Janey Winchell

Peabody Essex Museum

Jane Winchell has been the director of PEM's Dotty Brown Art & Nature Center since its founding in 2003. She started at PEM in 1992 as curator of the Natural History collection and led development of the museum's original Art & Nature Center, as well as the newly revamped and expanded Center that opened in 2013. Winchell has curated more than 15 popular interactive/interdisciplinary shows for PEM, including XYZT: A Journey in 4 Dimensions (by Adrien M + Claire B), Lunar Attraction, Branching Out: Trees as Art, Eye Spy: Playing with Perception, Origami Now! and Wild Designs, an exhibition that explored bio-inspired art, design and architecture. Her most recent work includes Where the Questions Live: An Exploration of Humans in Nature by artist Wes Sam-Bruce. Winchell assisted with developing PEM’s newly restored Art & Nature Center Space: The Pod, which includes installations, art and creative expression that bring us closer to the nature right outside our door. She is also co-curator of The Great Animal Orchestra: Bernie Krause and United Visual Artists, which opened November 20, 2021, Climate Action: Inspiring Change, opening April 2, 2022, and Down to the Bone: Edward Koren and Stephen Gorman, opening March 12, 2022 — both of which are part of PEM’s new Climate + Environment Initiative. This spring, she leads outdoor public art installation, Konstantin Dimopoulos: The Blue Trees. Her research and writings have been published in scientific journals, technical memoranda, museum catalogs and the popular press. She holds a B.A. in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic, and two graduate degrees: an M.S. in Science Communication and an M.A. in Biology, both from Boston University. Follow @janeywinchell on Instagram.