School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University: Viewbook 2020

i’m

player? A debater? A mediator? A dog lover? A technophile? An optimist?

A sculptor? A muralist? An inventor? A poet? A historian? A memoirist? A ceramicist? An animator? A puppeteer?

WHAT DO YOU CALL YOURSELF?

artist? A work in progress? A visionary? A coder? An activist? An entrepreneur? A skater? A comedian? A guitar A choreographer? A welder? A weaver? A colorist? A student? An aspiring

SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM OF

FINE ARTS AT TUFTS UNIVERSITY

16

Fast Facts

18

Studio Curriculum

20

Areas of Study

24

Studio Access + Support

28

Student Spaces

30

Other Academic Areas

34

Travel + Research

40 Exhibitions

CONTENTS 44

Advising + Review Boards

48

Careers + SMFA Alumni

56

Boston + Community

60

Museum of Fine Arts

62

Student Work

70

Degree Programs

80 Apply 2

At SMFA, you’ll never be constrained by one description. You won’t be bound by just one medium. Instead, your artistic and intellectual interests will expand and evolve. In the studio and in the classroom, you’ll explore ideas, make discoveries, delve into research, and develop new passions.

You’ll become more informed, intentional, and effective. Something like a work of art.

What is soft architecture? How can

PERFORMANCE

printmaking be sustainable?

SUSTAINABILITY POLICY EQUITY

SCULPTOR

PHOTOGRAPHY

PRINTMAKING URBAN STUDIES

i’m

SCULP-

Isabella Kiser, BFA + BS ’21 “My screenprinting classes were where I really started exploring ideas of urban studies and planning. I was making conceptual city maps and then started thinking about soft architecture and how architectural space is kind of like a shared piece of clothing or armor that we all wear collectively.”

7

MARINE BIOLOGY

i’m

SCULPTURE

DRAWING

How can studying cephalopods

CREATIVE WRITING

and sexual identity?

INSTALLATION ARTIST help you explore themes of race, gender,

LATION ARTIST

Kenson Truong, MFA ’18 “At SMFA we work with whatever medium we would like.

And can explore any concept or focus that we would like to research. I have access to classes in philosophy, or math, or any of the sciences. I studied marine biology, which is something I’m really fascinated by and incorporate into my practice.”

modeling, and building of 3D forms —

SOUND SCULPTURE

PROFESSOR FILM + VIDEO

ENGINEERING

INSTALLATION

often using unexpected materials.

digital designs into the drawing,

Digital fabrication moves

i’m

PRO-

Floor van de Velde, Faculty “I offer my Digital Fabrication class in the Nolop Lab in the Science and Engineering Complex. There’s a very community-centered feeling with artists and engineers together. If you are surrounded by people that think differently from you, it opens up all sorts of creative possibilities for you to think about your own practice.”

15

STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

$86

300+

MILLION

in need-based financial aid awarded each year

MAJORS

+

of undergraduate financial need met

MINORS

STUDENTS

9:1

6 MONTHS

YA UD BR

45%

D

employed, enrolled in grad school, or participating in service or fellowship

TEACHER

D OA

98%

ENTS ST

after graduation

STU

150

100 %

RADU G A ER

TS

S AT TU E F T

5,800

UND

400

STUDENTS at SMFA

STUDENTS

come from

50

1,400

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

+

300

INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS

&

FACULTY

90+

COUNTRIES

STATES

89% 68%

completed at least one internship while at Tufts completed two or more internships

“O ur jo b is to he lp st ud en ts di sc ov er th ei ri er es

nt ts an d

to

fin

d

w

ha

t’s av ai

la

bl

e

at

Tu ft

o

st

he

lp

th

em

so

ar

as

individuals

who are committed to making a contribution to the world by doing work they believe in.”

STUDIO CURRICULUM Feel free to create. At SMFA you won’t be obliged to follow a core curriculum or declare a major. Instead, you’ll work with your advisor and other faculty to craft and carry out your own learning plan.

Our open studio curriculum will liberate and empower you. It will help you to discover and accomplish precisely what you want to, both in school and beyond.

Nancy Bauer, Dean of SMFA at Tufts

You never have to confine yourself to one medium. Keep stretching yourself. Keep playing. Try your hand at textiles. Take your photography further. Try animation or screenprinting. Every medium you attempt, every class you take will help you identify your voice, your message, and your purpose.

The interdisciplinary spirit of our open studio curriculum translates to relationships, too. In this close-knit community, you’ll learn about what other students are making. You’ll have conversations with professors and visiting artists about their own work.

19

Studio Curriculum

You’ll get inspired, get assistance, and gain new abilities and insights.

The people who surround you will support you, enlighten you, and like everything else at SMFA , they’ll help you go further.

DIGITAL MEDIA FIBERS

FILM

AREAS

Connect cosmology to sociology through kinetic sculpture.

PERFORMANCE PRINTMAKING

VIDEO

BOOK ARTS

STUDY

Illustrate the complex mechanics of neural networks through sonic art.

DRAWING CERAMICS

ANIMATION

GRAPHIC ARTS JEWELRY ILLUSTRATION

METALS PHOTOGRAPHY SOUND

OF

Use augmented reality to make ancient history come to life.

PAPERMAKING SCULPTURE

VIRTUAL REALITY

PAINTING

“I work mainly in time-based media, whether it’s in film, animation, video, or working for the stage, but I took every medium that is offered in the school and learned so much. Every time I see the class list for a semester, I feel like a kid in a candy store. This school builds up a sort of inner hunger to extend yourself.”

Rachel Shiloach, BFA ’18

FILM + VIDEO PRINTMAKING DANCE ANIMATION

SOUND

22

Studio Curriculum

INSTALLATION

“My goal is to make animations for films and children’s novels about African subject matter and stories. Performance lends itself really well to the process of illustrating and animating because I get to embody this character in all its different forms.

Everything ends in performance, but it involves sculpture, sound, and illustration.”

Liz Maelane, BFA ’19

SCULPTURE FILM + VIDEO

SOUND

PERFORMANCE ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION

23

Studio Curriculum

CE

RA

M

IC

SK

IL

N

WOODSHOP

LASER ENGRAVER

“I am unlimited.” That’s how you’ll feel at SMFA. The facilities, faculty, and staff are here to help you pursue your inspiration and curiosity. Regardless of the classes you’ve taken or your level of experience, our studio managers will always enable you to use the mediums, tools, and techniques you need to fulfill your vision.

Ben Aron, Studio Manager, Media Arts

ing, ‘I’d like to incorporate speakers into a sculp-

ture and then project on it.’ I really like assisting students with things like that.”

“I spend a lot of time assisting students. Sometimes, it’s as simple as looking for ways to use video to document a performance

STUDIO ACCESS + SUPPORT

or installation, but there are a lot of interesting projects where students are think-

WELDING STUDIO

Pla yw

ith

fire .U

se

it t os

ha

pe

me

tal

, fi

nis

hc

er am

ics

,o

rs

old

er

“The welding studio is available to any student who wants to use it. Even if they just want to feel a little bit better about working with fire or working with electricity. It’s really empowering. Students come to me with ambitious ideas all the time.

Problem solving is fundamental to making

jew elr

y. W or

kw

ith

wo o

d.

Ex

pe

rim

en

tw

ith

so

good art.”

Adam “Legs” Cowell Studio Manager, Welding

DARKROOMS

METALS STUDIO

26

Studio Access + Support

un

d.

“The Advanced Production Lab is definitely a meeting place for experimental fabrication techniques — from 3D scanning for virtual reality to laser-engraving on sandwiches, we’re always up to something special

Simon Remiszewski

DP

RODUC

TI

O

N B MEDIA LAB

paper, paintings, or virtual reality.

Everything is here for you at SMFA . Except limitations.

N

CE

LA

Studio Manager, Digital Fabrication

AD VA

around here.”

U ST

DE

N

T

SP AC E

S

You’ll always have the space you need at SMFA. Maybe you want to test your setup for a video exhibition, assemble an outsized sculptural installation, use a mobile animation unit, or work on a 12-foot canvas. As your practice evolves, shared and individual studios will accommodate you.

28 

Student Spaces

“The studios are an active environment. There is a sense of community with everyone pushing each other. The way that the studios are set up, it’s easy to go in and see who’s there, socialize, see what people are working on, or go get things done.

And if you want privacy, then that’s available too.”

Anne Harris, MFA ’21

30 

Other Academic Areas

Will you make video projections on ceramic installations about climate change? Digital paintings about French

OTHER ACADEMIC AREAS Take advantage of all the resources of a top research university and dive into any subject that speaks to you. Anthropology.

Philosophy. Chemistry. Poetry. Choose from hundreds of classes and infinite directions.

Go as deeply—and as far—as you want.

There are no silos at SMFA . No constraints around departments or disciplines. You’ll have easy access to explore and hybridize different subjects and mediums.

SMFA is part of Tufts University, so it’s all yours: resources for research, professors for advising, students for collaboration.

Find the perfect balance among your intellectual pursuits. As an undergrad, you might want to add a minor or earn a second degree.

As a grad student, Tufts’ Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is available to you.

Work with engineers in the Nolop FAST Facility makerspace.

Promote a startup business in the $ 100k New Ventures Competition.

Learn a language. Observe other galaxies. Study the society you live in or one that you don’t. Contemplate the artistry of mathematics, the harmony of biology, or the elegance of linguistics.

At SMFA , you’ll discover conceptual connections and tangible tools that will help you produce work that matters—to you and the world.

economic history? Sculptures cultured in our biology labs? Performance pieces

“I’ve been focusing on work dealing with racial and ethnic identity. My series of photographic portraits of Asian-Americans in my community has been supported in various ways. I’ve been using the Sociology Department to dig into the Asian-American experience through really influential classes like Jean Wu’s class Asian America and Michelle Holliday-Stocking’s Racial and Ethnic Minorities. Through those classes I’ve been able to work with concrete evidence and think about ways to translate those data into a photographic body of work — exposing the human faces behind the statistics we see and the policies we read about.”

Rachel Orlang, BFA ’19

SOCIOLOGY PHOTOGRAPHY

FILM + VIDEO

GRAPHIC ARTS

about the anthropology of gender? Allegorical animations about social justice?

SCULPTURE

PERFORMANCE

PHOTOGRAPHY

CLASSICAL STUDIES FILM + VIDEO

“Right now, I’m essentially making my own sports and designing ways to train for them. A class in ancient Greek and Roman sports really fueled my reflections on sport as a way to carry cultural ideas.”

Diego Gabaldon, BFA ’22

33

Other Academic Areas

“I won the Traveling Fellowship in 2015 and traveled to Iowa. The award gave me the money for film and processing, but also allowed me to take off work and stay there for six weeks, just focusing on making art and not having to worry about other parts of my life.”

Laura Beth Reese, MFA ’13

34

Travel + Research

TRAVEL + RESEARCH “I’m an explorer.” Let your SMFA education take you places, as it does so many students and alums. Travel will serve you well as you consider different cultures, observe various artistic traditions, and contemplate this complex planet to inform your research.

1 + 4 FIRST YEAR GLOBAL PROGRAMS

place first-year students in internships in Brazil, Ecuador, India, and Uruguay.

THE MONTAGUE TRAVEL GRANT

supports international travel for MFA students to pursue a specific project or perform site-specific research.

UNDERGRAD TRAVEL TUFTS PROGRAMS ABROAD

include University of the Arts London and École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.

SUMMER SCHOLARS can choose to travel. These juniors and seniors receive funding for ten weeks of research culminating in presentations.

GRAD TRAVEL

THE HAMBURG EXCHANGE enables

one student to attend the University of Fine Art Hamburg (HFBK ) and receive a scholarship for tuition and rent. When they return, they give a public presentation about their experience and its effect on their art.

Add “I’m a tireless researcher” to your list of identifiers. To inform and amplify

ALUMNI TRAVEL A TRAVELING FELLOWSHIP

provides 10 SMFA graduates, each year, with up to $10,000 to pursue travel and research related to their art. Every other year the Museum of Fine Arts mounts an exhibition featuring one or more previous fellows.

“Spending a semester at École des BeauxArts in Paris was such an amazing experience.

“Participating with the Hamburg Exchange was really incredible. To experience a dif-

I learned so much and grew so much from

ferent culture and see how they lead their

going abroad and really immersing myself

classes, as well as how everyone interacts,

in a language and a new culture. It’s so

I think was really unique. It was just a great

important to be a world citizen and to get

chance to be in a different environment and

to know other perspectives. I’d recommend

also think about how different energies in

it for everyone.”

different places have an effect on your work.”

Isabella Kiser, BFA + BS ’21

Natalia Leginowicz, MFA ’19

your art, you’ll want to dig into the many resources that Tufts University offers: its libraries

“My work draws upon written archives and oral histories, particularly sourced around Black liberation movements. I’m working with ideas of ownership of those stories—who gets to preserve legacies, and how does that relate to histories of colonialism? I won the Montague Travel Grant and a research grant, and I tried to make the most of those — like traveling to Ethiopia for my thesis project and researching there for two weeks.”

Helina Metafaria, MFA ’12

VIDEO

ARCHIVES ORAL HISTORIES

RESEARCH

PERFORMANCE INSTALLATION

TRAVEL SCULPTURE

and labs, its classes and symposia. Look at primary sources. Listen to guest lecturers.

ART-

ISTS

conduct research very much like

PHILOSOPHERS and

ENGINEERS They’re forward-looking.

They’re researching into problems rather than only studying the past.

In our artistic practice at SMFA research as practice is a basis for your work.

HISTORY MATERIALS

MEDIUM

SCIENCE

CON-

TEXT

LITERATURE

CULTURE

We help students increase the number of resources they can investigate and stick with them as they forge their research path.

Darin Murphy Head of SMFA Library

Art connects people, and exhibitions facilitate that connection. The curation and presentation of artwork are crucial to art’s ecosystem and purpose—and fundamental to an SMFA education. Here, you’ll have ample opportunity to show, to curate, and to experience works of art.

advisors every step of the way.” cally, and be able to show that work. We are there as

“With Students Curate Students, students get to think about what it means to be an artist-curator, think about the work of their

EXHIBITIONS

peers themati-

Abigail Satinsky, TUAG curator

Art Sale, which is attended by more than 4,000 collectors. The Museum of Fine Arts dedicates an exhibit to current students or SMFA alumni every fall.

Of course you’ll regularly share your work with your professors and classmates. You’ll present it for critiques.

But you’ll also have many chances to share your work with the outside world.

SMFA hosts dozens of student exhibitions throughout the year. Your work could appear at a public opening or a pop-up show, or at our annual

Our Students Curate Students program allows you to help assemble an exhibition and experience the process from the other side.

The school’s Exhibitions Department will play an important role in your SMFA experience. Not only by helping you with your own curation and exhibition efforts, but also by regularly bringing contemporary art, artists, and curators to campus.

“We bring in exhibitions and artists to talk about their process and show their work. We, as curators, have an ear to the ground on what is happening in the art world.

It’s such a special opportunity to see what is at the cutting edge, and what is unfolding as a dialogue right now.”

Abigail Satinsky, TUAG curator 42

Exhibitions

“Megan McMillan’s Advanced Installation Projects class focused on running an off-campus group show with 12 eclectic and amazing artists.

Made up of undergraduates, post-bacs, and grad students, we formed this really cohesive, but at the same time very dynamic show. More of a team than a class, we made 3D and digital models, figured out budgets and expenses while organizing the curation together.”

Bryant “Sko” Skopek, PB ’19, MFA ’21

43

Exhibitions

of our teaching. We support students a

“Mentoring is one of the core components

st

he

y

na vi

ga

te

th

e

sc

ho

ol

an

d

as

th

ey

ap

pl y

their skills

and experiences to build their own art practice. Because we are practicing artists, we can share our experiences and connect

ADVISING + REVIEW BOARDS Independence is central to the SMFA experience. But freedom doesn’t equal solitude.

As a student, you’ll constantly benefit from the knowledge and guidance of faculty who understand you and your goals. You’ll be self-directed, but your direction will be well informed and carefully considered.

Whether you’re a first-year student or an MFA candidate planning your thesis exhibition, you regularly consult with advisors at SMFA . They help you forge your path, assisting with course selection and degree requirements, alerting you to special opportunities like upcoming exhibitions or travel programs, and connecting you with faculty and staff who can help your artistic, academic, and career development.

At the end of each semester, both undergraduate and graduate students meet with a Review Board.

These boards include faculty and

45

Advising + Review Boards

students who consider your cumulative work for the semester. They regard it as a whole, as the product of your creative process. The exercise enables you to reflect on and articulate your goals; to explain, contextualize, and discuss your work; and to receive valuable feedback.

REVIEW BOARDS “I always try to choose faculty that don’t work in my mediums— that I haven’t worked with before in classes. I like to get faculty that don’t know my work and its history because I know that when I show sculptures in a gallery, it won’t be just metalsmiths looking at my work—in fact, half of the people won’t even be artists. My most recent Review Board felt like everything came together. It helped me to see connections in my work I hadn’t seen before. I was standing before these two artists, and they could hear my voice. They could see my potential.”

Damaris Swass, BFA ’18

46

Advising + Review Boards

students with resources both inside and outside of the school.”

“Mentorship with students is a really long-term understanding of what the students are up to. It’s about maintaining those close relationships to make sure that we can advise you throughout your school experience about your work, your ideas, your goals for the future, and all those kinds of good things. Our view of mentorship is we want you to be successful in whatever it is you choose to do.”

Ethan Murrow, Faculty

Michelle Samour, Faculty

en y.

B g a

ith ct m m

fi

a po l s:

iti c

Victor is a self-dubbed “prolific artisan” whose

th ll

at ’s a

work spans illustration, graffiti, fashion design, mixed-media installations, his own line of toys,

e a g ed .”

n c ou r

and an award-winning creative agency, Street Theory, that he founded and runs with his wife, Liza. “A huge influence on my personal work is the ability to think like an illustrator, and a product designer, and a fine artist, and to combine all of those things when working on a piece.” Victor’s “Neo-Indigenous” style is unmistakable, whether in his commissioned murals around the world, his gallery exhibitions, or his work in fashion design: powerful imagery drawing on graffiti and street culture, boldly mixing pop culture and traditional Mexican imagery, with the purpose of “engaging an audience in a dialogue on cultural authenticity driven by self-expression.”

48

Careers + SMFA Alumni

“A thing that I really respect about SMFA is how

diverse they are in terms of the students that they accept — the students that they allow to have a platform. It doesn’t matter

ho w yo u id tif ei n ca n

M ex i td

ar tis g

ea lin w su bj e a tt er o r

ig

m n

at io nd

Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez BFA ’03

Kate Gilbert, MFA ’13 Kate is an artist and curator who, through

and connecting communities through-

her role as executive director of Now +

out the city. Kate says, “SMFA has a

There, is transforming the public art con-

really wonderful, non-disciplinary way

versation in Boston. The nonprofit’s core

of helping artists identify what’s most

mission is to “awe, illuminate, challenge,

important to them. It doesn’t say

unsettle, confound, provoke, and, at times,

you have to be a painter, or you have to

offend.” It works with local and interna-

be a sculptor. It says, ‘You’re an artist

tional artists engaging in timely and

with an important voice. Now, what is

critical public conversations, highlighting

that voice?’”

the role of public art in strengthening

+ SMFA ALUMNI

CAREERS

Gonzalo Fuenmayor, MFA ’04

a

ro

through the MAT program at SMFA.”

p ap

of an art teacher, and it’s something that I learned

h ac

in

g

te

open-minded to what’s thrown at you. That’s the nature

ac

r he

to make it work with whatever you’ve got. It’s about being creative and figuring it out with the students—being

s.

I

“The nature of being an art teacher is that you’re going

as tw

the Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island.

ry ve

Dominique teaches upper and middle school art at

co

b lla

or

a

e tiv

s

c pa

e.

Th

is

f

d ee

si

o nt

w ho

ea It

ch

w no

—

i th

si

sa

co

m

m

nity and we’re all working together.”

Dominique Avila BFA ’15, MAT ’16

“At SMFA, I never felt like there was a hierarchy. I never felt uncomfortable

Your career will be one of your greatest creations at SMFA. As you pursue your enthusiasm and strengthen your skills, you’ll become better prepared for the work you want to do. Internships, mentors, alumni, visiting artists, the Tufts Career Center … all of it readies you for life after graduation.

51

Careers + SMFA Alumni

like to learn on the job? In an artist’s studio? Maybe with an internationally known artist like Ai Weiwei, Maya Lin, or

u-

“I’m an intern.” Just imagine that for a minute. Where would you

Furen is an internationally exhibited artist whose work focuses on the economy of the culture industry and how language carries and encodes social class, political ideology, and economic conditions. Her projects span video, performance, installation, painting, sculpture, and public art. She works for the Asia Art Archive in America, a New Yorkbased nonprofit dedicated to developing programming in support of underrepresented Asian-American and Asian artists.

“SMFA places the most importance on developing your subject or the topic

Gonzalo Fuenmayor MFA ’04

that you’re most interested in, but at the same time, it pushes

Matthew Barney? Or would you like a taste of entrepreneurship at a product-design firm? Maybe you’d like to work at

Furen Dai, PB ’14, MFA ’16

“My experience at SMFA made me value a cross-disciplinary approach to learning and art making, which has informed my practice ever since. I also made amazing friends with both classmates and faculty which have lasted until now.” A native of Colombia now practicing in Miami, Florida, Gonzalo’s breathtaking large-scale charcoal drawings elaborate on the history of colonial encounters, spoofing rococo style and revealing structures of power hidden by ornament.

By turns humorous and ominous, his work performs a tightrope walk between exoticism and belonging that many immigrants experience. His pieces are featured in museums and collections around the world.

a big tech company like Google or Apple. Or how about an art gallery or museum?

to pick up all of the tools and techniques that

Catherine is a product designer at the e-commerce company Wayfair. At Tufts, she focused on engineering psychology, which applies knowledge of human behavior to the design of websites, software, environments, and products. She explored a wide range of studio disciplines, concentrating on metalsmithing and installation. Her senior thesis drew on these experiences to create a body of research and installation work highlighting “the growing, complex connection between our waste and natural ecosys-

you’ll need. So when you leave, you have this whole set of skills to carry out your projects.”

Catherine Armistead BFA + BA ’17

Bradley Tsalyuk, BFA ’13 Bradley is the exhibit developer for the San Diego Natural History Museum, leading the creation of experiential learning environments ranging in focus from “outrageous insect biology to the intersections between art and natural

tems.” Its intention was “to re-establish

history.” He says, “SMFA is an environ-

a connection to the ecological world that

ment in which experimentation and

surrounds us, while invoking a sense of

risk-taking are encouraged. I found a peer

wonder and respect.”

group with diverse backgrounds that challenged my assumptions and that worked to uplift each other’s practices.

And I found the freedom to push and pull an idea through different mediums.”

You could help put exhibitions together or lend a hand in restoring artwork. Or maybe

you could change the lives of young people through outreach and education.

You may have seen Thom Solo’s shoes adorning style icons and influencers like Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. His collections draw inspiration from science fiction, fairytale archetypes, and modern-day feminism. At SMFA, he found his way to wearable sculpture and his passion for shoe design.

“One of the many strengths of SMFA is

54

Careers + SMFA Alumni

the flexibility in the programs and agility of faculty to nurture and respond to students’ interests.

Artists are the ultimate ‘self-starters’ and

what we do relies on this instinct, these skills. It’s been essential for me as I build my own company.”

Thom Solo, BFA ’12

Liz Cohen, BFA + BA ’96 Liz is a photographer, performance artist, and educator whose work draws on a broad range of specialized bodies of knowledge, such as women’s studies, literature, car mechanics, and bodybuilding. Her work addresses themes of immigration, economics, identity, and cultures of resistance.

In one of her most recognized series, Bodywork, she transformed an East German Trabant into an El Camino lowrider while simultaneously transforming her own body and documenting both processes. Liz was recently named a Guggenheim Fellow.

Helina Metaferia, MFA ’12 Helina is an interdisciplinary artist and educator working in performance, video, assemblage, and collage. She has exhibited and performed internationally and is currently a postdoctoral fellow teaching at Brown University.

“It’s good that SMFA has such a rigorous art program, but it’s also good that it’s

Lydia Marks, BFA ’92 Lydia is an Emmy Award-winning set decorator whose work has been featured in films including Broken

Flowers, Sex and the City, and The Devil Wears Prada and television series like Maniac and Fosse/Verdon.

She also runs her own interior design company, Lydia Marks Design. “It only took a couple weeks at SMFA for me to understand that you need to be developing the work that you want to make. And you can use any medium you want to tell your story.”

part of a university, and it has those resources too. I never really wanted to go to an art school that was just an art school. You can get some really good conversation when you’re in a classroom full of people with different backgrounds. Students in majors like medicine or architecture have such interesting things to say about art and community. I welcome those different perspectives.”

es

sit ric to

his

ss tle

un Co

an

im dt

e

s le s

pu

c bli

sp

s. ac e

Th

ar t e st

ing l

in

au l R ev e of P

ere’s ride an

d

the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Home of the Boston Ballet, Symphony Orchestra, and Red Sox. It’s all yours.

BOSTON + COMMUNITY Art and science. History and innovation.

Youthful energy and boundless possibilities. Boston offers all this and much more, making it the ideal setting for your SMFA experience. This vibrant, cosmopolitan city teems with culture, ingenuity, and dynamism.

Surround yourself with more than 50 colleges and universities, more than 50 museums, and even more galleries, performing arts venues, and startups. At every level, Boston offers you opportunities. To experience art in all its forms, including music, theater, dance, filmmaking— even cuisine. To connect with working artists, art scholars, and art-world insiders. To identify what intrigues you most.

SMFA is ideally located on the Avenue of the Arts in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston—a thriving community of students and artworld professionals. It’s next door to the Museum of Fine Arts and a 57

Boston + Community

two-minute walk to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. And getting all over Boston and beyond is easy, thanks to a robust public transportation system. You’re just steps away from the Green Line train, and shuttle buses run frequently between the SMFA campus in the Fenway and the Medford/ Somerville campus.

It’s all here for you, ready to enhance your experiences and expand your options.

sh only sandw

ich

, a b e l ove

he

ate

n r, a

—

et

th e

IS DAV ARE SQU d Dav

e’s Fresh Pa st

a

CHARLES RIVER nd ar ti

sts alike

e n j oy t h e p

anoramic skyline views on the 24-mile C

R i ve harle s

FENWAY PARK

it

in tow n

and a po

pul

ar

l

cht

de

Ou

ime

a

r vo

os rrit

un

rf

BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL u eb

sti

t io

na

EM

A ER

LD

,

vi

n e rs , a

nts

dm o

s, run

. R e s t au ra

ops

Biker

r need

sh

MEDFORD/ SOMERVILLE CAMPUS

op

u yo

ve ’ll e

C NE

K

CE A L

SMFA MISSION HILL

ELÓ EL P s . dent

UER Q A NT

n fo r s t u

ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM

IA

il. r Tra

nd wicked good dea

l s at

one of America’s first farmers markets.

HAYMARKET

pie

ce

of h

i s to

ry a

HATCH MEMORIAL SHELL

NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM

Ex

pe

rie

nc

ea

INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART

BOSTON COMMON

SYMPHONY HALL

useums in the

cit

y

T h e re

a re

o

rm the

B

S

ET

!

55

N

EW

Y UR

E TR

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

SMFA CAMPUS Ca

t

a ch

sh

ow

or

j

n oi

th

e

b pu

lic

r pa

ty

o

h nt

e fi

t rs

i Fr

yo da

f

e ev

TH U ERY SO L T A AL IC W G R SO D IST EN D

ry

m

on

th

.

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS This is where it all began. In 1876, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, opened its doors and founded SMFA to serve as its educational wing.

Today the two institutions remain closely connected and mutually beneficial.

The Museum stands right next door to SMFA , and it houses one of the most comprehensive art collections in the world—more than 500,000 pieces.

These happen to include the work of dozens of SMFA students from the 1800 s to today.

As an SMFA student, you’ll receive much more than free museum admission. You’ll get the chance to meet and work with all manner of experts associated with the Museum: curators, historians, designers, restorers, scientists, collectors, conservators, and visiting artists.

You might spend time in the Morse Study Room, looking at artworks not on display. See your own work exhibited in the Museum in a juried show. Take advantage of an internship or work study position. Help visiting artists install or create their artwork.

60

Museum of Fine Arts

When you’re an SMFA student, the Museum of Fine Arts is, in many respects, your museum.

“Showing my work in the Museum of Fine Arts had such a big impact because it’s not just representational work. For me it’s like art history being produced in current times. I see this as documentation, not only of my life and experiences, but of the subjects in my paintings and the communities and cultures they belong to. I wanted to embrace my identity and reclaim that space to reflect the histories of other women of color, and people of color.”

Perla Mabel Ledesma BFA ’19

Khadine recalls that while she was in an SMFA work study position at the Museum of Fine Arts, she loved the tours with curators and staff. “One of the object conservators explained her role as allowing an object to live its natural life. I realized that this work overlapped with the concerns that drove my personal artmaking. Culture is memorialized through objects, and a role as an object conservator would combine my interests in science, art, and the cultures of Latin America.”

Khadine Caines, BFA ’18 61

Museum of Fine Arts

62

Student Work

Dan Fisher-Berger, BFA ’20, A Little to the Left, mixed media painting

Parker Lily Tuson-Morse, BFA ’23, Mother and Child, oil on canvas

STUDENT

WORK

Wilamina Heifner, BFA ’21, Depression, stoneware and acrylic

Carina Ye, BFA + BS ’23, Tiger Carpet, acrylic on canvas

Jean Chung, BFA ’21, Rabbithole, acrylic on canvas

Lei Zhong, MFA ’19, Collectivism, oil on canvas

Yagmur Simsek, BFA + BA ’24, Date Bait, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator

Sam Helwig, BFA ’20, S.S. SSC Chopped & Screwed (Log Chopper), wood, steel, copper, aluminum, found object

66

Student Work

67

Student Work

Maxine Bell, BFA + BA ’22, Bloopie, clay, acrylic paint, plastic fork, wooden chopsticks

Ezri Horne, BFA + BA ’22, Spin to Win, sculpture

Magda Petmeza, BFA ’22, page from Octopus and Nipples, archival inkjet photobook

Yixiang Tong, MFA ’20, Lighter and Lighter: Lift up your heads, single large projection video installation

68

Student Work

Grace Gomez, PB ’18, MFA ’20, She Danced, photography

Rei, BFA ’23, I Cleaned It Up Før Yøu, watercolor on paper

Lien Pham, BFA ’21, Return Dad, digital photograph

Helen Rose Discoll, BFA ’19, Adam’s Test #2, graphite on paper, pine, installation view from 2019 SMFA Senior Thesis Exhibition: Liminal Space

Willoughby Hastings, MFA ’19, Crushing the Code: Unknowing Southern Hospitality, sugar, twine, wood, cement, steel, ivory grosgrain ribbon, uphostery trim, installation view from 2019 MFA Thesis Exhibition: no time for laundry

70 

Degree Programs

disciplines into the studios. And as a result, the work is that much richer.�

Faculty

they bring knowledge from all of their other faculty and all of these other

Michelle Samour,

PROGRAMS

“Because students are not majoring in any one discipline,

DEGREE

“It was important to me that whatever program I chose would have a lot of freedom. I valued the ability to craft an individualized

cu rr ic ul um th at ou w ld su pp or y tm in s re te ts .”

a,

ap sP

ola ch Ni A BF ’18

UNDERGRAD EXPERIENCE Join a community that will transform you in all the best ways. The students you live, study, and work with will become your friends, your sounding boards, your professional network, and your cheerleaders. They’ll make you think, help you work, and ensure you have plenty of fun.

73

Degree Programs

Yes, even though this is a place full of ambition and intensity, playfulness is part of the magic formula. Consider joining the Skate Sculpture Club, the Horror Club, the Punk Farmers Union, or one of the other 300+ student organizations. Take an excursion to Cambridge with some classmates or just hang out having coffee in the atrium. Leisure-time experiences like these will become cherished memories and shape your character.

Your professors, too, will enrich your SMFA experience. Thanks to a

nine-to-one student-to-faculty ratio, they’ll get to know you well and play important roles in your life at the school.

Here’s another statistic to keep in mind as you contemplate college: SMFA meets 100 percent of demonstrated financial need for all undergraduate students for the entire time they’re enrolled. If you belong in SMFA’s tightknit community, nothing should stop you from being here.

BFA This is so much more than an art school degree. Yes, you’ll follow a rigorous studio program and learn the inner workings of the contemporary art world. But you’ll also be a full-fledged member of a top research university, with all its academic fields and resources. You decide the breadth and depth of your studies.

Choose from 64 possible minors, if you like. Pursue your interests and prepare for your career.

BFA + BA/BS COMBINED DEGREE Lily is pursuing a major in International Literary and Visual Studies (ILVS) with an emphasis in Japanese and Chinese culture while also working toward her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She’s expanded her artistic repertoire, grounded in sketching and painting, to include 3D endeavors and pieces constructed in Jumbo’s Maker Studio. She co-founded a campus arts magazine, Currents, to promote collaboration and showcase artistic work across the university; and she and her cofounders lead guided trips to the Museum of Fine Arts so all students, regardless of major, can connect and interact with art.

Lily Pisano, BFA + BA ’21

Just as our Bachelor of Fine Arts degree is deeply interdisciplinary, so is our combined degree. Our CD enables you to simultaneously pursue two areas of interest for five years and obtain two degrees. In addition to a BFA in studio art, you can earn either a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science in any major in the School of Arts and Sciences.

(Choose from more than 60 .)

SMFA graduate faculty are Guggenheim Fellows, Fulbright scholars, and National Endowment for the Arts grantees. They’ve

GRADUATE DEGREES In our rigorous graduate programs, you’ll engage in the liberal arts while building a solid studio practice. Work with prestigious faculty to gain the skills you need to create meaningful work. And plug into a global art network that will help you build the career you want.

MASTER OF FINE ARTS Engage in a research-based program supporting the professional development of visual artists from all over the world. International travel, seminars on contemporary practice, visiting curators and critics, and close guidance from working artists serving as faculty grad advisors: these provide the foundation of the program and will help you shape and advance your practice as a professional artist.

You can choose an expanded third year in residence at no additional cost. This year fosters interdisciplinary work across schools and academic disciplines and supports ongoing work in our labs and studios.

77 77 Degree Degree Programs Programs

You can also use the time for travel and/or work in the field while maintaining university access.

While you’re earning your degree, you can also opt to complete our Museum Studies Certificate Program, which prepares you for a variety of art museum positions.

You’ll have the opportunity to deepen your knowledge and develop your instructional skills by pursuing a teaching assistantship or postgrad teaching fellowship. And you’ll build curatorial and exhibition skills by collaborating closely with our professional galleries as you work toward your thesis exhibition.

MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING IN ART EDUCATION (MAT) This 12-month program prepares you to teach in elementary, middle, and high schools — and for your initial licensure. It focuses on both contemporary visual culture and traditional arts and includes internships to give you firsthand familiarity with a teaching career.

POST-BACCALAUREATE CERTIFICATE IN STUDIO ART This one-year program can help you get where you want to go. You’ll build your skills through intensive studio work and seminars, connect with a professional network, and get ready to take your art to the next level. Whether you’re looking to make a big change in your career, or you earned an undergraduate degree in a non-art area, or you just want to make inroads to the contemporary art world, this may be exactly what you’re looking for.

Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and MoMA. They’ve participated in residencies and film festivals around the world. They’ve

exhibited at the Nagoya Museum of Fine Arts, the City Museum of Paris, the San

exhibited

work on mountain faces, performed in the Guggenheim, and founded arts organizations.

“I’M A STUDENT AT SMFA.” Like the sound of that? Connect with us so you can see our studios, meet our students and faculty, and get a feel for the place that could help you define yourself.

T

MUSEUM E H

O

F FIN

CHOO L S O Y F IT

smfa.tufts.edu

E A RT S AT

230 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115 617-627-0077 smfaadmissions@tufts.edu

TU

FTS

U NIV

E R S

SMFA and the SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS are trademarks of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and are used by permission.