Culture in Boston - Visual Arts

Visual Arts

Museums dedicated to visual art in the Boston area include the Museum of Fine Arts, the National Center of Afro-American Artists, the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Notable art museums and galleries are associated with Harvard University, Boston University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston College, Brandeis University, Tufts University, Wellesley College, MassArt, and other schools.

Numerous art galleries are located on Newbury Street, in the South End and in the Fort Point Channel area. Some of the most influential and longest running galleries in these areas include the Bernard Toale Gallery, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Howard Yezerski Gallery. The Boston Sculptors Gallery is one of only a handful of cooperative sculpture galleries in the country. The Boston Art Dealers Association sponsors artist talks, panels and awards ceremonies on a seasonal basis.

The Axiom Center for New and Experimental Media is one of several venues showing cutting-edge "high tech" and experimental artworks. The Boston Cyberarts Festival is a biennial area-wide celebration of the intersection of art and technology.

In addition, the Boston Public Library (BPL) and the Boston Athenæum each have large collections of art, books, and research materials, and regularly host cultural events and exhibits. The BPL collects and exhibits drawings by living Boston artists, and the Athenæum hosts annual shows by member artists.

The Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX East convention is also held here every year in March. This event is known as one of the largest gatherings of gamers and exhibiting studios, next to other major events like the Game Developers Conference. Growing exponentially with each annual iteration, the expo is well known to many in the gaming industry, and continues to draw crowds every year to the Boston Convention Center.