Tufts Blogs

 
Almost every time I’m sitting in the SMFA atrium in the early morning, inhaling a breakfast sandwich and large coffee, I’m approached by a current or past professor. Oftentimes they’ll stop and talk for a short while, about life and art, sometimes even pulling up a chair beside me to drink their coffee with me. There have been numerous times I’ve been late to my 9am studio course purely because I found myself pulled into a fascinating conversation with one of my print, drawing, or graphic design teachers. 
 
Before arriving at SMFA, I viewed the line between peer and mentor as inflexible and harsh. But when I arrived at SMFA, this stark perspective of mentorship quickly dissolved. For the first time in my life, I was treated by my mentors as a peer rather than just as a student. When I spoke to my professors about art, they often asked me as many questions as I asked them, genuinely interested in how I answered each and every one of them. The faculty who taught my studio courses shared stories about their lives, uninterested in creating a sense of authority over me. It quickly became clear that the faculty at SMFA viewed me as a person, rather than a student. Beyond that, they wanted me to view them as a person too.  
  
Oftentimes when people think about making friends or building community in university, their professors aren’t the first people that come to mind. But in all honesty, the relationships that I have formed with faculty at SMFA have been some of the most rewarding ones I’ve experienced. Beyond the wisdom that they provide, befriending faculty and staff at SMFA was the first thing that truly allowed me to feel that I had accessed adulthood. I realized that the distance between myself and these people I admired was much shorter than I imagined, and this realization was beyond exciting. Although I have learned a lot about being an artist from the teachers and studio managers at SMFA, I have learned indescribably more from them about being a human being, and for that I will forever be grateful.