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Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artists

Just as in Isabella Stewart Gardner’s time, the Museum today is a site for the display of art as well as a place that nurtures its creation. The opening of the Renzo Piano-designed New Wing in 2012, along with a new studio space, provided the Museum with an opportunity to consider anew the role of Boston artists at the Gardner in carrying forward the legacy of creativity Isabella Stewart Gardner established more than a century ago.

Today, the Museum upholds the high value Isabella Stewart Gardner and Polly Thayer Starr placed on artists’ contributions to community. 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 consider their work within the rich cultural context of the Gardner Museum and the unique legacy of our founder.

During their collaborations with the Gardner, these Artists utilize the Museum’s collection as a catalyst for their own creative explorations and work with us to develop Studio experiences and engaging programming for the public.

Visiting Studio Artist Silvia López Chavez engaging Museum visitors in the creative process during an interactive Studio workshop. Photo by Ally Schmaling.
Close up of a Studio table during Anthony Peña's Mapping a Better Future project in summer 2019.
Visitors engage with Piecing Together with Venetia Dale in the Bertucci Education Studio. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.
Visitors talk with Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artist and Neighborhood Salon Luminary Feda Eid during a 2019 Neighborhood Night.
Visiting Studio Artist Silvia López Chavez engaging Museum visitors in the creative process during an interactive Studio workshop. Photo by Ally Schmaling.
Close up of a Studio table during Anthony Peña's Mapping a Better Future project in summer 2019.
Visitors engage with Piecing Together with Venetia Dale in the Bertucci Education Studio. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.
Visitors talk with Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artist and Neighborhood Salon Luminary Feda Eid during a 2019 Neighborhood Night.

Since 2012, the Museum has had the privilege of collaborating with more than 70 artists from the Boston community. Most recently we were proud to welcome Visiting Studio Artist Rayna Lo.

Meet the Artists

Meet the Artists

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

Venetia Dale

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

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

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

Erin Genia

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

Julia Gualtieri

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

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 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.

Rayna Lo

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

Shane Maxwell

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

Yuko Okabe

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

Anthony Peña

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

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.

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.