SCMAinsider

SCMAinsider offers dynamic perspectives on the diverse collections and visions that shape the
Smith College Museum of Art.

We welcome contributions from all members of our community and seek to cultivate a range of
voices and experiences. If you want to contribute to the blog, please contact us at scmacuratorial@smith.edu.

Chaia Leibowitz snowshoeing and exploring the haunted sites of Preston-Potter Hollow, NY

Welcome Museum Education Fellow Chaia Leibowitz!

September 12, 2023

Hi, I’m Chaia (she/they) and I will be working as the Sacerdote Post-Baccalaureate Fellow in Museum Education.

Welcome Curatorial Fellow Kamala GhaneaBassiri!

Hi! I’m Kamala GhaneaBassiri (they/them), the new two-year Bodnar post-baccalaureate curatorial fellow at SCMA. I am joined by museum education fellow Chaia Leibowitz (she/they) and marketing and communications fellow Julia Giguere (she/her) who will introduce themselves in separate blog posts in the next couple of weeks.

Kamala GhaneaBassiri at Warren G. Magnuson Park in Seattle, Washington

Do the Clothes Make the Man?

Z Stevens ‘25j is an English Major and Museum Concentrator. They are a Student Museum Educator working with K-12 school groups.

man in civilian medieval dress holding a falcon on his bent arm, hands and falcon believed to be modern additions; man; bird; costume/uniform

Interviewing Contemporary Artists from the SCMA Collection

Indigo Casais ’23 is an art history and English double major. Indigo is also the 2022-23 Kennedy Museum Research Fellow in Art History at SCMA, working with Emma Chubb, Charlotte Feng Ford ’83 Curator of Contemporary Art.

vertical painting whose central figure is a black silhouette that appears to have five heads over which are layered eight extended forearms and hands rendered in graphite; palm trees and other plants are rendered in neon greens against an orange and peach sky in the background; white and red-and-white checkered fabric surrounds the figures at the sides and bottom foreground of the painting

DJ’s in the Museum! A Student-Centered Collaboration with Music and Art with the Smith College Radio Station

Maegan “Cloud” Osmond ‘24 is an Art History major with a Museum Concentration. They were the Program and Interpretation Assistant at the Smith College Museum of Art in Spring 2023 where they partnered with student organizations across campus and helped plan for future student collaborations.

pages 1 and 2 of the zine handed out to visitors during the "Art on Air" event, page 2 reads "What is Art on Air? Art on air is collaboration with Smith College's Radio Station, WOZQ 91.9fm, and the Smith College Museum of Art. DJs from WOZQ have looked around the museum and created specific playlists inspired by the collections on display. As you go around the gallery scan the spotify code to listen to what DJ's associate with art works. The art inspiration are across all three floors of the museum."

Re-Imagining SCMA’s Third Floor

Aprile Gallant is Mary Walcott Keyes 1931 Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs and Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs.

image of the third floor of the art museum completely empty

The Art of Revolution

Josie Wong '26 explores the historical and visual context of Jarrell's Revolutionary. She is currently a Student Assistant at the Cunningham Center for Works on Paper at the SCMA.

Wadsworth Jarrell’s famous Revolutionary print immediately caught my eye as I was setting up artwork for a class visit to the Cunningham Center. Perhaps it was the vibrant yellows, oranges, and pinks that pulled me towards it or the figure hidden within a mass of words. Whatever the reason, I needed to learn more about this print.

bust length portrait of a figure facing left holding an object in their proper left hand near their open mouth. Figure has an afro hairstyle and is composed of words and letters printed in pink, maroon, orange, yellow, red, blue and black

Dancing Through the Past: An Exploration of a Smith Alum's Work

Anna Ziegler '25 is an Art History Major at Smith College, this is her first semester working as a Student Assistant for the Cunningham Center at SCMA.

a woman dresssed in an evening gown stands in the middle of a group of children with her arm out stretched towards the viewer

Tiffany Chung: Re-Mapping Memories of the Vietnam War

April 30th, 1975 marked the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. This blog post by Diem Nguyen ‘25 honors its 48th anniversary and welcomes the beginning of May, AAPI Heritage Month with maps of Vietnamese-American artist Tiffany Chung. Diem Nguyen ‘25 is a sophomore interested in art history. She currently works with Yao Wu, Jane Chace Carroll Curator of Asian Art, as an Asian Art Curatorial Assistant.

Left: Map of battle field on dark paper Right: Map of battle field on bright yellow paper

Ekphrastic Explorations: Tryon Prize Winners (2022) Katie Rebhun ‘24 and Aidan Wright ‘22 respond to collection works by Edwin Romanzo Elmer

Nina Peláez, Associate Director of Learning and Interpretation, with words and work by Katie Rebhun ‘24 and Aidan Wright ‘22

elmer's mourning picture with text overlaid which reads "ever since edwin romanzo elmer's mourning picture landed in the hands of smith college, it has demonstrated the magnetism unusual for a painting by a little known artist native to western mass. people keep returning to this painting. they write poems about it, compose musical scores, hold seances, write essays and articles that all start the same way: i visited the smith museum and was transfixed by this odd painting. so, of all the american...

Goya On Display: First Visit to the New Cunningham Center

Josie Wong '26 discusses her visitor experience to view Goya's Los Caprichos collection. She is currently a Student Assistant at the Cunningham Center for Works on Paper at the SCMA.

During my first week of working at the Cunningham Center, I was tasked to create new labels for the storage boxes. As I typed up each label into InDesign, I couldn’t help but notice how many cases were labeled ‘Goya Los Caprichos’. I labeled the boxes, finished my shift of the day, and headed to class.

Spanish satirical print; satire; social satire; two young women harrying out the door three plucked chickens with head of men with brooms; two old women observing behind them; Celestinas, prostitutes

Exploring Asian Presence at Smith and in the US: an Interactive Website

Diem Nguyen ‘25 is a sophomore interested in art history. She currently works with Yao Wu, Jane Chace Carroll Curator of Asian Art, as an Asian Art Curatorial Assistant. Here, she describes her experience researching and designing an educational website inspired by the film China Town.

side by side images of woman and girl leaning on each other over header reading, "China Town, Inspired by Chien-Chi Chang's China Town film, this website provides information on Asian immigration in the US, and Asians at Smith College"

The Faces We Wear

Meredith Diamond '23 is a Computer Science major and East Asian Studies minor. She has been working for the Cunningham Center for two years now. Join her as she delves deeper into a self-portrait that caught her interest.

How do you present yourself? When you get dressed in the morning, how do you hope to be perceived? What parts of yourself do you share on social media?

head and shoulders portrait of a man with grey hair wearing a white tank top; another face oriented sideways is visible on his proper left shoulder