Boston's Best Up-and-Coming Artists

The Boston art scene is long established. However, with museums like the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the atmosphere was one of appreciating the lates and the greats. Today, the underground art scene is exploding and emerging artists are finding homes in the many studios that are now spreading out in and around Boston. Furthermore, with the legalization of tattooing in Massachusetts, the mediums in the city are more diverse, allowing the best and brightest up-and-coming artists of Boston to make names for themselves.

Heidi Hogden
Museum of Fine Arts Courtyard Gallery
465 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 267-9300
heidihogden.com

Heidi Hogden is proving herself as one of the most promising recent art school graduates in Boston. Her current thesis exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston is a collection of large-scale drawings that highlight the impressions of her birthplace in Wisconsin. They include landscapes, people and animals. Her fans do not have long to wait to see more from her after her exhibit ends at the MFA, as she has another exhibit at the Beland Gallery starting just a month later. Heidi Hogden is shaping up to become a staple in Boston.

Holly Azzara
Always and Forever Tattoo
565 Mount Auburn St
Watertown, MA 02472
(617) 744-1740
hollyazzara.com

Holly Azzara was interested in becoming an artist since she was a child. The choice to become a tattoo artist came at the young age of 15. Today, her artwork is in numerous magazines and on numerous people. She spent a great deal of time traveling and learning her craft before settling down in the Boston area and becoming one of the best emerging tattoo artists in town. The best part is that Holly's work is not just available for those who want skin art. She also offers drawings, paintings and more.

Related: Boston's Best Contemporary Art

Maggie Connors
Midway Studios of Fort Point
15 Channel Center St # 614
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 946-4630
maggieconnors.com

Maggie's paintings explore the movement of the human body in action and the suggested movement of the body in stillness. Her art has a dreamy quality that makes it very easy on the eyes and imagination. Maggie's work is currently available for viewing in her Boston studio. Art fans should also watch out for her upcoming shows this fall. View the details for exhibitions on her website.

Lance Keimig
Lance Keimig Photographics
55 Corporate Park Drive
Pembroke, MA 02359
(781) 424-7018
lancekeimig.com

Lance Keimig is a touch more established than some other up-and-comers in the Boston area. However, he is finding great success with a print book of his amazing night photography. His photographs are from around the world, but his home is just south of Boston and his photographs of Boston at night are unmatched. The quality and clarity of his work, despite the lighting challenges of his chosen time to work, have led Lance to be a sought-after photography instructor in Boston.

Kenji Nakayama
The Distillery
516 E 2nd St
Boston, MA 02127
(617) 269-8430
kngee.com

It is hard to say that Kenji Nakayama is up-and-coming. It is more as if he is up-and-running. This young, trained sign painter has made a name for himself creating signs for Boston's homeless, painting skate decks, creating graffiti that showcases his natural talent, designing sneakers for Converse and much more. His artwork is all over Boston -- on store windows, the signs of the homeless and on various walls. See works by Kenji Nakayama at upcoming exhibitions or at South Boston Open Studios.

Related: Boston's Best Painting Classes

Shelly Barclay is a professional freelance writer and amateur author. She writes on a variety of topics from food to mysteries. She loves to share the culture and rich history of her birthplace and home, Boston, with the rest of the world. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.