• Total number of pieces housed at the Williams College Museum of Art
• 12,000
• Paintings by Degas, Monet, and Renoir in Williamstown's Clark Art Institute
• 3, 5, 34
• Significant American paintings in the Clark Institute's collection, including 10 Homers, 12 Sargents, 3 Cassatts, and 2 Remingtons
• 75
• Square feet of gallery exhibit space completed in nearby North Adams' MASS MoCA 13-acre, 27-building complex
• 200,000
• Number of full- and part-time faculty members in the Studio Art wing of the Williams College Department of Art, all of whom are artists and scholars in their field committed to teaching undergraduates in a liberal arts setting
• 12

Student artists at Williams draw, paint, sculpt, and design amidst an uncommon collection of museums, research and conservation institutions; Williamstown being a prominent center for the arts, the College’s art program takes full advantage of these resources. In keeping with the liberal arts curriculum and Williams’ small college atmosphere, the Art Department engenders a special relationship between the student and the artist/teacher.

Art history and studio art co-exist in one department made up of two “wings” and, consequently, two routes through the major. A third route, which requires the approval of the department, combines history and practice. Here a student can concentrate on specific themes, media, or methodologies that incorporate the insights of both wings of the department.

The Spencer Studio Art building is a 36,000-square-foot building which houses two drawing studios, an architecture studio, a painting studio, a sculpture studio which facilitates work in metal as well as wood and plaster, a print-making facility which offers both intaglio and lithography, a photography darkroom made up of one large “gang” darkroom as well as three smaller individual darkrooms, a photographing studio for general use, and a postproduction video studio equipped with a non-linear editing system. In addition to studio classrooms, Spencer houses the Wilde Gallery featuring works by students and visiting artists, a student lounge, tutorial studios, a critique room, and a seminar room. The seminar room is made available to all Williams faculty members for the purposes of teaching media-intensive seminars.

The Art Department’s resources are strengthened by the collections and programs of WCMA, Mass MoCA, the Chapin Rare Book Library, and the Clark Art Institute, in addition to the Williamstown Regional Conservation Lab. WCMA carries an ambitious and extensive exhibition program. WCMA’s rapidly-expanding permanent collection emphasizes contemporary, non-Western, and American art. Exhibits initiated by WCMA have traveled to museums and galleries around the country.

The research facilities at the Clark Art Institute are among the best in the country for the study of art. The Clark is well-known for its holdings in Western art from the Renaissance to about 1900, with special strengths in 19th century art, particularly French Impressionism. These resources are all within waking distance of the studio facilities. The most recent addition to the art resources in the area is MASS MoCA, with its focus on contemporary art, located just five miles away in North Adams.