Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artists

The Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artists carry forward the legacy of creativity that Isabella Stewart Gardner established more than a century ago. Polly Thayer Starr (1904–2006) was an accomplished artist who captured the culture and whimsy of her native Boston with a unique combination of detail, emotion, and curiosity. With support from the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust, Visiting Studio Artists use the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s collection and exhibitions as a catalyst for their own creative explorations. They also work with the Museum to develop Studio experiences for the public. 

Since 2012, the Museum has had the privilege of collaborating with more than 70 Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artists from the Boston community. 

Meet the Artists

Photo of a non binary black, Indigenous person of color wearing both a blue shirt and blue hat.

Jaypix Belmer

Identifying as a non-binary Black, Indigenous person of color, Jaypix is a Boston based documentary photographer whose work captures the “visual soul of their subjects.”

Daniel Corral

Daniel Corral

Daniel Corral's work examines street vending culture and immigration rights, as well as queerness and queer spaces within their own community.

Venetia Dale

Venetia Dale

Venetia Dale is a metalsmith/sculptor whose work utilizes fragments that come out of common, everyday objects.

Peter Evonuk

Peter Evonuk

Peter Evonuk is a metalsmith, sculptor, teacher, and social satirist serving as an instructor and studio manager for the Jewelry and Metalsmithing department at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Maria Finkelmeier

Maria Finkelmeier

Named a “one-woman dynamo” by The Boston Globe, Maria Finkelmeier is a percussion performer, composer, educator, and arts entrepreneur.

Photo of a woman.

Erin Genia

Erin Genia, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate (she/her), is a multidisciplinary artist, educator and community organizer specializing in Indigenous arts and culture.

Photo of a woman with a mask.

Julia Gualtieri

Julia Gualtieri is a Providence based artist, educator, and curator who nerds out hard about prints and printmaking.

Stephen Hamilton

Stephen Hamilton

Stephen Hamilton is an artist whose work incorporates both Western and African techniques, blending figurative painting and drawing with resist dyeing, weaving, and woodcarving.

Woomin Kim

Woomin Kim

Woomin Kim is a South Korean artist currently based in the US. Kim works with sculpture and installation to reveal the gap between how she knows objects linguistically or conceptually and what they really are.

Photo of a woman.

Rayna Lo

Rayna Lo is an artist living in Boston, Massachusetts. She is a calligrapher, illustrator, and educator.

Shane Maxwell

Shane Maxwell

Shane Maxwell is a Boston-based craftsman with a passion for any form of art that can be worn.

Young Asian American woman with short dark hair with glasses, a polka dot top, standing in front of a brick wall.

Yuko Okabe

Yuko Okabe (she/they) is an illustrator and cultural worker playing at the intersection of youthful whimsy and community engagement.

Anthony Peña, photo by Faizal Westcott

Anthony Peña

Anthony Peña is a Dominican-American artist whose passion for social issues informs his work.

Christian Restrepo

Christian Restrepo

Christian Restrepo is a Boston-based American/Colombian maker and the architect of SIGILO, a body of work that echos those ideas of the alchemist, with pieces created in a slow-cooked manner.

Photo of a woman.

Veronica Robles

Veronica Robles is a multi talented Mexican artist; She is a Mariachi singer, and musician by trade and the founder of Boston's First All Women Mariachi Band.

Studio activities are made possible by the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust. The Museum is also supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which receives support from the State of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Polly Thayer Starr (1904-2006) was an accomplished artist who captured the culture and whimsy of her native Boston with a unique combination of detail, emotion, and curiosity. For more, visit the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust online at www.pollythayerstarr.org.