Apply Today for the 2026 Spring Bulb Show Art Installation Commission

The Botanic Garden of Smith College is accepting submissions from Smith College students to design, fabricate and install an original work of art. A maximum of 2 students will be selected to realize their design independently. 

In addition to the proposal, applicants will be asked to share portfolio images of relevant prior work to demonstrate their capacity for such a demanding project both in concept and in technical ability.

Each year during the first two weeks of March, approximately 25,000 people visit Lyman Plant House to see the Spring Bulb Show. It is a much loved and highly anticipated event; a Smith College tradition which dates back to the very beginning of the 20th century. Since 2023, students have been invited to design and install a work of art in response to this tradition, expanding, shaping and elevating the exhibit itself.

The botanic garden is seeking submissions from individual students to propose a design concept for an installation to be centrally featured in the 2026 Spring Bulb Show, amidst the blossoms of 10,000 flowering bulbs. This commission presents an opportunity to experience the dynamic challenges and rewards of designing, fabricating and installing site-specific, commissioned work. The goals for this project are to foster collaboration among and between students and the botanic garden, and to showcase and celebrate the diversity of voices and breadth of skills possessed by Smith College students with the greater community. 

The prompt for this year’s commission is: 

Doing and making as a way of knowing: What materializes from an artistic process that seeks to engage and investigate the living world?

 The proposed work should reflect on, interpret and respond to this question. 

The botanic garden will host an info session on Monday, October 6th 2025 during which artist and Botanic Garden Landscape Curator Lily Carone will answer questions about the project and Gina Siepel will speak about her work and her process developing site-specific installations.

(From Gina’s website:)

Gina Siepel is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and woodworker. Their artistic practice reflects an engagement with place, history, queer experience, and ecology, and their work integrates conceptual concerns and craftsmanship with a focus on wood as a natural and a cultural material. Gina’s objects, installations, drawings, videos, and other works link aesthetic and materially-based modes of artistic production to other forms of inquiry, including collaboration, social engagement, site-based exploration, and interdisciplinary research.

Gina’s work One Half Log Divided into a Chair and Scraps (Found Highland Park Greenfield) (2022) was recently acquired by the Smith College Museum of Art, and she is an artist-in-residence at MacLeish field station, among many other institutions.

This commission will take form as a special studies for which each student will receive 2 credits upon successful completion of the project. 

There is a $1,000 materials budget for the project per student.

This is a demanding project which will follow a tight schedule. The fabrication process will take place during J-Term 2026, so students must expect and be available to be on campus during that time. Installation will be completed over the course of the week between Saturday February 21st, and Sunday March 1, 2026.

After an initial selection process, 3-5 individuals will be invited to present their proposal to the committee to engage in a more in-depth discussion about their concept and answer questions.

Timeline

This is a site-specific commission. The work will be installed in each of the two Lyman greenhouses where the bulb show takes place. The two greenhouses, Physiology and Cold Storage, were built in 1914 and are named for their historic uses. The Physiology house was built and used as a laboratory for conducting experiments in plant physiology, and the Cold Storage house was built as a storage space for overwintering bulbs. 

The show is installed throughout both of these adjoining greenhouses which are separated by a doorway. The proposal should illustrate evidence that the artist has visited the space and has taken the infrastructure and rough measurements into consideration, and the design should reflect consideration for one of the two locations.  The bulbs will be arranged around the work after it is installed, and the artists will collaborate with the horticulturists to discuss their placement.

Use this form to apply. You will be instructed to:

• Include your name and email address
• Note your major and minor (declared or intended)
• Include a written proposal clearly outlining the design plan and describe how the piece relates to the prompt
• Upload at least 2 illustrations of the proposed installation 
• Upload a link to a google drive folder with portfolio/ images of relevant past work

For questions regarding the process or about the space with regard to how it can be used and what might or might not be logistically possible, reach out to Lily Carone to schedule a time to talk or meet in person before submitting your proposal: lcarone@smith.edu