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.

Welcome Lilly Watson, Our New Assistant Museum Educator
Hello everyone! My name is Lilly Watson (they/them) and I am the new Post Baccalaureate Assistant Museum Educator here at SCMA.
Theresa Bernstein at the SCMA: Armistice Day Parade
In 1918, the war ended on the eleventh day of the eleventh month at 11 am, when the armistice between Germany and the Allied forces went into effect. One year later, Bernstein watched the Armistice Day parade as it made its way down Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Announcing the 2018-2019 Student Picks Winners!
Announcing the seven lucky students who will get the chance to curate their own pop-art show this year through the Student Picks program!
STUDENT PICKS | The Dichotomy of Nature: How Artists Portray the Environment
The famous naturalist, John Muir is credited with saying: “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” This show explores two dramatically different depictions of nature with the hopes that you, the viewer will find more walking through this show than you were seeking.
The 2018-2019 Student Picks Lottery Is Now Open!
Enter by September 21st for a chance to curate your own pop-up art show in the Cunningham Center for Prints, Drawings and Photographs. Student Picks exhibitions take place on the last Thursday of every month from 4-8pm as part of SCMA's Thursday evening student programming.
Hijacked Art, Continued.
Anyone can parody a work; these artists truly transform their inspirations, often turning them into activist symbols.
Your Move: Kay Sage's Surrealist Assemblages
In the late 1930s and early 1940s Kay Sage developed a personal Surrealist style based on mysterious architectural forms in somber-colored settings. Although the forms are painted realistically, they convey an impression or feeling rather than actual objects.
Toulouse-Lautrec and Parisian Nightlife
Born to a wealthy, artistically inclined family in 1864, Toulouse-Lautrec is known for his vibrant, theatrical depictions of turn of the century Parisian life and the characters that made it so vivid. Many of these characters were the singers and dancers of nightclubs such as the Moulin Rouge.
TALK BACK | Dania González and Ana Mendieta
I have always wanted my body to feel at home with itself, but it never quite has. Were there other people who felt the same way? If not, where was that place for them? The question is nostalgic, causing the viewer to simultaneously recall home and acknowledge that they are not there. I wanted people to feel at once present and displaced.
STUDENT PICKS | Abstractions in No Man’s Land: A Future Without Us
Whether explicit or symbolic, these works provide the opportunity to consider a world without us, how some populations are already being erased by our ways of life, and our current relationships to the land.
The Grecian Bend | 体 Modern Images of the Body from East Asia
From the Western standpoint, his photographs were unfiltered, realistic depictions of “the Orient.” As an anthropology major, I am fascinated with how Beato’s photographs embody this cross cultural exchange and set a precedent for how the West viewed the East.
Flickers and Blinks: Confronting the Weight of Movement
Our movement merits contemplation. Begs it as a sign of warning or even impulse. Reading the viewers' responses I saw this again, and I saw it anew. Even while moving we are always in a position to heal, love, and acknowledge. Remembering this, especially as a product of the diaspora, carrier of colonial freight, as a person of color, is not only empowering - it is redemptive.
STUDENT PICKS | Hijacked Art
The contemporary artists in this show have interpreted the work of deceased artists who cannot condemn or laud the appropriation of their work. Together, these prints show how artists can reference these masterworks while acknowledging the systems of oppression they are tied to.