No matter their artistic interest - watercolor painting, music performance or theater performance - hundreds of Massachusetts families now enjoy experiencing art through our groundbreaking EBT, WIC and ConnectorCare Card to Culture program.
MassArt's Iris Residency program is tailored to support artists of color from Western Massachusetts in their artistic practice that intersects with community and justice issues, towards creating an equitable racial society. Learn more here!
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper was born in 1894 and displayed an early interest in art. His parents encouraged this talent and he created his first signed drawing at age 10. Later he attended the New York School of Art and Design to learn impressionism under William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri as well as make several trips abroad.
Hopper initially turned to etching for portrayals of urban and architectural subjects. Later, however, after visiting Gloucester Massachusetts in 1923 and realizing its portability allowed him to capture both indoor and outdoor scenes through watercolor paintings, Hopper began using watercolor as his medium of choice when depicting small towns or rural settings - particularly after purchasing his Mansard Roof from Brooklyn Museum for $280! Hopper's depictions of American countryside garnered him critical acclaim - earning him his first major sale to a public institution and earning him his first major sale when bought by Brooklyn Museum that year - earning him critical acclaim and earning him first major sale to public institution that year when Brooklyn Museum purchased Mansard Roof from him!
Three years later while summering in Gloucester again, Hopper met Josephine Nivison again - another artist whom he had met while attending the New York Academy of Art - who became his life partner and eventually wife in 1924. They worked side by side, often painting together. She posed as his model for any female figure paintings as well as keeping meticulous records and helping organize exhibits of his works.
Hopper was an acclaimed draftsman who excelled at depicting shadow and light, adeptly rendering modern urban life through shadowy spaces, while simultaneously depicting isolation through minimal action - stripping away almost all signs of movement, and depicting scenes set within tight, enclosed spaces to explore psychological inner lives in his works - that explored psychological inner lives that went well beyond Realism into Abstract Expressionism. His imagery often transcended this style altogether and helped paved the way for it.
Hopper died at age 88 in 1967, yet his legacy continues to thrive. Known for being one of America's eloquent realist painters and an influential contributor to American modernism. His artwork can be found at museums nationwide including Whitney Museum of American Art. MassArt is committed to furthering equity and justice through transformative education, community partnerships and access to opportunities for youth, families and communities throughout our region and nation.
Louise Bourgeois
Louise Bourgeois was one of the foremost female artists of her era. Her art focused on exploring all of humanity's emotions - love, fear, guilt and abandonment among them - through visual depictions and poetry.
Bourgeois used her family history as the basis of her art, drawing on experiences of betrayal and abandonment during childhood that affected both life and art. For instance, her father's affair with his teenage English tutor and mother's death both left an indelible mark on both life and art for Bourgeois; these events also fostered maternal instincts in her work that she used to protect and support other women within her family; an aspect which can be found reflected through sculptures depicting mothers holding children or wombs which feature prominently among other pieces by Bourgeois's works.
Bourgeois used her art as a means of emotionally exorcism. From intimate drawings to room-sized installations, her works were an outlet for expressing herself; she drew, painted, sewn, and cut across multiple genres until finally finding herself as a sculptor. Her pieces explore psychological states using anthropomorphic forms paired with architectural features in order to explore themes such as identity and the body.
Bourgeois received a substantial boost to her career with a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in 1982, giving her new energy. Since then she has continued creating monumental spider sculptures, room-sized "Cells," fabric works woven from old clothing pieces as well as other artistic endeavors.
Bourgeois often used spiral forms throughout her career. First appearing in her 1950s wooden sculptures and reappearing in later works as a metaphor for coiling forces or feelings of unease, such as Nature Study 1986 where one tightly wound spiral becomes an arm holding up human figures - suggesting she was trying to control and contain her personal history's chaos.
Bourgeois' work frequently explored human body themes, a reflection of her lifelong struggle to reconcile and understand her relationships with both parents. Her mother was more intellectual while her father's emotions ran deeper; their opposing forces are represented in Janus Fleuri 1968 by two forms connected back-to-back that reflect this duality in her parents' personalities.
David Hockney
David Hockney is one of the most acclaimed artists of our era, having left an indelible mark across a spectrum of mediums and techniques ranging from painting and drawing to video and sculpture. His unique vision has inspired generations of artists to follow in his footsteps.
Hockney was born and raised in Bradford, England. After beginning his art studies at Bradford College of Art he later transferred to London to study at Royal College of Art. Hockney has always been fascinated with new technologies and different ways of creating art; early adopting Polaroid cameras, photocopying and faxing as means to experiment with compositional styles and techniques.
His interest in new technology has also caused him to question artistic processes from history. He suggests that masters revered by contemporary artists used whatever tools were available at the time in order to produce realistic effects in their paintings. This approach challenges how we see art and view our world today.
Hockney gradually refined his art over time, becoming more focused on portraiture and human figures as his style evolved. Personal relationships and experiences played a central role in Hockney's works - particularly those depicting former partner Peter Schlesinger which provided insight into their emotional journey and complex relationship.
Hockney has for over four decades challenged our perception of reality through his artwork and how we perceive our environment. In his large scale vistas, Hockney used geometric shapes and colors that overlap to give the impression of depth and distance in his paintings. More recently he turned to digital technology in order to create new forms of art such as augmented and virtual reality artwork that expanded the possibilities for his art work.
Hockney has not only explored various styles of art but has also collaborated on several musical projects. He was involved with designing sets and costumes for theatrical productions as well as designing music video backdrops. Hockney is well known for his interest in film; having produced and directed various short films and commercials himself.
Michelle Lougee
Michelle Lougee is a fiber artist and ceramist from Boston who often begins a new work by stringing together small plastic bags in ways that are both sensuous and biomorphic. These forms sometimes suggest shellfish, beehive hives or seed pods as potential references for her art pieces.
Her current exhibition, entitled "Souvenirs and Castaways," explores the duality of plastic as both essential yet disposable material, which she finds both horrifying and beguiling. Works include her Souvenir series featuring post-consumer blister packages encasing natural objects such as feathers, lichen and shells; also investigated is using industrial shrink wrap to achieve an ethereal quality in her pieces.
Lougee, a MassArt alumna who has long worked with plastic debris, became more engaged with environmental activism after learning of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch; its vast vortex of floating trash shocked her into action. Since then, she's been creating wall tapestries and other sculptures from repurposed plastic bags; their whimsical appeal quickly gives way to realization that humans are hopelessly addicted to materials that won't biodegrade.
MassArt's primary mission is to provide equitable access to world-class contemporary art installations and provide arts education in public schools through its gallery education studio and seminar rooms on the ground floor. MassArt serves as the largest free, publicly owned contemporary art space in New England and encourages collaborations among artists from different disciplines and media.
Markonish counters criticism that MassArt's programming tends toward white and wealthy patrons by noting the city's growing diversity and Assets for Artists program, which draws creative types by offering professional development workshops, capital grants and short-term artist residencies.
As a result, she's attracted more black and Indigenous artists while simultaneously supporting underserved communities through community-driven work. For instance, last year she collaborated with a high school to explore how communities can collaborate around an arts-based social justice issue.
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