Tufts University Art Galleries

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Tufts University Art Galleries

Always free and open to all. Open in Medford and Boston: Tues-Sun, 11AM-5PM and late for events

08/21/2026

Thank you so much to Gee Wesley and Frieze (Frieze) for this wonderful, deeply thoughtful review of our solo show with Spring 2026 exhibiting artist Arnold J. Kemp (Arnold Joseph), “Arnold J. Kemp: Not One Thing” ✨

In “Masks and Misdirection: The Trickster Tendencies of Arnold J. Kemp,” Wesley brilliantly dissects the multifarious masks of Kemp’s transdisciplinary practice, that work not to conceal, but as an “instrument of revelation” 🎭

Read the full piece at the link in our bio and plan your visit to see “Arnold J. Kemp: Not One Thing”—now on view at TUAG / Medford 🔗

📸 by Tim Correira Photography

08/20/2026

Join us on September 17 from 6-8PM for the SMFA at 150 Community Celebration, featuring “SMFA at 150: Looking Back.” This milestone anniversary honors 150 years of groundbreaking arts education at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) at Tufts and brings together alumni, students, artists, cultural leaders, neighbors, and friends for an evening of connection, reflection, and celebration.

RSVP at the link in our bio 🔗

08/14/2026

“Arnold J. Kemp: Not One Thing” is open at TUAG / Medford ✨ Come by this weekend to experience the monumental scale and minute materiality of the Tufts/SMFA alum’s sculpture, painting, printmaking, and photography.

Visit us this summer, then join us on September 24 from 6–8PM for a community-wide reception celebrating this landmark survey exhibition. Register at the link in our bio 🔗

08/11/2026

two chic locations, one chic program 💅 explore all we do at TUAG and plan your visit at the link in our bio 🔗

08/07/2026

Across many of Fall 2026 exhibiting artist Arnold J. Kemp’s (Arnold Joseph) oeuvre, a shared materiality emerges among the subtle sheen of mask-like figures in works like “For the Poets,” pictured above.

To make these pieces, Kemp runs aluminum foil through a printing press, inking, and reprinting. The artist prints directly from the pressed aluminum foil, which becomes what Kemp calls a “skin-like object” after printing, which is then collaged into the surface of the work. This combination of techniques embraces what Kemp refers to as the “indexical”: “an indication of the body, like lipstick on the side of a coffee cup, that someone was there.” 💋

Explore decades of work from Kemp’s deeply transdisciplinary practice in “Arnold J. Kemp: Not One Thing,” now on view at TUAG / Medford, Tues–Sunday, 11am-5pm with special late hours on Thursday until 8pm. Learn more and plan your visit at the link in our bio 🔗

Image: Arnold J. Kemp, For the Poets, 2021. Graphite, ink, acrylic, and aluminum foil on canvas, 69 x 69 in. Image courtesy of the artist and Martos Gallery, New York.

08/04/2026

⚠️ ATTN ALUMNI ARTISTS: You have until Monday, August 10 to submit your application to be considered for the 2026 Traveling Fellowship!

Each year, the Tufts University Art Galleries (TUAG) and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) (SMFA at Tufts) at Tufts University administer up to 10 awards of $10,000 for eligible SMFA at Tufts alumni to pursue travel and research related to their art practice. There is no submission fee for applicants.

Jurors for the 2026 Traveling Fellowships include Queens-based interdisciplinary artist Serena Chang (Serena Chang), cultural historian and curator Angela T. Tate (), and curator, editor, and researcher Madeline Weisburg (Madeline Weisburg).

Explore the work of past fellowship recipients above and learn more about the program and submit your application at the link in our bio 🔗

Images: Kelly Taylor Mitchell (Kelly Taylor Mitchell) “Pano da Costa #1” (detail), 2024. Courtesy the artist. Samantha Nye (Samantha Nye), “My Heart’s In A Whirl”, video installation at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 2021. Helina Metaferia (Helina Metaferia), “Headdress 30”, 2021. Installation view of “Dinora Justice: The Lay of the Land” (Dinora Justice), Edward H. Linde Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. November 18, 2023–April 14, 2024. © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Photo: Ian Justice Photography.

07/28/2026

We were thrilled to open our doors for our Fall 2026 season today, with “Arnold J. Kemp: Not One Thing” at TUAG / Medford and “SMFA at 150: Looking Back” at TUAG / Boston, two sweeping exhibitions that spotlight the legacies of experimental artistic practices at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) at Tufts in its 150th year.

Both TUAG locations are open Tuesday through Sunday 11AM-5PM with new late night hours until 8PM on Thursdays, and we can’t wait for you to join us for our community-wide celebrations on September 17 in Boston and September 24 in Medford – RSVP and plan your visit at the link in our bio 🔗

07/26/2026

A major chapter of performance art at SMFA are the battles between intergalactic monsters, or kaijū—the Japanese term for strange beasts—that animated the atrium. In 1994, students Rand Borden (BFA ’95) (rand borden) and Jeff Warmouth (MFA ’97) (Jeffu Warmouth) bonded over their love of Ultraman, a Japanese sci-fi TV series, and Borden used his background in sculpture to create his first monster suits.

During a fundraiser for the Revolving Museum in 1995, Borden and Warmouth decided to stage a live wrestling performance while wearing their costumes, and Kaiju Big Battel was born. “People were literally crawling through the windows into the print shop to come and see the show,” Borden recalls.

More than twenty-five years after their first fight, KBB is still an artist-led wrestling program that performs across the United States and internationally, drawing participants from the worlds of art, professional wrestling, and even Power Rangers cast members. Borden continually designs new characters and still crafts every costume himself.

See iconic Kaiju Big Battel costumes and so many more artifacts from a century and a half of student-centered artmaking when “SMFA at 150: Looking Back” opens this Tuesday, July 28 at TUAG / Boston. Plan your visit at the link in our bio 🔗

07/23/2026

It’s been a whirlwind week putting the finishing touches on “Arnold J. Kemp: Not One Thing” with and our great team of installers ✨Thank you to the many hands that took great care with the “many Arnold Kemps” that emerge in this first institutional survey of the Boston-born artist.

“Arnold J. Kemp: Not One Thing” opens this Tuesday, July 28 at at TUAG / Medford (Aidekman Arts Center). Visit the link in our bio to learn more, plan your visit, and register for the community-wide reception on September 24 🔗

Photos by Cat Lent.

07/17/2026

Available now through Asterism Books and at the TUAG / Medford bookshop when we open “Arnold K. Kemp: Not One Thing” on July 28, “How do you throw a brick through the window…” follows the radical questioning of writer, musician, and artist Johanna Hedva (Johanna Hedva) in their 2016/2022 text “Sick Woman Theory,” in which they question how the conditions of disability affect dissent 🌀

This limited run of spiral-bound, foil-pressed volumes was produced in a collaboration between TUAG and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (John Michael Kohler Arts Center) designed by collective design practice Body&Forma (Chuck Gonzalez and Chen Luo) and center the work of artists Yani aviles, Chloe P. Crawford (Chloe), Nat Decker (Nat Decker), Jeff Kasper (Jeff Kasper), Carly Mandel (Carly Mandel), Jeffrey Meris (Jeffrey Meris) and Libby Paloma (Libby Paloma). Contributions in the reader by Amanda Cachia, Tanya Gayer (Tanya Gayer) and Laurel McLaughlin (Laurel V. McLaughlin), and torrin a. greathouse (torrin a. greathouse) explore the disability arts movement, curatorial processes, and poetic ruminations on conditions in compounding crises.

Shop now at the link in our bio 🔗

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http://artgalleries.tufts.edu/

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