Join an exhibition curator for a discussion about some of the drawing materials and techniques seen in works in the special exhibition Sketch, Shade, Smudge: Drawing from Gray to Black Sketch, Shade, Smudge: Drawing from Gray to Black celebrates the act of drawing using familiar tools—charcoal, chalk, crayon, and graphite. Each type of material has distinctive properties: […]

Join curatorial research associate Susan Anderson to look at how artists working at the turn of the 20th century used dry media as a means towards abstraction. This talk is offered in conjunction with the special exhibition Sketch, Shade, Smudge: Drawing from Gray to Black, on view from September 12, 2025 to January 18, 2026. Sketch, […]

Have you ever wondered what happens in our conservation labs? Join a member of our Straus Center staff for an informal conversation about their work treating objects in our collections. Taking place just outside the Straus Center in the Lightbox Gallery, this presentation will give you the chance to get up close and hands-on with […]

From late January to early July 2026, curator of American art Horace D. Ballard will lead a series of gallery talks to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Each talk will closely examine a work of art that speaks to the historical, social, and political contexts that continue […]

If you’re in the Calderwood Courtyard, you’ll likely see a newly installed sculpture: a 6th-century terracotta sculpture from Japan’s Kofun period (c. 250–600), called a haniwa. Haniwa were created from coils and slabs of clay, shaped into figures or structures, and then placed around the outside of royal tombs. This figure underwent comprehensive analysis and treatment in preparation […]