Visual Arts
A new mural gallops into Boston
With "The Midnight Ride" nearing completion in Dewey Square, Lawrence-based artist Rixy discusses the inspiration for the mural, the connection to the country’s 250th anniversary and responds to early public...
ICA Watershed reopens for the season with industrial-inspired installations
The Institute of Contemporary Art's East Boston outpost marks the start of the 2026 season with the U.S. premieres of artist Lucy Raven's "Hardpan" and "Murderers Bar." “So much of...
Tips for creating a creative life
A new study found that engaging with art can slow biological aging, but finding time to create or enjoy the arts can be hard. WBUR's Arielle Gray shares four tips...
At Harvard's Peabody Museum, a visual testimony of Iran's undocumented history
Photographer Azadeh Akhlaghi's exhibit "From Iran: A Visual Testimony" features 16 staged images from pivotal incidents in Iran's modern history. Each photograph sheds light on events where there are little...
Artists want to turn the Tobin Bridge into eco-art
Since 2021, MASARY has been developing a concept to animate the Tobin Bridge with vivid light that visualizes tidal patterns in the waters below.
Support WBUR
Printing presses as tools of protest — 250 years of an American tradition
From fomenting colonial discontent with British rule in the 1700s to the No Kings rallies of today, posters spread messages and question authority. At the Boston Public Library, visitors are...
50 years of art-inspired floral installations at the MFA
Boston's Museum of Fine Arts' annual spring tradition "Art in Bloom" pairs floral arrangements with art in the museum’s collection. In honor of the anniversary, 50 objects across the museum’s...
Peabody Essex Museum director steps down to lead Smithsonian American Art Museum
Lynda Roscoe Hartigan is leaving her position at the Salem museum to return to Washington, D.C., where she started her career.
Boston had Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Fitchburg had Eleanor Norcross
In the early 1900s a female artist dreamed of creating a museum for her Massachusetts hometown. Now the Fitchburg Art Museum is shining a light on its founder’s legacy for...
Inside art gallery Praise Shadows' new home
After five years in Brookline, the contemporary art gallery is in a new 2,000-square-foot space in downtown Boston.
A feast of flowers for winter-weary eyes returns to the Gardner Museum
The annual “Hanging Nasturtiums” tradition is a harbinger of hope for winter’s end at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Gardner herself started cultivating the delicate, flowering tendrils with her horticulturalists...
Three Greater Boston artists receive $75,000 awards
Tomashi Jackson, Yu-Wen Wu and Lucy Kim make up the new cohort of Wagner arts fellows. The fellowship is designed to build the artists’ practices and continue making socially engaged...
Reimagining a new self through a year of creative experiments
WBUR art reporter Arielle Gray has decided 2026 is the year of artistic experiments. After a recent collaging experiment, she realized she's learning as much about herself as she is...
Endangered animals take a seat at Faneuil Hall
The Wild Benches of Hope, a public art series of three bronze benches highlighting endangered animals is now on display at Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Take a seat in between Rabbitwoman...
15 art exhibits to check out this spring
From an exploration of how technology can be used for connection to a display of miniature sanctuary cities, WBUR contributor Maddie Browning shares art exhibits that ruminate on community and...
Trailblazing Black and Indigenous sculptor left her mark on Boston
Edmonia Lewis virtually vanished from history when she died in 1907. A new exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum teases out the mysteries of Lewis's life while showcasing her marble...
With AI and old-fashioned sleuthing, the Gardner Museum solves a new mystery
Conservators wanted to return a set of chairs to the original upholstery chosen by the museum’s founder. But all they had were some black-and-white photos.
Local artist Rixy selected as next Dewey Square muralist
This year, The Greenway Conservancy sought proposals responding to the country’s upcoming 250th anniversary. The selection panel unanimously chose Rixy’s fantastical depiction of a lesser known part of American history....
As war grinds on, local Ukrainians keep art tradition alive
Tuesday marks four years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began. In Massachusetts, Ukrainian Americans support their homeland with an ancient and traditional folk art form that is a...
Digging into the archives and connecting to the past
For WBUR's Arielle Gray, a recent visit to Northeastern University’s Archives and Special Collections reminded her of the power of preserving the past.