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.
Mindful Museum Meanderings
As a community health organizer, I worked with SCMA over the J-term to develop and refine mindfulness projects in the museum space.
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."
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."
Poems and Prints: On What the Ear Carries
Indigo Casais ’23 discusses embodied memory in Lesley Dill’s print "The Poetic Body: Poem Ears" and Mosab Abu Toha’s poem “Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear.”
Curate This: Student Stories at the SCMA
Ejona Gjata ’21 shares her reflections on her Museum Studies senior capstone design project, "Curate This: Student Stories at the SCMA."
The Tryon Prizes for Writing and Art, 2021
Congratulations to all of the 2021 recipients of the Tryon Prizes for Writing and Art!
Liz Chalfin on Spirituality, Creation, and Alternative Printmaking
"Even though I’m not a very religious person, I do feel that religion has been one way that people explore the ineffable and the mysteries of life."
From the archives: Claire Leighton and A Connection to the Land
In this blogpost from 2016, Renee Klann ‘19 wrote about how, rather than focusing on the picturesque qualities of the landscape, Claire Leighton chose to portray the people who worked the land.
A Memory of Emma Amos (1937–2020) and the acquisition of One Who Watches
In 2001, the Smith College Black Students Alliance gave a painting, One Who Watches, by Emma Amos to SCMA. Alona C. Wilson, former Curatorial Assistant and Manager of the Cunningham Study Center, recounts her memories of this collaborative acquisition process.
Beyond the Museum: Art on Smith's Campus
Since the beginning of the 2020-21 academic year, SCMA has been collaborating with the Spatial Analysis Lab to create an interactive map of artworks around Smith’s campus. The map, titled "Beyond the Museum: Art on Smith’s Campus," is now available for public use!
Spinning Diana
When art handlers at the SCMA moved Saint-Gaudens’s Diana of the Tower (1899), they discovered an unexpected quirk of the sculpture: it spins. But why does this American statue of a Roman goddess twirl on its base? Guest blogger Matt Blanchard examines this intriguing sculpture, and the reason why it moves.
Installing Maya Lin’s Sculpture in Neilson Library
Nikolas Asikis, Chief Preparator, shares the process of installing Along the Cappawonganick (Mill River), a sculpture by Maya Lin created specifically for the renovated Neilson Library.
New Acquisition: Saloua Raouda Choucair
Curator of Contemporary Art Emma Chubb discusses sculptor Saloua Raouda Choucair's Dual, a recent acquisition on view in SCMA Then\Now\Next.
