This past Friday, the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Gallery (or simply “The Tang,” as it is known to students) opened its doors to the Skidmore community to celebrate its 25th anniversary. The museum, named after Class of ‘61 alumna Frances Young Tang, was designed by the architect Antoine Predock and first opened in 2000. Since its opening 25 years ago, the Tang has become an integral part of the Skidmore campus: it frequently hosts classes, events, and lectures, provides students with internships, and even allows students to take artwork home for the academic year through their very popular ROOM•MATE program.

When visiting the event, we immediately noted the lively atmosphere. Students and non-students alike painted custom tote bags on the Tang Lawn, enjoyed some tasty treats and refreshments, and spun a wheel to win free Tang-themed merchandise, part of their 25th year collection. They offered sweatshirts, t-shirts, and caps sporting the Tang’s new logo: a four-block design reminiscent of the iconic stairway to the Tang rooftop.

Students enjoying a craft at the Arts Quad party.

The logo is not the only thing that’s changing at the Tang. On Friday, students also came together on the arts quad to enjoy live music and community art-making with artist Yvette Molina, who led The Earthling Parade. For the past two years, Molina’s eponymous exhibition, Yvette Molina: A Promise to the Leaves, has decorated the State Farm Mezzanine Gallery with color, textiles, and interactive sculptures that visitors could sit on and touch, immersing visitors in a carefully curated world, celebrating the circle of life and humanity’s relationship with nature. Students walked from the Thomas Amphitheater to the Tang wearing bright colored capes and bejeweled crowns, marking the close of Molina’s installation.

Many students and faculty alike gathered at Friday’s Arts Quad Party.

The Tang is currently hosting a number of new exhibitions. See It Now comes from the collection of Ann and Mel Schaffer. The exhibition features an eclectic yet thoughtful mix of sculptures, paintings, and other mixed-media pieces. The unique blend of aesthetics evokes the creative spirit of Skidmore itself – bold, whimsical, and wildly expressive. In the atrium, visitors can expect to see Building Blocks, a collection of sketches, photographs, and plans detailing the Tang’s creation, with some material sourced from the late Antoine Predock himself. The Tang’s Winter Gallery is currently home to Up to Us: Black Dimensions in Art, 1975–Tomorrow, a curated selection of artifacts from Black Dimensions in Art Inc., an organization based in the Capital region dedicated to celebrating Black artists and their work. Upstairs, the Tang’s Hyde Cabinet features a portrait from the photographer Jess Dugan’s portfolio To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. Past the Hyde Cabinet, in the Malloy Wing, All These Growing Things serves as a meditation on culture, history, and heritage, featuring a diverse array of masks, tapestries, and paintings evocative of the past.

Musicians performing at the annual Arts Quad party.

Tom Yoshikami, the Tang’s Assistant Director for Engagement, said, “We’re so excited to celebrate twenty-five years of having served as the heart and soul of this campus, and look forward to celebrating the next twenty-five.”