Terra Collection-in-Residence: Smart Museum of Art

Dedicated in 1974, the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago serves as a vibrant site of intellectual rigor, cross-disciplinary exchange, and inspired experiences with visual art. Harnessing the intellectual and cultural energy of the University and of Chicago’s South Side, the Smart collaborates with academic and community partners and a cohort of K–12 schools to bring diverse ideas, identities, and experiences into exhibitions, pedagogical and research initiatives, and public programming.

The Smart Museum integrates artworks on loan from the Terra Foundation into curriculum development and object-based learning. Twenty-three works on paper are housed in the Feitler Center Education Study Room and the Collections Research Lab, where students engage with them. These resources advance the role of art in teaching across the university and encourage interdisciplinary educational practice. They anchor classroom discussions, inform students about assignments, and support professional development workshops for educators.

The Smart Museum integrates artworks on loan from the Terra Foundation into curriculum development and object-based learning. Twenty-three works on paper are housed in the Feitler Center Education Study Room and the Collections Research Lab, where students engage with them. These resources advance the role of art in teaching across the university and encourage interdisciplinary educational practice. They anchor classroom discussions, inform students about assignments, and support professional development workshops for educators.

“The Terra Collection-in-Residence program has provided University of Chicago instructors with new tools to achieve their learning goals and has animated conversations about artistic practices and practitioners that would not have been possible otherwise,” noted Dr. Cooper Long, Museum Educator for Academic Initiatives at the Smart Museum of Art.

The Terra Foundation loans also broaden the representation of American art in the museum’s permanent collection. Over the next four years, the artworks will be activated through museum-based courses, professional development workshops for K–12 and university educators, and the museum’s collections research initiatives. These engagements support academic inquiry and community learning. As an academic museum, the institution gives students opportunities to research artworks, generate new pedagogical materials, and produce new knowledge.

Twenty-three prints, drawings, and photographs are on loan for a period of four years (January 2026–January 2030). A selection of these works is below.