April Second Friday: Art and Nature

Join us for an evening of sensory experiences inspired by nature and community!

SCMA's Second Friday on April 12 is the culmination of Northampton’s Week of the Young Child programming for 2024. At 4pm, Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra ‘96 will make a special guest appearance for a reading of the Week of the Young Child Proclamation. This annual week-long celebration centers early learning, young children, their teachers, families, and the community. April 12 will also kick off the weekend of Smith Arts Day, bringing the arts together—across disciplines and across campus at Smith College.

Drop in for hands-on! art making activities in the museum’s atrium and enjoy light refreshments from 4–7pm. Explore still life paintings and landscapes in the galleries, and then bring the sweet smells of spring to life with “scratch and sniff” scented paint on watercolor paper. Draw from a still life with Smith College Student Museum Educators (SMEs) and Community Art Making Assistants, and touch nature objects at a sensory table with Smith College Botanic Garden Student Museum Educators (BoGSEs). 

Start at the top level of the museum to explore nature and its forms in the third floor reinstallation Worlds in Process: Art from the SCMA Collection and then look for representations of flowers, fruit, and other “scentsory” delights in each floor of the museum. 

Note: all art supplies will be derived as much as possible from natural sources, with no perfumes, colognes, or chemical fragrances, to make this program as accessible as possible for scent-sensitive guests.

Photo by Cloud Osmond '24