Dear Parents and Friends of Students,
Spring semester is well underway, and we are
surrounded by the
quickening pace of projects coming to completion, preparation
for end
of semester review boards, and the spirited invention
brought on by the
arrival of spring in Boston.
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| Photo: Christy
Cornett |
Last month the School launched
the first
alternative Spring Break, which your student may have had the
pleasure of
participating in. A group of students and staff
flew to New
Orleans to work
with the New Orleans
Women Artists’ Collective
on community and infrastructure rebuilding in
the
Lower Ninth Ward.
Their remarkable experience, from
digging trenches to
artmaking, will
be documented in an
upcoming exhibition in the fall. A grateful
citizen
of New
Orleans wrote
me a glowing letter about the “Museum
School Angels” as she called them and
expressed her joy at
finally
having a working kitchen and a new sense of hope
for
the future. Read
more about this extraordinary trip
here.
As you may have seen, we recently
announced two changes to our
program offerings. The Diploma Program’s name will
be changed to Studio
Program, and the BFA in Art Education is changing to become
the BFA
Plus MAT in Art Education Program (TuftsPlus). The Studio Program was chosen to
define the nature of this course of study; the TuftsPlus presents a
wonderful
cost-effective opportunity for students in art education to
move seamlessly from
their undergraduate work into the MAT program at
Tufts and achieve certification
to teach. The total program takes just
five years to complete.
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| Wendy Jean Hyde, Waiting for the
Bear, 2008. Photograph documenting a video. | In other exciting news,
two new
exhibitions are opening this month. The Fifth Year Exhibition
2008 opened to the public April 11 and
will run through
Saturday, May 3. One participant, Rob Pettit, had his
installation of 5,500 cell phones featured on the front page of the
Boston Globe
on April 10. It is from the Fifth Year E
xhibition that the student winners of
the prestigious Traveling
Scholarship Awards are
chosen. At the Tufts University Art Gallery, the
MFA Thesis Exhibition opened on Thursday,
April 10. This exhibition
features work by candidates in the Master of Fine Arts
program and will
be on view until Sunday, April 27. I hope that you will have a
chance
to see the work of these advanced students.
Don’t forget to join us for the Open Studios and Continuing Education Open House on April
13 from noon to 3 pm. It’s always informative to see the work of
students in action and talk to them about their investigations. Please do plan
to visit if you are in the area.
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| Installation from La Tabacalera, San Sebastian, Spain.
Courtesy of the Schnabel Studio. |
I also want to invite
you to join us in honoring renowned American
painter and film director Julian
Schnabel at this year’s Medal Award
ceremony and
gala dinner on May 12. Considered one of the most prolific
artists of his
generation, Schnabel’s
most recent project, Le
Scaphandre et le
Papillon/The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, has
garnered honors from
critics and festivals internationally, including
the Cannes Film Festival in
France, the Golden Globes, and two Academy
Awards nominations. The SMFA Medal Award is
given to an individual
whose work furthers the development and understanding of
contemporary
art. All proceeds from the event directly support student
scholarship
aid at the Museum
School. Click here to learn more about and purchase
tickets to
the Medal Award Dinner.
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With warm regards,
Deborah H. Dluhy
Dean of the School
Deputy Director,
MFA
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PS—If your
student is graduating and you have not yet made hotel arrangements for Commencement, consider doing so today. A number of
colleges and universities in Boston hold their commencement activities the same
weekend as ours, and hotels fill fast.
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