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

Four people sit around a table playing a game with large cards. The cards have images of artworks on them.

Museum In My Pocket: An Off-the-Wall Art Game

SAAM educators highlight the collection with a new art-based card game

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.

Sojourner

Media - 2020.54.1 - SAAM-2020.54.1_1 - 139599

Media - 2020.54.1 - SAAM-2020.54.1_2 - 139600

Media - 2020.54.1 - SAAM-2020.54.1_3 - 139601

Media - 2020.54.1 - SAAM-2020.54.1_4 - 139602

Media - 2020.54.1 - SAAM-2020.54.1_5 - 139603

Media - 2020.54.1 - SAAM-2020.54.1_6 - 139604

Copied Cauleen Smith, Sojourner, 2018, digital video, color, sound, 22:41 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the SJ Weiler Fund, 2020.54.1, © 2020, Cauleen Smith

Artwork Details

Title: Sojourner
Artist: Cauleen Smith
Date: 2018
Location: Not on view
Copyright: © 2020, Cauleen Smith
Credit Line: Museum purchase made possible by the SJ Weiler Fund
Mediums Description: digital video, color, sound, 22:41 minutes
Classifications: Media Arts
Object Number: 2020.54.1
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2020.54.1

Exhibitions

Media - 2020.54.1 - SAAM-2020.54.1_2 - 139600

Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies

June 16, 2023–January 29, 2024

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Musical Thinking explores the powerful resonances between recent video art and popular music. The exhibition focuses on video art that employs the strategies of musical creation—scores, improvisation, and interpretation—as well as its styles, structures, and lyrics to speak to personal as well as shared aspects of American life.