On Thursday, I dressed for an outing, put on makeup, and blow dried my hair. This is something I do not get to do very often, but when I went to the Smith College Museum of Art (SCMA), I made a day of it.
SCMA is open again, by appointment, to any Smith student, faculty, or staff enrolled in the COVID-19 testing program. Their only problem is, few are coming.
I was given almost two hours to wander around the Then\Now\Next exhibit on the bottom and first floors of the museum, and I loved it. The exhibit was filled with old and new paintings displayed together to illustrate how themes in art have and continue to change over time. My favorite of the exhibit was a portrait of a beautiful young woman taken off of a Mummy sarcophagus next to Shizu Saldamando’s “May, Post Break-Up,” a portrait of a butch lesbian.
Aprile Gallant, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs, described the exhibition on the two floors as “a core sample of where we have been and where we are headed.”
I, a person with an untrained eye, having never taken an art class at Smith, did not understand how powerful the opening of the museum would be. As I went through the gallery with Eavan McNeil ’22, an art history major, they perked up every time we saw something they discussed in class and told me wild stories contextualizing the art.
Of course, we stopped in at every Smithie’s favorite spot at the Museum: the bathrooms. We said hi to Ellen Driscoll and Sandy Skoglund’s beautiful walls and toilets that we all love and have missed. We commented that first years would flock to SCMA if they knew how instagrammable these public restrooms are.
At one point, we talked with Justin Thomas, the SCMA store manager, comparing Maria van Oosterwyck’s “Still Life with Fruit, Meat, Pipe, and Goblets” to Honoré Sharrer’s “Meat.” It felt so special to be in a space in which to discuss art with a stranger.
Unfortunately, the joy I had from this visit has not been experienced by many Smithies this semester. Only about 20 students visit SCMA during its open hours twice a week. Only one member of the faculty has visited the museum this year.
It surprised me to hear that Smithies are not going to SCMA even though we are given the chance. Smithies flock to other museums in the area, like MASS MoCA, even though it is against the Culture of Care guidelines. We bombarded the Bulb Show at Smith’s Botanic Garden. Why do we not do the same for SCMA?
I quickly realized that no one came because scarcity is key. The Bulb Show attracted so many people because they opened their doors with limited spots for three weekends. Although the flowers stayed there, and are probably still there now, due to limited availability, people jumped at the opportunity to attend.
“The bulb show probably got a lot more publicity than we have,” Gallant said. “We are hoping to build knowledge that the museum is open… and there is a lot to see.”
Night At Your Museum, the most popular event at SCMA, packs the building with almost the entire school because it only happens for one night. If there is one thing I learned from my Intro Economics class, it is that if SCMA wants people to come, the key is to not open up more hours, like they are doing on April 6 and 7. They need to create scarcity by having an event, and the school will be breaking down the doors of our beloved art museum.
[Image: Smith College Museum of Art. (Photo credit: The Sophian/Jacqueline Beaule, ’24)]
