Events and Programs at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Events and Programs at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC

Programs are free and open to the public unless ticket information is noted.

Art Talks and Activities

Charles C. Eldredge Prize Lecture: Nizan Shaked
Thursday, October 3, 4p.m.
Join Nizan Shaked, professor of contemporary art history and museum and curatorial studies at California State University, Long Beach, for a discussion that examines the impact of the civil rights, Black Power, student, feminist, and sexual-liberty movements on conceptualism in the United States between the late 1960s and 1990s. Shaked has been awarded SAAM’s prestigious 31st annual Charles C. Eldridge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art, for her book The Synthetic Proposition: Conceptualism and the Political Referent in Contemporary Art (2017).
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, McEvoy Auditorium
Tickets: Free
Event Link

Conservation Gallery Talk: Trick of the Eye
Friday, October 4, 1 p.m.
Join our paintings conservator for a tour highlighting hyperrealistic, trompe l’oeil paintings in SAAM’s collection. Uncover the techniques that artists, like John Haberle, John F. Peto, and William Harnett, used to create these masterpieces of optical illusion.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, G Street Lobby
Tickets: Free
Event Link

Levinthal Teen Program
Saturday, October 5, 1 p.m.
Bring your friends and make some new ones at SAAM! Explore the galleries of SAAM’s special exhibition American Myth & Memory: David Levinthal Photographs and uncover the secret meanings behind Levinthal’s Barbie, wild west, and baseball photographs on a tour with Joanna Marsh, SAAM’s deputy education chair and head of interpretation and audience research. Finish the afternoon by crafting a collage booklet inspired by discoveries made in the exhibition and share your creation with your friends.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, MacMillan Educational Center
Tickets: Free
Event Link 

State of Art/DC 5: A Conversation
Thursday, October 10, 5:30 p.m.
Join a diverse group of visual arts leaders from the DC area as they discuss the state of the arts in the region. In this fifth edition of State of Art/DC: A Conversation, look at DC’s constantly evolving visual arts landscape and hear from museum professionals, gallerists, creative entrepreneurs, nonprofit executives, artists, collectors, and more. This program is moderated by Kriston Capps, staff writer at CityLab, with special introductions by Stephanie Stebich, the Margaret and Terry Stent Director of SAAM, and Jessica L. Porter, executive director at ArtTable Inc., this series offers a snapshot of the current visual arts climate as well as a glimpse of what is to come.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Kogod Courtyard
Tickets: $30; Tickets available online
Event Link

Yoga in Luce
Tuesday, October 15, 6–7 p.m.
Bring your mat and relax with this Vinyasa yoga and art appreciation series. Participants are invited to reflect on an artwork of their choosing before a credentialed instructor from Flow Yoga Center leads a one-hour, all-levels class surrounded by the beautiful artworks in the Luce Foundation Center.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center (third floor)
Tickets: $10; Tickets available online. Cash is not accepted at the door
Event Link

Conversation Pieces
Wednesday, October 16, 6 p.m.
Want to deepen your understanding and appreciation of contemporary art? Join Joanna Marsh, SAAM’s Deputy Education Chair, Head of Interpretation and Audience Research, for this ongoing series of gallery talks. Marsh uses a single artwork from the museum’s collection to spark conversation and closer examination.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, meet in the G Street Lobby
Tickets: Free
Event Link

Preservation Family Workshop: Art & Me
Saturday, October 19, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 1:30–3 p.m.
H2Oh my! Experience the art of making and preserving watercolors by exploring the Lunder Conservation Center, where families can experiment with professional tools and learn different watercolor techniques. This program is part of a yearlong partnership with the Freer|Sackler and is for children ages three to five years old with adult participation.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, meet in the G Street Lobby
Tickets: Free; Registration Required
Event Link

Clarice Smith Lecture Series: Naomi Beckwith
Wednesday, October 23, 6:30 p.m.
Join Naomi Beckwith, senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and listen as she takes a deep dive into her professional background and explores the interplay between her formal education and life experience in her curatorial approach. Beckwith explores questions of identity through multi-disciplinary practices showcasing contemporary art in a culturally conscious setting. Her recent work includes exhibitions focused on African American painter and mixed media artist Howardena Pindell, the artists’ collective AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), and the Association for the Advancement for Creative Musicians.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, McEvoy Auditorium
Tickets: Free; Registration online recommended
Event Link

Art Bites Gallery Talk: David Beck’s MVSEVM
Friday, October 25, 12:15 p.m.
Take a lunch break and join SAAM’s research fellows as they share their new discoveries about artworks from the collection. In this installment, research fellow Caroline Riley speaks about David Beck’s MVSEVM.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, meet in the G Street Lobby
Tickets: Free
Event Link

Día de los Muertos Family Day
Saturday, October 26, 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m.
Celebrate Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) with SAAM! Enjoy a day full of Mexican folk-dance performances, a live Mariachi band, and face painting! Leave your handmade ofrendas (offerings) including paper marigolds, calaveras (skull masks), and paper monarch butterflies on our beautiful Day of the Dead altar.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Kogod Courtyard
Tickets: Free
Event Link

Beyond the Studio Workshop: Illustration with Marcella Kriebel
Sunday, October 27, 1–3 p.m.
Hear from professionals that work in the arts, then sharpen your own creative skills with a hands-on activity related to the speaker’s own expertise. In this installment, learn about the art of illustration and watercolor with popular DC artist and cookbook author Marcella Kriebel. Then try your hand at creating a beautiful watercolor print of your own.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center (third floor)
Tickets: $10; Registration required
Event Link

Picturing the American Buffalo: A Conversation
Wednesday, October 30, 6 p.m.
Join us for a dynamic panel discussion exploring the themes and complexity of depicting the American West, with insights from three distinguished scholars. Eleanor Harvey, SAAM’s Senior Curator, is joined by Adam Duncan Harris, the Joffa Kerr Chief Curator of Art at the National Museum of Wildlife Art and David Penney, Associate Director of Museum Research and Scholarship at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, for this interdisciplinary conversation.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, McEvoy Auditorium
Tickets: Free
Event Link

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Music, Performances & Film

Luce Unplugged Community Showcase: Alison Crockett and Samuel Prather
Friday, October 4, 6–8 p.m.
Luce Unplugged Community Showcase pairs DC’s best local artists with local beers surrounded by beautiful artworks in the Luce Foundation Center. In this installment, kick back and enjoy some jazz and neo-soul from songstress, Alison Crockett, and the funky soulful jazz fusion of, Samuel Prather. Free beer tastings (21+) provided by a local craft brewery. Additional beverages and small snacks available for purchase. This program is presented in collaboration with the Washington City Paper.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center (third floor)
Tickets: Free
Event Link

The Ecstatic Message: Talking Music and Moving Image Art with Ja’Tovia Gary and Arthur Jafa
Saturday, October 12, 3 p.m.
Join us for an electrifying discussion with renowned contemporary artists Arthur Jafa and Ja’Tovia Gary who have presented their video works at art museums and film festivals around the world. Through conversation and clip sharing, these two artists will explore the interplay of music and moving image across their creative careers. For both artists music has played an essential role. Musicians are frequent collaborators and occasional subjects in both artist’s work, like in Jafa’s music video for Cassandra Wilson and Gary’s documentary on queer rapper Cakes Da Killa.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, McEvoy Auditorium
Tickets: Free
Event Link

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Ongoing Programs

Sketching: Draw and Discover!  
Tuesdays, 2:30 – 4:30pm  
Draw inspiration from artists’ sketches as well as the thousands of objects on display in the Luce Foundation Center, then spend some time sketching in this weekly workshop. Some materials provided; please bring a small sketchbook and pencils.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center (third floor)
Tickets: Free
Event Link

Conservation Conversation: Preserving SAAM’s Collection 
Friday, October 11, 18, 25, 1 p.m.  
Learn how museum conservators preserve SAAM’s artworks in the Lunder Conservation Center. The center has five state-of-the-art laboratories and studios equipped to treat paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures, folk art objects, contemporary crafts, decorative arts, and frames. Group size is limited.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Lunder Conservation Center
Tickets: Free
Event Link

Art Signs: Gallery Talk in American Sign Language (ASL) 
Thursday, October 10, 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 20, 1 p.m. 
Join us for lively gallery conversations in American Sign Language led by Deaf gallery guides. Don’t miss a single one, as this popular series examines different treasures from SAAM’s collection for each installment. For more information, contact SAAMAccess@si.edu.
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, meet in the F Street Lobby
Tickets: Free
Event Link

America InSight: Verbal Description Tour 
Sunday, October 13, 1:30 p.m. 
Join a docent-led tour designed for visitors who are blind or have low vision. Discover highlights of the collection through rich verbal description and sensory experience. Touch components for sculptures and model recreations of paintings may be incorporated into the tour. For more information, contact SAAMAccess@si.edu
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, meet in the F Street Lobby
Tickets: Free
Event Link

America InSight: Verbal Description Tour at the Renwick Gallery 
Sunday, October 27, 1:30 p.m.
Join a docent-led tour designed for visitors who are blind or have low vision. Discover highlights of the collection through rich verbal description and sensory experience. Touch components for sculptures and model recreations of paintings may be incorporated into the tour. For more information, contact SAAMAccess@si.edu.
Location: Renwick Gallery, meet in the Lobby
Tickets: Free
Event Link

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For more information on this museum, visit our Smithsonian American Art Museum page.

Event listings are provided by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery