Commencement

Commencement 2024

Friday, May 17 at The Cabot

Montserrat College of Art held Commencement for the Class of 2024 on Friday, May 17 at 10am at The Cabot, 286 Cabot St., Beverly.

The class joined a procession of trustees, faculty, staff and honored guests, led by bagpipers of Creagan More Pipes and Drums to march from the Hardie Building to the theater.

The keynote address was given by multi-disciplinary artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti, assistant professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Graphic Design at the Yale School of Art. Mutiti was awarded an honorary doctor of fine arts degree during the event.

The ceremony also included remarks by Professor Mark Hoffmann, Chair of the Division of Visual Communication and Design, and student speaker Adrianna Palleschi, who were chosen by the members of the class of 2024 to be their speakers. In addition, the event included remarks by President Brian Pellinen and Montserrat Board Chair Mercedes Sherrod Evans.

Several awards were given out to members of the class and faculty during the event.

---

Montserrat College of Art commencement speaker: Zimbabwean-born visual artist and educator Nontsikelelo Mutiti. Mutiti’s work is invested in elevating the work and practices of Black peoples past, present, and future whilst also acknowledging interconnected histories and serving those whose narratives have been under-recognized.

In 2015 Mutiti co-founded Black Chalk & Co, a “creative agency bringing together writers, artists, designers, academics and technologists” with an interest in publishing, the curation of conversations and exhibitions, and facilitating teaching residencies. “What animates all these activities is the effort to engender a new culture and new forms of publishing and creative production.”

Says Mutiti about her artistic work: “My practice traverses the boundaries of fine art, design and public engagement. Works on paper and those rendered as time-based audiovisual explorations incorporate the digital through hand-rendered techniques, as well as computer aided and photographic processes… I am committed to public engagement and work to create situations for the exchange of experiences and skills both in the research and gathering phase of my work as well as at the end through workshops and public conversations.”

Mutiti holds a degree in Multimedia from the Zimbabwean Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA) and an MFA from Yale School of Art, where she now serves as the Director of Graduate Studies for Graphic Design. Her work has been exhibited broadly and internationally, including Berlin, Baltimore, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Commencement Speeches