Summer interns leading an art activity based on the theme of musicals during the Summer Film Series.
Community Connections
The Davis is a welcoming resource for the community, and our events are designed to encourage visitors to adopt the Museum as their own. We host a range of public programs, from symposia, lectures, gallery talks, and performances, to special family-friendly events, including our biannual Family Day, the Summer Film Series, and Stroller Tours. Ensuring that the Davis is accessible to all audiences, we offer multisensory activity kits, as well as specially-designed tours for visitors with Alzheimer's and other dementias.
Chinatown Afterschool Partnership
Arthurina Fears, Curator of Education and Programs, led training for a community of counselors comprised of Wellesley and Harvard students who volunteer at the Chinatown Afterschool Program (CHAP) in Boston—a free program which seeks to promote academic enrichment for children of low-income families in Boston’s Chinatown community.
The partnership, spearheaded by Nancy Chu '21, this past summer's Education intern, provided counselors with training in art education, educational resources, and guidance over the course of designing a week-long curriculum based on the Museum’s collections. The curriculum concluded with a field trip to the Davis, led by Student Guide Eunbie Coe ‘20 in collaboration with the student counselors.
James Oles, Senior Lecturer in Art and Curator of the exhibition Art_Latin_America: Against the Survey, giving a tour for the Wellesley Alumnae and Latin American Art Symposium.
Symposium: Wellesley Alumnae and Latin American Art
Hosted in conjunction with our major spring exhibition, Art_Latin_America: Against the Survey, this symposium honored the late Elizabeth P. Benson, Class of 1945 (1924-2018), a pioneering figure in the study of pre-Columbian art, and brought together art historians, curators, art dealers, and collectors for a day of lively talks and panels that revealed the major impact of Wellesley alumnae on the fields of Latin American and Latinx art history.
Symposium: Fatimah Tuggar: Time and Technology
Organized with the exhibition Fatimah Tuggar: Home’s Horizons, this symposium brought together scholars, artists, technologists, and Wellesley College students to present new critical perspectives on Fatimah Tuggar’s multimedia practice. The event featured talks, tours, and interactive workshops organized over two days, and included an “Exploring Augmented Reality Workshop” with Jesse Berdinka (BrickSimple LLC) and Jordan Tynes (Wellesley LTS Knapp Center), a panel on “Blue Worlds: New and Old Perspectives on Indigo,” student and curator-led tours of the exhibition, and a “Dyeing with Plants Workshop” with Paulson Ecology of Place Initiative and Wellesley College Botanic Gardens.
This event was co-sponsored by the Paulson Ecology of Place Initiative, the Newhouse Center for the Humanities, the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens, the Knapp Center, and BrickSimple LLC.
Prilla Smith Brackett Award
The Davis Museum was honored to present Yu-Wen Wu (b. Taipei, Taiwan), a Boston-based multi-media artist exploring themes of migration, displacement, and climate change, with the first biennial Prilla Smith Brackett Award. An online exhibition celebrates the artist's work. Funded by Prilla Smith Brackett ’64 and administered by the Davis, the Brackett Award honors an outstanding woman visual artist based in the Greater Boston area, whose work and exhibition record demonstrate extraordinary artistic vision, talent, and skill.
2019 Summer Film Series
Families took advantage of the warm summer nights and joined us for our 4th annual Summer Film Series on the Davis Plaza, featuring futuristic technology in anticipation of the fall exhibition Fatimah Tuggar: Home’s Horizons. In total, 510 visitors came for the art activities and exclusive tours of the galleries that kicked off the evening festivities, and stayed for the films: A Wrinkle in Time, Back to the Future, WALL-E, and The Fifth Element.
Free Fun Friday
Visitors from across Boston and the Metro-West were invited to explore the Davis, participate in hands-on art making for all ages, including button making, painting, sketching, self-portraits, sun prints, self-guided gallery activities, a treasure hunt, storytelling, multi-sensory art kits, and Student Guide-led spotlight talks throughout the day. Free Fun Friday is generously sponsored by the Highland Street Foundation.
Summer interns Sarah Kain and Stephanie Fan show off one of the art activities they developed for Free Fun Friday.
Librarian Emma Caywood from the Wellesley Free Library leading story time during our first weekend Stroller Tour.
Stroller Tours
Art lovers and their little ones joined us for art-filled mornings strolling the galleries during free guided tours—a special opportunity for families to visit before normal hours. The Davis was also pleased to offer a Stroller and Story Time Saturday on October 12, which included a free guided tour of the special exhibition Fatimah Tuggar: Home’s Horizons, followed by books and songs with Librarian Emma Caywood from the Wellesley Free Library.
Family Day
The Davis welcomed visitors of all ages to participate in programming and activities inspired by Latin American art and culture. They explored hands-on art making activities, participated in a treasure hunt in the galleries, story time, a tour of special exhibition Art_Latin_America: Against the Survey, and a special performance by Wellesley College student group Cielito Lindo, dedicated to sharing the traditional dances of cultures from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Wellesley student group Cielito Lindo, dedicated to sharing the traditional dances of cultures from Latin America and the Caribbean, led a performance at our spring Family Day event.
“I always love Family Day. With this event, locals have an opportunity to really delve into the Davis’s rich exhibitions, familiarize themselves with our exceptional permanent collections, and build relationships with amazing staff (including students!). The majority of our guests on Family Day is, of course, families with children, and I think it's really important to build an interest in art from a young age. Overall, Family Day is my favorite event at the Davis, and I've worked every single one in my Wellesley Career.”
- Eunbie Coe, ‘20, Registration Assistant and Student Guide
Work that is included on the tour incorporating music: Jan van Bijlert, The Five Senses, 17th century, Oil on canvas, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur K. Solomon, 1957.37
Making Memories
In this new Davis initiative, "Making Memories: Accessible Art Program for Adults Living with Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias," specially trained Davis staff and Student Guides lead explorations of our permanent galleries designed to offer visitors and their caregivers opportunities to build shared experience through art.
