Three images in a row, on left is a brick building behind a vertical outdoor banner that reads Second Friday, Middle of a group of people making art at tables from bird's eye view and on the right a smiling person with dark hair in a brightly patterned robe with hands close together in front of their face

October Second Friday: Ghost Stories

October 9, 2026

4–8 p.m.

Smith College Museum of Art

Everyone

Celebrate spooky season at SCMA with an evening of art, storytelling, and hands-on making. SCMA is free and open to all.

October Second Friday celebrates the spooky season and marks the opening of the installation Beyond the Floating World: Viewing Japanese Prints with Smith Faculty. Selected by eight Smith College faculty members, these 35 Japanese woodblock prints invite viewers to consider how works of art can speak across disciplines.

4–7 p.m. | Art Making
Drop in for hands-on art making in the Boeckman Sculpture Court (Museum Atrium). All ages are welcome. What mysteries might you discover inside the walls of the enigmatic house featured in Edwin Romanzo Elmer’s Mourning Picture, painted in 1890? Construct a folding paper house and draw what you imagine inside.

5–6 p.m. | Ghost Stories with Muriel Monik Johnson
Head to the Third Floor for an evening of Southern African American folktales with storyteller Muriel Monik Johnson. Through spooky creatures, suspense, songs, humor, call-and-response, and audience participation, Muriel will share two to three stories that begin playfully and gradually become more suspenseful. She will offer a brief warning before moving into a scarier tale. All are welcome.
The galleries are open until 8 p.m.

About Muriel Johnson
Muriel Monik Johnson is a storyteller, performer, and visual artist who relocated from Oakland, CA to New England six years ago. Since then, she has become an active presence in the Massachusetts arts community, earning a residency at CitySpace and grants from ValleyCreates and the Mass Cultural Council. A professional storyteller for more than 30 years, Muriel has performed around the world, from South Africa to Brazil. She views storytelling as an act of connection and compassion that brings people together. Her visual art was most recently featured in the 6th Annual Celebrating Creatives of Color 2026 in Sag Harbor, NY.