 27 (Saturday)

11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Step back in time to the Civil War era as the New Buffalo Soldiers bring history alive with a realistic encampment and demonstrations of camp life, and the Band of the California Battalion provides authentic tunes from the period. Be sure to see the two related exhibitions:  “A Strange and Fearful Interest” and “A Just Cause: Voices of the American Civil War.” General admission. Library Lawn, Brown Garden.

Ranch Open House

Oct. 27 (Saturday)

10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

Explore The Huntington’s urban agriculture site—an area not typically open to daily visitors—and take home some fresh ideas for sustainable gardening. General admission. From the Teaching Greenhouse, follows signs to the site. Cancelled in the event of rain.

Royals

Royals, Courtiers, and Confidants: Early English Portrait Drawings from The Huntington’s Art Collections
 

July 28 - Oct. 29, 2012
 

This focused exhibition on 16th- and 17th-century portrait drawings features pastel sketches, miniature graphite drawings, and pen and ink drawings by artists such as Peter Lely, William Faithorne, and Peter Oliver.

Strange and Fearful

A Strange and Fearful Interest: Death, Mourning, and Memory in the American Civil War

Oct. 13, 2012–Jan. 14, 2013

A major exhibition of more than 200 original photographs related to the Civil War that explores how images explained, reflected, and shaped a national fixation on death and mourning.

Alpine Skeletons

Alpine Skeletons: Marsden Hartley Silverpoint Drawings

Oct. 20, 2012–Jan. 7, 2013

In 21 rarely exhibited silverpoint drawings from The Huntington's collections, American artist Marsden Hartley rendered the immense Bavarian Alps with delicate lines, transforming them into wispy, airy abstractions he called “skeletons."

Just Cause

A Just Cause: Voices of the American Civil War

Sept. 22, 2012–Jan. 7, 2013

Drawn entirely from The Huntington’s collections of manuscripts and printed materials, this exhibition examines the ways Northerners and Southerners viewed the rationale for the Civil War, which made it, in the words of one war veteran, “a battle of ideas interrupted by artillery.”