News

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Announces Development of 21-story Residence Hall
Massachusetts College of Art and Design announced plans for construction of a 21-story residence hall on Huntington Avenue in Boston. The $61 million building will add 145,000 square feet of dormitory and facility space to MassArt and marks a significant step in the multi-stage development of the campus over the next ten years.

In Cuba
In celebration of MassArt's long tradition of working in Cuba, the Brant Gallery at Massachusetts College of Art and Design is proud to present MassArt In Cuba. The exhibition is on view from September 24 through October 16, 2009. The opening reception is scheduled for September 24 at 6:30 p.m.

Mary McFadden
Inspired by the art and culture of ancient Egyptian, Greek, Celtic, Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, Indian, and African civilizations, internationally renowned fashion designer Mary McFadden has developed a pantheon of artistic creations for the adornment of the feminine form. The exhibition is on view from September 22 through December 5, 2009.

Dog Days Bogotá by Alec Soth
Dog Days Bogotá, an exhibition of photographs by Alec Soth, is on view from September 9 through November 28, 2009. The opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, October 1, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. with a lecture scheduled for Monday, October 26, 6:00 p.m.

Karen Townsend
Karen Townsend, former director of admissions at Maine College of Art (MECA) in Portland, Maine, joins Massachusetts College of Art and Design as dean of admissions.

Dislocated Landscapes
Dislocated Landscapes features new prints by South African artist, Kim Berman. Berman’s artwork addresses the politics and social conditions in South Africa through the metaphorical device of landscape. Her recent landscapes visualize the fractured spaces on the margins of Johannesburg where the victims of the 2008 xenophobic violence were placed.

Hunter O'Hanian
Following a national search, Hunter O’Hanian, former president of the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado, joins Massachusetts College of Art and Design as vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of the MassArt Foundation.

Massachusetts College Of Art And Design hosts wearable art exhibit at Burlington Mall
MassArt's Fashion Department announced today it will exhibit Wearable Art at Burlington Mall for three weeks this fall, including during Boston Fashion Week. The exhibit will run from September 20 through October 10, and will feature a collection of ensembles created by MassArt fashion design students.

Translucent Visions: Frederic Whitaker and Eileen Monaghan Whitaker-A Retrospective in Watercolor
Translucent Visions is a retrospective exhibition featuring 45 works by Frederic Whitaker and Eileen Monaghan Whitaker, whose landscapes, cityscapes, animal studies, figurative genre, fruit and floral still lifes, and the inspired imagery of Latin America, have made the Whitaker name synonymous with watercolor painting.

Budget FY2010
On Monday, July 29, Governor Deval Patrick signed into law the state budget for FY2010, which appropriates $12.7 million for Massachusetts College of Art and Design. This is a reduction of 16.5% from the state appropriation originally approved for FY2009, or 12.1% taking into consideration mid-year reductions.

Commencement 2009
President Katherine Sloan will present the Massachusetts College of Art and Design graduating class of 2009 in an outdoor ceremony to be held at the college on Friday, May 22, at 1 p.m. Approximately 360 graduate and undergraduate students will be awarded Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts, and Master of Science in Art Education degrees. In addition to recognizing the tremendous efforts of graduating students, the college is awarding the Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts to fashion designer Joseph Abboud, and The Monuments Men, a group of men and women who protected cultural treasures during WWII. MassArt is also bestowing the Godine Medal on Linda Nathan, the founding headmaster of the Boston Arts Academy, and honoring the Visual Arts Faculty from Boston Arts Academy as Distinguished Educators of the Year.

DNA–Design Needs All Fashion Genetics
Senior students in the Fashion Design program at Massachusetts College of Art and Design recently collaborated with the Italian Trade Commission and six northern Italian mills on a project to design garments using some of the world’s finest textiles and yarns. Thirty-three seniors formed design teams to produce sixteen unique ensembles exploring these materials. Fashion designs from the ITC/MassArt project are being displayed in the window and throughout the Neiman Marcus store at Copley Place from April 21 through May 4, 2009.

Breaking Ground on Campus Construction Project
Today, April 13, 2009, Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) began breaking ground on the first stage of a comprehensive project that will transform the college's campus along Huntington Avenue in Boston. Over the next several years, MassArt will reshape its urban campus, making it more suited to the academic needs of a specialized art and design college. The college will also expand on-campus housing to nearly double the number of students it can house on campus.

Art Auction Celebrates 20 Years
On Saturday, April 4, Massachusetts College of Art and Design celebrates the twentieth anniversary of its Annual Benefit Art Auction. Twenty years showcasing some of the world's most well respected artists and introducing emerging artists embarking on successful careers. Twenty years helping MassArt to remain on the forefront of art and design education. Over the course of its history, the MassArt auction has raised millions of dollars in support of scholarships and financial aid, faculty fellowships, and visual arts programs for inner-city youth and other Boston-area residents. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the live auction beginning at 8:00 p.m., in the college's Bakalar and Paine galleries.

R. Crumb's Underground
R. Crumb's Underground is an eclectic exhibition of work spanning the past four decades by the inimitable R. Crumb. The exhibition includes old and new collaborations, as well as the world premiere of Crumb's "spool" drawings. Universally acknowledged as a founder-and the most prominent figure-of the underground comic scene, Crumb gained cult popularity for his pioneering Zap Comix and mainstream stardom with Terry Zwigoff's documentary, Crumb.

Figuratively Seeing
With references to the history of art and the tradition of figural painting, hints of allegory, and glances at film, the artists in Figuratively Seeing revel in the materiality of paint on canvas. The exhibition features work by contemporary artists who are examining - and in some cases redefining - figurative painting and portraiture. Although their focus is the human subject, instead of drawing from live sitters like traditional portrait painters, the artists employ multiple strategies to portray their chosen subjects.

Carnegie Foundation Recognition
On December 18, 2008, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching announced its selection of Massachusetts College of Art and Design for a 2008 Community Engagement Classification in the Outreach and Partnerships category. MassArt was among 119 colleges and universities in the United States to be recognized for exemplary community engagement practices.

Local artist designs ornament for White House Christmas tree
On December 2, 2008, MassArt alumna Jessica Swegel is attending a special reception hosted by First Lady Laura Bush to celebrate this year's White House Christmas tree, for which she designed an ornament representing the Commonwealth. This year, all the congressional districts nationwide were asked to make artist recommendations and U.S. Congressman Michael E. Capuano (8th district, representing part of Boston along with Cambridge, Somerville, and Chelsea) sought the advice of Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. The college suggested Swegel, who is an alumna.

2008 Alumni Awards Recipients
On Saturday, October 18, 2008, President Katherine Sloan and the Alumni Leadership Council of Massachusetts College of Art and Design, in Boston, MA, hosted a reception and award ceremony to celebrate outstanding alumni achievement and supportive friends of the college.

Creating a Lasting Impression
Associate Professor Matthew Hincman and students from his Public Art class at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston spent the 2007-2008 academic year designing and fabricating a public adornment work for the school grounds. Inspired by the challenge to create a sculptural screen for the perimeter of the school property, these art education, industrial design, and sculpture majors developed concepts based on their own ideas and what they learned from becoming familiar with the academic mission and cultural environment of the school.

William Christenberry Photographs
William Christenberry Photographs, 1961–2005 presents the work of William Christenberry, a pioneer in the field of color photography. History and locale are central themes of this exhibition, which displays previously unpublished photographs. His work focuses on the American South and touches on universal themes relating to family and culture, nature and spirituality, and, memory and aging.

MassArt on World Animation Stage
Animated works from both the animation program at Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) in Boston, MA, USA, and recent graduate Kara Nasdor-Jones (2008 BFA Animation) have been chosen for public screening and final competition at the 2008 Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) from September 17-21, in Ottawa, Canada.

Speaker Project
Boston, MA: Massachusetts College of Art and Design presents Speaker Project, a new and multidimensional experience in art and sound. Created by artist Juan Angel Chávez, the exhibition is a large-scale speaker sculpture which is both a work of interactive art and a setting for other forms of artistic expression. Comprised of found materials, such as old billboard signs, wood panel siding and traffic cones, the sculpture is also a room large enough for a five-piece band or two hundred and fifty guests.

Business as Usual: New Video from China
Business as Usual presents key works by two of the most prominent contemporary Chinese video artists–Yang Fudong and Cao Fei. Both artists address the emergence of a new middle class in China, Yang Fudong in the urban centers and Cao Fei in the Overnight Cities that were built as production centers for the industries that now produce a large portion of the products on the international market. The two artists present a changing China and reveal mixed feelings. They each choose a personal visual vocabulary and examine a different segment of the new young society that is the engine of the New China. Their two approaches reveal the upheaval of social mores in different poetic voices.

Hangin' at the Mall: The Art of Fashion
Whether at an anchor store or a specialty boutique, the mall is one of the best places to find the latest fashions. Students from the Fashion Design Program at Massachusetts College of Art and Design are exhibiting their unique designs right in the midst of the newest and most glamorous mall in the Boston area - Natick Collection.

Foundation Recognizes Fellows
The MassArt Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s foundation faculty fellowships. The awards are given annually in support of the development of new work and research by faculty at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. The fellows were recognized at the foundation’s annual board meeting on Tuesday, May 20th.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Expands its Presence in China
Global education is a high priority for Massachusetts College of Art and Design. The college encourages students and faculty to explore other cultures through exchange agreements with forty-five art schools around the world as well as numerous travel courses each year. This summer the college focuses its attention on Beijing, where it recently established a new partnership with the Central Academy of Fine Arts. MassArt is pleased to have a number of students and faculty members traveling to China in the coming months for exhibitions, projects, and coursework.

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