Saturday Open Studio - August 31, 2024

Saturday, August 31, 2024
1 - 4 pm
Bertucci Education Studio

Stop by the Bertucci Education Studio and join us for lively drop-in, art-making activities inspired by the Gardner collection. Projects vary each month and explore a variety of skills, materials, and processes, including painting and sketching, printmaking, and book arts. 

Explore the world of zines (or mini magazines) and use collage, drawing, and other techniques to tell your own story in this activity designed by Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artist Des Bennett.

About the Artist

Woman resting her head on her hand with a big smile

Photo by Hakeem Adewumi

Des Bennett (they/them) is a cultural worker whose practice emphasizes creativity and storytelling as central to community care, social wellness, and QTBIPOC+ liberation. They are a collage artist, zine maker, drag performer, dramaturg, director, facilitator, fiber artist, and producer currently working as the Queer (Re)Public Programs Manager at The Theater Offensive. Des is a co-leader of Gender Explosion, a coalition of trans artists across the country empowering, advocating for, and creating space for trans artists in the performing arts sector, and has led trans inclusion workshops in Boston and on Broadway. Their recent directing work includes: The Interrobangers (Assoc. Dir., Company One); Grief Love (Co-Conceiver & Dir.); True Colors Troupe (TTO); we and other goddexxes (C1); Sunday Swings an Old-New Gospel (Huntington); Common Ground: Revisited (Ass. Dir., Hunt.); My Body Is a A Season (SpeakEasy); and Scenes From Metamorphoses (Northeastern University). They have held Research Assistantships with Dani Snyder-Young PhD on her projects, Theatre participation and arts-integrated peer leadership in substance addiction recovery processes (2019) and Digital performance, wellness, and equity (2020), and contributed to Procedurally authored performances of mindful practice: Theatre-for-one, audience labor and self-optimization (TDR, 2022). Des holds a BA in Theater and a minor in Psychology from Northeastern University.

TICKETS I MUSEUM ADMISSION

Open Studios are free with Museum Admission, and participation is drop-in on a first-come, first served basis. Advance registration for General Admission is encouraged.

Purchase your ticket by clicking on the GET TICKETS button above.

Questions about accessibility? Please call the box office at 617 278 5156 to request accessible or companion seating, or to inquire about other accommodations in advance of the program.

Studio activities are made possible by the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust. The Museum is also supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which receives support from the State of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Polly Thayer Starr (1904-2006) was an accomplished artist who captured the culture and whimsy of her native Boston with a unique combination of detail, emotion, and curiosity. For more, visit the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust online at www.pollythayerstarr.org