Intersections: Artistic Dialogues in Boston’s Graduate Fine Arts Community
“Intersections,” Installation view. Photos by Erik Grau, Piano Craft Gallery
Intersections: Artistic Dialogues in Boston’s Graduate Fine Arts Community
The collaborative exhibition features more than 45 participating visual artists from the Classes of 2023 and 2024 representing the fine art graduates programs from Boston University School of Visual Arts, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Lesley University, and Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
A groundbreaking collaborative exhibition, Intersections: Artistic Dialogues in Boston’s Graduate Fine Arts Community, brings together unique artworks of graduate students and newly minted masters of fine art from Boston.
Over 45 participating visual artists from the classes of 2023 and 2024 represent the fine art graduate programs from Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Lesley University, and Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Showing works in painting, drawing, sculpture, print media, and installation, this group proudly shows the vital cross-section of the Boston area arts community engaged in studying art at the graduate level – its discourses, methodologies, and possibilities.
Intersections is the third collaborative event held during the 2022-2023 academic year. Last September, students and faculty across studio art disciplines gathered in BU Art Galleries’ 808 Gallery at BU College of Fine Arts to introduce themselves and get to know each other. In March of this year, Lesley University’s low residency MFA program hosted a PechaKucha event, in which students shared a single work in a pop-up exhibition to generate conversation. Creative community and fellowship are essential to an artist’s life, as it’s not an easy or predictable path.
“Our first formal dinner here” (2022) by Ellen Weitkamp
“Liquid Gold II” by Megan Arné
“Walking through fear” (2023) by Emily Rice
Curator Kamal Ahmad (CFA’16) visited the studios of each of the artists in the exhibition. A multidisciplinary artist himself, working in painting, video, and print media, he holds MFA degrees from Boston University (Painting, 2016) and MassArt (2019) and embodies the inter-institutional and interdisciplinary spirit of this exhibition.
BU School of Visual Arts is happy to extend its yearly summer exhibition partnership with Piano Craft Gallery by welcoming students from neighboring institutions in Boston. BU School of Visual Arts Director Dana Clancy states that, “this exhibition is the culmination of a year of in-person connective community events between studio MFA programs in Boston. As such, it represents the excellent work of impactful graduate art programs in the city, which draw students from many regions in the US and the world and change the fabric of Boston arts for the better.”
“Feast” (2023) by Téa Chai Beer
Josephine Halvorson, Professor of Art, Chair of Graduate Studies in Painting at BU, often speaks of the power of proximity, and in bringing these artists together side by side and in dialogue, “we hope new relationships will endure beyond this locale. We are so grateful to Kamal Ahmad and Erik Grau who have been so committed to creating a wonderful, connective professional experience for graduate students and recent alumni through the curation and exhibition process.”
This collaboration between schools echoes the collaborative spirit of Boston Young Contemporaries (BYC), a New England MFA juried exhibition, formerly hosted by Boston University from 2006-2018 when gallery renovations and the ensuing pandemic paused it. By welcoming all students who wish to participate, Intersections: Artistic Dialogues in Boston’s Graduate Fine Arts Community is an inclusive and contemporary approach to a large inter-institutional group exhibition.
This announcement was written by Josephine Halvorson, Professor of Art and Chair of Graduate Studies in Painting at Boston University College of Fine Arts
MFA Programs Represented:
- Boston University MFA Painting
- Boston University MFA Sculpture
- Boston University MFA Print Media & Photography
- Lesley Art & Design’s MFA in Visual Arts
- SMFA at Tufts University, MFA in Interdisciplinary Studio Art
- Massachusetts College of Art and Design – 2D
- Massachusetts College of Art and Design – 3D
Participating Artists Include:
BU MFA Program
Abbi Kenny (CFA’24) • Alyssa Grey (CFA’24) • Cody Bluett (CFA’24) • Delaney Burns (CFA’24) • Ellen Weitkamp (CFA’24) • Emily Rice (CFA’24) • Huakai (Sebastian) Chen (CFA’24) • Jacob Salzer (CFA’24) • Julia McGehean (CFA’24) • Leah Naxon (CFA’23) • Liam Coughlin (CFA’24) • Linda Obobaifo (CFA’24) • Mae-Chu O’Connell (CFA’24) • Megan Arné (CFA’23) • Ry Beloin (CFA’23) • Sakshi Doshi (CFA’23) • Sayak Mitra (CFA’24) • Sidharth Shah (CFA’24) • Sohyoung Park (CFA’23) • Sophie Thervil (CFA’24) • Stephanie Petet (CFA’24) • Téa Chai Beer (CFA’24) • Yingxue (Daisy) Li (CFA’24) • Yolanda Yang (CFA’24)
MassArt MFA Program
Ava Xu • Catherine Lecomte • Danielle Richard • Dara Morgenstern • Darci Hanna • Davit Botch • Faith Baum • Hadis Karami • Katalin Simon • Magda León • Patrick Brennan • Yana Nosenko • Yukai Chen • Zo Watts
SMFA MFA Program
Ran He
Lesley MFA Program
Adrian Johnston • Anne Lilly • Sharon Stanczak • Stephanie Williams
INTERSECTIONS, curated by Kamal Ahmad (CFA’16)
Dates & Times
June 2 – July 2, 2023 • Fridays 6pm-8pm, Saturdays and Sundays 12pm-5pm
Opening Reception
Saturday, June 3, 2023 • 5pm-8pm
Location
Piano Craft Gallery • 793 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02118
Admission
Free during open gallery hours