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.

January at SCMA: Museums and Meditation at MacLeish

April 17, 2025

Anna Ziegler is a senior Art History major and works at the Cunningham Center at SCMA.

From Home: An Interview with Matt Donovan

A conversation with Matt Donovan about The Map of Every Lilac Leaf: Poets Respond to the Smith College Museum of Art, a collaboration between the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center and the Smith College Museum of Art which was released earlier this week as a part of SCMA100, the Museum’s centennial celebration. We talked about how this project came together, what’s next for the Poetry Center, and whether he’s been writing in quarantine.

A large slice of yellow melon sits next to a pile of peaches. Some of the black seeds have fallen away from the melon and there is foliage behind the fruit. The colors are somber.

A Challenge to Practice Optimism

I offered a challenge to my friends and family in various backgrounds and colleges outside art history to engaged with two works of art from the 5 College Museum collection which reflect similar anxieties or sentiments we feel during the COVID-19 shutdowns. asked them to identify something positive in each image. I left the prompt open-ended as I wanted to encourage optimism to take a variety of forms.

This detail of Anne Morrow Lindbergh shows her bust. Slightly hunched over with a sad expression on her face, she wears a purple sweater and red scarf and looks slightly downward.

The conservation process of Still Life with Fruit, Meat, Pipe, and Goblets

Still Life with Fruit, Meat, Pipe, and Goblets, a 17th-century still life painting by Dutch artist Maria van Oosterwyck has been selected to be included in the museum’s centennial exhibition SCMA Then\Now\Next. It has been recently conserved by Birgit Straehle at the Worcester Art Museum. These images taken during and after the treatment show how she brought this work back to life.

Still Life with Fruit, Meat, Pipe, and Goblets by Maria van Oosterwyck (1630–1693)

Piet Mondrian's Chrysanthemum

No other flower signals the transition from summer to fall like chrysanthemums.

Chrysanthemum, ca. 1921–25 by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, 1872–1944.

A self-portrait by Elisabetta Sirani (1638-1665)

This self-portrait by Elisabetta Sirani joined the SCMA collection earlier this year.

Elisabetta Sirani. Italian, 1638-1665 Self-portrait, ca. 1658, Black and red chalk SC 2020.7.1 Credit line (TBD)

A Year Being Art Detective

Have you ever visited a museum and wondered how the artworks came to the museum? For me, yes.

Unknown, Chinese. Jade Owl. Shang Dynasty (17th-11th century BCE). Jade.

Covid Comments

Greetings, Ann Mayo here, Smith graduate from 1983. I did not think I would ever have a job in the field in which I majored: Art History. Happily I eventually found myself working at the Smith College Museum of Art. Currently, I am Manager of Security and Guest Services there.

Doug at the car parade thanking essential workers.

An Ode to a New York Summer

A New York City summer is intrinsically special, and is the season for which I yearn annually. Unbridled humidity permeates crowded subway cars as couples lounge hand-in-hand in the parks. Mister Softee trucks are ubiquitous and a plethora of languages fill the streets.

The Making of SCMA’s Look and Listen

I’ve always been interested in intersecting art forms. I grew up training in classical ballet, flamenco, and other styles of dance in my hometown of Memphis, TN. At the same time, I took lessons in a variety of instruments and experimented in different genres of music. I entered Smith planning on becoming a dance major but soon realized it was time for me to pursue a new area in the arts. I took as many art history courses as humanly possible while continuing to dance on the side.

SCMA's look and listen compilation of images

On Writing Wall Labels, but, Mainly, Bierstadt in the Bahamas

For any fan of 19th century American art, this internship was a dream come true. I was tasked with writing wall labels for the new 19th century American art installation at the SCMA. When visitors will walk into the galleries for the next few years, my words upon the wall will help guide them along. No pressure! My very first task was to write a label for a painting by Albert Bierstadt, Landscape in the Bahamas (ca. 1877–mid-1880s).

Never too Old

Although I’ve been working with art for many years now, it is still a magical experience for me to hold an original work of art in my hands. At the Cunningham Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, which I manage, I work every day with original art. I feel blessed because art has always been therapeutic for me. When days get hectic or I feel stressed, I can walk into our storage and look at some works I particularly love and always come away feeling much better.

The Tryon Prizes for Writing and Art, 2020

Each year, two juries award monetary prizes to current Smith students for outstanding writing and art related to the collection at the Smith College Museum of Art. Writing may take any form, including a thesis, essay or poem. Art submissions may be an installation, performance, video, sound, digital, internet, and interactive art. Jurors seek a high level of artistic expression and presentation.