In-Person Film Screening and Conversation: This World is Not My Own
Smithsonian American Art Museum 750 9th St. N.W., Washington, DC, United StatesJoin filmmakers Ruchi Mital and Petter Ringbom with executive producer Marquise Stillwell for a screening of their biographical film about the artist Nellie Mae Rowe. Exploring the world created by Rowe, including intricate sets that recreate Rowe’s “Playhouse”, Mital and Ringbom bring her unique vision to life on film. Narrated by Emmy-award winner, Uzo Aduba, […]
In-Person Charles C. Eldredge Prize Lecture
Smithsonian American Art Museum 750 9th St. N.W., Washington, DC, United StatesJoin art historian Vivien Green Fryd for the Eldredge Prize lecture, “The Art of the Un-Speakable and the ‘Me Too’ Movement.” Fryd is a professor emerita in the history of art and architecture department at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of “Art and Empire: The Politics of Ethnicity in the United States Capitol, 1815–1865”, […]
In-Person and Virtual Crafting a Better Future: The Renwick 50th Anniversary Symposium
Smithsonian American Art Museum 750 9th St. N.W., Washington, DC, United StatesThe exhibition This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World showcases the dynamic landscape of American craft today. This symposium, organized in conjunction with the exhibition, highlights the role that artists play in our world to spark essential conversations, stories of resilience, and methods of activism—showing us a more relational and empathetic world. Led by SAAM […]
Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures in American Art: Julia Bryan-Wilson: Embellished Legacies
Smithsonian American Art Museum 750 9th St. N.W., Washington, DC, United StatesScholar Julia Bryan-Wilson considers how women of color artists like Pacita Abad and Rosie Lee Tompkins have used embellishment as a strategy to blur the lines between function and decor. Her talk examines how these artists' practice of intricately adorning domestic objects can expand our understanding of women's work. Bryan-Wilson's 2017 book Fray: Art and […]
We Are Made of Stories: Selfhood and Experience in Art: The Margaret Z. Robson Symposium Series
Smithsonian American Art Museum 750 9th St. N.W., Washington, DC, United StatesThis half-day symposium addresses recent scholarship centering on the critical role of content and culture in the field of self-taught American art. Artists Joseph Yoakum, Henry Darger, Nellie Mae Rowe, Sam Doyle, Judith Scott, and Dan Miller are highlighted for their creative abilities while challenging the notions of invisibility and historical hierarchies. Co-moderated by SAAM curator Leslie Umberger and Tom di Maria, director emeritus of […]