Tufts Blogs

The Institute of Contemporary Art, The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, The Children’s Museum, The MIT Museum(s), and about a dozen museums dedicated to the Revolutionary War, including Paul Revere’s house (you know, the “one if by land, two if by sea” guy) and the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum… In a town awash with enough history and innovation to warrant 60+ museums, the MFA tops our list.

The Museum of Fine Arts Boston (MFA) is a big, shiny jewel on the Emerald Necklace, the string of parks that cut through Boston via the SMFA campus. It’s centrally located on the Avenue of the Arts, right next to SMFA. By the numbers, the MFA is the second-largest art collection in North America (we see you, Met Museum), employs over a thousand art-world professionals, hosts over a million visitors every year, and -fun fact- holds the largest collections of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings by Monet outside of their home countries.

Our story at SMFA begins in 1876, the same year the MFA opened its doors to the public: SMFA was founded as the educational wing of the MFA, and although both the MFA and SMFA have evolved throughout the years, our partnership remains an important part of the SMFA experience and vice versa.

Our students have unlimited, free visits to see exciting exhibits like “Women Take the Floor”, “Black Histories, Black Futures”, and “Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation,” (all on view this spring) as well as the sprawling collection of everything from ancient Greek sculpture to a surprisingly large collection of bagpipes. More than free admission, though, our students have unparalleled access to the MFA’s collections, events, and large professional network. Ever wanted to visit the vaults and flip through prints and pastels too light-sensitive to display to the public? Ever wanted to explore a career in museum education? To get hands-on experience restoring an ancient artwork for display? To meet with prominent contemporary artists? To stage a performance piece in the midst of a bustling museum gallery? ­­­You CAN as an SMFA student!

More than just a place to engage with other artists’ work, the MFA is a launching pad for our students to show their own artwork. Every year, the MFA hosts exhibitions dedicated to SMFA students, alternating between a current student show and the Traveling Fellows exhibit. To have a backstage pass to the collaborative experience of creating and curating a museum exhibit, as well as to have thousands of eyes on your work, is an invaluable experience to our students.

Now, allow me a moment to gush about the Traveling Fellowship program. This program, established way back in the 1890s, is a great example of what it means to go to a specialized art school that prioritizes deep dives into personalized passion projects. Each year, we award around 10 artists with about $10,000 each to pursue a research project anywhere around the world that will inspire and inform a body of artwork. The MFA then selects one of these Traveling Fellows and mounts a solo show of their work in the heart of the contemporary art wing. Nan Goldin, Mike and Doug Starn, Ellen Gallagher, Omer Fast, and recent graduates such as Evelyn Rydz, Gonzalo Fuenmayor, and Daniela Rivera – all of these SMFA artists received support to conduct exciting research projects in Hawaii, Columbia, Antarctica, and beyond. Not only is this exhibit an incredible professional opportunity, but also a chance to teach the MFA’s million visitors from around the world about a topic close to your heart.

I hope that this post has you excited to experience groundbreaking exhibits, hobnob with visiting artists, work alongside curators, conservators, researchers, and educators, launch your own studio art career, and shop at the best bookstore around. One of my favorite MFA activities is to attempt a scavenger hunt for all of the SMFA alumni on view at the Museum. Try it yourself, and let me know what you find along the way.