For Faculty

The Tufts University Art Gallery seeks to enhance both undergraduate and graduate student life through vibrant intellectual and cultural programming. To achieve this mandate, the Gallery invites faculty participation in Gallery interpretive programming and in exhibition development. Several options exist for faculty participation, beyond our Voice Your Vision! guided tour program.

These options are:

Class visit to an exhibition led by the faculty member
Class session held at the Gallery, as a literal alternative to the classroom, with the exhibition as an enriching context or springboard for discussion
Department gatherings and events held at the Gallery, as a venue
Contributor to our exhibitions audio commentary program; short analyses and commentaries provide different perspectives and additional context to exhibitions, going beyond information provided in wall labels and complementing the exhibition publication
Contributor to exhibition wall labels or brochure; the Gallery seeks to enhance certain exhibitions by soliciting short (350-500 word) texts by faculty whose area of research or expertise dovetails with an exhibition theme or subthemes; these texts may appear as extended "chat" labels on the wall or in a pamphlet or brochure published by the Gallery and available to all visitors
Exhibition expert advisor; help continue the Gallery's reputation for excellence by meeting periodically with a Gallery exhibition development team to offer your scholarly expertise and advice
Guest exhibition curator (please contact Gallery Director to learn more about the process for developing and proposing an exhibition idea); learn more about a model project, Mexico Beyond Its Revolution, in the sidebar to the right.

Mexico Beyond Its Revolution

Associate Professor Adriana Zavala of the art history department and Latin American Studies Program served as guest curator of the exhibition and eponymous publication Mexico Beyond Its Revolution, presented in conjunction with the Bicentennial of Mexican independence from Spain and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution. The development of this exhibition offers a successful model for future faculty guest curating at Tufts.

On view during the fall of 2010 in the Koppelman Gallery (one of the Gallery's four named exhibition spaces), the exhibition and eponymous publication, Mexico Beyond Its Revolution was conducted during a seminar two semesters prior to the opening in September 2010. Students enrolled in that seminar were subsequently invited to contribute texts and translations based on their research for the catalogue and interpretive programming. Ten students wrote catalogue entries and audio tour scripts; the students' contributions were coordinated by a Gallery Graduate Assistant. The entire project was closely supervised by the Tufts University Art Gallery Director.

Boston Globe chief art critic Sebastian Smee voted Mexico Beyond Its Revolution "Best Small Exhibition in a University Gallery or Museum" of 2010.