Art

Three students hanging art on a gallery wall

The Smith art department embraces the history of art, studio practice and architecture. In all three arenas, we are committed to cultivating visual literacy and to understanding artistic production in different cultures throughout time and in our own media-saturated present.

Art majors have gone on to careers as artists, scholars, architects, landscape architects, art librarians, educators, visual resource specialists, conservators, preservationists, curators and gallerists. They have also become editors, entrepreneurs, lawyers and doctors. Whether they major in the field or take a course or two, students have found that informed visual thinking, no less than the pleasure of aesthetic experience, continues to enrich their lives and their work.

Announcements

Hillyer Hall Operational Plan

The Spring 2021 Operational Plan for Hillyer Hall summarizes the guidelines and policies that apply to students, staff and faculty working in Hillyer Hall in the Spring 2021 semester. In addition to the policies described in this plan, current Smith College COVID-19 Response Plan polices also apply.

Department of Art Brochure and Spring 2021 Course Offerings

Learn more about the Smith College Department of Art, its faculty and majors, and its spring 2021 course offerings in this Department of Art Brochure and in these Studio course descriptions from the faculty.

Requirements for the Major: Revisions for Academic Year 2020–21

In response to unprecedented circumstances, the department is allowing up to two Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) courses from Academic Year 2020–21 to count towards the major (ARS, ARH, or ARU).

Events and Exhibitions

Visit the Galleries webpage for information about the department’s visiting artists and current online exhibitions. The Jannotta Gallery presents work by faculty and students, including the current Senior Studio Art Virtual Exhibition. The Oresman Gallery features visiting artists.

Explore Art

Group of students in a lecture auditorium

The History of Art

Studio Art

Two students taking photographs outdoors

Architecture & Urbanism

Quick Links

Faculty & Staff

Smith’s art department faculty values active engagement with the art world.

Study Abroad

The department encourages art majors to study around the world.

Honors

Art majors can opt to do an independent study leading to an honors thesis.

Prizes, Internships & Opportunities

Learn about prizes, internships, and opportunities, including virtual and remote resources, to enhance your art education.

Events & Exhibitions

All year long the art department hosts events, including exhibitions, lectures, seminars and gallery openings.

EVENTS CALENDAR
GALLERIES

Smith College Senior Studio Art Virtual Exhibition 2020-21

Unsaved Changes Will Be Lost

Over the past year we have adapted to maintain connection by inhabiting virtual space: pop-ups, inbox alerts and Zoom invites have shaped new neighborhoods, stores and social spaces. Living through our devices, we are challenged to make choices about what information to contribute, save, archive and let go. Smith’s first entirely remote senior studio class has created a collection of artworks that reflects on fractured and liminal relationships, interrogates spaces of safety and confusion, and explores the viscera of everyday rituals and objects that have become intimately familiar during the quarantine.
VISIT THE ONLINE EXHIBITION

An Inspiring Environment

Creativity and scholarship develop in the Brown Fine Arts Center, where galleries, studios, classrooms, study spaces and the Imaging Center coexist alongside the Hillyer Art Library and the Smith College Museum of Art.

LEARN ABOUT THE FINE ARTS CENTER