BU College of Fine Arts

The day has arrived, CFA Class of 2026! The CFA Convocation ceremony kicks off today at 4 pm at @bostonu 's Track & Tennis Center. 🎓 🎉 Ahead of today's ceremony, let's celebrate 2️⃣ of our graduates who happen to be two of a set of musical triplets graduating together from BU School of Music. 🎶 For triplets Ian, Halden, and Nathaniel, music was a constant presence in their home growing up with musicians as parents. All three performed in the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, attended @bu_tanglewood , and pursued music in college. Ian and Nathaniel both chose to enroll in @bu_music , while Halden enrolled at the Cleveland Institute of Music. BU Today recently spoke with Ian and Nathaniel about their time together in the strings program, being roommates, and performing in extracurricular ensembles, most recently as part of the Heron Quartet, which in April performed at BU Office for the Arts' Music Mondays series. Now the two are ready to go from ensemble to soloists as they go off on their next adventure, separately. “We have to do what’s best for our own careers—we can’t just hinge them around each other,” Ian says. “If we do end up in the same place for a program or a summer festival, then we’ll see it as a perk, because we’ll still have built-in close friends. The music world is so small, so odds are we’re going to bump into each other professionally down the line.” Hear more from the musical brothers in BU Today at the 🔗 in bio! #ProudtoBU #BU2026 🎓❤️

BU CFA Class of 2026, are you ready? From the studio to the stage, the BU College of Fine Arts class of #BU2026 has spent years pouring their hearts into their craft, and now, they’re ready for what comes next. 🎓✨ Congratulations to every artist graduating this year. Go change the world. 🌟 #ProudtoBU

#ProudtoBU: For thousands of @bostonu graduate students, Commencement represents a new step in their careers or the beginning of a brand-new profession. Nearly 4,000 Terriers will leave BU on Sunday with an advanced degree—and, in some cases, more than one. 🎓 Here's the story of Doctor of Musical Arts in Violin Performance graduate, Kahn Awards finalist, and double Terrier Aija Rēķe (CFA’15,’26)! 🐾 Growing up in post-Soviet Latvia, in a house with no heat or running water, Aija learned about the power of music through her grandfather, Žanis Rēķis, who, despite hardships, didn't give up his dream of becoming a musician. "Music was [my grandfather's] way of healing and a way of reintegrating back to society as a disabled person and political enemy. Music gave him hope and made him feel like a valued community member," says Aija, who is looking to give back to her community. She’s working to create a music education program that would connect students at Tukums Music School in Latvia with students in Boston, which she would name the Aija Rēķe Violin Institute. Read more on Aija's story and other inspiring Terriers in BU Today! ❤️ [🔗 in bio] 📸 Cydney Scott

Thank you to all the CFA graduating seniors who attended our 2026 CFA Senior Brunch! ☕🍳🥞🥂 An annual tradition of bringing grads together before Convocation & Commencement ceremonies kick off to gather, laugh, and reminisce about these past four years of artistry and community. ❤️ To seniors who were unable to attend the brunch, please stop by the Dean's Office to collect your Senior Gift! 🎁 See you this Saturday at Convocation, CFA Class of 2026! 🎓 For important information about the ceremony, check out our resources for graduating CFA students at the 🔗 in bio! #ProudtoBU

From Classroom to Convocation... meet your CFA Convocation Student Speaker Chia-Yi Chen (CFA'26)! 🎓👏🎻 Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Violin Performance major Chia-Yi, a violinist from Chiayi, Taiwan, studying under the mentorship of @bu_music professor Lucia Lin, will address the Class of 2026 at CFA’s Convocation on Saturday, May 16. Throughout her time at @bostonu , Chia-Yi has served as concertmaster, guest concertmaster with the Apollo Ensemble of Boston, and first violinist with the Freisinger Chamber Orchestra, developing extensive performance experience. She serves as an instructor of Aural Skills at BU and frequently returns to Taiwan during the summer to offer masterclasses. She's participated in several prestigious festivals, collaborating with international artists, and now she's ready to be the 2026 CFA Convocation Student Speaker! "I hope my words sincerely reflect this shared experience, inviting the audience to revisit those warm moments with peers and teachers, as well as the moments when we learned to trust ourselves and recognize our own growth," says Chia-Yi. "I hope people remember the Class of 2026 as a group that stayed connected to why we began. Even as we moved toward the professional world, we carried our sense of purpose with us. There is a quiet strength in this class, coming from reflection, growth, and a shared commitment to the arts." 🙌 Get to know more of Chia-Yi in CFA News! [🔗 in bio] #ProudtoBU 🐾

#ProudtoBU: It’s a BU-studded Tony Awards season! ✨🏆 Stage and screen star Uzo Aduba (CFA’05) announced the 2026 Tony nominations on Tuesday, May 5. Terriers nominated include... 🎤 Sara Chase (CFA’05) for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for the Broadway adaptation of Schmigadoon! 🔊Walter Trarbach (CFA’02) for Best Sound Design of a Musical for Schmigadoon! 🧵 David I. Reynoso (CFA’03), Best Costume Design in a Musical for Rocky Horror Picture Show 🎭 Producers Stewart F. Lane (CFA’73) and Jay Marcus (COM’07) for The Lost Boys This year’s @thetonyawards will return to the legendary Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Sunday, June 7. See all the nominees at the 🔗 in bio! 📸 Evan Zimmerman

At the recent @bu_spark ! Demo Day, @bostonu students showcased their semester-long data projects, demonstrating not just their technical chops but also their confidence, professionalism, and presentation skills. 💡 Shout out to CFA students 👉 Alara Kalfazade (CFA’27), Margarita Gomez-Puche (CFA’27), Melih Yilmaz (CAS’28) and Yue Zhou (CFA’27) who received the Innovation Award for creating a font-creation tool called Percent. The web-based platform was made for students and beginners who wish to design their own fonts from scratch and are frustrated with complex or expensive software. 🌐 💻 The idea came from the team’s struggle in a type-design class, where they found the existing tools difficult to use. “We began experimenting with simplifying letterforms into basic shapes, and learned the letterform anatomy with circles,” Kalfazade says. “Then we got the idea that resizing circles could be a way to create typefaces” in a browser-based tool, accessible by anyone. Gomez-Puche says the group wanted to give non-designers a way into typography without the steep learning curve or cost of traditional software. “Percent is meant for anyone who has ever wanted to play with type, but doesn’t have that design background,” she says. Read more on the winning teams in BU Today! 🐾 👏 [🔗 in bio] 📸 Isabella Boncser

#ProudtoBU: Congratulations are in order for @bu_visualarts ’ Graphic Design program! 👩‍💻 Most recently, the program was recognized by Graphic Design USA (@gdusa )—the nation’s most popular news source for graphic design business, ideas, and opportunities since 1963—with @bostonu Assistant Professor Mary Yang named a GDUSA 2026 Person to Watch, three students selected as GDUSA‘s 2026 Students to Watch, and the program being listed among Top Design Schools in the country. 🐾 Yang, an assistant professor at BU teaching in both the undergraduate and graduate Graphic Design programs, is the co-founder of @radicalcharacters , an educational and curatorial platform that researches and explores graphic design, typography, and culture through Hanzi (Chinese characters). Yang is currently the 2025–2026 Artist-Writer-in-Residence at Johns Hopkins University’s University Writing Program. Spanning undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs, these emerging creatives are developing the skills, confidence, and vision that today’s industry demands, according to GDUSA. Join us in recognizing BU students Yunxi (Lucy) Ye (CFA’26), Augie Oppenheimer (CFA’26), and Anne Chen (CFA’26)! 👏 💻 Lucy 👉 Working across typography, publication design, motion graphics, and interactive media, Lucy creates participatory and performative systems that translate physical action into visual and collective experience. Her work has been recognized by Design 360˚, the GDC Award, and the KTK Design Award, and has been exhibited internationally. 💻 Augie 👉 Augie chose to become a designer in order to utilize his creativity to solve real world problems, which he has been able to do while Interning at Spin350 Creative, working at @dailyfreepress , and designing for many other organizations throughout his time at BU. 💻 Anne 👉 Anne is particularly drawn to etching and silkscreen, integrating them with graphic design, to explore how analog and digital processes can meaningfully inform one another. Her practice centers on creating moments of connection: between people, between materials, and between inner experience and outward expression. More at the 🔗 in bio!

Each year, graduating seniors in @bu_visualarts ’ painting, printmaking, sculpture, and graphic design programs take part in a group exhibition showcasing their thesis projects that represent the culmination of four years of hard work. This year’s BFA thesis exhibition, on view at @buartgalleries ' 808 Gallery through May 9, features pieces by 37 students, whose work is a testament to their creativity, their mastery of different mediums, and the singular view that each brings to their art. BU Today recently spoke with four graduating BFA students about their thesis projects, and here's what they had to say... ✨ 🎨 Mackenzie Jutras, painting. "I want the viewers to know that this is someone who has so much love coming from her and toward her. I wanted the portrait [of my friend] to be strong and direct. I want her to look at the viewer, almost challenge them, so they take away that this is someone who has strength and power." 📖 Truck Schachtman, printmaking. "I hope they’re willing to sit with it and look at it not just as an art piece, but also as an expression of emotion and physicality. I like using a lot of blacks. There’s a lot of darkness that is hopefully going to translate as very rich and very evocative. I want people to get lost in my prints." ⚒️ Nathan Arteaga, sculpture. "I think that has become a point in my practice, of not wanting my work to be understood, because I think that that’s for me to understand. Once it leaves my studio, once it’s on public display, it is no longer mine. I want viewers to be able to reflect on their own interpretations and experiences with the piece." 💻 Rye “Brian” Liu, graphic design. "I want viewers to have an immediate sense of curiosity and enjoyment, especially through the colors and playful forms. Rather than directing a specific interpretation, I hope the work feels familiar in some way and encourages people to make their own connections." More in BU Today at the 🔗 in bio! 🖼️ 2026 BFA THESIS EXHIBITION 📅 On view through May 9 📍808 Gallery, 808 Commonwealth Ave 🕐 11am to 5 pm 🆓 Free admission, open to the public 📸 Cydney Scott

Showtime? No, more like Showcase! 🎭 Presented by @bu_schooloftheatre , the annual Theatre Showcase serves as a celebration of the graduating class and the group’s formal introduction to the professional theatre community. 🎉🎓 Students showcase their work in Boston today, May 4, and Tuesday, May 5 (📍@bostonu 's Booth Theatre and Studio ONE) and in New York City on Monday, May 11, at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space. The School of Theatre Showcase is made possible by the Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley Fund for Career Development, and through the generosity of Seymore and Vivian Scharer, and the Jonathan M. Scharer Fund for Career Development in Theatre Arts. ♥️ Head to the 🔗 in bio to meet the SOT Class of 2026! 🐾 #ProudtoBU

According to the @bostonglobe , "we’ve arrived at the sweet spot in the calendar for discovering new talent." Yes, yes we have! @bu_visualarts ' MFA Painting Thesis Exhibition is included in The Globe's The Ticket, as a thing to do this weekend in Boston! 👏🤩🎨 The show, on view through Sunday, May 17, at @buartgalleries ' Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery, features the works of the 2026 MFA Painting candidates 🎓 Steven Baldino • Hayoung Cheon • Scout Curtin • Samantha Hayslett • Leah Nashel • Kasey Ott • Raquel Philippe • Alessandra Pozzuoli • Anna Pugh Curated by MA Art History student Emily Nootbaar (CAS’26), this culminating exhibition highlights the diverse practices, critical inquiries, and innovative approaches shaping the next generation of contemporary artists and designers. 📰 Read more in the Globe at the 🔗 in bio! 🥂 TONIGHT! Join the @bostonu community for a reception celebrating the MFA Painting Class of 2026 at Stone Gallery from 5 - 7pm. Across Commonwealth Avenue, SVA is also hosting a reception at 808 Gallery for the BFA Thesis exhibition. The receptions are free and open to all. We hope to see you! 👋 📸 BU Art Galleries

#ProudtoBU: Major congratulations to interdisciplinary artist Lucy Kim, Associate Professor of Art, Painting at @bu_visualarts , for being named a 2026 Wagner Arts Fellow! 👏 Kim is among three Greater Boston-based artists who were selected by the @wagnerfoundation to receive $75,000 each to build their practices. The Wagner Arts Fellowship honors mid-career to established artists who are committed to Boston’s creative arts ecosystem and to developing socially engaged, community-focused work. Kim works across painting, sculpture, and biological media to deconstruct the social and psychological aspects of vision, including how we extract meaning from what we see. Her work considers how vision is exploited to justify social hierarchies such as racism and colorism. “How we structure the world around us so that it’s coherent is something we learn to do,” says Kim, who will use the funding for materials and studio assistance for her practice, which can be especially labor-intensive. For Kim, receiving the Wagner Fellowship after being nominated a second time feels “affirming” of her relationship with the Boston arts community. “I feel this is my home. This is where I invest a lot of time and care. And this is where I'm cultivating a culture, trying to help play a part in shaping it." ❤️ More in @wbur at the 🔗 in bio! 📸 Robin Lubbock/WBUR