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Yes We Can [Edit Wikipedia]!
Join SAAM for a very special Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon on Saturday, March 25, 2017.
Eye Level
Eye Level is the blog of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery. Publishing behind-the-scenes museum stories since 2005.
Luce Unplugged: Five Questions (+2) with The Galaxy Electric
On March 9 from 5:30-7 p.m, The Galaxy Electric, a psychedelic pop band filled with bossa nova and tribal rhythms, will play at the Luce Foundation Center's Luce Unplugged. In partnership with D.C. Music Download, this free, monthly concert series features the best of D.C.'s local music scene.
A Healing Machine for the Elementary School Classroom
If you have visited SAAM's folk and self-taught art galleries since they re-opened in October, you probably encountered Emery Blagdon's wondrous Healing Machine, an installation of individual paintings and found-material sculptures suspended from the ceiling. While many museum visitors are moved by The Healing Machine, Blagdon's work found a new life this winter in an elementary school about two miles from the SAAM.
Can You Name #5WomenArtists?
It all began with a challenge, exactly one year ago. The National Museum of Women in the Arts posed a question and the goal was simple: get people talking about women artists.
Submit Your Game to the 2017 SAAM Arcade!
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is inviting independent video game developers to show their work at the museum's annual SAAM Arcade this August 5-6, 2017.
Luce Unplugged: Five Questions with Brushes
For our February Luce Unplugged show, we teamed up with D.C. Music Download to welcome brushes, a rock 'n' roll band from the District, to the Luce Foundation Center.
Luce Artist Talk: Five Questions (+2) with Sparkplug Collective
Each month, the Luce Foundation Center partners with neighboring Flashpoint Gallery to bring local artists to speak about their artwork and how it relates to SAAM's collection. This Sunday, we welcome Sparkplug Collective, eight local artists from the D.C. Arts Center, to discuss how collaboration and continued education help local artists thrive.
Missed Connections for Valentine's Day
At SAAM, we're always connecting people with our artworks. On Valentine's Day, we thought we'd explore one of the more interesting sections of many print and online publications these days: the often poetic, always interesting urban haiku of missed connections. Please check out our Instagram feed for more artful missed connections.
An Evening with Lonnie Holley
Our Luce Unplugged series has been pairing art and music together since 2010. Typically highlighting the work of local musicians, we're excited to present a special pop-up performance with visiting artist Lonnie Holley at the Luce Foundation Center on Friday, February 10, from 5:30-7 p.m. Join us for an art talk and music concert!
Harlem Heroes and Black History Month
The cultural efflorescence that was the Harlem Renaissance is captured in a series of portraits currently on view in the exhibition Harlem Heroes: Photographs by Carl Van Vechten.
Celebrating the Year of the Rooster at SAAM
This year, SAAM was delighted to host our annual celebration of the Chinese New Year on the first day of the year, Saturday, January 28. So many friends and families (all 7,000 of you!) turned out to enjoy the activities and performances in the Kogod Courtyard.
Let's Begin Black History Month with Edmonia Lewis' Google Doodle
To celebrate Black History Month, SAAM has just launched an online exhibition of Edmonia Lewis' sculpture on Google Arts & Culture. And to promote the exhibition, Google has made Lewis and her sculpture, The Death of Cleopatra, its Google Doodle for today!
Luce Unplugged Community Showcase: Five Questions + One with Feedel Band
On January 27, Feedel Band and Insect Factory will perform at our Winter Luce Unplugged Community Showcase in the Luce Foundation Center.
Stephanie Stebich Appointed New SAAM Director
Stephanie Stebich, executive director of the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Wash., since 2005, has been named The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, effective April 3.
Seeing Things (17): Art and Healing
This is the seventeenth in a series of personal observations about how people experience and explore museums. Take a look at Howard's other blog posts about seeing things in a museum.
Abraham Thomas: New Curator-in-Charge at SAAM's Renwick Gallery
Abraham Thomas recently joined the museum's staff as The Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator-in-Charge at the Renwick Gallery. Thomas writes about the intersection of American craft, the Renwick, and his interests.
Folk and Self-Taught Art, Now in the Luce Center
SAAM's open storage Luce Foundation Center is by no means a static place. With a calendar full of public programs and one of the most Instagrammable spaces in the city (we may be biased), you can see how the space is constantly changing in our folk and self-taught art cases.
Gene Davis: The Cool Guy of Hot Beat
ene Davis, a journalist before he was a painter, knew the power of words. He spoke his wise and sometimes ornery mind, aware of the momentary impact and the eventual documentation of his life and career. This explains why his own bon mots (not the curators') flank most of the 15 paintings—all permutations of the stripe—in Gene Davis: Hot Beat, on view through April 2.