Visitors engage with redesigned displays of artwork at Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. Photo by Max Wilhelm, courtesy of MHCAM.
The northeast is spoiled with a wealth of great academic art museums. They provide research and educational opportunities for students as well as space for visitors to experience art. Among the oldest of these organizations is the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum in South Hadley, Massachusetts which is celebrating its 150th anniversary year. In September, the Museum reopened after a nine month renovation that reimagined its galleries and renewed its energy at this milestone moment. In a recent conversation with the MHCAM’s Florence Finch Abbott Director Tricia Y. Paik, PhD, she shared highlights from the renovation and outlined what excites her most about this new phase in the museum’s journey.
Founded in 1876, the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum holds 18,000 objects that span centuries of artistic production across continents and cultures. It is an encyclopedic collection with holdings by boldfaced names. Speaking about the Museum’s value to the community and the College, Tricia says that, “MHCAM is free and open to the public and serves as one of the College’s most public-facing resources, an important tie to the local community, Western Massachusetts, and greater New England.”
Explaining the recent renovation of the Museum, Tricia states, “The motivating force behind this ambitious project was to broaden the diversity of art and material culture on view, so that our students and visitors can feel welcomed, engaged, and represented in our galleries.” Design work on the project was led by architect Jeffrey Hirsch of HirschCultureWorks, an award-winning firm that has completed work for other cultural institutions including the Smithsonian.
Tricia Y. Paik, Florence Finch Abbott Director, MHCAM (left) with students and Ellen Alvord (MHC Class of 1989), Associate Director of Engagement and Weatherbie Curator of Academic Programs. Photo by Laura Shea, courtesy of MHCAM.
Asked what excites her most about being part of this chapter of the Museum’s long history, Tricia answers, “I know I’m biased, but MHCAM is truly a gem, now newly polished! Despite our small size, we have a distinctive collection that spans the breadth of human history. Now we have on view works that have not seen the light of day for years, many that have been rarely displayed. We also continue to collect art in ways that reflect the diversity of our global student body and the communities we serve.”
During its recent renovation, the Museum’s team opted to reinstall the collection chronologically, rather than by geography or culture, creating fresh opportunities for viewers to reinterpret artworks. Tricia explains this aspect of the update, saying, “It’s rather remarkable for a small liberal arts college like us to have a collection spanning six thousand years of human history, so it made even more sense to foreground this chronological display throughout. Each gallery also features cross-cultural thematic moments as well as chronological interventions to reveal connections across time and place. We are so thrilled that visitors can now see old favorites alongside works that had been in storage for many years, some rarely displayed.”
Most collegiate art museums act as a key on-campus resource for students and that is particularly true of Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. Reflecting on how the Museum contributes to the life of the College, Tricia says, “From the very beginning, when the Museum was first founded as a small gallery in 1876, Mount Holyoke firmly believed that its students should receive a well-rounded liberal arts education and that both science and art are essential to ‘the acquisition of knowledge and the discipline of the mind.’” Tricia goes on to share her pride in the Museum’s accomplishments, from stewarding its collection, to training future museum workers, to hosting significant exhibitions by the likes of such as Joan Jonas, El Anatsui, Berthe Morisot.
Visitors point to works on paper in newly renovated galleries during a recent open house. Photo by Laura Shea, courtesy of MHCAM.
Tricia says, “MHCAM is a unique educational resource for our students, through classes taught across the disciplines, all in support of the College’s liberal arts curriculum.” She continues, “Our new galleries are already providing more robust opportunities for learning and reflection, whether for our general public or for students through the many classes taught at the Museum, whether neuroscience and biology to art history to politics.”
Considering the future of MHCAM, Tricia is excited. She says, “Over the past 150 years, the Museum has grown, evolved, and changed shape with each generation. For this next chapter, I hope that we will be the most engaged with our communities than ever before. Our newly renovated galleries allow for larger groups to gather, whether for classes, gallery talks, poetry slams, and events, and we are excited to see how our public will respond to us in the years to come.”
And she goes on to share an enthusiastic and personal invitation, “We are absolutely thrilled to open up our doors to our campus community and our general audiences. Since we are free, you can come in for a quick visit and see your favorite painting, or stay longer and attend a free gallery talk or event. So I truly hope that more visitors will come through our museum doors.”
An installation view of Faith Ringgold’s America, on view through May 30 2027 at Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. Photo by Laura Shea, courtesy of MHCAM.
Freshly redesigned, the MHCAM is entering an exciting new phase in its history, led by a passionate and welcoming museum director. Among its current offerings, the Museum has an exciting show featuring two print portfolios by Faith Ringgold on view through May 30, 2027. And on Friday, November 13 from 4:30-7:00pm the Museum will host a 150th Anniversary Celebration. With a strong history of inspiring young minds, the reimagined Mount Holyoke College Art Museum is poised for an equally impactful future.
The Mount Holyoke College Art Museum is free and open to the public. Learn more about its current programs and plan your visit at artmuseum.mtholyoke.edu.
To receive stories like this and other free art resources in your inbox each Friday morning subscribe to the New England Art News Substack. To support locally-focused art writing, you can make a contribution or advertise.
