Luce Foundation Center

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Open daily, 11:30 a.m.–7 p.m.

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

Plan your visit

Renwick Gallery Stairwwell

Renwick Gallery

Open daily, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

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.

Plan your visit

How Do I Research My Art?

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.

Event Venues and Space Rental

Museum Store Online

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

A black case that is open to reveal smaller compartments and utensils mounted in the lid. Boxes wrapped in brown paper are stacked on the side.

Contemporary Craft in Focus: The Weight of Deferred Gratification

Metalsmith David Harper Clemons creates art that gives new meanings to everyday objects

Director’s Circle

A national membership group of museum friends who share a love of American art and craft and our commitment to celebrating the extraordinary creativity of our nation’s artists.

A membership group for young professionals who are interested in immersing themselves in the American art experience.

Popular Devotion

Media - 2021.18.2 - SAAM-2021.18.2_1 - 142996

Copied M. J. Tyson, Popular Devotion, 2019, devotional medals, sterling silver, pewter, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Kenneth R. Trapp Acquisition Fund, 2021.18.2

Artwork Details

Title: Popular Devotion
Artist: M. J. Tyson
Date: 2019
Location: Renwick Gallery
/
2nd Floor
/
Room 203
Dimensions: overall: 19 ¹⁄₈ × 10 ¹⁄₂ × ¹⁄₂ in. (48.6 × 26.7 × 1.3 cm)
Credit Line: Museum purchase through the Kenneth R. Trapp Acquisition Fund
Mediums: pewter
silver
Mediums Description: devotional medals, sterling silver, pewter
Keywords: Religion
Dress — accessory — jewelry
Object Number: 2021.18.2
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2021.18.2

Artwork Description

“We pin so much to our precious possessions. We use them to extend our lives, to carry our stories into the future and our histories out from the past. Our possessions will outlive us, but they will not live forever.” —M. J. Tyson

This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, 2022