Visual Arts
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...
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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.
ICA show explores five decades of a Black Boston artists collective
The African American Master Artist In Residency Program, or AAMARP, has offered free studio space and resources to artists of color in Boston for almost 50 years. Now, it's at...
Inside the year‑long restoration of a 16th century painting
A world-renowned Chinese conservator and a Somerville conservation studio completed a complicated restoration of a Chinese scroll painting. “The Immortal Magu: A Sixteenth Century Painting Up Close” is on view...
A new art exhibit centers women's experiences of the Holocaust
At Brandeis University, the exhibit "Who Will Draw Our History?" features 10 female artists and their work depicting life during and after the Holocaust. "I'm really struck by their call...
Boston's Museum of Fine Arts announces layoffs
The museum notified employees of the layoffs in an internal email sent Tuesday. More than 30 museum positions will be affected.
Giant eyes, see-saws and tentacles appear in downtown Boston
In an effort to increase winter foot traffic, the Downtown Boston Alliance installed 18 public artworks in the neighborhood for the third year in a row for the outdoor...
11 art exhibits to explore this winter
From a celebration of a historic artist-in-residence program to photography that explores space and the queer experience, WBUR contributor Maddie Browning shares art exhibitions that examine ideas of self and...
How John Axelrod shaped the MFA's collection
Axelrod was killed in a hit-and-run on the morning of Jan. 3. A Museum of Fine Arts curator reflects on the collector's legacy through four of his "transformative" contributions.