Talks, Symposia, and Lecture Series

Meg Saligman is a muralist, public artist, and conservation specialist who has worked across the country and around the world. She discusses her experiences making public art and the ways that she, the community, and conservators preserve these works for the future

A professor and ceramic sculptor, Japanese-American Akio Takamori has exhibited his work internationally for more than three decades. Most recently, Takamori's focus has been figurative sculpture, often autobiographical. Join the artist as he discusses his process and work as part of the James Renwick Alliance's Distinguished Lecture Series.

Michael Janis is an architect-turned-glass-artist who works with powdered glass, high-fire enamels, and decals to create dreamlike imagery. Join Janis as he elaborates on his techniques, work, and career. Artist

Ralph Fasanella celebrated the common man and tackled complex issues of postwar American political life in colorful, socially-minded paintings. Ralph Fasanella: Lest We Forget celebrates the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth and brings together key works from a career spanning fifty-two years. Watch Marc Fasanella, son of the artist, and Leslie Umberger, curator of folk and self-taught art at the museum, as they shed light on the artist's life, family, and artistic career.

The James Renwick Alliance presents a panel discussion with their 2014 Distinguished Educators, moderated by Elisabeth Agro, The Nancy M. McNeil Associate Curator of American Modern and Contemporary Crafts and Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Agro is joined by Dan Dailey, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Emeritus; Peter Held, director, Arizona State University's Art Museum Ceramics Research Center; Glen Kaufman, University of Georgia and director, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Emeritus; and Patti Warashina, University of Washington, Emerita, for a discussion on materialism and the artists that focus primarily on their craft medium.

April Gornik discusses her dramatic American landscapes including Virga, recently added to the museum's collection. Gornik's images—roiling seas, ominous skies, mountains overlooking endless plains—capture the power of nature and endeavor to create a suspended moment of calm. This is the second annual lecture honoring former commission chair, James F. Dicke II. Reception follows.

Artists María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz, and Freddy Rodriguez discuss the varied ways in which they engage Afro-Latino themes and issues in their work. Panelists will consider whether Latino artists bring a unique perspective to representing African diasporic people and culture in American art. Discussion is moderated by curator for Latino Art E. Carmen Ramos.

Though presented under the title Modern American Realism, much of the art in the Sara Roby Foundation Collection struggles against the descriptive term, realism. Art historian William Kloss returns to the museum to examine the classification of this great gift of twentieth-century art. Arguing that many of the pieces confound classification, he instead coins a new term, “RobyReal,” to describe them.

The January 12, 2010, earthquake decimated Haiti's cultural institutions that housed the country's artwork, artifacts, and archives. Learn how the Smithsonian- in partnership with the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), American Institute for Conservation (AIC), and Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) - is helping the Haitian government assess, recover, and restore Haiti's cultural heritage. Moderated by Richard Kurin, Smithsonian's under secretary for history, art, and culture, today's program features the following presenters: Hugh Shockey, conservator, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Corine Wegener, president of the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield; Stephanie Hornbeck, principal of Caryatid Conservation Services, Inc.; Dr. Diana N'Diaye, cultural heritage specialist /curator, Smithsonian Institution; and Mike Bellamy, director, Smithsonian's Office of Engineering, Design, and Construction. Sponsored by the Lunder Conservation Center of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg reveal their insights into Rockwell's art and why certain works appealed to them. Telling Stories is the first major exhibition to explore the connections between Norman Rockwell's iconic images of American life and the movies.

Timothy H. O'Sullivan (1840--1882) was a photographer for two of the most ambitious geographical surveys of the nineteenth century. He traversed the mountain and desert regions of the western United States under the command of Clarence King and Lt. George M. Wheeler for six seasons between 1867 and 1874. O'Sullivan developed a forthright and rigorous style in response to the landscapes of the American West. He created a body of work that was without precedent in its visual and emotional complexity, while simultaneously meeting the needs of scientific investigation and western expansion.

The Public Works of Art Project gave artists an opportunity to create art during the Great Depression. Co-Curator of the American Art Museum, Anne Wagner, discusses the federal government and its program to support artists, the artists' lives working on the federal pay roll, and select paintings from the exhibition 1934: A New Deal for Artists.

Following a short introduction by the American Art Museum's Curator of Photography, Toby Jurovics, photographer Frank Gohlke discusses his body of work spanning more than 30 years. His photographs capture the tension between humanity and the natural world, exploring how people adapt to the forces of nature both great and small, even within the confines of their own backyards.

To mark the bicentennial of Tecumseh's death and celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day, curator Karen Lemmey leads a gallery talk highlighting Ferdinand Pettrich's sculpture, The Dying Tecumseh. Following the talk, R. David Edmunds, Watson Professor of American History at the University of Texas at Dallas and author of Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership, joins Lemmey to discuss the Shawnee war chief and the myth and memory of this sculpture, once displayed in the U.S. Capitol. Renée Gokey (Eastern Shawnee/Sac-n-Fox), educator at the National Museum of the American Indian, will read an excerpt from one of Tecumseh's greatest speeches in Shawnee and in English. Presented in collaboration with the National Museum of the American Indian.

Join us for an engaging conversation with Elia Alba, María Martínez-Cañas, Miguel Luciano, Amalia Mesa-Bains, and Jesús Moroles, five contemporary artists working across the United States.How do these artists see their work in relation to artistic categories such as Chicano, Puerto Rican, Latino, American, and beyond? What are the most conducive frames in which to present and engage their multi-faceted artwork? Moderated by curator E. Carmen Ramos.

Karen LaMonte developed a unique process in creating her hauntingly sensual glass garments. She discusses her work titled "Reclining Dress Impression with Drapery," her experiments with material and process, and artistic influences. This Artist Talk took place on February 26, 2010 in the McEvoy Auditorium.

Celebrate FotoWeekDC when internationally renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark discusses her work and career. Mark is an American photographer known for her photojournalism, portraiture, and advertising photography. Mark's photo essays and portraits have appeared in such publications as LIFE, New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Smithsonian Magazine. She has published eighteen books, received numerous awards, and exhibited her work in solo exhibitions in galleries and museums worldwide. The program is presented in collaboration with the DC chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers, FotoDC, and Washington CityPaper.

Andy Paiko, who founded the Central Coast Glass Artists' Studio, explains how he creates with glass, and continues to explore new methods of coloration, patterning, and form, in everything from vessels and assembled sculpture to installation and custom design.

Michael Puryear is a designer, teacher, and studio furniture maker who has been practicing his craft for over thirty years. In this webcast, he discusses his work, process, and medium as part of the James Renwick Alliance's Distinguished Lectures series. April 28, 2013.

Blacksmith Marc Maiorana discusses entering new territory with his work, which was on view in "40 under 40: Craft Futures" at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Concerned with aesthetics, design, and sustainability, Maiorana's hand-forged iron pieces challenge previous assumptions about the possibilities of this medium.

This inaugural lecture honors James F. Dicke II, the museum's former Commission Chair, for his outstanding leadership and contributions to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Artist Inka Essenhigh discusses "Cartoons and Myths: Reviving Pan and Diana for the 21st Century" as she describes her influences, the evolution of her work, and the road to what interests her today—the creation of paintings that show an inner visionary world of the imagination.

Artist and author Harry Gamboa Jr. reflects on the social and personal conditions of Chicanos during the second half of the 20th century, focusing on the development of Asco -- a Los Angeles arts group whose key performances include Walking Mural, Instant Mural and Spring Paint LACMA -- and various aspects of performance art. Gamboa also discusses the fotonovela through an examination of his black-and-white photography, its role in representing Chicano(a) iconography, and the traditional media's response to his work.

Ceramic artist Christyl Boger, fiber artist Mark Newport, glass artist Mary Van Cline, and ceramic artist SunKoo Yuh discuss their visions on this Artists' Roundtable moderated by Kate Bonansinga.

40 under 40 artist Christy Oates pushes the boundaries of craft, using lasers to cut the plywood pieces of her furniture. Oates demonstrates her process and discusses the challenges and techniques involved in her work.

Collectors' Roundtable with Robert Lehrman. This annual series provides insight and invaluable advice on collecting art from museum directors, curators, collectors, art dealers, and consultants. Collector Robert Lehrman (Washington, D.C.) presents "Secrets of the Art World." Robert Lehrman, since 1979, has been collecting works by contemporary American and European artists, including William Christenberry, Damien Hirst, Agnes Martin, Gerhard Richter, and Andy Warhol. He also has one of the most comprehensive private collections of works by Joseph Cornell. Lehrman is founder and president of the not-for-profit Voyager Foundation and has lectured on contemporary art appreciation at museums, universities, and art schools across America. He believes that in addition to being personally rewarding, collecting art and supporting art organizations and their related activities is an important civic responsibility. He is on the Board of Trustees of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, where he served as chairman from 1998 to 2003.

This annual series provides insight and invaluable advice on collecting art from museum directors, curators, collectors, art dealers, and consultants. This evening, collector Helen Zell (Chicago, Illinois) presents "From Paper Dolls to La Poupée."

Photography Changes Everything, a new book from the Smithsonian and the Aperture Foundation, uses the visual assets of the museum to explore how photographs impact our culture and our lives. Join Marvin Heiferman, editor, David Griffin, Visuals Editor of the Washington Post, Bruce Hoffman, director of security studies at Georgetown University; Philip Kennicott, art and architecture critic of the Washington Post; and other guests, for a discussion moderated by Merry Foresta, founding director of the SI Photography Initiative.

This annual series provides insight and invaluable advice on collecting art from museum directors, curators, collectors, art dealers, and consultants. This evening, The Honorable Bob Bennett, former United States Senator from Utah presents "Collecting Westward."

Join us for a conversation with Steve Crocker and Vinton Cerf, two of the Internet's founding fathers. Crocker established protocols necessary for the workings of the Internet, and Cerf, a computer scientist, was instrumental in the development of the first commercial email system. They will discuss how the Internet changed the way we communicate.

Mark Feeney is the arts and photography critic for the Boston Globe and winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. His essays on visual culture range from photography to painting and film. At the Globe, he has also served as book editor and editor of the weekly section of news analysis and political commentary. His work has appeared in The New Republic, Harper's, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Scholar. His latest book, Nixon at the Movies: A Book about Belief (2004) was called "transfixing" by Vanity Fair. Feeney was the 2007 Robbins Professor of Writing at Princeton University and currently serves as a lecturer in American Studies at Brandeis University. This fall he will serve as a lecturer at Yale University.

Celebrate the opening of Something of Splendor: Decorative Arts from the White House and the fiftieth anniversary of the White House Historical Association with a special presentation by White House Curator William Allman. Hear the stories behind the exhibition artworks and the first families who lived among them.

A Revolution in Wood celebrates the magnificent gift of sixty-six pieces of turned and carved wood to the Smithsonian American Art Museum by the noted collectors, Fleur and Charles Bresler. Works by some of the best-known wood artists in the United States highlight the expressive capacity of craft's most organic material, and display wood turning's growing sophistication. Nearly half of the artworks in the exhibition were on public display for the first time. Collector Fleur Bresler has formed unique relationships with each of the artists in A Revolution in Wood: The Bresler Collection. Artists Michelle Holzapfel, Mark Lindquist, and Norm Sartorius share their stories in this round-table discussion moderated by curator Nicholas Bell.

John Franklin, senior program manager, National Museum of African American History and Culture, moderated a discussion about Thomas Day, craftsman, architect, and businessman. Donna Day, a descendant of Thomas Day, joins James L. Roark, the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of American History at Emory University, and Michael A. Ausbon, associate curator of decorative arts at the North Carolina Museum of History, as they share insight into Thomas Day's life, work, and historical impact.

Drew Gilpin Faust, Harvard University's president and eminent Civil War historian, discusses some of the forms in which the American Civil War was perceived by and represented to the American people, and the ways in which the nation dealt with the unprecedented carnage the War wrought. (February 28, 2013)

This program made possible by the James Renwick Alliance. The James Renwick Alliance's annual symposium features four panelists: artist and designer Jack Lenor Larsen, ceramicist and professor Judith Schwartz, wood artist and professor Wendy Maruyama, and metal artist and jeweler Donald Friedlich. Join them for a discussion addressing American craft and the influence of Japanese art and culture on their work. Moderated by ceramics collector Halsey North, this program is part of the National Cherry Blossom centennial celebration.

From Days of Mourning to Days of Jubilee? Frederick Douglass and the Meaning of the Civil War. Yale University professor and Civil War scholar David W. Blight shares his analysis of the impact of the Civil War on the ideas and psyche of Frederick Douglass. April 5, 2013.

Are permanent works of granite the best and only way to pay tribute to America's most significant people and events? Or might temporary public art installations prove to be powerful alternatives to national commemoration in Washington? Join the National Capital Planning Commission, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the British Council, and the Trust for the National Mall on December 8 as we explore creative ways in which the nation's narrative can be told. Participants include:Julian LaVerdiere, Designer, World Trade Center Tribute in Light; Justine Simons, Director, London's Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square; Krzysztof Wodiczko, Harvard professor and artist in temporary and interactive light installations; and Thomas Luebke (Moderator), Secretary, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. Learn how temporary art installations can help alleviate pressure on the National Mall, open the door to more artists and project sponsors, prompt greater exploration of new and dynamic designs and materials, and bring new people into the discussion about placemaking in the public realm.

Ever wonder what it would be like to hold your senior prom in the East Room of the White House? Susan Ford Bales, daughter of former President and Mrs. Ford, shares memories of this and other special events during an afternoon of reflections on life in the White House. Program part of the exhibition: Something of Splendor: Decorative Arts from the White House.

Damian Skinner, curator of applied art and design at the Auckland Museum and editor of the new book Contemporary Jewelry in Perspective, discusses the fascinating world of contemporary jewelry. Using unique pieces, Skinner places the medium in a historical and cultural context.

Smithsonian American Art Museum senior curator Eleanor Harvey moderates an exploration of the western American landscape and its relationship to ceramic vessels with ceramist Wayne Higby and Henry Sayre, professor of art history at Oregon State University. Together they create a dialogue between Higby's 21st-century containers and the 19th-century painters of America's frontier.

E. Carmen Ramos, Ph.D, Curator of Latino Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, delivers the keynote address at the 2013 Clarice Smith National Teacher Institutes, introducing her major exhibition, Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art. Ramos examines how Latino artists participated in and shaped artistic movements from the mid-twentieth century on and recalibrated key themes in American art and culture.

Eleanor Jones Harvey, Curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, explores the intersections between American art, literature, and the Civil War. Dr. Harvey also provides an introduction to her major exhibition, The Civil War and American Art, a sweeping survey of the impact of the Civil War on American painting and photography, featuring artistic masterpieces and literary legends of the 19th century. The American Civil War was arguably the first modern war. Its grim reality, captured through the new medium of photography, was laid bare. American artists could not approach the conflict with the conventions of European history painting, which glamorized the hero on the battlefield. Instead, many artists found ways to weave the war into works of art that considered the human narrative—the daily experiences of soldiers, slaves, and families left behind. Artists and writers wrestled with the ambiguity and anxiety of the Civil War and used landscape imagery to give voice to their misgivings as well as their hopes for themselves and the nation.

Through stories from some of America’s greatest artists, writers, directors, and musicians, Burstein will trace the roots of creativity, pulling back the curtain to reveal the sources of these artists’ inspirations, and the processes by which they create their art. These stories illuminate and inspire, helping educators and others find a spark of their own. Burstein is a Peabody Award-winning radio producer and author with a passion for creativity in everyday life. In 2000, she created Studio 360, public radio’s premiere program about pop culture and the arts, hosted by Kurt Andersen. Drawing on Studio 360’s hundreds of interviews with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Serra, Mira Nair, Chuck Close, and Joyce Carol Oates, Burstein recently published Spark: How Creativity Works (2011).

Based on his ongoing research at Project Zero, the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, Ritchhart will explore why and how integrating art in the classroom fosters powerful learning opportunities and promotes creative teaching. Ritchhart is a Senior Research Associate at Project Zero where his work focuses on such issues as teaching for understanding, the development of intellectual character, creative teaching, making students' thinking visible, and the development of school and classroom culture. His research and writings have informed the work of schools, school systems, and museums throughout the world. Ritchhart’s latest book, Making Thinking Visible (2011), was written with Mark Church and Karin Morrison.

Barbara Haskell is a long-time curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art and a well-known scholar on American modern art. Among the landmark exhibitions she has curated are The American Century: Art & Culture, 1900-1950 ; BLAM! The Explosion of Pop, Minimalism, and Performance, 1958-1964; Oscar Bluemner: A Passion for Color; Georgi a O'Keeffe: Abstraction; and Robert Indiana: Beyond LOVE, on view at the Whitney September 26, 2013-January 23, 2014. Haskell will discuss the works of Robert Indiana, creator of one of the iconic images of twentiethcentury pop art, LOVE. A popular culture hit, the design appeared, without Indiana's permission, on a wide range of commercial products. His attempt to reclaim the image from a cliché by remaking it in multiple editions of prints and sculptures alienated critics. Haskell examines the evolution of Indiana's themes within the context of the marketing of his work and offers insight into how we judge artistic reputations.

Teresita Fernández is a contemporary artist based in New York. Her large-scale, sculptural works showcase her interest in perception, and are often inspired by landscape and natural phenomena, as well as diverse historical and cultural references. Fernández's work is included in numerous museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Walker Art Center, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She is the recipient of the MacArthur Foundation's "genius grant," a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts Grant. In 2011, Fernández was appointed by President Obama to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. Her work Nocturnal (Horizon Line) is part of the Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, opening October 25 at the museum. Fernández will discuss three of her installation pieces and the evolution of her work.

Sarah Sze constructs extraordinary sculptures through an intricate assemblage of household objects. Her site-specific installations defy gravity in towering formations of mixed materials, and the contrast between small objects and large compositions explores the boundaries between art and everyday life. Sze was born in Boston and received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her work has been exhibited internationally for over a decade, and she is the 2003 recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Award. She currently lives and works in New York.

Richard Lacayo joined Time magazine in 1984, and has been art critic there since 2003. He has written for the Sunday New York Times and Connoisseur and co-authored the book Eyewitness: 150 Years of Photojournalism. Lacayo has interviewed and profiled numerous artists and architects, including David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Martin Puryear, Richard Serra, and Frank Gehry. In his talk, Lacayo will confront the widespread perception of the artist flourishing and dying early-e.g., Caravaggio, Modigliani, Raphael, Van Gogh-when more commonly, the major figures of art history lived into ripe old age. Artists including Matisse, Michelangelo, Monet, O'Keeffe, Picasso, and Renoir worked into their 80s or 90s. Lacayo questions whether the later work of artists is fundamentally different from what they did earlier and how older artists come to terms with aging and mortality.

Meryle Secrest is an award winning biographer and winner of the 2006 National Humanities Medal. Her critically acclaimed works include biographies on Romaine Brooks, Frank Lloyd Wright, Salvador Dali, Bernard Berenson, Stephen Sondheim, and most recently, Amedeo Modigliani. As a feature writer for The Washington Post for many years, she wrote profiles of prominent individuals including Leonard Bernstein, Anaïs Nin, and Marc Chagall. From 2002 to 2004 she taught creative writing at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Secrest lectures widely and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs in connection with her biographies, including NPR's "All Things Considered" and TODAY. She was born and educated in Bath, England, and now lives in Washington, D.C.

Mark Feeney is the arts and photography critic for the Boston Globe and winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. His essays on visual culture range from photography to painting and film. At the Globe, he has also served as book editor and editor of the weekly section of news analysis and political commentary. His work has appeared in The New Republic, Harper's, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Scholar. His latest book, Nixon at the Movies: A Book about Belief (2004) was called "transfixing" by Vanity Fair. Feeney was the 2007 Robbins Professor of Writing at Princeton University and currently serves as a lecturer in American Studies at Brandeis University. This fall he will serve as a lecturer at Yale University.

Kevin Salatino is the Director of Art Collections at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA. He has curated exhibitions on the work of Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, and William Wegman, among many others. Salatino, who recently curated the groundbreaking exhibition Edward Hopper's Maine at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, will share his insights on the artist and his work in his presentation "Edward Hopper and the Burden of (Un)Certainty".