I hope you are enjoying your summer. While the school is a bit quieter than it is during the school year, the studios are still bustling and full of artwork, and our faculty and staff are busy with plans for the upcoming school year.

Photo: Tony Rinaldo

This year, our Pre-College Summer Studio program has a record number of students. Arriving in June for the five-week program were 65 high school juniors and seniors from five countries and 17 states. With 10 faculty members, 6 visiting artists, 9 graduate mentors, and 5 resident advisors to support, challenge, and engage these budding artists, the quality of work we’ve seen this year has been truly inspirational.

Nira Chorev, Golan Mountains, I srael, 2008. Acrylic on paper.

Simultaneously, the School is in the midst of 7 weeks of Continuing Education classes, with more than 320 students. Work from the Continuing Education students was on view in “ceX²,” the second annual Continuing Education exhibition. Read more about the juried exhibition and the experiences of two students here.

Several students are engaged in grant-funded internships through the Artists Resource Center this summer. Krista Caballero, an MFA candidate, is developing community based arts education programming for low-income Latina/o youth with Boston Latino Arts Association. BFA candidate Helen Miller is working in her local Mayor’s office in Northampton, Massachusetts, to improve public venues for artists and to engage high school students in local government. Liza Voll, a Combined Degree candidate, is challenging all segments of the local Somerville community to increase their physical activity and eat healthily with Shape Up Somerville. We’re very proud of the community involvement of our students.

One of the most exciting changes this summer has been the new name and dates of the School’s annual art sale. Over the past 28 years, the December Sale has become the largest public art sale in New England, grossing over $1.1 million in 2007. The name of this important event, however, does not accurately represent the School’s core mission: to foster the education of artists through creative investigation, risk-taking, and individual vision. Nor does “December Sale” fully convey the interchange between the School’s community of artists and the public at large. To reflect this, we are pleased to announce the new name and dates for our annual event: Inside/Out: The Museum School Art Sale, November 19–23, 2008. Stay tuned for more information about this exciting change and read more about it here.

This is just a snapshot of summer 2008 at the School. I look forward to seeing some of you at the start of the School year, and meeting parents of new students at Orientation, Advising, and Registration (OAR) the last weekend of August. Enjoy the remainder of the summer!

With warm regards,   Deborah H. Dluhy Dean of the School Deputy Director, MFA