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All the United States Massachusetts Northampton Restroom Works of Art
AO Edited

Restroom Works of Art

Two artist-designed restrooms are part of the collection at the Smith College Museum of Art.

Northampton, Massachusetts

Added By
Kendra M
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Do your business in the blue bowl of this work entitled ‘Catching the Drift.’   kendrawashere / Atlas Obscura User
Do your business in the blue bowl of this work entitled ‘Catching the Drift.’   kendrawashere / Atlas Obscura User
Ellen Driscoll, a Smith alum, designed this restroom.   kendrawashere / Atlas Obscura User
The artist-designed restroom ‘Liquid Origins, Fluid Dreams’ features intricately detailed tiles.   kendrawashere / Atlas Obscura User
A museum label outside of two artist-designed restrooms at the Smith College Museum of Art explains the concept.   kendrawashere / Atlas Obscura User
‘Liquid Origins, Fluid Dreams’ by Sandy Skoglund is one of two artist-designed bathrooms.   kendrawashere / Atlas Obscura User
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About

The Smith College Museum of Art (SCMA) in Northampton, Massachusetts includes two very unique works of art in their permanent collection. They are unique not just because they can be found inside the museum bathrooms. They are the bathrooms. 

All the fixtures in these all-gender restrooms—from the sinks to the tiles to the toilets—are artist-designed by two Smith College alums.

One restroom work of art titled Catching the Drift was designed by artist Ellen Driscoll. It evokes the feeling of being inside a nautical cyanotype with blue and white murals and a rich blue-tiled floor. There’s even more cobalt-hued artwork painted inside the toilet bowls and sinks. The glass panels embedded into the walls were fabricated by the same German firm that created the mosaics in New York's Grand Central Station. 

The highlight of the other restroom, titled Liquid Origins, Fluid Dreams, is all the tilework sporting detailed black-and-white illustrations that splash onto the toilets and urinals. The whimsical and somewhat dizzying designs by Sandy Skoglund also includes a checkered floor and sinks illustrated with thick drips. References to fantastical figures from Egyptian mythology and other folkloric traditions are sprinkled throughout.

Both artists were commissioned to design the facilities during a 1999-2003 museum renovation. The artists created the pieces at the Arts/Industry program at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (yes, that Kohler, of plumbing fixture fame).

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Public Art Art Bathrooms

Know Before You Go

SCMA is located on the Smith College campus. Museum entry is free as of September 2023. The artist-designed restrooms are located on the Lower Level of the museum. Both restrooms are all gender, multiple occupancy, and wheelchair accessible. 

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kendrawashere

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August 13, 2024

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  • https://www.smith.edu/bfac/restroomgallery.php
Restroom Works of Art
20 Elm St
Northampton, Massachusetts, 01063
United States
42.318502, -72.636378
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