SAAM Staff

Katie Crooks coordinates the quarterly craft program Handi-hour at the American Art Museum. Coming up: our next Handi-hour on March 6 will be a nostalgic look back at crafts from our youth. Katie demonstrates what's in store.

Programs Coordinator Alli Jessing spoke with the filmmakers of the upcoming documentary film Rubén Salazar: Man in the Middle, which tells the story of the life and death of prominent Civil Rights-era journalist Rubén Salazar, who was killed by an L.A. County sheriff's deputy in 1970.

On February 19, American Art will host a special screening of the acclaimed documentary short film Inocente. This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, which is on view through March 2, 2014.

Happy Valentine's Day! And to celebrate we've set up a special photobooth in our Kogod Courtyard for that perfect Valentine's Day selfie. Get out of the cold and come on down.

Christopher Kendall, artistic director of the contemporary music ensemble in residence at American Art, the 21st Century Consort, talked with Jo Ann Gillula about the upcoming concert, Tango Amor, Saturday February 15, 2014 at 5 p.m. in American Art's McEvoy Auditorium.

The civil rights era is resonant in many works featured in Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, which remains on view until March 2, 2014. Several artists in the exhibition came of age during the 1960s and 1970s when the movement thrived and had ripple effects in communities across the United States. Not only did activists and organizers like César Chávez, Dolores Huerta, and Antonia Pantoja build on Dr. King's legacy and demand Latino equal rights in the arenas of labor and education, some Latino artists created works and organizations that challenged traditional racial hierarchies that undergirded American society.

Curatorial assistant Florencia Bazzano-Nelson recaps Latino Art Now! Nuestra América: Expanding Perspectives in American Art, a conference held on November 7-9, 2013 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, on view at American Art until March 2, 2014, the program fostered dynamic exchanges along multiple axes of inquiry.

Eye Level, with the help of former intern Becky Harlan, had a chance to speak with photographer Muriel Hasbun about her artistic roots and her current process. Her work appears in the current exhibition, A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum as well as Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art.

Debrah Dunner, curatorial assistant at our Renwick Gallery, interviewed basket collectors Martha Ware and Steve Cole about A Measure of the Earth: The Cole-Ware Collection of American Baskets at the Renwick Gallery. The show is up for six more days, through December 8, 2013.

Kathleen Joyce, intern in American Art's Research and Scholars Center, recaps our symposium American Art in Dialogue with Africa and its Diaspora made possible by the Terra Foundation for American Art. The symposium took place on October 4-5, 2013. If you missed it, view the webcast of the entire event.

Debrah Dunner, curatorial assistant at our Renwick Gallery, interviewed Nicholas Bell, The Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator of American Craft and Decorative Art, about A Measure of the Earth: The Cole-Ware Collection of American Baskets at the Renwick Gallery through December 8, 2013.

Drummer and Composer Nasar Abadey is the founder, leader and driving force of SUPERNOVA®. He will be performing "Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement" at the next Take 5! on Thursday, September 19th from 5-7 p.m. Public Programs Coordinator, Laurel Fehrenbach, interviewed Abadey to find out more about the theme of the concert and just how music impacted an important moment in history.

Morgan Nau, Conservation Kress Fellow, recently treated Emanuel Martinez's Farm Workers' Altar. The sculpture will be featured in the exhibition Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, which opens on October 25. Martinez created the altar in support of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. This work, like others the exhibition, shows how Latino artists were deeply woven into the civil rights movement. Nau gives us some insight into how she prepared the altar for the show.

Amelia Goerlitz, fellowship and academic Program coordinator for American Art, talks about our upcoming symposium "American Art in Dialogue with Africa and its Diaspora" taking place on October 4-5, 2013.

On August 31st, acclaimed composer and pianist Andrew E. Simpson will perform the world premiere of his original score for William Wellman's riveting story of love and tragedy, Wings (144 minutes, silent; 1927).

Emilie Reed was an intern in the Media and Technology Office this summer. Here, she discusses some of her favorite works by female artists that are currently on view in the Luce Foundation Center.

Jazz musician (and DC native) Andrea Wood will present the music of Washington’s legendary Shirley Horn at Take 5! on Thursday, August 15th from 5-8 p.m. Laurel Fehrenbach, public programs coordinator, interviewed her about the upcoming concert.

Nam June Paik: Global Visionary closes this Sunday. The exhibition has been on view for a little over eight months, a long time for both the museum and the artworks. I will be sad to see it go. I'll sincerely miss having this work on view, and it is nice to see the artist himself as I pass through the gallery every day. But mostly, I’m excited. While this installation is indeed closing, Nam June Paik has really set the stage for the museum's Film and Media Art Initiative, in more ways than one.

On May 19th, composer and pianist Andrew E. Simpson will perform his original score for the 1928 silent film The Wind at a special afternoon screening at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. Lillian Gish, the "First Lady of American Cinema", plays an innocent girl who moves from her Virginia home to the western prairies and is haunted by the ever-present wind.

As an intern at the American Art Museum's Luce Foundation Center, one of my first assignments was to write an object label for Edward Kemeys' bronze sculpture, Prairie Chicken. The Kemeys biography at my disposal mentioned he was the first American to make a career out of animal sculpture, but there was no specific information on this particular sculpture. Now Prairie Chicken and I were deep in uncharted territory. Who was going to tell me about this sculpture's creation? How was I going to determine its historical and artistic significance? And were those really a pair of tiny wings sticking out of its neck?