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.

Charcoal drawing on cream paper of a woman with bobbed dark hair sitting cross-legged in a chair. She wears a button-up shirt, tie, knee-length skirt, and heeled boots with tiny buttons up the side.

Art as Archive: Curating Germany, 1918-1945

October 30, 2025

Rebecca McClung is a Ph.D. student in the history department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Journey on the Ship of Fools: From the Republic to the Butcher’s Bill

Hannah Goeselt ’20 reflects on the history of single leaves from rare books being acquired by museums.

Staff Picks: Dieter Roth's "Small Sunset"

Curator Aprile Gallant discusses a print by Dieter Roth that uses unconventional materials.

round slice of sausage meat with large halo around it, its bottom half covered by translucent aqua blue color

Poems and Prints: On Environmental Activism and Collective Gathering

Indigo Casais ’23 considers collective action in the context of environmental activism.

a woman and child stand in a cornfield by traditional statues, a cross in the foreground

Staff Picks: William Merritt Chase's "View of Fiesole"

A small landscape by the American painter William Merritt Chase in the SCMA collection holds personal resonance for Danielle Carrabino, Curator of Painting and Sculpture.

landscape with trees and green bushes; small buildings appear further away in the background

Staff Picks: Oskar Kokoschka’s “Scottish Landscape with Sheep”

Financial & Systems Coordinator Jess Henry-Cross reflects on Oskar Kokoschka's "Scottish Landscape with Sheep" and the memories of adventurous serenity it brings back for her.

landscape of fields with numerous animals, including pheasant and sheep, rendered with expressive brushstrokes

Staff Picks: Eric Avery’s “Blood Test”

Museum Store Manager Justin Thomas shares his thoughts on Eric Avery’s "Blood Test" and discusses the connections the print exposes between the COVID-19 pandemic and the AIDS crisis.

long vertical muscular arm showing interior veins and arteries, with rubber band tied around elbow

Staff Picks: Wood Gaylor's "Posters"

Jessica Nicoll, Director and Louise Ines Doyle ’34 Chief Curator, shares the history and present-day activity of a painting by Wood Gaylor.

interior with posters depicting nurses and calls to action on easels

Poems and Prints: Meditations on the Sea

Indigo Casais ’23 writes about the theme of the ocean in works by poet Lucille Clifton and artist Goto Hidehiko.

horizontal composition of overlapping blue fields printed in different hues and textures; rectangular cut out with black shape printed on it at center

Happy Birthday, Artemisia Gentileschi!

This blog celebrates Artemisia Gentileschi on her 458th birthday as a trailblazer for women artists who followed.

woman with right hand up, looking to her side

Staff Picks: Milton Avery's "Gulls and Sea"

Assistant Preparator Matt Cummings reflects on a work in SCMA's collection by Milton Avery.

blue sea and sky with gulls on grey rocks set diagonally in center

Printmaker Barry Moser on Bringing Frankenstein to Life

"When you see an image that I’ve done and you see it in a way that I hadn’t, that’s what makes it alive."

large broken tree stump, split down the middle

Staff Picks: Anita Otilia Rodriguez's "Homenaje a Selena"

Henriette Kets de Vries highlights one of her personal favorites from SCMA's collection, Anita Rodriguez's "Homenaje a Selena."

skeleton in a flowered pink skirt dancing on a yellow and black checked floor under an arch with dark blue sky and trees behind