{"id":101840,"date":"2023-06-22T09:50:12","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T13:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfa\/?post_type=bu-article&p=101840"},"modified":"2023-06-22T09:50:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T13:50:13","slug":"first-of-its-kind-group-show-brings-together-artists-from-mfa-programs-around-boston","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfa\/news\/articles\/2023\/first-of-its-kind-group-show-brings-together-artists-from-mfa-programs-around-boston\/","title":{"rendered":"First-of-Its-Kind Group Show Brings Together Artists from MFA Programs around Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Kamal\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Kamal Ahmad (CFA\u201916) is the curator and director of the Piano Craft Gallery in Boston\u2019s South End. To prepare for\u00a0Intersections<\/em>, he conducted studio visits with 43 artists from 7 MFA programs around the city. Photo by Sophie Yarin<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVisual Arts<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFirst-of-Its-Kind Group Show Brings Together Artists from MFA Programs around Boston\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Intersections: Artistic Dialogues in Boston\u2019s Graduate Fine Arts Community\u00a0<\/em>on view at Piano Craft Gallery through July 3<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
\n\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
June 22, 2023<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tTwitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\tFacebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n

This article was first published in BU Today <\/a><\/em>on June 21, 2023. By Sophie Yarin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excerpt<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s anyone uniquely suited to curate a show featuring art from numerous Master of Fine Arts programs around the city, it\u2019s\u00a0Kamal Ahmad<\/a>, an interdisciplinary artist and curator-director of the\u00a0Piano Craft Gallery<\/a>\u00a0in the South End. \u201cI went to two different MFA programs, and I always said I felt that there was no [formal] connection between those programs,\u201d says Ahmad (CFA\u201916), who graduated from BU in 2016 and went on to graduate from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2019. \u201cThe faculty sometimes knew each other, but the students didn\u2019t, and they didn\u2019t know what exactly was going on in each other\u2019s programs.\u201d<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ahmad\u2019s frustration with the lack of interconnectedness among the city\u2019s art programs spoke directly to concerns held by Josephine Halvorson<\/a>, a CFA professor of art and chair of the school\u2019s MFA painting program, and colleagues at other local art programs when they convened in summer 2022. Halvorson, Laurel Nakadate<\/a>, a professor and chair of graduate studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and Ben Sloat<\/a>, director of the Lesley University MFA program in visual arts, were looking to create new opportunities for MFA and postgraduate students across the city to exhibit their work jointly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe idea was, how can we get all of the studio MFA graduate students to get to know each other as colleagues across Boston?\u201d Halvorson says. \u201cWe wanted to generate an opportunity for students to be in dialogue with each other, to have something in common. It also gives them a chance to think critically about what graduate education is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bittersweet
Bittersweet Birthday<\/em>\u00a0(center right), a mixed-media oil painting by Linda Obobaifo (CFA\u201924), is among the dozens of works on view in the show. Photo by Erik Grau<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After looping MassArt in on the idea, Halvorson and her colleagues pitched the idea to Dana Clancy<\/a> (CFA\u201999), director of CFA\u2019s School of Visual Arts and an associate professor of art. The Piano Craft Gallery was a natural choice for this first-of-its-kind show (aptly titled Intersections<\/em>, on view now through July 3), as it had hosted BU MFA exhibitions in previous years. Ahmad says he relished the challenge of curating works across 4 schools, 7 programs, and by 43 graduate students\u201424 from BU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI graduated from the MFA programs as an immigrant. I came to this country looking for opportunity\u2014nobody knew me at the time, but someone did give me the opportunity to show my work,\u201d says Ahmad, who was born and raised in Iraqi Kurdistan. \u201cI learned from that experience that whenever I have the power, I should do something to make an opportunity for other students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition is the culmination of a yearlong project to help the students get to know one another. Previous events included a mixer in September at BU\u2019s 808 Gallery and a PechaKucha\u2014a storytelling event involving short, individual presentations\u2014held at Lesley in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div>
I graduated from the MFA programs as an immigrant. I came to this country looking for opportunity\u2014nobody knew me at the time, but someone did give me the opportunity to show my work. I learned from that experience that whenever I have the power, I should do something to make an opportunity for other students.<\/div>