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The nation’s first collection of American art, an unparalleled record of the American experience.

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Located just feet from the White House, a branch of the museum that is home the nation's collection of contemporary craft and decorative art.

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Want to learn more about the painting you found while clearing out the attic? For answers, be prepared for a little detective work.

How to Care for Your Collections

Regardless of the monetary value of your artwork, if it is personally meaningful, you should consider having the object conserved.

Recording a Changing Nation

This resource uses images from photographic surveys in 55 communities in 30 states across the United States as source documents to spark sustained inquiry.

Critical Thinking in Action

These 60-to-95-minute units pair thinking patterns with works of art to instill a thinking disposition transferable across classroom curriculum and into the wider world.

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Detail of brown ceramic jar with writing and the signature "Dave" inscribed around the top.

David “Dave” Drake: Potter and Poet

Craftsman David “Dave” Drake, enslaved for most of his life, produced uncommonly large ceramic jars in 19th-century South Carolina adorned by his poetic verses

Artist Tanya Aguiñiga wearing a suit made of glass elements while standing next to the U.S./Mexico border wall

Exploring Border Stories with Artist Tanya Aguiñiga

Curator Mary Savig details an artist’s journey to create the powerful performance work Metabolizing the Border that explores the physical and psychological experiences migrants face while crossing the borderlands.

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Grassy Melodic Chant

Media - 1980.36.5 - SAAM-1980.36.5_2 - 136237

Copied Alma Thomas, Grassy Melodic Chant, 1976, acrylic on canvas, 46 x 36 in. (116.8 x 91.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 1980.36.5

Artwork Details

Title: Grassy Melodic Chant
Artist: Alma Thomas
Date: 1976
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 46 x 36 in. (116.8 x 91.5 cm)
Credit Line: Bequest of the artist
Mediums: acrylic
Mediums Description: acrylic on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Keywords: Abstract
Object Number: 1980.36.5
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1980.36.5

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Grassy Melodic Chant

Artwork Details