Sold Out: Handi-hour
One-Time Events
This program is sold out. Please join the waitlist via the ticketing link.
Enjoy a night of DIY crafting, drinks, and fun at DC’s original craft happy hour. Learn how to make felt and yarn pom poms to fashion your own strand of garland. Enjoy light food, and beverages provided by ANXO cider. Light snacks, crafting materials, two drinks, and after-hours access to the Renwick Gallery are included in the ticket. Attendees must be 21+ to attend and show a valid ID at the door. Tickets are $25 and will be available beginning April 11.
Image Credit: Norwood Photography .
Venue: Renwick Gallery. Event Location: Rubenstein Grand Salon. Cost: $25 | Registration required
Must be 21 or older and show valid ID at the door. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRDrL3. Categories: After Five. Workshops.
Thursday, April 25, 2024, 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM.
Art Bites Gallery Talk
One-Time Events
Join SAAM’s research fellows for this lunchtime series of gallery talks as they share new discoveries about artworks on view. Learn the stories behind these objects and how each one tells us about an ever-changing culture in the United States. Elizabeth Fair, Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellow, discusses Kay Sekimachi and Bob Stocksdale’s Marriage in Form.
Image credit: Lucia Martino
Credit: Kay Sekimachi, Bob Stocksdale, Marriage in Form, 1996, hornet's nest paper and Pacific yew, A (wooden bowl): 4 × 4 1/2 × 4 3/8 in. (10.2 × 11.4 × 11.1 cm)
B (paper bowl): 4 1/8 × 4 3/4 × 4 5/8 in. (10.5 × 12.1 × 11.7 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Jane and Arthur Mason, 2022.43.1A-B.
Venue: Renwick Gallery. Event Location: In-person | Renwick Gallery. Cost: Free | Meet in Renwick Gallery Lobby. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Friday, April 26, 2024, 12:15 PM – 1:00 PM.
Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice Gallery Talk
One-Time Events
SOLD OUT
Join senior curator Virginia Mecklenburg for a highlights tour of SAAM's exhibition Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice. Painted in the mid-1940s, these images honor the stories of African American historical figures who worked to bring peace to the world while facing the realities of racism, oppression, and violence. Learn more about the backgrounds of “Fighters” such as Marian Anderson, Frederick Douglass, and Paul Robeson.
Image Credit: William H. Johnson, Harriet Tubman, ca. 1945, oil on paperboard, 28 7⁄8 x 23 3⁄8 in. (73.5 x 59.3 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.1146 .
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: Meet in G Street Lobby. Cost: SOLD OUT
Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRDVcI. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. After Five. Related Exhibition: Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice.
Wednesday, May 1, 2024, 5:30 PM.
SAAM Fellows Lectures
One-Time Events
Join the 2023–2024 SAAM Fellows as they present new scholarship on a range of topics and time periods, media and messages. This multi-afternoon program will highlight a new generation of scholars who are engaging the Smithsonian’s collections and archives in order to tell new stories about American art. The lectures will be held in person and online; registration is required. View the full schedule of topics and presenters.
Image/Credit: SAAM 2023–2024 Fellows, courtesy of subjects.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: McEvoy Auditorium and YouTube. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/en/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRKt0L. Categories: Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 8, 2024, 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
SAAM Fellows Lectures
One-Time Events
Join the 2023–2024 SAAM Fellows as they present new scholarship on a range of topics and time periods, media and messages. This multi-afternoon program will highlight a new generation of scholars who are engaging the Smithsonian’s collections and archives in order to tell new stories about American art. The lectures will be held in person and online; registration is required. View the full schedule of topics and presenters.
Image/Credit: SAAM 2023–2024 Fellows, courtesy of subjects.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: McEvoy Auditorium and YouTube. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/en/5f4ZMUx7/saam-fellows-lectures-day-2-4a2bVRKvGf/overview. Categories: Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 9, 2024, 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
Eye-Popping Art: Tours for People with Colorblindness
One-Time Events
Join the Smithsonian American Art Museum for a docent-led tour of highlights from the museum’s collection using museum-provided, colorblind correcting glasses that bring the vibrancy of these works to life.
Image credit: Alma Thomas, The Eclipse, 1970, acrylic on canvas, 62 in. × 49 3/4 in. (157.5 × 126.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1978.40.3.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: Meet in the G Street Lobby. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRGAwH. Categories: After Five. Gallery Talks & Tours.
Thursday, May 9, 2024, 5:30 PM.
SAAM Fellows Lectures
One-Time Events
Join the 2023–2024 SAAM Fellows as they present new scholarship on a range of topics and time periods, media and messages. This multi-afternoon program will highlight a new generation of scholars who are engaging the Smithsonian’s collections and archives in order to tell new stories about American art. The lectures will be held in person and online; registration is required. View the full schedule of topics and presenters.
Image/Credit: SAAM 2023–2024 Fellows, courtesy of subjects.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: McEvoy Auditorium and YouTube. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/en/5f4ZMUx7/saam-fellows-lectures-day-3-4a2bVRKver/overview. Categories: Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 10, 2024, 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
Take 5: Jazz at SAAM with Ally Hany Albrecht
One-Time Events
Celebrate a uniquely American art form with Take 5: Jazz at SAAM, a series of free, live performances in the Kogod Courtyard, with Washington DC-based trumpet player, arranger, composer and educator Ally Hany Albrecht. She is a member of the United States Navy Band, where she plays jazz trumpet with the Commodores jazz ensemble. Albrecht has also played jazz trumpet in the Grammy-nominated One O’Clock Land Band at the University of North Texas, and performed with the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the Jim Widner Big Band, Maria Schneider and Wycliff Gordon. She also plays with her own quintet, which released their first album, Journeys Ahead, in 2016. Attendees can also enjoy playing board games, and refreshments are available for purchase from the Courtyard Café.
Image Credit: Alyssa Hedenstrom.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: Kogod Courtyard. Cost: Free | Registration Encouraged. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRDqGv. Categories: After Five. Performances.
Thursday, May 16, 2024, 5:00 PM.
Virtual Beyond the Studio Workshop: Paper Flower Making with Emily Paluska
One-Time Events
SOLD OUT
Emily Paluska of Revery Paper Flora returns for her popular paper flower making workshop with the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Join us for this engaging virtual workshop and learn the fundamentals of creating paper daisies.
Tickets are $15 and include the cost of materials needed for the activity, instructions, and postage. Materials kits will be shipped to participants in advance of the program. Please note that space is limited for this program, and registration is required. Participants must register by 7 p.m. ET on May 5.
If you live outside of the United States, please contact SAAMPrograms@si.edu before registering.
Image credit: Photo by Laura Metzler Photography. .
Event Location: Online via Zoom. Cost: $15 | Sold out. Waitlist available. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRFCbx. Categories: Workshops. Accessibility: Captioning.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
Virtual Art Signs: Artful Conversations in ASL
One-Time Events
Curious about American art? Join us for a 30-minute virtual conversation about selected works from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection. This program is presented in American Sign Language (ASL) with voice interpretation for hearing participants.
Image credit: Mary Tait, SAAM Education.
Event Location: Online. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRGD9N. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 5:30 PM – 6:00 PM.
Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women Lecture with Janneken Smucker
One-Time Events
Join Pattern and Paradox contributor and textile historian Janneken Smucker for insights into the history of Amish quilts and the works featured in SAAM’s exhibition, Pattern and Paradox, that were donated to SAAM by Faith and Stephen Brown. Smucker traces the journey of quilts from Amish homes to SAAM, revealing the ways the quilts’ limitless colors and patterns delight the eye and intrigue the mind. She also will discuss the significance behind the prolific creative time period in quilt making, from 1880 to 1950.
Leslie Umberger, curator of folk and self-taught art, will introduce Smucker, assistant professor of history at West Chester University and former SAAM fellow.
This program was generously supported by Mary Anne Goley.
Image Credit:Courtesy the speaker.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: McEvoy Auditorium and YouTube. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRDrrJ. Categories: After Five. Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. Related Exhibition: Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women. Accessibility: Captioning.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 6:30 PM.
Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women Gallery Talk
One-Time Events
SOLD OUT
Join Janneken Smucker, professor of history at West Chester University, and Leslie Umberger, curator of folk and self-taught art, for an in-depth tour of SAAM’s exhibition Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women. Learn more about the creative practice of Amish quilters in the United States between 1880 and 1950, as well as the stories of the women who created these extraordinary artworks.
Image Credit: Unidentified Maker Crazy Star; ca. 1920 Arthur, Illinois cotton and wool; 74 x 63 ½ in. (detail), Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown, Promised gift to the Smithsonian American Art Museum .
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: Meet in G Street Lobby. Cost: SOLD OUT
Free | Registration encouraged . Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRDsll. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 11:30 AM.
Art Bites Gallery Talk
One-Time Events
Join SAAM’s research fellows for this lunchtime series of gallery talks as they share new discoveries about artworks on view. Learn the stories behind these objects and how each one tells us about an ever-changing culture in the United States. Natalie E. Wright, George Gurney Predoctoral Fellow, discusses Andrew Clemens’ Untitled (The Mary Heye Bottle).
Image/credit: Andrew Clemens, Untitled (The Mary Heye Bottle), 1883, naturally colored rock sand in pharmacy bottle, 8 1/2 × 2 3/4 in. (21.6 × 7.0 cm) diam. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift from the estate of Mary Brashier, granddaughter of Mary Heye, 2021.69.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: In-person | Smithsonian American Art Museum. Cost: Free | Meet in G Street Lobby. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Friday, May 31, 2024, 12:15 PM – 12:45 PM.
Pride Family Day
One-Time Events
Celebrate Pride with your chosen family at SAAM. Start the day with a performance by DC’s Different Drummers, followed by GenOUT, the youth chorus of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC. Then move your body to the Brazilian beats of Batalá Washington. Attendees can make rainbow-themed crafts, and face painting will be available for visitors ages 12 and under. Enjoy special treats from the Courtyard Café and explore the galleries with a scavenger hunt to learn more about the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community to American art.
Image credit: Norwood Photography.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: Kogod Courtyard. Cost: Free | Registration encouraged. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRCtWz. Categories: Performances. Kids & Families.
Saturday, June 1, 2024, 11:30 AM – 3:00 PM.
Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women Open House
One-Time Events
Join curators and artists for the opening of the Renwick Gallery’s newest exhibition featuring artworks from SAAM’s collection. Grounded in the experiences and perspectives of women of diverse backgrounds, this exhibition provides an alternative, feminist history of American art. Listen to gallery talks from SAAM curator Mary Savig and curatorial assistant Laura Augustin Fox for an in-depth look into creating this exhibition, then mingle with artists like L’Merchie Frazier, Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, Lia Cook, Ed Johnetta Miller, and Susan Iverson to discuss their creative processes and featured artworks.
Image credit: Emma Amos, Winning, 1982, acrylic on linen with hand-woven fabric, 75 × 64 in. (190.5 × 162.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the Catherine Walden Myer Fund, 2019.15, © 1982, Ryan Lee Gallery, New York.
Venue: Renwick Gallery. Event Location: Renwick Gallery, First Floor. Cost: Free | Registration encouraged. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRDs0z. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women.
Friday, June 7, 2024, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM.