Museums & Galleries: Spring Arts Preview 2023

You don’t have to go down to the Tidal Basin to immerse yourself in Washingtonians’ favorite springtime obsession. You can immerse yourself in the digital sense by checking out the 6th Annual Cherry Blossom Celebration at ARTECHOUSE, for starters. If, however, your plant predilection leans less toward cherries and more toward a different Japan-originating species, the Arboretum and its upcoming Bonsai Festival is the place for you.

Sticking with a broadly Japanese theme, those who fall anywhere along the rainbowed LGBTQ spectrum should consider taking in the stunningly vibrant rainbow works produced by Ay-Ō now on display at the Sackler Gallery, one-half of the Smithsonian’s National Museums of Asian Art.

Yet maybe you just want to learn a little more about the history and culture of D.C. beyond the federal city and nation’s capital aspect. In that case, look to the GWU Museum and artifacts from its cultural treasure trove known as the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection.

AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM

800 Key Highway
Baltimore, Md.
410-244-1900
www.avam.org

• ABUNDANCE: Too Much, Too Little, Just Right — The 27th original thematic mega-exhibition at this unique and uniquely quirky museum is officially described as “a wildly joyful, community-building contemplation of just what constitutes real wealth,” going on to suggest real wealth is rooted in deep satisfaction, productive happiness, and gratefulness. The mega-exhibition intends to serve as a showcase of art and artists “who have wrought new worlds from modest, often discarded, materials — equipped only with their hands, hearts, and fertile imaginations” (Now-9/3)
• The Science and Mystery of Sleep — The latest sleep-related scientific research, including sleep’s impact on obesity and diabetes, adolescents, even hormones and testicles, is examined in “plain-language” detail alongside three artist-made bedrooms (Through Spring, Krieger)
• Esther and the Dream of One Loving Human Family — A display of 36 hand-embroidered works detailing the Holocaust survival story of Esther Krinitz, along with testimonies from the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Rwandan genocide survivors, to shine a light on humanity’s unjust persecution of innocents, and to serve as a clarion call for the need to push harder to make the dream of a world at peace a reality (Now-3/3/24)
• Annual Event: Kinetic Sculpture Race — A human-powered, eco-happy race of artful contraptions built by ordinary people to travel over land, water, sand, and mud, culminating in two categories of Official Kinetic Awards, from the “Very Competitive Non-Competitive,” such as The Golden Dinosaur Award to the first Sculpture to “breakdown”, The Worst Honorable Mention bestowed on the Sculpture whose “half-baked theoretical ‘engineering’ did not deter its pilot from the challenge of the race,” and The Next To The Last Award, in service of making “the end of the race…pretty exciting,” to the “Very Very Competitive Competitive,” which go beyond the obvious Speed Award and People’s Choice to include the “Grand East Coast National Mediocre Champion” for the Sculpture and pilot finishing in the middle (5/6/23)

AMY KASLOW GALLERY

7920 Norfolk Ave.
Bethesda, Md.
www.amykaslowgallery.com
Currently in the process of moving from its small D.C. space in The Shops in Spring Valley, the physical gallery won’t reopen with new exhibitions until sometime after April 1. Yet previews of the art and artists featured in the gallery’s earlier exhibitions can be viewed online

• Dreamings: Aboriginal Art from Australia’s Central Desert — The last exhibition in its D.C. space featured works by Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi, Nellie Marks Nakamarra, and Khatija Possum Nampijinpa
• Washington Landscapes — A showcase of three artists — Bernard Dellario, Brandon Mcdonald, and Andrea Limauro — who capture the capital city’s majestic landscape from strikingly different perspectives
• Native Hands: Folk Art Is Fine Art — The gallery’s first international survey of folk art featured more than two dozen artists and art practices, including one-of-a-kind lacquered wooden boxes meticulously carved and painted by hand by a Mexican family of artists; striking and impeccably designed yet functional baskets, used as beer strainers, made by women in the Omba Arts collective of Northern Namibia; and stunning hand-colored wood-block prints from an artist in Cuba telling stories, in a vivid Art Deco palette, of real and imagined Cuban exits and arrivals

ARTECHOUSE

1238 Maryland Ave. SW
www.dc.artechouse.com

• Pixelbloom: Timeless Butterflies — The 6th Annual Cherry Blossom Celebration presents a virtual world of flourishing cherry blossoms, created through an unmatched pixel density and highly immersive original soundscape, with a series of interactive installations showing a butterfly’s life cycle and its relationship to the environment, one of which depicts the famous Monarch butterfly migration cycle (Now-6/11)

THE ATHENAEUM

201 Prince St.
Alexandria, Va.
703-548-0035
www.nvfaa.org

• Nicole Santiago — Semi-autobiographical narrative paintings and drawings depicting scenes of love, loss, and duty, thinly veiled in the mundane debris of everyday life, and with purposely layered narratives within the pieces that are opposingly semi-overt and marginally obscured that compels interest from viewers in wanting to know more (Now-3/19)
• Matthew McLaughlin (3/23-4/30)
• Women’s Work: Kirsty Little, Donna McCullough, Kathryn McDonnell (5/4-6/11)

DEL RAY ARTISANS

Nicholas A. Colasanto Center
2704 Mt. Vernon Ave.
Alexandria, Va.
703-838-4827
www.delrayartisans.org

• Fun With One — Showcasing 2D and 3D monochromatic artwork by member artists revealing a fascinating variety despite the proscription of using only one color (Now-4/1)
• Hygge Art Exhibit — Artwork exploring the theme of comfortable conviviality or a mood of coziness as captured by the Danish and Norwegian word “hygge” (Now-4/22, VCA Alexandria Animal Hospital)
• A Tale of Two Studios — A showcase of art by two local community art organizations in tandem with efforts to forge creative exchange through artist talks, workshops and tours, this exhibition features favorite works made by Del Ray Artisans members as well as those by D.C.’s Art Enables resident artists (4/7-4/29)
• Alcove Gift Shop — Open year-round except for the months of July and December, this space showcases a variety of smaller artworks by member artists, ranging from unframed 2D selections in bins to jewelry to ceramics and woodcrafts, with new items appearing each week and all artwork fully swapped out and refreshed every two months (Now-4/29)
• Spring Art Market 2023 — Original handcrafted work from member artists ranging from fine art to jewelry to fine crafts and held outdoors rain or shine (5/13, Colasanto Park next to the gallery)
• Prints in May — Showcasing the diversity of printmaking art styles, including traditional printmaking on paper, mixed media, impressions on clay, stamps on metal, and computer-generated art (5/5-5/27)
• The Freedom of June — A celebration of Juneteenth and the resilience, strength, and beauty of African-American culture (6/2-6/25)
• Summer Art Market 2023 — A two-day, indoor event with original handmade artwork from local artists available for purchase as gifts to others or to yourself (7/8-9)

THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY MUSEUM: THE TEXTILE MUSEUM

701 21st St. NW
202-994-5200
www.museum.gwu.edu

• Classical Washington — An exhibition organized with GW professor Elise Friedland demonstrating how the Founding Fathers and subsequent government leaders favored Greek and Roman styles in architecture and monument design to evoke America’s political roots (5/6-11/18)
• The New Naval and Military Map of the United States — A small display of the results from an innovative investigation by GW students in hopes of learning more about the Washingtoniana Collection’s rare map of North America during the Civil War, which is embellished with portraits of political and military leaders, nationalistic scenes, and statistical charts (5/6-11/18)
• Prayer and Transcendence — Drawn from five collections, the exhibition introduces the purpose and distinctive iconography of classical prayer rugs from across the Islamic world — including Ottoman Türkiye, Safavid Iran, and Mughal India — as well as design comparisons from the Jewish tradition (Now-7/1)
• Anne Lindberg: What Color Is Divine Light? — A site-specific installation on the museum’s third-floor gallery, set against lavender walls and consisting of thousands of fine chromatic threads in complementary yellow and blue colors, creating a cloud of color evoking light itself and inviting visitors to gather and reflect on what divinity might be like if it were a physical presence (Now-7/1)

HILLWOOD MUSEUM & GARDENS

4155 Linnean Ave. NW
202-686-5807
www.hillwoodmuseum.org

• Glass: Art. Beauty. Design. — Glass has inspired artists and designers, stimulated scientists and engineers, and captivated collectors with its beauty and practicality, including Hillwood founder Marjorie Merriweather Post, who amassed over 1,600 pieces of glass. This special exhibition will highlight this lesser-known aspect of Hillwood’s collection, featuring a range of styles and techniques, including glassware, decorative vases, candelabras, chandeliers, mirrors, and more, while placing the historic creations in dialogue with astounding contemporary artworks, including glass flowers and orchids by Debora Moore and beadwork and fashion pieces by artists Karen LaMonte and Joyce Scott (6/10-1/14/2024)
• Determined Women: Collectors, Artists, and Designers at Hillwood — Shedding light on the innovative and intrepid women and women artists represented in Post’s collection at Hillwood through a display of nearly 100 items from the permanent collection, grouped into four sections, the last of which presents Hillwood in a new light and perspective, as that of a women’s art collection, by narrowing the scope to those works of portraiture, fashion, and interior design created by women artists and designers on commission by Post, helping to reveal the significant presence of women in Post’s collection at Hillwood, particularly impressive given her time and era (Now-6/18)
• Portrait of Lloyd Patterson — The artist Lloyd Walton Patterson traveled to Soviet Russia in 1932 along with an illustrious group of other Black Americans, including Langston Hughes and Louise Thompson, yet only Patterson remained behind after the reason for their trip — the making of a Soviet-German film intended to highlight pervasive racism in the United States — was canceled. This special exhibition explores that chapter in history, including the remarkable life Patterson made for himself in his new country (Now-4/16)

HIRSHHORN MUSEUM & SCULPTURE GARDEN

700 Independence Ave. SW
202-633-1000
www.hirshhorn.si.edu

• One with Eternity: Yayoi Kusama in the Hirshhorn Collection — Showcasing the Hirshhorn’s permanent collection of works by this prolific visionary artist from Japan, including two of her Infinity Mirror Rooms, creating a dazzling sensation of never-ending space, as well as an early painting, sculptures, and photographs of Kusama (Closes Spring 2023)
• A Window Suddenly Opens: Contemporary Photography in China — The Hirshhorn’s first survey of photography by leading multigenerational Chinese artists working since the early 1990s, showcasing 186 artworks, 141 of which are a landmark promised gift from a pioneering collector of Chinese art (Now-1/7/2024)
• Put It This Way: (Re)Visions of the Hirshhorn Collection — Uniting almost a century of work by 49 women and nonbinary artists in a range of media drawn exclusively from the Hirshhorn’s permanent collection, including recent acquisitions, to encourage conversations around the significance of gender in creating and perceiving an artwork, the effects of catgorizing artists by gender, and the museum’s role and responsibilities in stewarding the national collection of modern and contemporary art (Now-Fall 2023)
• John Akomfrah: Purple — London-based artist and filmmaker originally from Ghana presents his largest-ever video installation, an immersive, six-channel work, featuring an hour-long symphony of image and sound that weaves together original film with archival footage against a hypnotic score, to address themes related to climate change, forming a moving meditation on the impact of human progress on the Earth (Now-1/7/2024)
• Mark Bradford: Pickett’s Charge — Gay Black artist’s commissioned “cyclorama” of eight large, site-specific painting collages inspired by the Philippoteaux masterpiece depicting the loss of the Confederate Army at the Battle of Gettysburg that remains all-too resonant today (Ongoing)
• Sculpture Garden — More than 30 works of art displayed year round offering a contemplative haven in the heart of the nation’s capital (Permanent)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Thomas Jefferson Building
10 First St. SE
202-707-8000
www.loc.gov/exhibits

• Join In: Voluntary Associations in America — Dubbed “a nation of joiners,” Americans have long joined voluntary associations to connect with others, pursue shared goals, and spur social change; A selection of items from the Library’s collections representing organizations from across the nation and across time and covering a range of interests and goals, from faith-based organizations to chambers of commerce, labor unions to volunteer firefighters and emergency service providers (Now-12/31, South Gallery)
• Not an Ostrich: & Other Images From America’s Library — A total of 428 photographs drawn from the collections of the Library, curated by Anne Wilkes Tucker and organized by the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, offering a taste of the more than 14 million images in the institution’s holdings and tracing the evolution of photography from daguerreotypes and other early processes to contemporary digital technology (Ongoing, Southwest Gallery)
• Mapping a Growing Nation: From Independence to Statehood — Displaying a rare copy of the first map of the independent United States created in America by an American, Abel Buell’s 18th-Century “New and Correct Map of the United States of North America,” along with other early maps (Ongoing, North Gallery)

MANSION AT STRATHMORE

10701 Rockville Pike
North Bethesda, Md.
301-581-5100
www.strathmore.org

• 31st Annual Strathmore Juried Exhibition Play — Artworks created in the spirit of “play,” both in representation and in abstraction, but most significantly, in an enjoyable form, and in recognition that the concept transcends age and species, and occurs shortly after birth and has been observed in animals of the earth and ocean (3/21-4/29)
• Sorry About My Accent, Emon Surakitkoson — Large-scale mixed-media paintings in stark black and white from this self-taught artist who has garnered praise from the Washington Post for her bold marks, use of texture, and for undulating shapes taking visitors on a journey through space (3/21-4/29)
• 34th Biennial Exhibition of the Creative Crafts Council — A showcase of the finest crafts from Maryland, Virginia, and D.C., including handmade jewelry, ceramics, textiles, and woodwork (5/6-7/1)

NATIONAL ARCHIVES MUSEUM

Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery
202-357-5000
www.archivesfoundation.org

• All American: The Power of Sports — A showcase of more than 75 items, including original records, artifacts, and photographs, exploring the athletes who have shaped American identity (Now-1/7/2024)

NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM

401 F St. NW
202-272-2448
www.nbm.org

• A Better Way Home: The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge — Launched by the national nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners with funding from Wells Fargo, the challenge has propelled and amplified six winning ideas designed to reimagine housing affordability from each of three categories in urgent need of solutions: resident services and support, financing, and construction; the exhibition allows visitors to explore the vision and early impact of the six featured innovations through personal stories, infographics, and media presented within the framework of small-scale “houses” (Now-10/16)
• The Wall/El Muro: What Is a Border Wall? — The ways in which the architecture and landscape of security surround us and challenge us as we imagine America is the core thrust of this exhibition, which utilizes photography, video, artifacts, and immersive design to help visitors better understand and appreciate the larger, and broader impact and significance of the built environment beyond the more obvious, physical realm (Now-7/3)
• Alan Karchmere: The Architects’ Photographer — A cross-section of professional photographs, coupled with personal photos and artifacts, help shed light on the work of a photographer who factors in his knowledge of the design process, gained from earning a master of architecture in his own right, to better capture the essence of a building, illuminating why certain images are successful in expressing both the physical and emotional aspects of architecture (Now-8/4)
• House & Home — A kaleidoscopic array of photographs, objects, models, and films take visitors on a tour of houses both familiar and surprising, through past and present — including one of a same-sex couple — and challenging ideas about what it means to be at home in America, and further illuminating how certain aspects have evolved over time, from the household goods used in “Living at Home,” to the materials used and mechanics involved in “Building a House,” to the financial and legal processes involved in “Buying a Home” (Ongoing)
• Animals, Collected — Imagined as a cabinet of curiosities, this playful exhibition features a selection of architectural objects depicting animals, both real and mythological, as decorative elements drawn from the museum’s permanent collection but many never before displayed (Ongoing)

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

3rd Street & Constitution Avenue NW
202-737-4215
www.nga.gov

• Philip Guston Now — Charting the 50-year career of one of America’s most influential modern artists through more than 150 paintings and drawings, telling a story of epic change, in artistic styles, degrees of political and social involvement, and in levels of personal confession in his work (Now-8/27, East Building, Concourse)
• This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s — The work of a generation of photographers who were commenting on the deep unrest of these pivotal decades pictured communities, traditions, and landscapes affected by Britain’s shifting social and economic realities. Together, they photographed a nation redefining what it meant to be British and, ultimately, modern (Now-6/11, West Building, Ground Floor)
• Drawing in Britain, 1700-1900: New Additions to the Collection — Approximately 80 recently acquired drawings and watercolors, including not only significant examples of the landscapes that are traditionally associated with British art, but also highlighting portraits, history scenes, and nude studies, with works by British women providing glimpses into the lives and work of several fascinating yet little-known artists (4/2-8/6, West Building, Ground Floor)
• Looking Up: Studies for Ceilings, 1550-1800 — In the European tradition that spanned nearly four centuries, ceilings were where the most ambitious, compelling, and meaningful painted compositions appeared; this exhibition features 30 examples of the evolution of ceiling decoration, from architectural frameworks housing conventional paintings, to the illusion of a single, soaring space teeming with figures and dynamic movement during the baroque, and then on to the geometric organization and idealized form associated with neoclassicism (Now-7/9, West Building, Ground Floor)
• Going through Hell: The Divine Dante — More than 700 years after it was written, Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy remains one of the most influential works of Western literature, and that influence is evident in this display of 20 works from the museum’s collection, ranging from rare early printed editions of the novel, to sculptures by Auguste Rodin created initially for his monumental project The Gates of Hell, to works on paper from the 15th to 20th century (4/9-7/16, West Building, Main Floor)
• Canova: Sketching in Clay — Working with his hands and small tools, the most famous artist of Europe’s revolutionary period (spanning the late 18th and early 19th centuries) produced dazzling sketch models in clay, which helped him plan for his large statues in marble; More than 30 of some 60 or so surviving models reveal the artist’s extraordinary working process, which led to the creation of some of the most iconic works in the history of sculpture (6/11-10/9, West Building, Main Floor)
• Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South — For decades, Thornton Dial, Mary T. Smith, Purvis Young, and many other Black artists in the South worked with little recognition — that’s begun to change, especially in the past couple of years as many large cultural institutions started pledging to increase their diversity, which is how this exhibition came to pass, with its display of roughly 40 sculptures, assemblages, paintings, reliefs, quilts, and drawings, most of them deriving from a major acquisition in 2020 (Now-12/31, East Building, Upper Level)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY & CULTURE

14th St. & Constitution Ave. NW
844-750-3012
www.nmaahc.si.edu

• Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures — Exploring the evolving concept expressed through a Black cultural lens that reimagines, reinterprets, and reclaims the past and present for a more empowering and inclusive tomorrow (Now-3/31/2024)
• Explore More! — An interactive, multifaceted educational space dedicated to helping visitors connect and engage with African-American history and culture in ways expanding perspectives, spark curiosity and creativity, and increase knowledge (Ongoing)
• Spirit in the Dark: Religion in Black Music, Activism, and Popular Culture — Whether in the foreground, the background, or in the shadows, religion is essential to the story of Black America, as this exhibition of photographs from the publisher of Ebony, Jet, and Negro Digest makes plain (Now-Nov.)
• Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience. — The Black Lives Matter movement, violence against African Americans, and the role of art in depicting social protest movements are front and center in this special exhibition, which documents the struggles Black Americans have faced in their pursuit of the fundamental rights and freedoms promised in the Constitution through artwork and images; An augmented-reality component allows visitors to use their mobile devices to interact with several select pieces and learn how the works connect with other objects and themes in the museum (Ongoing)
•  Taking the Stage — Through their achievements on the stage and screen, African Americans have expressed creative visions, enriched American culture, inspired audiences around the world, and also fueled social change (Ongoing)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY

1400 Constitution Ave. NW
202-633-1000
www.americanhistory.si.edu

• Discovery and Revelation: Religion, Science, and Making Sense of Things — Often overlooked, a significant factor in the development of spiritual traditions has been the interaction of religious ideas and communities with the scientific and technological advances shaping every generation; exhibition explores the dynamic interplay of religion, science, and technology in American history, from the Puritans to the digital age (Now-4/30)
• Mirror, Mirror: Reflections of America in Disney Parks — As important locations for American public memory, the historical narrative presented at Disney theme parks both represents and shapes larger conversations about the American Experience. Through objects, images, maps, and more, this exhibit looks at how Disney and the public are in conversation to create the national narrative of today and the future (Opens 4/28)
• Treasures and Trouble: Looking Inside a Legendary Blues Archive — Highlights from the recently acquired, one-of-a-kind archive documenting the blues compiled by the late Robert “Mack” McCormick, a Houston-based, self-trained folklorist who had research materials on hundreds of artists (Opens 6/23)
• Reconstructing “Weatherbreak”: Geodesic Domes in an Age of Extreme Weather — Through a partnership with Catholic University, a weeks-long exhibition showing the school’s architecture students reconstructing, in public view, the first large-span geodesic dome erected in North America, built in Montreal in 1950; a marvel of engineering, the geodesic dome is light but extremely strong and requires 30 percent less energy to heat or cool than a conventional building (Opens July)
• Entertainment Nation — Over a decade in the making, one of the most ambitious exhibitions this museum has ever planned, and also its first major show dedicated to mass entertainment. It shows the importance and influence that the arts and artistic endeavors have had on Americans and American culture through a powerful, ever-changing collection of objects from the realms of sports, theater, film, television, and music, some dating back more than 150 years. Prince, Selena, Kristi Yamaguchi, Cyndi Lauper, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Bette Davis, and Muhammad Ali, while Hamilton, Rent, M*A*S*H, Sesame Street, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Star Wars are among the more recent preeminent works of entertainment recognized (Ongoing)

NATIONAL MUSEUMS OF ASIAN ART

1050 Independence Ave. SW
202-633-1000
www.asia.si.edu

• Ay-Ō’s Happy Rainbow Hell — The first-ever exhibition at a museum in the U.S. dedicated to this Japanese-American artist’s work, focused on his compulsion since the mid-1960s, which he describes as his own “rainbow hell,” of producing rainbow works and more specifically rainbow-hued silkscreen prints covering a wide range of subjects, from treatments of the human body and the animal kingdom, to abstract compositions, to rainbow interpretations of other artists’ work (3/25-9/10, Sackler Gallery)
• Journey of Color — Part of this year’s programming marking the 100th anniversary of the Freer Gallery, this exhibit highlights 34 objects revealing how different cultures obtained, produced, and used color to individualize their creations and tell layered, universal stories, and showing how artists across Asia have experimented for millennia with a wealth of minerals, bugs, and plants to create eye-catching pigments (Opening “early 2023,” Freer Gallery of Art)
• The Art of Knowing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas — Stone sculptures, gilt bronzes, and painted manuscripts from India, Nepal, Tibet, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia illuminate the critical role of visual culture in conveying Buddhist and Hindu teachings from the 9th to the 12th centuries (Opens 3/25, Sackler)
• Rinpa Screens — Known for stylized forms in bright colors that spanned the 17th to the 19th centuries, the Rinpa style exemplifies the integral role that screens have played in traditional Japanese interiors, as the three-dimensional, folded format played with perception to cleverly trick the viewer’s eye so that scenes of undulating dragons, stormy seas, and elegant foliage came to life and animated a room (Now-1/28/2024, Freer)
• Unstill Waters: Contemporary Photography from India — Five leading contemporary artists explore rapidly changing natural and built environments in India, from riverbanks to ancient forests to city streets to surreal symbolic settings; Exhibition also serves to celebrate a spectacular recent gift significantly expanding the museum’s holdings of South Asian photography (Now-6/11, Sackler)
• A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur — Artists in northwest India around 1700 began creating dazzling, immersive paintings on paper and cloth that conveyed the mood of the region’s palaces, lakes, and mountains, now presented in a first-of-its-kind exhibition featuring a soundscape by filmmaker Amit Dutta inviting contemporary audiences to sense as well as see these extraordinary places and paintings (Now-5/14, Sackler)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW
202-633-1000
www.naturalhistory.si.edu

• Lights Out: Recovering Our Night Sky — Experience the grandeur of a starry night, discover the dark side of artificial lights, and find out how you can reduce light pollution and reconnect with the night sky (Opens 3/23)
• Cellphone: Unseen Connections — Exploring what our phones are made of, who has made them possible, and how they’ve influenced our lives — and how they connect us to the natural world, and to an unseen global network of people, labor, and infrastructure (Opens 6/23)
•  Our Places: Connecting People and Nature — Inspirational stories about the places and connections to nature that changed peoples’s lives (Now-7/2024)
• Barro Colorado Island: 100 Years of Discoveries and Wonder — A tropical lowland forest where vested anteaters, tapirs, and coatimundi share share their home with Smithsonian researchers (Now-1/2024)
• Bone Hall — Compare and contrast the skeletons of flying fish, a massive sea turtle, snakes, giraffe, monkeys, and many more vertebrates (Permanent)
• Butterfly Pavilion — Examine an environment filled with tropical plants and live, flittering butterflies (Permanent)
• Outbreaks: Epidemics in a Connected World — Showing the work that goes into identifying viruses in animals and humans and containing infectious disease outbreaks (Now-6/4)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

4th St. & Independence Ave. SW
202-633-1000
www.nmai.si.edu

• Robert Houle: Red Is Beautiful — First major retrospective of this Native artist’s work, spanning more than 50 years and created at the nexus of Western and Indigenous artistic traditions, offering a transcultural path forward with color, light, and gesture, grounded in Indigenous sovereignty (Opening 5/25)
• Cherokee Days Festival — Three days of showcasing the shared history and cultural lifeways of the Cherokee people through storytelling, traditional flute music, weaponry, woodcarving, beadwork, traditional games, basket weaving, pottery demonstrations, and music and dance performances (3/31-4/2)
• Americans — A showcase of nearly 350 objects and images, from a Tomahawk missile to baking powder cans, all demonstrating that Indian words and images are everywhere in American life, revealing an enduring cultural fascination with American Indians (Ongoing)

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

8th & F Streets NW
202-633-8300
www.npg.si.edu

• Abraham Lincoln by W.F.K. Travers — A new life-size painting of the 16th U.S. President (Now-12/31/2027)
• I Dream a World: Selections from Brian Lanker’s Portraits of Remarkable Black Women (Part II) — Portraits of writers, entertainment, athletes, activists, and politicians whose legacies were documented by the photojournalist Brian Lanker in the late 1980s (Now-8/27)
• Portrait of a Nation: 2022 Honorees — An intimate exhibition featuring portraits of seven individuals selected for the tribute in 2022: José Andrés, Clive Davis, Ava DuVernay, Marian Wright Edelman, Anthony S. Fauci, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams (Now-10/22)
• 1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions — On the 125th anniversary of the Spanish-American-Cuban-Philippine War, exhibition is the first to examine this pivotal period through the lens of portraiture and visual culture (4/28-2/25/2024)
• One Life: Frederick Douglass — Illuminating the legacy of one of the 19th century’s most influential writers, speakers, and intellectuals through prints, photographs, and ephemera (6/16-4/21/2024)
• Duty, Honor, Country: Antebellum Portraits of West Pointers — New York’s United States Military Academy at West Point emerged, in the years leading up to the Civil War, as a vital training ground for men who built the nation’s infrastructure, played decisive roles in its military campaigns and took part in its political life (6/23-6/9/2024)
• One Life: Maya Lin — The first biographical exhibition of the architect, sculptor, and environmentalist best known for designing the now 40-year-old Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, her life from childhood to today, presenting a range of photographs, sculptures, personal ephemera, sketchbooks, architectural models, and images of her completed works (Now-4/16)
• Kinship — More than 40 artworks by eight contemporary artists whose work explores the notion and the closeness that bonds us, including Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Jess T. Dugan, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Jessica Todd Harper, and Anna Tsouhlarakis (Now-1/7/24)
• Block by Block: Naming Washington — Exploring the namesakes of D.C.’s streets, avenues, neighborhoods, and other public spaces (Now-1/15/24)

THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION

1600 21st St. NW
202-387-2151
www.phillipscollection.org

• Pour, Tear, Carve — A display of over 65 works drawn from the permanent collection considering how artists have utilized traditional and nontraditional art materials, including paint, wood, paper, plastic, steel, bones, dirt, glass, sand, and cloth, to act as conduits of meaning, spotlighting how the selection and especially the manipulation of materials — the process by which the exhibition draws its name — can enhance a viewer’s understanding of and dialogue with the art (Now-5/14)
• Intersections: Linking Lu — Artist’s signature works are abstract paintings with concentric rings of bright, pulsating colors; First trained as a classical pianist, Lu engages with the Phillips Music performance of Philip Glass’s Etude No. 16 played by Timo Andres in Soundwaves, visualizing the repetitive notes and chords from Glass’s music and translating them into physical space, with the seven notes played on the piano by the left hand represented by seven paintings on the left side of the gallery, and the the five notes played by the right hand represented by five paintings on the right (Now-4/30)
• Dee Dwyer: Wild Seeds of the Soufside — Photographer Dwyer offers a visual journey into the heart of Southeast D.C., connecting Soufside community members with main characters from the book Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler, for photographs that are evocative, sensuous, powerful, and serve to demystify an area that has been misconceived (Now-5/11, Phillips@THEARC, 1801 Mississippi Ave. SE)
• Community Exhibition: Shaping Ourselves — A showcase of more than 200 artworks inspired by the exhibition Pour, Tear, Carve and created using different materials by pre-K to 8th grade students from across D.C. and Virginia, through ArtLinks, a partnership between the Phillips Collection and Inspired Teaching Demonstration School, The Langley School, and Our Lady of Victory (Now-5/24)

RENWICK GALLERY

1661 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
202-633-7970
www.americanart.si.edu/visit/renwick

• Sharing Honors and Burdens: Renwick Invitational 2023 — The 10th installment of the Renwick’s typically biennial series — intended to spotlight mid-career and emerging makers deserving of wider national recognition — features six artists presenting a fresh and nuanced vision of Native American art, all selected for work that expresses the honors and burdens that Native artists balance as they carry forward their cultural traditions and produce work that addresses themes of environmentalism, displacement, and cultural connectedness. The 2023 Renwick Six are Joe Feddersen (Arrow Lakes/​Okanagan), sisters Lily Hope (Tlingit) and Ursala Hudson (Tlingit), Erica Lord (Athabaskan/​Iñupiat), Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe), and last but certainly not least, Geo Neptune (Passamaquoddy), a two-spirit master basket maker who takes inspiration from traditional forms and interjects their own artistic perspective and a bright palette into their work (5/26-3/31/2024)

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

8th & F Streets NW
202-633-7970
www.americanart.si.edu

• Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies — An exhibition featuring works of video art that use popular music not as a secondary soundtrack but as key to understanding the art’s meaning and impact, helping to conjure memories, capture attention, provoke insight, and invite visceral engagement, in ways that speak to personal as well as shared aspects of American life (6/16-1/29/2024)
• Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea — Examining the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists who offer a broader and more inclusive view of the American West, which too often has been dominated by romanticized myths and Euro-American historical accounts of a past that never was, failing to take into account important events that actually did occur (7/28-1/14/2024)
• We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection — Tracing the rise of self-taught artists in the 20th century and examining how their creativity and bold self-definition became major forces in American art. Celebrating the gifts of art and program support from two collectors in particular, the exhibition puts on display a total of 110 works, a mix of drawings, paintings, and sculptures, from 43 “game-changing self-taught artists,” including Calvin and Ruby Black, Howard Finster, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Judith Scott, and Nellie Mae Rowe (Now-3/26)
• Artist To Artist — Pairing artworks, each representing two figures whose trajectories intersected at a creatively crucial moment, whether as student and teacher, professional allies, or friends (Now-9/3)

TOUCHSTONE GALLERY

901 New York Ave. NW
202-347-2787
www.touchstonegallery.com

• Sharon Malley: The Wind We Cannot See — A solo exhibition of 19 paintings and mixed-media pieces created with oil, collage, and cold wax, all of which evoke the artist’s deep reverence for and connection to the forces of nature as manifested in movements of air (Now-3/26)
• Emergence Group Show — A celebration of spring, new growth, personal journeys, and our ever-evolving progress, with works of art by Touchstone Gallery members, including the newest six: Brianne Anderson, Neville Barbour, Susan Dykeman, Setareh Pourrajabi, Anne Stine, and Elena Tchernomazova (Now-3/26)
• Nature’s Bounty: Original Prints by Mary D. Ott — The printmaker’s latest solo exhibition at Touchstone features more than 30 monotypes and intaglios celebrating the beauty of grasses, trees, and leaves (3/29-4/30)
• Her Garden House: Unearthed Metaphors by Rosemary Luckett — A solo exhibition of colorfully portrayed collages, poems, and painted figures alongside mixed-media sculptures (3/29-4/30)

TRANSFORMER

1404 P St. NW
202-483-1102
www.transformerdc.org

• Golden Looking Hour by Anthony Le — The first D.C. solo exhibition from this Vietnamese American multidisciplinary artist featuring portraits of fellow D.C. artists that question the social construct of identity and the way it can be limiting from the outside looking in, but expansive from the inside looking out (Now-4/15)

UNITED STATES BOTANIC GARDEN

100 Maryland Ave. SW
202-225-8333
www.usbg.gov

• Discover the World of Orchids — Annual orchid show in collaboration with Smithsonian Gardens celebrates the diversity of one of the largest plant families in the world with shapes, sizes, colors, scents, and more vary greatly; Thousands of orchid blooms throughout the Conservatory showcase the two organization’s extensive orchid collections (Now-4/30)
• Cultivate: Growing Food in a Changing World — Learn how inventive ideas in agriculture, both scientific and social, sustain and enrich life, and how growing and cooking food connects people with each other and communities in this exhibition which also displays the wild relatives of modern plants we eat, the many different peoples that have farmed the land over the centuries, and the plants that connect several local chefs with their food cultures, sharing their stories in their own words (Now-8/2024)

U.S. NATIONAL ARBORETUM: THE NATIONAL BONSAI & PENJING FOUNDATION

3501 New York Ave. NE
202-245-4523
www.usna.usda.org

• Sakura Orihon: Diary of a Cherry Blossom Journey — Landscape architect Ron Henderson kept detailed notes of his pilgrimages to visit famous old cherry trees throughout Japan and on the horticultural practices extending the lives of the trees, via folding sketchbooks, or orihon, that celebrates cherry blossom culture in Japan (Now-4/2)
•  Spring Ikebana International Exhibit — Japanese flower arrangements, known as ikebana, in a variety of schools and styles, will be on display, with a change-out of the exhibits halfway through the run (4/7-16)
• Bonsai Festival — The Potomac Bonsai Association co-sponsors an event featuring a bonsai demonstration and workshops by guest artist Suthin Sukosolvisit, plus vendors selling bonsai, pre-bonsai, pots, accents, and supplies (5/5-7)
• Potomac Bonsai Association Juried Exhibit — The best bonsai from members of the association in formal displays (5/5-14)

WASHINGTON PRINTMAKERS GALLERY

1675 Wisconsin Ave. NW
202-669-1497
www.washingtonprintmakers.com

• WPG Members’ Exhibit: New Beginnings — A display of the hand-pulled and digital prints, and the fine art photographs, of the gallery’s member artists, all reflecting views of rebirth and new vistas and exhibited in the gallery’s new location up the street from the previous venue offering twice the size of exhibition space, a dedicated studio for workshops and lectures, and an outdoor patio (Now-3/26)

WASHINGTON PROJECT FOR THE ARTS

2124 8th St. NW
202-234-7103
www.wpadc.org

• How can we gather now? — A culmination of two years of research and collaboration, experimental symposium explores the question of gathering in a context of many forms of fragmentation, political division, and social isolation exacerbated by the global pandemic (3/31-4/2, Eaton DC, 1201 K St. NW)
• Collectors’ Night 2023 — Over 140 artworks by some of the most exciting artists working in the region will be up for bid in a two-week Benefit Auction on Artsy culminating in gala at which the art will be installed on-site to aid in the bidding process and also featuring a cocktail reception and dinner, an exclusive artist performance, and a lively after-party with music and dancing (4/17-29, Auction on Artsy, artsy.net; 4/29, Gala at Waterfront Centre, 800 9th St. SW)

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