Portrait of Life

Nagoya and Boston Exchange Artwork
This exhibition marks the sixth annual exchange between young people in Nagoya, Japan, and Boston. This unique project links young audiences and celebrates the international partnership between the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. As of this year, nearly seven hundred children have participated in the exchange.

The result was a collaborative artwork. Students enrolled in the MFA’s Studio Art Class Program and Vacation Journeys through Art and children from a Nagoya summer art program that is part of the Aichi Children’s University all created shadow pictures. Inspired by the traveling exhibition "Worshipping Love: Mighty Aphrodite," the students in Japan explored the idea of "what/who I think is beautiful." In Boston, the children made a "Museum menagerie" drawing from the bountiful collection of animal images in the MFA’s collection. The resulting artwork was shown at the Nagoya/Boston Museum during the summer of 2009 before traveling to the MFA for this exhibition on view in the Courtyard Gallery.