Community

The Committee creates, supports, and actively participates in programs to advance women in the arts and arts education.

Women to Watch

A biennial exhibition program developed specifically for the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ national and international outreach committees, designed to increase the visibility of, and critical response to, promising women artists who are deserving of national and international attention.

An outstanding Massachusetts curator, approved by NMWA, nominates a short list of artists working within the chosen medium. NMWA’s curator selects a single artist from these nominees for the Women to Watch exhibition in Washington.
 
The Massachusetts Committee was represented by artist Daniela Rivera and nominating curator Lisa Tung at the April 2024 opening of the New Worlds exhibit in Washington, DC.

Community Profile

MA-NMWA Advisory Council Member
Arlette Kayafas

Establishing Gallery Kayafas in 2003 was the culmination of years of reflection and aspiration for Arlette Kayafas. A woman who came to appreciate the power of visual art as she navigated high school (where she met her husband, renowned photograph printer and collector Gus Kayafas) and college, she at first found herself in a supporting role. She was a "student wife," she says, to Gus as he studied at MIT with photographer-educators Minor White and Harold "Doc" Edgerton. When their children were young, Arlette was active in community programs and local schools, where her leadership talent emerged.

After Edgerton passed away in 1990, Arlette transferred his library and personal objects to MIT; she then cared for his wife. Arlette recalls that this latter experience led to a rewarding career as companion to elderly women in assisted living--educated women who, she says, welcomed her into their intellectual circle as an equal and prompted her to consider her own future. "When my last client died," she says, "I wanted to make something open, not ending. Something lasting." That, for Arlette, would have to have something to do with art.

By this time she and Gus had amassed a powerful collection of some 12,000 carefully curated photographs. There was nothing to do but find ways to show and perhaps sell them, and to offer other artists a venue unlike any other in Boston at the time. And so Arlette founded Gallery Kayafas.

Within a few years Arlette began to integrate the work of other visual artists as well. This change was marked by her increasing confidence that she had “…something to say … not just photography. I have only shown work that I want to own … that prompts interesting conversations.” Speaking of her interest in “strong voices” of women and others, she notes that when she shows certain artists her goal is that “I might change how you thought … [the work] makes you aware of what it’s like to be transgendered, to be from an immigrant family …  your life [becomes] broader, brighter.” This spirit connected Arlette to MA-NMWA, working with the organization since 2008 and supporting the Women to Watch program.

Arlette retires at the end of Summer 2024, much to the chagrin of the many members of the creative community with which she has connected. Asked to advise visual artists eager to gain an audience for their work, Arlette offers: “There are so many wonderful artists to support. You have to pay your dues. Visit galleries. Introduce yourself to the staff and owner. Talk to them. Listen to them. Read about them and about the artists they represent. And keep in touch with them.”

MA-NMWA extends its heartfelt thanks and very best wishes to Arlette and Gus. We are fortunate indeed that she has agreed to remain a member of the Advisory Council, and we look forward to a continued active partnership in whatever she chooses to do next. 

Artward Bound

MA-NMWA partners with Artward Bound, the nation's first four-year, arts-centric college prep program, to offer high school students unique programs inspired by local events.

In August 2022 a class of freshmen, sophomores and juniors participated in a workshop on Surrealism concepts and techniques inspired by the then-forthcoming "New Worlds" Women to Watch exhibit at Gallery Kayafas (October 2022). Imagined and led by visual artist, educator and Committee member Silvina Ibanez, the workshop afforded students the opportunity to create a "new world" as a community, and later to visit the exhibit together.

This program was made possible with support from Boston Cultural Council and Reopen Creative Boston grants.

10/30 Campaign

To mark its 10th anniversary in 2016, and the 30th anniversary of National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in 2017, MA-NMWA acquired an artwork to be given to the museum's permanent collection.

Curators at NMWA selected Ambreen Butt, a past Massachusetts Women to Watch artist. Ambreen’s unique artistic practice, and her multicultural and politically aware point of view, makes her painting “The Great Hunt 1” a significant addition to the permanent collection of the National Museum.

Stay tuned for information about the planned 20/40 Campaign--coming soon!

Ambreen Butt's "The Great Hunt 1 (from the series "Dirty Pretty"), Lee Stalsworth/Ambreen Butt, Gift of Massachusetts State Committee  of the National Museum of Women in the Arts

Learn more about "The Great Hunt 1" and Ambreen Butt

Sponsored Tickets

MA-NMWA provides tickets for students based in Massachusetts to attend selected MA-NMWA events free of charge with member registration.

Partnerships and Collaborations

The Massachusetts Committee has sought out alliances with other cultural entities that work with us to support and promote the work of women artists. The list below includes many of these alliances.

Abigail Ogilvy Gallery*
Addison Gallery of American Art*
Krakow Witkin Gallery*
City of Boston Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture
Boston Ballet*
Boston College McMullen Museum of Art*
Boston Cultural Council
Boston Society of Architects, Women in Design*
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Cape Ann Museum*
Cape Cod Museum of Art*
Childs Gallery*
Concord Museum*
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Art Collection*
Danforth Art Museum*
Davis Museum at Wellesley College*
deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum*
DeDee Shattuck Gallery*
Fitchburg Art Museum*
Friends of the Public Garden*
Fruitlands Museum*
Fuller Craft Museum*
Gallery Kayafas*
Griffin Museum of Photography
Harvard Art Museums*
Harvard Business School
Huntington Theatre Company*
ICA Watershed*
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston*
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum*
Mass Cultural Council
MassArt Art Museum*
Bakalar & Paine Galleries at MassArt*
MIT Media Lab*
MIT Museum*
Montserrat College of Art*
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston*
National Heritage Museum*
New Bedford Art Museum*
New England Watercolor Society*
Nichols House Museum*
North Bennet Street School*
Northeastern University*
Now + There*
Orchard House*
Peabody Essex Museum*
Praise Shadows Art Gallery*
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University*
Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy*
Schlesinger Library, Harvard Radcliffe Institute*
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University*
Trustman Art Gallery, Simmons University*
Skinner, Inc.*
Smith College Art Museum*
Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities*
Society of Arts + Crafts Boston*
Tufts University Art Gallery*
Vose Galleries*
Worcester Museum of Art*