i’m TOOIST PLAYERERROMANTICDANCERREAD-BLOGGERCOS-ACTIVISTTECHNOPHILELEADERCRAFTERKNITTERSKATERILLUSTRATORBMOVIELOVERWEAVERSINGERCODERPSYCHICDREAMERHISTO-RIANPERFORMERENTREPRENEURMURALISTACTOR
WHAT DO YOU CALL YOURSELF?puppeteer?Aanimator?Anceramicist?Amemoirist?Ahistorian?Apoet?Ainventor?Anmuralist?Asculptor?AA choreographer? A welder? A weaver? A leader? A student? An aspiringplayer?guitarAcomedian?Askater?Aentrepreneur?Anactivist?Ancoder?Avisionary?Aprogress?inworkAartist?Adebater?Amediator?Adoglover?Atechnophile?Anoptimist?
02 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 OFMUSEUMTHEOFSCHOOLFINE ARTS AT TUFTS UNIVERSITY
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.
URBANPERFORMANCETORSCULP-PRINTMAKINGSTUDIESPHOTOGRAPHYSUSTAINABILITYPOLICYEQUITY canHowarchitecture?softisWhat printmaking be sustainable?
SCULP- i’m
Isabella Kiser, BFA + BS ’21
07
“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.”
DRAWING CREATIVE INSTALWRITING ARTISTLATIONi’m MARINE BIOLOGYSCULPTURE cephalopodsstudyingcanHow help you explore themes of race, gender, identity?sexualand
LATION ART- IST
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.”
DIGITALFESSORPRO-MEDIACOLONIALISMSTUDIESLITERATUREPAINTINGVIDEOSCULPTURE3DANIMATION rela-enablesthatfabricthe “Art is culture, and culture is tionships beyond geographical, temporal,historicalorideologicaldistances.”
PRO- i’m
I use digital media and archives as a way to re-examine forgotten histories, with the intent of dismantling the persistence of the mistakes of the past in the present, and decolonizing public space using digital technologies as a way of imagining alternative futures.”
Cristobal Cea, Faculty “I work with different mediums from 3D animation to oil painting—probably because I don’t believe in disciplinary boundaries, and I am particularly skeptical in regard to hierarchies of knowledge. Artmaking is a materially and conceptually diverse practice, and navigating the commons between digital and analogue practices is something that I enjoy immensely.
15
NEDUTSTS STUDY ABROAD STUDENTS TEACHER9:1 in need-based financial aid awarded each year of undergraduate financial need metMAJORSMILLIONMINORS $117 100 % 45 %96150%employed,enrolled in grad school, or participating in service or fellowship 6 MONTHS after graduation 300 + ORGANIZATIONSSTUDENT +
completed at least one internship while at Tufts completed two or more internships 93 80%% STUDENTS come from STUDENTS at 6,000600SMFAARGREDNUDUATESAT TUFTS COUNTRIES 90 + STATES 50 INTERNATIONALSTUDENTS 1,400 INTERNATIONALSCHOLARSFACULTY 300+&
“EachoftheSMFAfacultypridesthemselfonbeinga‘teacher’steacher’;thatis,committedtoteachingart as a source of
STUDIO
knowltheyasthemassistthenandthem,formeaningfuliswhatfindtolearn,tohowlearnstudentshelpWeproduction.edge-work to convey the meanings they uncover.”
Harrison,NateInterimDeanofSMFAatTufts
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. 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 screen printing. 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. 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.
STUDYAREAS FIBERS PERFORMANCE BOOK ARTSDIGITALDRAWINGANIMATIONMEDIACERAMICSPRINTMAKINGFILM VIDEO Connect cosmology to sociology through kinetic sculpture. Illustrate the complex mechanics of neural networks through sonic art.
OF SOUNDMETALS PAINTING SCULPTURE PHOTOGRAPHYPAPERMAKINGILLUSTRATION VIRTUAL REALITY GRAPHIC ARTS JEWELRY Use augmented reality to make ancient history come to life.
Rachel Shiloach, BFA ’18
“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.”
DANCE PRINTMAKINGANIMATION FILM + VIDEO SOUND INSTALLATION 22 Studio Curriculum
’19 PERFORMANCEANIMATIONSCULPTURESOUND ILLUSTRATIONFILM+VIDEO 23 Studio Curriculum
Liz Maelane, BFA
“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.”
CERAMICSKILNLASERWOODSHOPENGRAVER
STUDIO ACCESS + SUPPORTperformanceadocumenttovideousetowaysforlookingassimpleasit’sSometimes,students.assistingtimeoflotaspend“I or installation, but there are a lot of interesting projects where students areandthink-ing,‘I’dliketoincorporatespeakersintoasculp-turethenprojectonit.’Ireallylikeassistingstudentswiththingslikethat.” ArtsMediaManager,StudioAron,Ben “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.
WELDING STUDIO DARKROOMS METALS STUDIO “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 good art.” Adam “Legs” Cowell Studio Manager, Welding Playwithfire.Useittoshapemetal,finishceramics,orsolderjewelry.Workwithwood.Experimentwithsound,26StudioAccess+Support
NCED PRODUCTIO “The Advanced Production Lab is a place where some of the world’s oldest and newest technologies are encouraged to cross-pollinate. Whether it’s laser engraving plates for relief prints, 3D printing wax for investment casting, or CNC routing for furniture building, the Advanced Production Lab supports experimentation without disciplinary boundaries and makes it approachable, too!” G StudioLasterManager, Digital Fabrication LABMEDIA thing is here for you at SMFA . Except limitations.paper,Every-reality.virtualorpainting,
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. STUDENTSPACES 28 Student Spaces
Anne Harris, MFA ’21
“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.”
30 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. history? Sculptures cultured in our biology labs? Performance pieces
FrenchaboutpaintingsDigitalchange?climateaboutinstallationsceramiconprojectionsvideomakeyouWilleconomic
OTHERAREASACADEMIC
Rachel
PHOTOGRAPHYGRAPHIC ARTSFILMSOCIOLOGY+VIDEO about the anthropology of gender? Allegorical animations about social justice?
“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 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.” Orlang, BFA ’19
Racial
33 Other Academic Areas “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 PERFORMANCEFILMPHOTOGRAPHY+VIDEOCLASSICALSCULPTURESTUDIES
Laura Beth Reese, MFA ’13
34 Travel + Research
“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.”
“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. + 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.
Add “I’m a tireless researcher” to your list of identifiers. To inform and amplify
TRAVEL
UNDERGRAD TRAVEL 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.
TUFTS PROGRAMS ABROAD include University of the Arts London, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, and Paris College of Art. SUMMER SCHOLARS can choose to travel. These juniors and seniors receive funding for ten weeks of research culminating in presentations.
“Spending a semester at École des BeauxArts in Paris was such an amazing experience. I learned so much and grew so much from going abroad and really immersing myself in a language and a new culture. It’s so important to be a world citizen and to get to know other perspectives. I’d recommend it for everyone.”
ALUMNI TRAVEL TRAVELING FELLOWSHIPS Each year we provide a select cohort of SMFA graduates 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. your art, you’ll want to dig into the many resources that Tufts University offers: its libraries
“Participating with the Hamburg Exchange was really incredible. To experience a different culture and see how they lead their classes, as well as how everyone interacts, I think was really unique. It was just a great chance to be in a different environment and also think about how different energies in different places have an effect on your work.”
Isabella Kiser, BFA + BS ’21
Natalia Leginowicz, MFA ’19
lecturers.
Helina
“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.” Metafaria, MFA ’12 guest
RESEARCHINSTALLATIONPERFORMANCETRAVELARCHIVESORALHISTORIESVIDEOSCULPTURE and labs, its classes and symposia. Look at primary sources. Listen to
conduct research very much like They’re forward-looking. They’re researching into problems rather than only studying the past. and PHILOSOPHERSISTSENGINEERS ART-
Darin Murphy Head of SMFA Library In our artistic practice at SMFA research as practice is a basis for your work. MEDIUM HISTORY MATERIALS SCIENCE LITERATURE CULTURE TEXT CONWe help students increase the number of resources they can investigate and stick with them as they forge their research path.
EXHIBITIONS 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.theirofworktheaboutthinkartist-curator,anbetomeansitwhataboutthinktogetstudentsStudents,CurateStudents“With asthereareWework.thatshowtoablebeandcally,advisors every step of the way.” Abigail Satinsky, TUAG curator peers themati-
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
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 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.
“Megan McMillan’s Advanced Installation Projects class focused on running an off-campus group show with 12 eclectic and amazing artists.
Skopek,
Bryant
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.” “Sko” PB
’19, MFA ’21 43 Exhibitions
directlyconnectsconceptstheirDevelopingstudents.ourofexperiencelearningtheofpartcentralaismentorship“Faculty ADVISING + REVIEW BOARDS
45 Advising + Review Boards
-
Independence is central to the SMFA expe rience. 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 exhibi tions or travel programs, and con necting 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 students who consider your cumula tive 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.
Damaris Swass, BFA ’18
“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.”
46 Advising + Review Boards REVIEW BOARDS
“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, Facultyanbeyondworktheircontextualizetostudentshelpsfacultyartistworkingtoaccesshavingandchoices,materialtheirtoacademic environment.” Tanya Crane, Faculty
encouraged.”allthat’spolitics:andimmigrationofermattsubjectwithdealingartistMexicanaBeingidentify.youhowermattdoesn’tItplatform.ahavetoallowtheythatstudentsaccept — thetheythatstudentstheoftermsinaretheydiverse“AthingthatIreallyrespectaboutSMFAishow 48 Careers + SMFA Alumni
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.”
Kate is an artist and curator who, through her role as executive director of Now + There, is transforming the public art conversation in Boston. The nonprofit’s core mission is to “awe, illuminate, challenge, unsettle, confound, provoke, and, at times, offend.” It works with local and international artists engaging in timely and critical public conversations, highlighting the role of public art in strengthening and connecting communities throughout the city. Kate says, “SMFA has a really wonderful, non-disciplinary way of helping artists identify what’s most important to them. It doesn’t say you have to be a painter, or you have to be a sculptor. It says, ‘You’re an artist with an important voice. Now, what is that voice?’”
+
ALUMNISMFAKateGilbert,MFA’13
CAREERS ’04MFAFuenmayor,Gonzalo
Dominique Avila BFA ’15, MAT ’16 Dominique teaches upper and middle school art at the Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island. “The nature of being an art teacher is that you’re going to make it work with whatever you’ve got. It’s about being creative and figuring it out with the students—being open-minded to what’s thrown at you. That’s the nature of an art teacher, and it’s something that I learned through the MAT program at SMFA.”
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.
together.”hierarchy.Ineverfeltuncomfortableapproachingteachers.Itwasaverycollaborativespace.ThisfeedsintohowIteachnow—thisisacommunityandwe’reallworking“AtSMFA,Ineverfeltliketherewasa 51 Careers + SMFA Alumni “I’m an intern.” Just imagine that for a minute. Where would youliketolearnonthejob?Inanartist’sstudio?MaybewithaninternationallyknownartistlikeAiWeiwei,MayaLin,or
Furen Dai, PB ’14, MFA ’16 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.
Gonzalo Fuenmayor MFA ’04 “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 encoun ters, 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. you a big tech company like Google or Apple. Or how about an art gallery or museum?
atworktolikeyou’dMaybefirm?product-designaatentrepreneurshipoftastealikeyouwouldOrBarney?Matthew
-
pushesittime,sametheatbutin,interestedmostyou’rethat
“SMFA places the most importance on developing your subject or the topic
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 history.” He says, “SMFA is an environment in which experimentation and risk-taking are encouraged. I found a peer 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.”
Catherine Armistead BFA + BA ’17 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 ecosystems.” Its intention was “to re-establish a connection to the ecological world that surrounds us, while invoking a sense of wonder and respect.”
thatyou’llneed.Sowhenyouleave,youhavethiswholesetofskillstocarryoutyourprojects.”
to pick up all of the tools and techniques
You could help put exhibitions together or lend a hand in restoring artwork. Or maybe
Thom Solo, BFA ’12 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.
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.
Liz Cohen, BFA + BA ’96
“One of the many strengths of SMFA is aretheultimate‘self-starters’
Artistsinterests.students’torespondandnurturetofacultyofagilityandprogramstheinflexibilitythe
andcompany.ownmybuildIasmeforessentialbeenIt’sskills.theseinstinct,thisonreliesdowewhat 54 Careers + SMFA Alumni you could change the lives of young people through outreach and education.
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.”
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 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.”
Lydia Marks, BFA ’92
CulturalDistrictslikeLittleSaigonandtheLatinQuarter.TheNorthEnd’sLittle Italy and Chinatown’s
Skyscrapers and serene green spaces. Historic revolution and cultural evolution. Youthful energy and boundless possibilities. Art, tech, media, science, and everything else. This vibrant, cosmopolitan city, the hub of the Northeast, 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, public art experiences, established firms, and exciting startups. At every level, Boston offers you opportunities. To experience art in all its forms, including music, theatre, dance, filmmaking, and 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 heart of Boston. Our neighbors are the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, but we’re also surrounded by fellow visual and performing arts schools in the ProArts Consortium and cultural hubs like the SoWa Art and Design District, Fort Point Arts Neighborhood, Roxbury Cultural District, and more. SMFA students benefit from the professional and social opportunities in this location central to the Boston arts scene, a thriving community of students and creative professionals. Getting all over Boston and beyond is easy, thanks to a robust public transportation system. SMFA is just steps away from the Green Line train, and Tufts shuttle buses run frequently between the SMFA campus and the Medford/Somerville campus. of cultures, history, and innovation.
meetingATrail.HeritageBlacktheandhistoryWarRevolutionarymuseums.andgalleries,art,Publicgate.paifangplace
BOSTON COMMUNITY+
SOMERVILLEMEDFORD/MISSIONSMFAHILLCAMPUS DAVISSQUARE FENWAY PARK BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL GARDNERISABELLAELPELÓNTAQUERIASTEWARTMUSEUMEMERALDNECKLACE CHARLES RIVER Ourfavoriteburritos in town a nd a popularlunchtimedestination for students. Bikers, runners, and artists alike enjoy the panoramic skyline views on the 24 mile Charles RiverTrail. R estaurants, dna,retaehteivomshops,abeloveds’evaDhserF lnoeht—atsaPysandwichshopyou’llever need.
SMFA CAMPUS SOWASOUTHENDGALLERYDISTRICT MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS AQUARIUMENGLANDNEW BOSTONHATCHCOMMONMEMORIALSYMPHONYHAYMARKETSHELLHALL NEWBURYSTREETINSTITUTEOFCONTEMPORARYART rCatchashoworjointhepublicpartyonthefirstFridayofeverymonth.Thereare55othermuseumsinthecity!ExperienceapieceofhistoryandwickedgooddealsatoneofAmerica’sfirstfamersmarekts.
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 admis sion. 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. When you’re an SMFA student, the Museum of Fine Arts is, in many respects, your museum.
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
60 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.
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
Perla Mabel Ledesma BFA ’19
61 Museum of Fine Arts
“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.”
62 Student Work ’20,BFAFisher-Berger,Dan LeftthetoLittleA paintingmediamixed,
STUDENTParkerLilyTuson-Morse,BFA’23, ChildandMother canvasonoil
WORK
’23,BS+BFAYe,Carina CarpetTiger canvasonacrylic ’21,BFAChung,Jean Rabbithole canvasonacrylic, Lei Zhong, MFA ’19, Collectivism, oil on canvas ’21,BFAHeifner,Wilamina Depression acrylicandstoneware,
66 Student Work Sam Helwig, BFA ’20, S.S. SSC Chopped & Screwed (Log Chopper), wood, steel, copper, aluminum, found object ’24,BA+BFASimsek,Yagmur BaitDate IllustratorAdobePhotoshop,Adobe,
frompage’22,BFAPetmeza,Magda NipplesandOctopus ’22,BA+BFAHorne,Ezriphotobookinkjetarchival, WintoSpin sculpture ’22,BA+BFABell,Maxine Bloopie chopstickswoodenfork,plasticpaint,acrylicclay, 67 Student Work
Rei, BFA ’23, I Cleaned It Up Før Yøu, watercolor on paper ’20,MFA’18,PBGomez,Grace DancedShe photography, Yixiang Tong, MFA ’20, Lighter and Lighter: Lift up your heads, single large projection video installation 68 Student Work
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 Lien Pham, BFA ’21, Return Dad, digital photograph Adam’s’19,BFADiscoll,RoseHelen #2Test pine,paper,ongraphite, Exhibition:ThesisSeniorSMFA2019fromviewinstallation SpaceLiminal
GRAMSPRO“No matter what skills you’re studying or goals you’re pursu-ingasacreativeartist,we’reallalwaysworkinginaninterdisciplinaryway.Forus,it’sabouthowyoufeedyourmindandhowyoupursueyourcurios-thread.”thefollowandities Schmidt,JenniferFaculty
DEGREE
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.individualizedancrafttoabilitythevaluedIfreedom.oflotahavewouldchoseIprogramwhateverthatmetoimportantwas“It curriculumthatwouldsupportmyinterests.” NicholasPapa,BFA’18 73 Degree Programs
As an SMFA at Tufts student, you’ll join an active community full of opportunities to connect, share your interests, and discover new ones. Consider joining the Skate Sculpture Club, the Student Government Association, the Eco-Art Club, the Artists of Color 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 + COMBINEDBA/BSDEGREE
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 .)
Lily Pisano, BFA + BA ’21
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.
Lily pursued 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 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.
77 Degree Programs GRADUATE DEGREES In our rigorous graduate programs, you’ll expand your studio practice while drawing on in-depth research. 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. Join a studio-based program enriched by research which supports the professional development of visual artists from all over the world. Interna tional travel, seminars on contempo rary 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. 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 FINE ARTS Degree
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Programs
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 contem porary art world, this may be exactly what you’re looking for. Museum of Fine Arts, the City Museum of Paris, the
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MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING IN ART EDUCATION (MAT)
REATE CERTIFICATE IN STUDIO ART
This 12-month program prepares you to teach in elementary, middle, and high schools and for your initial licensure. It focuses on both contem porary visual culture and traditional arts and includes internships to give you firsthand familiarity with a teaching career.
POST-BACCALAU -
work on mountain faces, performed in the Guggenheim, and founded arts organizations. STUDIO ART INTENSIVE Join our community of artists and makers and spend your summer building a portfolio of new and exciting artwork! Our Pre-College Studio Art Intensive is an interdisciplinary program that allows you to work with new materials, deepen your experience with familiar mediums, and develop conceptually sophisticated work. Spend three weeks on campus exploring how artists examine, critique, and better the world around us. Expand your art practice with the introduction of new materials and ideas / Work one-on-one with a faculty to build your portfolio / Collaborate with other young artists to make work that is meaningful to you / Live in the Tufts’ Medford campus residence halls and experience life as a SMFA student / Visit local museums, such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Sign up to learn more by visiting go.tufts.edu/art PRE-COLLEGE
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. “I’M A STUDENT AT SMFA.” OHCSOLOFTHE M U USEUMOFFINEARTSATTUFTSYTISREVIN 230 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115 https://oeo.tufts.edu/policies-procedures/non-discrimination-statementsmfaadmissions@tufts.edu617-627-0077 Contains contact information for Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX/504 Coordinator. smfa.tufts.edu
SMFA and the SCHOOL OF THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS are trademarks of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and are used by permission. Photos were taken prior to March 2020.
230 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115 smfaadmissions@tufts.edu617-627-0077 smfa.tufts.edu
