SAAM Staff

American Art's exhibition Ralph Fasanella: Lest We Forget will open at the American Folk Art Museum in his home city of New York on September 2, 2014, celebrating both the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth as well as the soul of Labor Day as an American holiday of commemoration and honor. Folk and self-taught art curator, Leslie Umberger, writes about the artist and his connection to the ideas intrinsic to Labor Day.

This Saturday, August 23rd, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., the Luce Foundation Center's Design Series will host a talk by Tanis Gray, local knitwear designer and publisher of numerous knitting books. Public programs coordinator, Katie Crooks, had a chance to talk with Tanis about her work.

American Art curatorial assistant, Nina Williams writes about the use of plastics in Pop Art printmaking. Our exhibition Pop Art Prints is on display until August 31, 2014.

On August 16th at 2 p.m., the Smithsonian American Art Museum's and National Portrait Gallery's next Cine-Concert series features Andrew Greene, Director of the Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra, performing his original score for the Buster Keaton classic College (1927, 66 minutes).

The dog days of summer and the beach beckons but can't get out of town? Well, American Art can help with that.

This July, American Art held its first Instagram Challenge through a partnership with Restless Collective (RC), a New York-based multimedia collective specializing in travel and adventure storytelling. For 30 days in July, we invited everyone to explore and interact with alfresco art anywhere: discovering it locally or traveling on summer vacation.

On July 16th, the American Art Museum welcomes writer and director Michael Maglaras, who will introduce his documentary, The Great Confusion: The 1913 Armory Show.

American Art's curator of folk and self-taught art, Leslie Umberger, talks about the museum's recent acquisition of a major painting by Purvis Young, The Struggle. The artwork can be seen in the museum's east wing gallery on the third floor.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July! And in today’s technological age it has become almost traditional on social media to post holiday specific imagery in celebration of special days. Here at American Art we definitely have no shortage of American imagery that reflects our experiences as a people. Many of the incredible works in the collection are imbued with a sense of American pride and celebrate the American spirit. How can we possibly pick just one to share?

This weekend the Smithsonian American Art Museum will screen two documentary films that focus on artists whose work is featured in the exhibit Modern American Realism: The Sarah Roby Foundation Collection: Jack Levine: Feast of Pure Reason, and Paul Cadmus: Enfant Terrible at 80. The director of these films, David Sutherland, will be in attendance at the screening to introduce both films and lead a Q & A with the audience. These screenings will be on Saturday, June 28th. Jack Levine starts at 2 p.m. followed by a 30-minute intermission; Paul Cadmus begins at 4 p.m. Check out museum’s calendar for more information. Programs Coordinator Alli Jessing had a few advance questions for the filmmaker.

American Art's conservation department makes sure our collection is always in great condition, inside our galleries and outside with a several sculptures that are on our museum grounds. Last week, it was Roy Lichtenstein's Modern Head that got the royal treatment.

Katie Crooks, public program coordinator at American Art and the woman behind Handi-Hour, discusses the genesis for the DIY projects at our next Handi-Hour on Wednesday, June 11.

It's Throwback Thursday! And we at Eye Level have decided it's a great opportunity to bring back some of our interesting posts from the past. American Art has been publishing our blog since September 2005 (that's an eternity in Internet years) and some of our posts are as current now as the day we first posted them. First up: Howard's January 2008 post on capturing the moment, both the art and your visit. This post is part of a series of personal observations Howard has made about how people experience and explore museums.

American Art's sculpture curator, Karen Lemmey, talks about the museum's recent acquisition by Donald Judd.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery are excited to welcome acclaimed pianist Andrew E. Simpson to the museums this Sunday to premiere his original score for the 1925 version of Ben Hur, a film that nearly disappeared from history. Dr. Simpson has performed at the museums before, wowing audiences with his original compositions for Wings (1927) and The Wind (1928). Ben Hur with Andrew E. Simpson will screen Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 1 p.m., McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level. Free tickets in the G street Lobby at 12:30 p.m. Limit 2 tickets per person. In anticipation of the program, Programs Coordinator Alli Jessing chatted with Dr. Simpson about the film, his music and "lost cinema."

The American Art Museum is celebrating Ella Fitzgerald's birthday, April 25, with a special tribute concert in the museum's Kogod Courtyard. Laurel Fehrenbach, public programs coordinator, spoke with Fran Morris Rosman, the executive director of The Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation in Los Angeles about the upcoming event and Ella Fitzgerald's legacy.

Melanie Pyle and Joel Lemp are horticulturists with Smithsonian Gardens, and they lead tours through the garden growing in American Art's Kogod Courtyard. The natural beauty of the plants complements the art in our museum so well. This spring they will lead tours through the courtyard on Thursday, April 24 at 10:30 a.m. and Thursday, May 22 at 2:30 p.m.. Katie Crooks, public program coordinator, spoke with Pyle and Lemp about the gardening at the Smithsonian.

Last week American Art's exhibition Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art opened at The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University in Miami, the first stop on a multi-city journey across the country.

Pop Art Prints has just opened in American Art's graphic arts galleries. The installation showcases thirty-seven works from the museum's extensive holdings of works on paper from the 1960s and 1970s. The featured prints are bold, bright, and filled with references to popular culture. Four lively prints by James Rosenquist are showcased in the installation.

Leigh Pilzer is one of the best and busiest saxophonists in the DC area. She will be part of the Washington Women in Jazz Festival Quintet performing on the Take 5! stage this Thursday, March 20th from 5-8 p.m. in the Kogod Courtyard. This month's concert celebrates Women's History Month with a tribute to Melba Liston.