March 7, 2026
Saturday Open Studios
Free with Museum Admission
Saturday
March 7, 2026
1 - 4 pm
Bertucci Education Studio
Isabella’s Museum is full of “tableaux,” small collections of objects in cases or on desks that may tell us stories about her personality, her interests, and what she chose to share with guests in her Museum. What do the objects we collect say about us? How do our personal collections tell a story about the personas we embody?
Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artist Ally Schmaling invites you to capture a tableau that may tell a story about you through cyanotype (one of the earliest photographic techniques). We encourage you to bring small objects like keyrings, jewelry, or figurines that relate to your persona to be used in your artwork.
Photo credit: Brian Hone
About the Artist
Photo courtesy of the artist
Ally Schmaling (they/them) is a nonbinary portrait photographer, joy machine, and an interdisciplinary maximalist. Ally is particularly dedicated to the documentation and elevation of queer and gender-expansive communities in Boston. Their colorful painterly work aims to express the most dynamic, unapologetic, and expansive “themness” of their subjects—a celebration of the impossible breadth of what bodies can be and look like. As a nonbinary queer person, Ally's portrait work is informed by their own mercurial experience of gender and their continual pursuit of shaping an identity outside of binary constructs. In addition to creating portraiture, Ally is dedicated to community engagement and activism in Boston and beyond. Ally believes, unequivocally, in the dignity and beauty of all humans.
Instagram: @allyschmaling
Website: https://www.allyschmaling.com/
TICKETS I MUSEUM ADMISSION
Open Studios are free with Museum admission, and participation is drop-in on a first-come, first-served basis. Advance registration for general admission is encouraged.
Purchase your ticket by clicking on the GET TICKETS button above.
Questions about accessibility? Please call the Box Office at 617 278 5156 to request accessible or companion seating, or to inquire about other accommodations in advance of the program.
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.
