July Programs at SAAM

Featured Program
Virtual Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women Lecture with Mary Savig
Thursday, July 11, 7 p.m.

Online via Zoom
Free | Registration required

Join Mary Savig, the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft, for a lecture about the exhibition Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women, now on view at SAAM’s Renwick Gallery. The artists featured mastered everyday materials, subverted conventions, and transformed humble threads into sublime creations. 

In this virtual program, Savig shares how the exhibition came together as a collaboration between SAAM and the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art, combining artworks in SAAM’s collection with archival materials and interviews held by the Archives. She will also discuss themes of the exhibition, including the intersections between fiber arts and domestic work.

Virtual America InSight: Verbal Description Tours
Thursday, July 11, 5:30 p.m. 

Join the Smithsonian American Art Museum for a docent-led virtual tour designed for participants who are blind or have low vision. Discover highlights from the collection through rich verbal descriptions that invoke a multisensory experience.

Virtual Beyond the Studio Workshop: Paper Quilling with Ashley Chiang
Sunday, July 14, 1 p.m.   

Join D.C. artist Ashley Chiang as she returns to teach participants traditional and contemporary paper quilling techniques. During this hourlong virtual workshop, attendees will create a one-of-a-kind heart using paper of different widths and weights.

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 June 30.

Lessons of the Hour Gallery Talk
Tuesday, July 16, 5:30 p.m.  

Join curators Saisha Grayson and Charlotte Ickes for a gallery talk about Isaac Julien’s tour de force Lessons of the Hour, jointly acquired for the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. The film installation interweaves period reenactments across five screens to create a vivid picture of nineteenth-century activist, writer, orator, and philosopher Frederick Douglass.

Take 5: Jazz at SAAM with Luke Brandon
Thursday, July 18, 5 p.m. 

Celebrate a uniquely American art form with Take 5: Jazz at SAAM, a series of free, live performances in the Kogod Courtyard. Enjoy a performance by Luke Brandon, a jazz trumpeter based in the Washington, DC area. Since 2013, Luke has been a member of the United States Air Force’s premier jazz ensemble, Airmen of Note; he currently serves as music director, third trumpeter, and jazz soloist for the organization.

Borrow a board game to play during the concert and stop by the Courtyard Café to purchase refreshments.

Art Bites Gallery Talk
Friday, July 26, 12:15 p.m.

Smithsonian American Art Museum
Free | Meet in the G Street Lobby

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. Molly K. Eckel, Joe and Wanda Corn Predoctoral Fellow, discusses William H. Johnson’s Underground Railroad.

SAAM Arcade
Saturday, July 27, 11:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Smithsonian American Art Museum
Kogod Courtyard
Free | Registration encouraged

Adventure Awaits at SAAM Arcade 2024! Join us for this annual celebration of video games as a creative force using coding and design as a medium. This day-long event features video games that celebrate the theme of travel, exploration, and the exciting possibilities of visiting real and imagined new worlds. The popular Indie Showcase returns, with a selection of innovative games published by independent studios and presented by their developers. Classic games and cabinets featuring cars, travel, and new worlds are provided by MAGFest.

Double Take: An Artist and an Olympian
Wednesday, July 31, 5:30 p.m.  

One of the most memorable images from the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City is the symbolic act of protest by Tommie Smith, winner of the men’s 200-meter race. During the medal ceremony, Smith bowed his head and raised his fist as an assertion of Black solidarity in the fight for human rights. Decades later, artist Glenn Kaino collaborated with Smith to create the monumental sculpture Bridge, which will go on view in SAAM's Luce Foundation Center in July to coincide with the opening of the Olympic Games.

Join Sarah Newman, the James Dicke Curator of Contemporary Art at SAAM, and Damion Thomas, curator of sport at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, as they discuss the impact of Bridge and the gesture that inspired it.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is able to create and share experiences like these thanks to funding from generous supporters like you. Thank you for ensuring that American art is available to all. Donate to support SAAM.

Emma Amos, Winning, 1982, acrylic on linen with hand-woven fabric, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the Catherine Walden Myer Fund, 2019.15, © 1982, Ryan Lee Gallery, New York

America InSight; Photo by Mary Tait

Paper quilling; Photo courtesy of the artist

Installation view, Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, September 24– December 15, 2019. © Isaac Julien, Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro. Image Courtesy of SCAD

Luke Brandon; Photo by Kevin Burns

William H. Johnson, Underground Railroad, ca. 1945, oil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.645

SAAM Arcade; Photo by Norwood Photography

Glenn Kaino, Bridge, 2013-2014, fiberglass, steel, wire and gold paint, dimensions variable, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2022.34, © 2013-2014, Glenn Kaino

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