SAAM Stories

Gilchi Sase's tools
05/20/2010
Wes Yamaka recently wrote a comment about his father-in-law on our The Art of Gaman exhibition comment page. We'd like to post it on Eye Level as a testament to the personal stories that have been passed down from internees in the camps.
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
Back of Tanner
The Smithsonian American Art Museum has the largest collection of works by African American Henry O. Tanner in the United States. Several paintings are in the Lunder Conservation Center undergoing technical analysis in preparation for the 2012 exhibition Henry O. Tanner: An International Retrospective at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Georgina
Leyendecker
This year's Collectors' Roundtable Series concluded the other evening with a spirited presentation by Richard Kelly, who showed us the ins and outs (as well as the oohs and ahhhs) of building a collection of illustrations.
Gamen Vest
05/07/2010
Our closer look at the exhibition, The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese Internment Camps, 1942-1946, continues with The Vest with a Thousand Knots.
Media - 1988.74.5 - SAAM-1988.74.5_1 - 10621
05/03/2010
This Howard Finster painting was the most talked about artwork at American Art's recent Slow Art event.
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
Fred Astaire in "Puttin’ on the Ritz
"That is not me," Jules Feiffer said, referring to the Bob Landry black-and-white photograph of an elegantly dressed Fred Astaire performing "Puttin' on the Ritz" from the 1946 movie Blue Skies. Feiffer spoke recently on Landry's photograph in the museum's McEvoy auditorium as part of the American Pictures lecture series, which pairs works of art with leading figures of contemporary American culture.
Christo - Maysles
Filmmakers Albert Maysles and his brother, David (who died in 1987), are recognized as masters of "direct cinema," the American cousin of French "cinéma vérité." They first met Christo and Jeanne-Claude in the early 1960s and filmed many of their works over the decades, including two that will be screened at American Art's McEvoy Auditorium on April 29, at 6:30 pm: Valley Curtain (1973) and Christo in Paris (1986).
The Participatory Museum by Nina Simon
Nina Simon is well known to museum folks as the author of the blog Museum 2.0. She consults with museums around the world to design exhibitions, programs, and online experiences that engage visitors as co-creators and community members, not just consumers.
Georgina
Media - RF.3.164 - SAAM-RF.3.164_1 - 71461
04/19/2010
On April 20, in the Luce Foundation Center's weekly Draw & Discover sketching workshop, we will look at preparatory drawings, models, and photographs in the exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence, which opened recently at the American Art Museum.
Georgina
Media - 1999.89.5 - SAAM-1999.89.5_2 - 119390
In the second of three Collectors' Roundtable lectures this spring, Elmerina and Dr. Paul Parkman and John T. Kotelly led a spirited conversation on collecting contemporary craft. All three share a passion for studio arts and related stories of how they began collecting, what they've acquired since, and how once the collecting bug strikes, your life may never be the same.
Media - 1995.58 - SAAM-1995.58_1 - 12635
04/15/2010
Six months ago American Art, along with twelve other museums around the world, invited people to spend an afternoon taking a long look at art as part of Slow Art day. It was the antithesis of the fast-paced social networking world personified by Twitter and Facebook.
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
Sandy Asirvatham
04/12/2010
Laurel Fehrenbach, public programs assistant here at American Art, manages the free Take 5! jazz concerts, which take place in the Kogod Courtyard every third Thursday from 5–8 p.m. She talked with Sandy Asirvatham, who will be performing vocals and keyboard with Frank Russo (drums), Max Murray (bass) and Jeff Antoniuk (sax) at Take 5! The program, A Tribute to the Tax Man with Sandy Asirvatham, will take place on tax day, Thursday, April 15, in the museum’s Kogod Courtyard from 5–8 p.m.
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
Media - 1970.11 - SAAM-1970.11_3 - 63386
04/06/2010
This post is part of an ongoing series on Eye Level: The Best of Ask Joan of Art. Begun in 1993, Ask Joan of Art is the longest-running arts-based electronic reference service in the country. Question: Can you tell me more about Eleanor Roosevelt's connection to Augustus Saint-Gaudens's Adams Memorial?
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
Media - 2000.35.2A-B - SAAM-2000.35.2A_1 - 68205
04/01/2010
With the opening of the much-anticipated exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence, Eye Level had a chance to speak with Christo about the making of the original outdoor installation, Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, 1972-76.
Christo speaking with museum staff
03/30/2010
Running Fence, the monumental temporary artwork by Christo and Jeanne-Claude existed for only two weeks in September of 1976. It was made of 240,000 square yards of heavy woven white nylon fabric, 90 miles of steel cable, 2,050 steel poles, 350,000 hooks, and 13,000 earth anchors. In 2008 American Art acquired the definitive record of this artwork and our exhibition, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence opens this Friday.
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
Media - 1967.59.318R-V - SAAM-1967.59.318R_1 - 60152
03/26/2010
American Art holds an important collection of works by William H. Johnson. To learn more about this celebrated artist, explore A Journey Through Art with William H. Johnson.
Media - 1979.98.11 - SAAM-1979.98.11_1 - 5519
This year's Collectors Roundtable series was formed in part by feedback the museum received from the previous one. People wanted more Collecting 101 presentations, so this year's program was shaped with the budding collector in mind. Plus, this year the three lectures are also free, so that leaves more money to put aside for your art collection. Perhaps you'd like to start with a print?
Gaming Conference
03/18/2010
Last week I joined guest curator Chris Melissinos at this year's Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco to present "A Day at the Museum: How the Smithsonian is Embracing Games."
Georgina