MassArt alumni leading workshops at Gardner Museum

Stephen Hamilton, a renowned Boston artist, educator, and Massachusetts College of Art and Design graduate, will lead workshops at the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum during Saturday Open Studios in January and February, according to a press release.

According to Hamilton in the press release, this collaboration is “an opportunity to investigate understudied relationships between the imagery and iconography of the Western Canon and the African world.” Using these investigations as inspiration, visitor will be invited to create their own artworks to take home as they reconsider iconic portraits and other works of art found in the museum’s collection and the special exhibition Henry James and American Painting.

Hamilton has been chosen as the museum’s next Polly Thayer Starr Artist Series visiting artist. Through this series, the Gardner Museum supports artists in the Boston area by providing them with opportunities to develop artistic experiences and engaging workshops for museum visitors. Artists participate in a structured three-month collaboration period of thought, exploration, and workshop implementation and they design and implement curriculum for Saturday Open Studios and lead hands-on events at the museum. The Gardner hosts four artists for three months each throughout the year as part of this series.

Hamilton’s official collaboration with the Gardner began in October and concluded at the end of December, while his public Saturday Open Studio workshops will run every Saturday in January, and February. His life’s work aims to address the persistent lack of positive, multi-dimensional representations of African and African diasporan cultural discourses. His work specifically focuses on the philosophies and key symbols inherent throughout Africa and the diaspora and describes a story of complex and varied Black cultural aesthetic.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is located at 25 Evans Way. For more information, call 617-566-1401 or visit gardnermuseum.org.

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