Public Programs & Events

The Arts and Crafts Movement was an international artistic movement popular around 1900 that focused on handcraftsmanship and the beauty found in nature. Living on Beacon Hill, Rose Nichols and her sisters were surrounded by Arts and Crafts endeavors and participated in many themselves. Join Nonie Gadsden, longtime Nichols House supporter and Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to learn more about the Arts and Crafts Movement in Boston, and specifically on Beacon Hill.

Nonie Gadsden is the Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), where she is responsible for a wide range of artwork including decorative arts and sculpture from North, Central and South America, from ancient times through the 20th century. Her recent work includes mounting the exhibition “Toshiko Takaezu: Shaping Abstraction” (2023-24), serving as lead curator for “Women Take the Floor” (2019-2021); developing new 20th century galleries, including “Art and Jazz” and “Folk Meets Modernism” (opened 2022); and publishing a book based on the MFA’s collection of American modern design, America Goes Modern: The Rise of the Industrial Designer (2022). Currently, she is working with a team to reinstall the 18th century galleries of the Art of the Americas Wing, opening June 2026 to mark the 250 anniversary of the United States.