2025 REPORT IMPACT
MAKING AN IMPACT—IMPACTING THE FUTURE: SMFA AT TUFTS
“
FO STERING
CREATIVITY, cultural understanding, and COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT enriches society and EMPOWERS US ALL to contribute to society MEANINGFULLY .”
– SMFA Dean Scheri Fultineer
DEAR SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS AT TUFTS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY,
For nearly 150 years, SMFA at Tufts has been at the forefront of art education and fostering emerging contemporary artists and creators who have forged new pathways with their unique voices. The founding of this school was rooted in the idea that fostering creativity, cultural understanding, and community engagement enriches society and empowers us all to contribute to society meaningfully.
Within the rapidly changing landscape of art making, design, and innovative entrepreneurship, one thing that will not change, regardless of advances in AI, technology, or materials, is that ideas have always been the currency of creativity. Our goal at SMFA is to empower our students to live creative lives that contribute to the future of art and the well-being, not only of themselves but of other people, too.
With the firm foundation of an interdisciplinary curriculum designed to challenge students to expand their skills and provoke their curiosity, SMFA offers interdisciplinary connections across the university.
I thank you for being a part of this community, and I am immensely grateful to all those who give their time, their resources, and their connections to foster opportunities for our school.
WITH GRATITUDE,
Scheri Fultineer Dean, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University
L to R: Schuyler Dragoo, MFA candidate, SMFA, Ng’endo Mukii, Professor of the Practice, Film, Video, and Animation (SMFA), Daniela Rivera, Professor of Art, Wellesley College, Dayna Cunningham, Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Dean of Tisch College of Civic Life, Keith Maddox, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Social Cognition Lab (Arts and Sciences), Patte Loper, Professor of the Practice, Painting and Drawing (SMFA).
WHAT’S NEXT AT SMFA: INTRODUCING ART+
EQUIPMENT OR SOFTWARE MAY quickly become obsolete—especially as AI advances—but an SMFA at Tufts degree will never lose its value or relevance.
In 2024, graduates broke a record when it came to taking their next steps toward achieving that goal:
97% of the SMFA Class of 2024 were employed, enrolled in graduate school, or participating in a service fellowship or residency within six months of graduation.
To continue to support and grow highcaliber contemporary artists, SMFA recently introduced a new strategic vision entitled Art+. Art+ takes advantage of the unique position of the art school being embedded within the larger Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences. The idea is for degree students to let the artistic process lead their educational pursuits while continuing to innovate their practices through studies that intersect with the full breadth of offerings across the School of Arts and Sciences and other Tufts schools.
THE POWER OF TRAVEL
IN HONOR OF HIS LATE WIFE
NANTULL, STUDIO DIPLOMA,A78, FIFTH
YEAR, A80,
FRANK WEZNIAK ENDOWS THE TRAVELING FELLOWSHIP AWARD FOR ALUMNI
NAN TULL’S (1937–2023) 40-year career as a painter was dominated primarily by encaustic work that examined the complicated organic forms of the natural world. Unlike many artists, Tull wasn’t born creating. She didn’t take her first art class or pursue art until her mid 20s, after a first career as an educator, two cross-country moves, and becoming a mother.
“During her time studying abroad in Paris her junior year at Wellesley, she was a viewer of art, not a participant,” Frank Wezniak, her husband of 64 years, said. “She was very interested in art but wasn’t yet an artist.” Soon after, they met on a blind date and got married, and Nan became an elementary school teacher.
What started as a hobby developed into a 60-year interdisciplinary practice as a cornerstone member of Boston’s 249 A Street Artists Cooperative in Fort Point.
She earned her studio diploma from SMFA, the first of two degrees, and subsequently her first traveling fellowship.
“That traveling fellowship really released her, if you will,” shared Wezniak. “It showed her that she could be more flexible, how far she could push herself, and ultimately opened the door to the more contemporary style she used for the rest of her life.”
READ MORE ABOUT ALUMNI TRAVELING FELLOWSHIPS
Historical image of Nan in her studio.
Photo courtesy of Frank Wezniak.
POLLY THAYER STARR
INTERNSHIPS, RESIDENCIES, AND WORKSHOP
SUPPORT: GIFTS THAT CHANGE LIVES
THE GENEROSITY OF THE Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust continuously opens doors for SMFA students through the internship and scholarship programs it supports. These initiatives offer students not only financial assistance but also unique opportunities for hands-on experience and professional development.
These programs are transforming students’ lives, empowering them to explore new professional avenues and focus on their creative growth. The ongoing support of the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust is helping to shape the next generation of artists, ensuring that art education remains accessible and that these students can contribute meaningfully to the world of art and beyond.
READ MORE ABOUT POLLY THAYER STARR’S FUNDING IMPACT 04/05
Photo: Maria Cazzato, a BFA candidate who is also pursuing a BA in political science and philosophy at Tufts, worked as the Polly Thayer Starr Studio Intern. BFA/BA26.
Photo Jenna Schad / Tufts University.
WHEN THE TEACHER BECOMES THE STUDENT
Reflecting on a decade of the SMFA FACULTY TRAVEL AND RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS supported by Carol, Studio Diploma, A09, and Richard Daynard, and Lilly and Ted Yun
“AS AN EDUCATOR, I always felt this school was very special,” said Carol Daynard, Studio Diploma, A09. “During the crits I was a part of, I noticed how particularly kind and helpful the faculty were toward the students and how accepting they were of a wide range of learners.”
Daynard dedicated her career to the public school system. A year after her retirement, she returned to the classroom to obtain her diploma in studio art from SMFA in 2009.
Part of Daynard’s identity as an artist involves continuing to give back to SMFA.
She and her husband, Richard, established the SMFA Faculty and Travel Research Fellowships in 2014. The fellowships are granted annually to support faculty research and promote opportunities for exchange between SMFA faculty and other arts and cultural institutions, organizations, and peers. All the while, they increase awareness and interest in SMFA and bolster the strength of the faculty as practicing artists. In the decade since the grants were established, more than 50 faculty have benefited from the grants.
READ MORE ABOUT FACULTY TRAVEL AND RESEARCH GRANTS IMPACT
Cathy Lu, professor of the practice in ceramics. Work shown partially funded by Faculty Travel and Research Fellowships.
courtesy of the artist.
Photo
THE GIFT OF A LIFETIME
AN ANONYMOUS ESTATE GIFT ENABLES SMFA’S FIRST ENDOWED PROFESSOR POSITION AND CRITICAL TUITION ASSISTANCE FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
“IT’S NO SECRET THAT living as an artist isn’t easy,” Zora J. Murff said. “But being an artist always comes first for me; it’s my true, natural passion.”
Murff, a photographer and curator, is the first endowed professor of the practice at SMFA, a role that provides security in an industry that all too often lacks just that. His position was made possible by an anonymous estate gift in 2023 that established both the endowed professorship and financial aid funds to support graduate student scholarships at SMFA.
Before he became an artist, Murff was a social worker in Iowa, serving some of the country’s most vulnerable and underserved populations. To cope with the heaviness of his work, he picked up photography, initially as a hobby. It morphed into his next career as he returned to school for an undergraduate degree in photography at the University of Iowa, then his MFA at the University of Nebraska.
When Murff was wrestling with writing his BFA thesis exhibition statement, it was a professor who gave him the push to pursue teaching in an art school setting.
READ MORE ABOUT THE IMPACT OF ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS AND GRADUATE FINANCIAL AID
MFA thesis 2024 gallery view. Photo: Chris Diani, MFA25.
FACTS FIG URES +
“Volcano No3” by MiJung Yun, MFA25.
ADMISSIONS/ENROLLMENT
FACTS AND FIGURES
SMFA AT TUFTS UNIVERSITY
Enrolled students across all programs:
BFA, BFA + BA/BS, POSTBACCALAUREATE, AND MFA:
680 7:1 168
first-year students Student/Faculty Ratio
Applications to SMFA at Tufts:
1,200
SMFA undergraduate applications received (each year for the past three years)
First year postgraduation: 97% employed, enrolled in graduate school, or participating in a service fellowship
24.5% increase in undergraduate SMFA Early Decision Round 1 applications
SMFA ENDOWMENT: $36,889,147 as of Feb. 28, 2025
REVENUE SOURCES (FY24)
15% is covered through philanthropy and other revenue-generating enterprises
FY25 SMFA BUDGET: $34,275,604 as of GIVING (FY24)
STUDE NT STOR IES
MIGUEL CABA, BFA25
HOW DOES TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORM the way art is made? For Miguel Caba, BFA25, it acts as a reinforced link that connects continents and expands creative bounds. With cutting-edge tools like a laser cutter, computer numerical control (CNC) router, and 3D printers, Miguel merges traditional craftwork with modern innovation.
In today’s world, the ability to communicate across oceans in mere seconds might seem ordinary, yet it remains profoundly transformative. This technological advancement has not only bridged physical distance but also allowed Miguel to remain deeply connected to their family while exploring bold, boundary-pushing artistic experiments. The wonder of turning distance into the opportunity for connection gives Miguel an endless canvas for innovation, blending gratitude for these tools with amazement at the possibilities they unlock.
Photo credit: Jack Ren, BA27.
VIVIAN TRAN, BFA + BS25
“I’VE BEEN TRYING TO make my work less about me,” Vivian Tran, BFA + BS25, said from her SMFA studio, gesturing toward a sculpture in progress of an empty doll-sized bed. “The bed says what I’m trying to get across just as well as if I put a body inside it.”
By removing the sleeper, she is giving viewers the space to tuck themselves into the sculpture’s story instead.
As a sophomore, Tran completed a series of intimate large-scale canvases that served not only as windows for her viewers into her family’s domestic life in Canada but also provided her with a way to deeply connect with her own parents for the first time.
“Art is sustenance. Art is lifeblood, and it can change lives,” Tran said with a catch in her voice. It changed hers.
A first-generation college student, she came to SMFA without first setting foot on campus. Yet she felt a sense of belonging immediately. Continue reading Vivian’s story online.
Vivian Tran, A25, a dual art and cognitive brain science degree student, poses for a photo in her studio at SMFA at Tufts on December 4, 2024.
Photo credit: Alonso Nichols.
EVE HOLZMAN, BFA25
BALLET IS THE FOUNDATION of Eve Holzman’s artistic journey. The art form introduced grace, discipline, and a unique awareness of her body at an early age. However, a debilitating back injury abruptly ended her dance career, forcing her to take several paces back and reevaluate her path. “I literally had to learn how to walk again,” Eve shared. She didn’t just want to walk; she wanted to soar. What seemed like a devastating loss became a launch pad when she picked up a camera in a summer photo class that her mom randomly signed her up for. This newfound medium offered her a way to reframe not just her artistic focus but also her perspective on herself and the world.
At SMFA at Tufts, Eve’s creative exploration developed profoundly. “I’ve tried to take classes in as many mediums as possible,” she explained, reflecting on SMFA’s multidisciplinary approach. Through ceramics, print, design, film, bookmaking, sound art, and photography, she challenged herself to embrace new modes of expression.
Photo credit: Chris Diani, MFA25.
JURIED EXHIBITION AT THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON
ALL ART GIVES CLUES to an artist’s identity, whether through bold-stroke statements or cryptic symbolism. But can we ever see more than pieces of who these artists are? In Fragments of Self , a juried exhibition of SMFA at Tufts student works that were on view November 23–April 27, 2025 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), four emerging artists revealed portions of themselves as immigrants, mythologists, historians, inheritors, and other identities that defy labels.
As the exhibit description notes, “each of these artists helps us understand how identity is not a singular idea or ideal, but a variable and evolving experience.”
This peer-to-peer curatorial experience is a feature of this biannual exhibition of student work, which highlights the close cooperation between the museum and the school in support of the next generation of artists and curators.
ALUM NI NEWS STOR IES +
ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT
FOR MORE THAN 145 YEARS, SMFA’S 14,000+ ALUMNI HAVE SHAPED THE ARTS LANDSCAPE ACROSS THE GLOBE.
“ SMFA’s alumni community is an ever-expanding network of individuals who share a passion for the visual arts. The alumni engagement team at SMFA is focused on building and strengthening connections to our alumni through events, studio visits, social media, and the SMFA’s annual art sale.”
—Kara Howgate-Mello, SMFA Alumni Engagement and Art Sale Manager
TOTAL VIEWERS AND VISITORS: 1,500
SMFA ART SALE FACTS AND FIGURES % of art sale proceeds that support financial aid for the school: 50%
# OF STUDENT ARTISTS: 91
# OF ARTISTS:
610
# OF ONLINE WORKS:
2,410
# OF WORKS OF ART IN THE IN-PERSON SALE AND AVAILABLE ONLINE:
1,495
TOTAL RAISED IN 2024: $621,886
# OF EVENING EVENTS:
3
# OF PREVIEW DAYS: 5
# OF PUBLIC SALE DAYS: 3
% of art sale proceeds that go back to the artists: 50%
LEARN MORE AND SAVE THE DATES FOR THE 2025 SMFA ART SALE! DEC. 5–7.
SMFA: TRAVELING FELLOWS
SINCE 1899, SCHOOL OF the Museum of Fine Arts has awarded Traveling Fellowships (formerly called Traveling Scholarships) to selected alumni. As one of the largest endowed art school grant programs in the country, the Traveling Fellowship program provides funds for artists to further develop and inform their practice.
Each year, the Tufts University Art Galleries (TUAG) and SMFA facilitate a review process with a panel of three independent jurors to award up to 10 Traveling Fellowships to selected alumni. Fellows receive up to $10,000 to pursue travel and research related to their art practice.
The program has provided critical early-career support for many notable SMFA graduates, including Nan Goldin, Mike and Doug Starn, Ellen Gallagher, and Omer Fast, and recent graduates such as Evelyn Rydz, Gonzalo Fuenmayor, Daniela Rivera, Helina Metaferia, Dinorá Justice, and Che Yeh.
2024 recipient Raleigh Gardiner’s “Primordial Oceans (IV), 2022. Collagraph on handmade paper with colored pencil, 20x16. Photo courtesy of the artist.
JOHN WILSON AT THE MFA
JOHN WOODROW WILSON, BFA44 , who was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1922 to immigrant parents, visited Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) as a teenager. He looked in vain for representations of African Americans on the walls.
Despite that lack of representation, Wilson persisted in capturing the beauty and importance of the world he saw all around him, from sketching family members to taking drawing classes at the Roxbury Boys Club with instructors from SMFA. “There were very few Black professional artists in those days,” he later remembered.
The exhibit Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through June 22, 2025, includes 110 works, spans 60 years of his work, and was co-organized by the MFA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
READ ABOUT JOHN WILSON’S MFA SHOW WITNESSING HUMANITY: THE ART OF JOHN WILSON
READ MORE ABOUT JOHN WILSON
John Wilson at work in his studio, 1988.
Photo credit: Martha Richardson Fine Art, Boston.
KATE GILBERT AND BOSTON PUBLIC ART TRIENNIAL 2025
KATE GILBERT, AG13 (MFA) , remembers the moment she traded her paintbrush for a broader canvas. “I was done with painting,” she recalled, reflecting on her evolution as an artist while at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (now SMFA at Tufts). It was there, experimenting with sculpture and video, that her creative vision expanded—and along with it, her ambitions.
As founder of a public art organization, she has helped transform Boston’s public spaces with bold and provocative contemporary art for more than a decade. This past spring, her vision reached a new level with the Boston Public Art Triennial 2025, a six-month showcase featuring 16 international artists who are partnering with local experts to tackle social issues ranging from sustainability to homelessness.
KELLY FANTEGROSSI Director of Development and Alumni Engagement kelly.fantegrossi@tufts.edu AMY HOLLAND CRAFTON
Associate Director of Development amy.holland_crafton@tufts.edu KARA HOWGATE-MELLO
Alumni Engagement and Art Sale Manager kara.howgate_mello@tufts.edu
Update your contact information: Contact Elisa
Coordinator elisa.kennedy@tufts.edu