Tag Archives: art

Launch of the Inaugural Artist Unresidency Pilot Program

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Grossmann Gallery image with visitors in front of Michelle Napoli's paintings for the group exhibit "Native American Resilience Through Art."

University Archives and Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston is pleased to announce the launch of its inaugural Artist Unresidency Pilot Program — a unique artist residency model that supports creative engagement with archival materials without requiring a physical residency. This initiative reflects the UMass Boston Archives’ commitment to fostering innovative approaches to archival engagement while exploring the intersections of art and archives. This pilot program is supported by an Innovation Grant awarded by Art+Everywhere, a global, artist-led foundation that supports creative experimentation, collaboration, and care.

Five local artists have been selected for this pilot program to explore the UMass Boston Archives and create original artwork inspired by their research. Working independently in their own studios, the artists will draw inspiration from the archives through in-person visits throughout the summer and fall of 2025.

To support their work, artists will receive an orientation to the UMass Boston Archives and the collections they have selected to use, with archivists available to support their research throughout the process. Each artist will receive a small stipend to support the development of their project.

The resulting artworks will be featured in a public exhibition in the Grossmann Gallery at UMass Boston’s Healey Library, on view from January 20 to May 15, 2026. The exhibit will be co-curated by Jeremy Andreatta, board member of Art+Everywhere, Art History Professor Carol Scollans, and UMB archivist Meghan Bailey.

As part of the exhibition programming, a public artist panel will be held on campus, offering the community an opportunity to hear directly from the participating artists about their creative processes and the role archival materials played in shaping their artwork.

This image features a view of the Grossmann Gallery with one visitor walking through an exhibit.

For questions about the Artist Unresidency Pilot Program or the UMass Boston Archives, contact library.archives@umb.edu.

Grossmann Gallery exhibit highlights the life and art of Theresa-India Young

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Black and white photo of Theresa-India Young

Theresa-India Young, circa 1972. Courtesy of the estate of Theresa-India Young.

A new exhibit in the Joseph P. Healey Library’s Grossmann Gallery highlights items from the Theresa-India Young collection. The exhibit is entitled The Life and Art of Theresa-India Young: Preserving African American Identity.

Join us for an opening reception on Wednesday, October 17, at 4:00 pm. The event is sponsored by the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston and the William Monroe Trotter Institute and will include remarks by Trotter Institute Director Barbara Lewis, Interim Dean of University Libraries Joanne Riley and by Meghan Bailey, Processing Archivist in the Healey Library and Project Director of the Research Inventory Grant Project funded by Mass Humanities.

Theresa-India Young was a fiber artist, interdisciplinary arts teacher, and education consultant working in the Boston area from 1975-2008. Young taught studio art and museum education at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where a scholarship is endowed in her name. She also taught at the Museum of Fine Arts, Roxbury Community College, Boston Public Schools, Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, Harvard University Museum, Cambridge Friends School, Lesley University, and Wheelock College.

Young was a mentor in her community, helping her colleagues and local youth claim their identities as artists and pursue opportunities related to those roles. She served as an advocate for her fellow artists at the Piano Factory Studios when rising rent threatened to displace resident artists.

Young mentored Boston youth by developing the Kush Club, a teen docent program, and managed Primal Arts, an educational consulting business that specializes in cultural presentations, art workshops, and museum tours. As a teacher and purveyor of cultural heritage, Young worked to preserve and maintain folk art traditions in her artwork, such as the Gullah heritage of basket weaving. Her work was informed by her research into African aesthetics and traditions, particularly weaving and hair braiding. She was also prolific in ceramics, European Tapestry, and ethnic weaving.

Visit the display in the Grossmann Gallery on the 5th floor of the Healey Library at UMass Boston. The Grossmann Gallery is open during the library’s regular hours: 7:30 am–10:00 pm on Monday through Thursday, 7:30 am–6:00 pm on Friday, 9:00 am–3:00 pm on Saturday, and 11:00 am–5:00 pm on Sunday. The exhibition will run through the spring of 2019.

Additionally, there’s an exhibition of Theresa-India Young’s work and work by recipients of the Theresa-India Young Scholarship Fund in the Thompson Gallery at MassArt, which was recently featured on WBUR.

Learn more about the Theresa-India Young papers here and view a finding aid for the collection here.

For questions about the exhibition, this collection, or to schedule a research appointment, please email library.archives@umb.edu or call 617-287-5469.

University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston collects materials related to the university’s history, as well as materials that reflect the institution’s urban mission and strong support of community service, notably in collections of records of urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, and local history related to neighboring communities.

University Archives & Special Collections welcomes inquiries from individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in donating materials of an archival nature that that fit within our collecting policy. These include manuscripts, documents, organizational archives, collections of photographs, unique publications, and audio and video media. For more information about donating to University Archives & Special Collections, click here or email library.archives@umb.edu.