It may already be February, but in my opinion it’s never too late to set New Years’ Resolutions, and one of mine—maybe not surprisingly—is to visit more museums! With museums increasingly reopening after the pandemic restrictions of the past two years, there has never been a better time to schedule a museum visit or two. Here are a few of the Boston-area museums I’m looking forward to checking out in 2022!

The Museum of Fine Arts

The MFA has long been one of my favorite museums, but when I heard that the museum recently reopened its Greek, Roman and Byzantine and Dutch and Flemish galleries, I knew I had to plan another visit ASAP! Between these two recently reimagined spaces and the museum’s many other ever-popular collections, there is always something new to discover at the MFA. And don’t forget that Tufts students can take advantage of free admission!

The Museum of Science

Even though I’m an art historian myself, I’ve always loved visiting science museums. And despite living in Boston for nearly two years now, I still haven’t taken the time to visit Boston’s Museum of Science! From animals, to engineering, to outer space, and beyond, there is something for everyone at the Museum of Science, including adults. Check out a list of their current exhibits here!

The Boston Athenaeum

Another museum that has been on my radar since I moved to Boston is the Mary Baker Eddy Library, a historic research library that also offers a wide range of exhibitions and special events. I’m particularly curious about the Mapparium, a three-story-tall stained-glass globe that dates from 1935. The site is open every day from 10am–5pm, and admission is $6 (but NEMA members can get in for free!).

The Museum of Bad Art

Located right by Tufts’ campus in Davis Square, the Museum of Bad Art describes itself as “the world’s only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition, and celebration of bad art in all its forms.” While the museum is currently closed indefinitely, you can still explore their collection online. While I won’t disagree that many of the museum’s holdings are in fact pretty bad, they’re also fascinating and incredibly entertaining!

The Harvard Art Museums

Another museum not far from Tufts’ campus is the Harvard Art Museums, comprised of the Fogg Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. The Harvard Art Museums boast a diverse collection, with artworks from all over the world and ranging from ancient to modern and contemporary. And if art isn’t your thing, Harvard also has a bunch of other museums including the Warren Anatomical Museum, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and more. Personally, I’m looking forward to checking out all of them soon! Tufts students can get free admission to the Harvard Art Museums, too—but don’t forget to make your reservation in advance here!

Are there any museums on your 2022 bucket list? Let us know in the comments!

Beginning in January, I and nine other students in Professor Christina Maranci’s seminar “The Threads of Survival: Armenian Liturgical Textiles” began our research into a rich group of Armenian liturgical textiles held at the Armenian Museum of America and the Museum of Fine Arts—and last Thursday, we finally had the chance to share the results of our hard work with the Tufts community! Our research last spring has culminated in an exhibition titled Connecting Threads / Survivor Objects, on view at the Tufts University Art Galleries through December 5. I know I don’t just speak for myself when I say that contributing to this project, from conception to completion, has been incredibly rewarding.

Armenian liturgical textiles encompass a huge variety of uses, materials, iconographies, and artistic techniques: objects featured in Connecting Threads / Survivor Objects include a nineteenth-century silk shurchar (priest’s robe) that originated in an Armenian settlement in Surabaya, Indonesia, an intricately embroidered saghavard (liturgical crown) from 1751, two massive painted and block-printed altar curtains, and much more. As the exhibition’s description explains, these objects are highly valuable in that they “show the multidimensional nature of liturgical textiles and bear witness to the vitality of Armenian communities during the Ottoman Empire and their influence along global commercial routes,” and also because they exemplify “the survival of a people, its identity, and faith” against all odds. Most of these objects had never received proper scholarly attention until this year, and their public exhibition sheds much-needed light on their impressive materiality as well as their deep cultural value.

In Professor Maranci’s seminar last spring, each student chose one of the textiles set for exhibition to examine in depth. In addition to writing a research paper on our chosen objects, we also helped to write the wall labels and educational materials for the exhibition. My object—a fragmentary embroidery of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ dating from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century and held today at the MFA—was likely originally displayed at the altar of an Armenian church, where it would have encouraged worshippers to reflect on both the tragedy of the Crucifixion as well as the hope of salvation and eternal life it represented.

As a current graduate fellow for the Tufts University Art Galleries, I also contributed to Connecting Threads / Survivor Objects throughout the summer by drafting an educational guide to go along with the exhibition. The educational guide highlights four themes of the exhibition—Life / Afterlife; Network / Movement; Communities / Individuals; and Materials / Techniques—and presents some key questions that the objects on display invite us to consider. Participating in the exhibition as both a student researcher and a gallery fellow helped me to translate my in-depth work on a specific object into educational content that will (hopefully) appeal to a wide variety of visitors, a skill I will definitely carry with me into future curatorial experiences. I’m also in the process of helping to plan a few tours of the exhibition—check out the Gallery’s list of upcoming programs for more details!

Connecting Threads / Survivor Objects represents the culmination of the hard work and collaboration of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, gallery staff, and more, and it has been so exciting to see the exhibition come to life. You can check out Connecting Threads / Survivor Objects in the Koppelman Gallery at the Tufts University Art Galleries from now through December 5—and if you’re not in the Boston area, you can also explore the exhibition through the Gallery’s mobile app!