Isabella Stewart Gardner actively supported artists during her lifetime, and today artists continue to play a vital role in the museum she founded. The Gardner’s Artist-in-Residence Program was initiated in 1992 with support from the Lila Wallace–Reader's Digest Fund, and expanded in 1996 with a four-year grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts. Between September 1992 and June 2000, thirty-two artists—writers and poets as well as visual and performing artists—have participated in the program.

Interaction with contemporary artists and their work inspires Gardner visitors to see and interpret the permanent collection in new and exciting ways. Each year, several artists-in-residence work closely with Museum educators and School and Community Partnership teachers to design programs that link the classroom to the artist's work and to the Museum.

See how four artists-in-residence brought their unique ways of seeing the Gardner and its collection to a wider audience:

Joan Bankemper
Ashley Bryan
Lee Ming Wei
Abelardo Morell