Join us at SCMA for an evening of artmaking and festivities as we celebrate PreK–12 teachers during Second Friday at SCMA! Educators are encouraged to bring along family and friends for this all-ages program.  The first 50 teachers to check in will receive a swag bag that includes  a drink ticket for wine, beer, or a mocktail in the “teachers’ lounge.”  All welcome. 

4–7 p.m. 
Hands-on artmaking activity developed by Tiphareth Ananda of the Campus School at Smith College. 

4–8 p.m. 

• Explore Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and be the first to schedule a fall visit and learn about our bus subsidy program.

For new and experienced poets, ages 18 and up.
Free – registration full, waitlist only. 

Register

Artful adventures in and around the museum for 2–5 year olds and their caregivers! Explore a different theme each session offered on selected Fridays through the year. This September 4 program will focus on the exhibition Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Registered families can join us in the atrium of the Smith College Museum of Art for open play and art experiences from 9:30–11:30 a.m. Upon arrival, sign up for a museum tour slot for 9:45 a.m., 10:15 a.m., or 10:45 a.m. 

VIRTUAL EVENT

Join SCMA staff and Smith College faculty for a conversation exploring Beyond the Floating World: Viewing Japanese Prints with Smith Faculty, an exhibition born from interdisciplinary collaboration. Hear how faculty from Art History, Chemistry, East Asian Languages & Culture, and History approached SCMA's Japanese print collection through the lens of their teaching, research, and personal experiences, revealing unexpected connections and fresh perspectives on these remarkable works. Inspired by a 2025 faculty convening centered on SCMA's Japanese prints collection, the exhibition reflects the museum's ongoing commitment to collaboration and teaching across disciplines. Through their selections and interpretations, faculty co-curators invite visitors to look beyond traditional narratives and discover new ways of engaging with Japanese woodblock prints.

Join us for the celebratory reception of Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a special exhibition at SCMA featuring paintings from the world's largest public collection of Alma Thomas's work. Organized around the themes of Space, Earth, and Music, the exhibition invites you to experience Thomas's radiant use of color and the joyful vision that shaped her singular artistic practice. 

Enjoy an evening of refreshments, friends, and the galleries as you explore these luminous paintings. Registration is encouraged, but not required. Save your free spot. 

A special visit for caregivers and children under two. Meet other grown-ups, enjoy conversation about art and activities led by art museum and Northampton Public Schools Early Childhood Center staff. We'll be the only ones in the galleries during these special hours, with no worries about gurgles, gagas and crying over the art -- from the adults or the little! This tour will focus on the new SCMA exhibition, Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas from the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.

Artist Sydney Mieko King seeks new ways of imaging the body and its trace through continuous material exploration.  
Open to all Smith undergraduates. Only 15 students selected.

How It Works
Each year, Smith students choose a work for SCMA’s permanent collection by a female-identifying photographer selected for the Meredith Moody Residency at Yaddo, a leading retreat for artists and writers. Participants will meet with museum staff to learn about collection building, examine works by featured artist Sydney Mieko King, and vote by secret ballot to choose this year's purchase, concluding with a free buffet dinner. 

Register by emailing: museduc@smith.edu for more information and to RSVP for individuals or groups. 
Register by October 1. SCMA is a registered PD Provider for the state of Massachusetts.

What can plants and artworks teach us about ourselves and our communities? How do artists play a role in helping us to understand the natural world and our place in it? 

This Election Day, join us for a special Educator Open House hosted jointly by the Botanic Garden of Smith College and Smith College Museum of Art.

Discover exciting ways to expand learning experiences beyond classroom walls
Connect to campus resources 
Engage your students using both visual art and living natural collections

Data Consciousness and Luminous Abstraction 

Public Reception to follow.

This lecture brings W.E.B. Du Bois's pioneering data visualizations into dialogue with Alma Thomas's luminous abstractions, tracing a shared commitment to visualizing Black life beyond statistical reduction or representational constraint. Together, Du Bois and Thomas reveal how data can function as both evidence and imagination, expanding the possibilities of aesthetic practice, historical interpretation, and collective liberation.