SAAM Stories

avi wisnia
05/17/2011
Laurel Fehrenbach, public programs assistant here at American Art, spoke with Avi Wisnia of the Avi Wisnia Quartet about their upcoming performance at Take 5! on Thursday, May 19, from 5 to 8 p.m.
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
Media - 1983.95.189 - SAAM-1983.95.189_1 - 53654
American Art collaborated with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) to research the materials and techniques of American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) in preparation for a 2012 PAFA exhibition of Tanner's works titled, Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit. American Art's paintings conservator Amber Kerr-Allison tells us about the process.
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Blog Editor
Metropolis
05/12/2011
Alli Jessing, Joint Programs Coordinator for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, spoke with Carlos Garza and Rich O'Meara of Silent Orchestra about their upcoming cineconcert. On May 14, 2011, the duo will premiere a new score that they have composed for the classic 1927 German expressionist film Metropolis. The cineconcert begins at 3 p.m. in the museums' McEvoy Auditorium. The program is free, but tickets are required. Tickets will be available in the G Street lobby thirty minutes prior to the performance.
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Helen Zell
In the more than sixty years since first collecting dolls and Katy Keene comics (complete with cut-out costumes!) as a child, Helen Zell, smitten with what she called "the collection gene gone wild," hasn't stopped. In more recent years, the Chicago born-and-based Zell and her husband Sam have amassed an important collection of twentieth century artwork as well as early ethnographic pieces.
The Art of Video Games
05/05/2011
Today is a very exciting day! Earlier this year, American Art invited the public to help select the video games that will be included in its upcoming exhibition The Art of Video Games. Voting took place between February 14 and April 17, 2011, and we received more than 3.7 million votes from 119,000 people in 175 countries.
Georgina
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05/03/2011
Alexis Rockman's monumental painting, Manifest Destiny, has just been approved for acquisition. The painting is made up of four contiguous panels that extend twenty-four feet in length, and depicts the Brooklyn waterfront several hundred years in the future.
Handi-Hour Logo
04/26/2011
Katie Crooks plans public programs at American Art’s Renwick Gallery. This month Katie has gotten extra crafty to present Handi-hour, a craft-themed happy hour that will feature craft works on view, craft beer tastings, craft activities, and live music. We sat down with Katie to discuss Handi-hour and her process for planning the event, which is scheduled for April 28 from 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Mandy
Media - 1969.47.61 - SAAM-1969.47.61_2 - 90585
04/22/2011
This is the eighth in a series of personal observations about how people experience and explore museums. Take a look at Howard's other blog posts on the subject.
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04/20/2011
This is the first of four blog posts that takes a closer look at one object by each of the artists in the exhibition History in the Making: Renwick Craft Invitational 2011 now on display at the Renwick Gallery until July 31.
Brad Linde
04/14/2011
Laurel Fehrenbach, public programs assistant here at American Art, spoke with Brad Linde of the Brad Linde Ensemble about their upcoming performance at Take 5! The group will be performing a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald on Saturday, April 16, from 3 to 5 p.m. as part of Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM).
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
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04/12/2011
Claire Walker, Samuel H. Kress Fellow in Paintings Conservation at American Art's Lunder Conservation Center, tells us how conservators clean paintings.
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Pitfall
04/08/2011
Have you voted for which games you think should be included in The Art of Video Games exhibition?
Georgina
Renwick Invitational
04/07/2011
The Renwick Craft Invitational began eleven years ago, making the 2011 event, number five. If an exhibition can have a theme song, this year's Invitational, History in the Making would be, "Everything Old is New Again."
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Mary Tait, who leads the Draw & Discover workshops Tuesdays in the Luce Foundation Center interviewed one of the program's veteran participants, Barbara Wright, about her experience with the workshop over the years.
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Chris Melissinos
Chris Melissinos is the curator for the 2012 exhibition The Art of Video Games at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Georgina Goodlander, project manager for the exhibition and interpretive programs manager for the museum’s Luce Foundation Center, asked him where the concept for the exhibition began and what surprised him about the public voting, currently underway.
Georgina
Arrival of an Artwork
When you view an art exhibition, you're seeing the result of a process that is months, sometimes years, in the making. Artists and curators converse; curators visualize and organize the show; and finally each work is placed in a gallery.
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
Media - 1976.121 - SAAM-1976.121_2 - 123041
03/22/2011
George Ault didn't very much like the world-at-large, so he left New York City in 1937, and moved about 100 miles north to the village of Woodstock, New York with Louise Jonas, whom he would marry four years later.
Closed Forms by Toshiko Takaezu
03/18/2011
Pioneering ceramic artist, Toshiko Takaezu, passed away last week in her native Hawaii at the age of 88, following a six-decade career in clay.
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor