Smith Arts Day

Imaging Through the Ages

Imaging Center, Hillyer Hall, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Check out all the workshops and demonstrations taking place all day at the Imaging Center Open House.

35mm Slide Button Making

Make yourself some bling with a little piece of art history’s past. The Imaging Center was once home to over 300,000 35mm teaching slides. Now that we’ve moved to digital, these images (photographed from art books of the time) can be repurposed to decorate your book bag, hat, or lapel.

Virtual Reality Demo

Walk through a digital creation of the Porticus of Livia in ancient Rome. Constructed with the research of our own Professor Barbara Kellum and her STRIDE student (now alumna), Emma Civello ’24. Hear the birds sing as you wander the vineyard and view the paintings in the Roman Empire's public meeting space.

3D Printing Demo

10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Come get a 3D-printed souvenir from the Imaging Center and see the IC’s latest 3D printer in action. Learn about uses for 3D printing in the arts and find out more about additional maker resources available within the Imaging Center and at other campus facilities.

Relief Printing

1–4 p.m.
Select one of our pre-carved designs and your choice of water-soluble ink colors to pull your own linoleum print with a hand press. Our gallery assistant, Emelie Villanueva ’26, will guide you through making your own piece of art!

Pinhole Camera Workshop

1–4 p.m.
Did you know you can take a picture without a lens? Learn about how cameras work with a hands-on activity using pinhole viewers, then take a turn striking a pose (and holding it for a while) in our digital version of a pinhole camera photo booth! Make a unique selfie or group photo to keep.

Small Works

Hillyer/Museum Atrium, 10:30 a.m.–noon
Join us in creating small artworks in clay and mixed media with the Jandon Center for Community Engagement! Take your artworks with you or add them to a large community art piece that will be displayed in Wright Hall. This studio event is hosted and facilitated by the Smith College Teaching Artists Program. All ages and abilities are welcome and families with kiddos are encouraged to participate. Snacks and materials will be provided.

Plant Walk: for Healing & Craft

CEEDS, Wright Hall 005, 10 a.m.–noon
Learn the medicinal benefits and environmental implications of native and non-native plants on a plant walk with artists Mary Kate Cleary and Laura Torraco. Then, participate directly in landscape regeneration by gathering detrimental bittersweet and transforming it into delightful livestock enrichment objects.

Abstracting Nature: Drawings in Chalk Pastel Inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe

Museum Atrium/Hillyer, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.
At Campus School of Smith College, Second Graders began the year in the art studio with the question, “How can artists show the beauty of nature through art?” At Smith College Museum of Art, students studied three paintings by Georgia O’Keefe and discussed the concept of abstraction. Back in the studio, children created their own nature-inspired abstractions in the style of O’Keeffe using glue resist and chalk pastel.

SmithArts Tote Bag Giveaway

Theatre 14 lobby, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Grab a coveted SmithArts tote bag, featuring the hand-drawn picture of the Grécourt Gates by Rose Metting ’12. Enter through the courtyard of the Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts.

Spring Bazaar

Chapin lawn, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Organized by the Class of 2028, this Spring Bazaar features students who will be selling clothes, art, baked goods, crafts, and other items to support the Smith community! Rain location: Campus Center.

Crave Open Rehearsal

Hallie Flanagan Theatre, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, noon–2 p.m.
Come take a sneak peak at an open rehearsal for one of the spring studio productions: Crave by Sarah Kane. Set in an unnamed city from which voices and images spring, Crave charts the disintegration of a human mind under the pressures of love, abuse, and addiction. Note: Crave engages with sensitive content matter including rape and sexual assault, suicide, suicidal ideation, self harm, abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, violence, pedophilia, and incest. Performances are May 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Hallie Flanagan Theatre.

Smith Student Filmmaking Showcase

Graham Hall, Hillyer, noon–4 p.m.
Hosted by the Department of Film and Media Studies (FMS), this drop-in screening will showcase student filmmaking at Smith—from students in and beyond FMS. Selected student films will play in a loop in Graham Hall, so attendees are welcome to drop in at any time and stay for as long as they’d like. FMS student representatives will be tabling outside the screening room to chat with anyone about the films or about the FMS department and major.

Five College Early Music Program presents: Musique en plein air

Sage Hall/Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts Courtyard, 12:30–12:45 p.m.
The Collegium offers some medieval tunes in celebration of springtime, birdsong, and love! Replete with voices, recorders, harp, psalteries, rebec, and vielle, students from the Five College Early Music Program re-sound vibrant texts and melodies of the Middle Ages, in an outdoor space fitting to their theme. Join us for a joyous spring!

Botanical Cyanotype Workshop

Botanic Garden, 12:30–1:30 p.m.
Join the Photography Club in the Botanic Garden to explore the wonders of cyanotypes—photographic prints made with sunlight! Learn about the process and history of cyanotypes as they relate to botany and plants and get a chance to make your own cyanotype print using cuttings from the Botanic Garden and any other objects you wish. Supplies provided, but feel free to bring objects to use for printing (negatives, pressed flowers, jewelry, etc.).

Exploratory Nature-Based Art with the PLACE Lab

Botanic Garden Room 111, 12:30–3 p.m.
Come spend the day with the Plant physiology, Art, and Community Engagement (PLACE) Lab to observe art on display and engage in interactive art-based activities to connect with our natural environment, including zine-making and coloring. The PLACE Lab investigates how plants interact with the changing world, implements art to engage with and communicate what we are learning, and collaborates with local communities to make science more inclusive and accessible for students from under-represented and under-supported backgrounds.

Open Rehearsal Orchestra Spring Concert

Sweeney Concert Hall, 1 p.m.
This rehearsal will include Concerto competition winners Tomoko Hida ’26, Ava Jensen ’26, and Sarah Qin ’27 performing works by Tchaikovsky, Mozart, and Saint-Saëns. Also celebrating the 125th anniversary of Aaron Copland featuring his Lincoln Portrait. Presented by the Smith College Department of Music.

Smith Tap Ensemble Workshop

Berenson Leeds Studio, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, 1–2 p.m.
Members of Smith Tap Ensemble will be giving an open class. The class will be geared towards beginners, but tappers of all levels are encouraged to come! We’ll learn some basic tap steps and then put them together into a fun combo. No experience or tap shoes necessary, and all ages are welcome.

Zines Galore

Campus Center 103/104, 1–3 p.m.
Stop by the Campus Center to peruse the many creative zines self-produced and created by Smithies from many departments across campus, contributed by various classes and centers, and join in the making yourself. In collaboration with the Wurtele Center for Leadership, Design Thinking Initiative, and the Human Rights Initiative.

Erasedland: ​​Blackout Poetry and Origami Creations of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land

Location TBD, 1–3 p.m. 
Participants for this event will create blackout poetry from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land on pages of homemade paper embedded with seeds. We’ll fold the pages into origami boats and swans, and then together launch them into Paradise Pond.

Drop-in Cardboard Wearable Workshop

Design Thinking Initiative, Capen Annex, 1–3 p.m.
Drop-in at any time to create a cardboard sculpture that transforms your body! Artist Sunny Allis will share their cardboard practice and will be available to provide support and guidance. All skill levels are welcome.

Smith Arts Day Community Mural

Hillyer lobby/Museum Atrium, 1–6 p.m.
Come and leave your mark on the second annual collaborative Smith Arts Day mural, which will be a lasting commemoration of this year’s event in celebration of the arts on campus.

Experiences with Art @ SCMA

Smith College Museum of Art, 1:30–2:30 p.m.
Explore the Smith College Museum of Art with SCMA’s Student Museum Educators (SMEs). Join us for participatory experiences with art led by SMEs, who will also share what it is like to work in the art museum as a Smith student. Look closely, draw, write, and talk about art on all four floors of the museum! Meet in the SCMA lobby for a one-hour tour for all ages.

Works-in-Progress Dance Showcase

Scott Dance Studio, 2 p.m.
Come and see current works by undergraduate and graduate students of dance in a collaborative, student-centered space! Each project will be up to two minutes in length and showcase research students have undertaken in conjunction with the dance department.

Create Your Vision: A Cut Loose Collage Workshop

Hillyer Art Library, 2nd Floor, 2–4 p.m.
Dream it, design it, and bring it to life with a vision board! Join Michael Sjostedt of Cut Loose Collage Workshops for a fun, hands-on session where you’ll craft a board that reflects your style, goals, and inspirations. No experience needed—just bring your creativity!

Curator-led tour of Younes Rahmoun: Here, Now

Smith College Museum of Art, 2:30–3:30 p.m.
Join curator Emma Chubb for a special tour of the exhibition Younes Rahmoun: Here, Now. Hear the stories and many Smith connections behind the installations, sculptures, and drawings created by one of Morocco’s leading contemporary artists. Meet in lobby by museum admissions desk.

Orchestra Spring Concert

Sweeney Concert Hall, 3–5 p.m.
Concerto competition winners Tomoko Hida ’26, Ava Jensen ’26, and Sarah Qin ’27 perform works by Tchaikovsky, Mozart, and Saint-Saëns. Also celebrating the 125th anniversary of Aaron Copland featuring his Lincoln Portrait, narrated by President Sarah Willie-LeBreton. Presented by the Smith College Department of Music. Free and open to the public.

Materials in Motion: Make Your Own Puppet!

Design Thinking Initiative, Capen Annex, 3:30–5:30 p.m.
Stop by the DTI to create a puppet using sustainable materials. This activity will also provide a chance to learn about the ever-present relationship between humans and the material world by stepping into the shoes of both the puppet maker and the puppeteer. No art, theater, or puppetry experience necessary.

Two Women Alone: A Bilingual Monologue

Hallie Flannegan Theatre, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, 5:30–6:30 p.m.
Come see a staging of radical Italian playwright and actress Franca Rame’s A Woman Alone, presented in the original Italian and in English. This darkly comic monologue explores the life of an Italian housewife, diving into themes of repression, love, female sexuality, and ORGAMSO. Content warnings: Graphic descriptions of self harm, mentions of suicide, guns, and discussions of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

Smith Student Performance Showcase

Sweeney Concert Hall, 8 p.m.
This special student performance showcase features music, dance and poetry from various arts and culture student groups sharing a stage for one night only—for Smith Arts Day. Groups include Celebrations, Spitfire, Noteables, Smith Tap Ensemble, Smithereens, Smiffenpoofs, Black Rhythms, and Moonlight Classical Chinese Dance.