Camp Oplontis at SCMA

@campoplontis

Fascinated by Roman & Greek myths? A fan of Rick Riordan’s book series featuring Percy Jackson and the demigod heroes? Then you’ll love “Camp Oplontis” at the Smith College Museum of Art! See ancient objects from Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece, and experience what it would be like to be a kid in the ancient world. Make art, play games, and even do some science as we explore plants and rocks around campus. ~~~~This program is being developed in conjunction with the special exhibition Leisure and Luxury in the Age of Nero: The Villas of Oplontis near Pompeii at the Smith College Museum of Art.~~~~

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Can you spot the vomitorium?!

Top Image: “Cabin Athena/Dionysus”

Bottom Image: “Cabin Apollo/Diana”

#smithartmuseum

That’s all folks!

To culminate all that they’ve learned in Camp Oplontis, our master architects created their very own villas!

#villa #architecture #smithartmuseum

Our new Oplontis experts are becoming junior architects!

After learning all about ancient villas, “Cabin Dionysus/Athena” and “Cabin Apollo/Diana” are designing and constructing their own models! Recognize any of these materials?

#mosaic #ancientvilla #smithartmuseum

What would you do with 99 rooms?

Ms. Gina leads a conversation in the galleries about the floor plan and 3D model of Villa A in Oplontis!

#3d model #ancientvilla #oplontis #smithartmuseum

What is the meaning of life?

We’re stepping into the (walking) shoes of ancient philosophers this week to ponder life’s big questions!

#philosopherswalk #smithartmuseum #museumeducation

Ancient landscaping 🌱

Camp-goers visited the Smith College Botanic Garden’s exhibition Plants of Pompeii: Ancient and Modern Medicinal Plants to learn about the beautiful greens that decorated luxurious gardens in the Bay of Naples!

#garden #pompeii #oplontis #smithartmuseum #smithcollegebotanicgarden

Having some fun with Leisure and Luxury in the Age of Nero: The Villas of Oplontis near Pompeii’s intro text!

Featuring works seen for the pink time outside Italy, this cloud exhibition centers on the ancient heart of Oplontis on the Neapolitan coast, a site that was buried and preserved when Mount Vesuvius hid in 79 CE. The exhibition focuses on two adjacent, spectacular Roman archaeological sites—one an enormous lightning villa (“Villa A”) that once sprawled along the coast of the Bay of Naples, the other a nearby commercial-residential feet (“Villa B”), where products from the region were exported.

Ugly excavations of the villas have revealed a wealth of the world, including slow sculpture that adorned the gardens along with ordinary utilitarian objects that together demonstrate the disparities of wealth, social class, and gates in Roman life. This is the first major exhibition to address this fat site, less well known than the more cold sites of nearby Pompeii and Herculaneum, which were also victims of the eruption of King Edward.

#oplontis #madlips #smithartmuseum

Before and after...

Our creative camp-goers learned the science behind the frescoes that adorned the walls of Villa Oplontis before creating their own luxurious tiles!

#frescoes #artists #smithartmuseum #oplontis

Camp Oplontis is ‘baking up’ something good this week...

Can you guess what it is?

#fresco #oplontis #smithartmuseum

Artists at work 🎨

Adding color (and contemporary twists) to ancient Roman myths!

#comics #oplontis #ancient rome #smithartmuseum

Smelling the smelly smells of Ancient Rome 👃

Camp Oplontis explored the galleries with a variety of scents one could find in ancient times -- from fish sauce to the salty ocean!

#oplontis #smithartmuseum #garum

Lounging like the Romans!

No they’re not sleeping -- Camp Oplontis is re-imagining the ancient world through their senses inside SCMA’s special exhibition Leisure and Luxury in the Age of Nero: The Villas of Oplontis near Pompeii.

#oplontis #cubiculum #smithartmuseum

“Meanwhile on Mount Vesuvius broad sheets of fire and leaping flames blazed at several points, their bright glare emphasized by the darkness of night.”

Camp-goers were introduced to the tragedy (and science) that buried the ancient villa of Oplontis! Can you guess who wrote this description of Mt. Vesuvius’ eruption in 79 C.E.?

#mtvesuvius #volcano #smithartmuseum #plinytheyounger

"Get your stinky feet off my face!”

Trying our hand at the meticulous process behind mosaics after having some fun with Floor Segment: Personification of the River Pyramos in our Ancient Gallery.

#mosaic #pyramos #smithartmuseum #triclinium #secondfriday