March 30–April 30, 2011
Mrs. E. Ross Anderson Auditorium

Opening reception: March 30, 5–7 pm
Artist Talk: March 31, 12:30–2 pm

Support for exploration and research are critical in the early stages of an artist's career. The Museum School has a strong history of providing those opportunities, none more important or enduring than the SMFA Traveling Scholars program. Since 1899, this program has awarded funds to select artists for post-graduate work and travel. Over the years these awards have recognized the most innovative, ambitious work, , including notable alumni Nan Goldin, Mike and Doug Starn, Ellen Gallagher, Omer Fast, Cliff Evans and Rachel Perry Welty.

The 2011 "SMFA Traveling Scholars" presents work by the 2009 award recipients who have spent nearly two years traveling, exploring, working and creating an inspired body of new work for this exhibition:

Nathan Boyer received his Master of Fine Art from Yale University in 2002, Fifth Year Certificate from SMFA in 2000, Studio Diploma from SMFA in 1999 and BFA from SMFA/Tufts University in 1998. Boyer is on the faculty of the University of Missouri (Columbia, SC) and was recently awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in Austria and was an artist-in-residence at the quartier21/Museums Quartier program for digital media in Vienna.

Boyer's performance videos (Dr. Skullface and Mystery Talk will be on view) explore the creation of personae based on cultural models. Merging "high" and "low" sources, from hip-hop to postmodern critical theory, he offers insight into why people embrace or reject certain cultural markers when creating their identity.

David D'Agostino received a Studio Diploma and Fifth Year Certificate from SMFA in 2003 and 2009, respectively. He has work in the permanent collection of the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University, and nearly 10 years of work experience counseling mentally ill and disabled people through art and video.
As a documentary filmmaker, D'Agostino explores the extremes of human nature. On view in the exhibition is Arthur Knight Hammer: King of the Bears, which profiles Knight, a gay man on a mission to create his own interpretation of Christianity after being rejected by the Christian Fundamentalist community.

Ariel Kotker received her Studio Diploma from SMFA in 2003. She was awarded a Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowship in 2007 and has exhibited around New England in spaces such as Northampton Center for the Arts, the Berwick Research Institute in Boston and Tufts University.

Kotker's installation, His Room as He Left It, is a "walk-in novella" which tells the coming-of-age story of Drey Fank. Hand-making each and every piece of Fank's room, from cigarettes and clothes to his diary and bed, she creates not just art, but a true reflection of a life lived.

Kate Sinnott received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley in 2005 and Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, Studio Diploma and Fifth Year Certificate from SMFA in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Situated in a place in between architecture and sketching, Sinnott creates complex environments in which drawing becomes three dimensional.

Press release