Hats Off, Hands On November 18, 2007

One of the coolest things going on this afternoon is the area where you can make your own hats. You begin by working with a basic shape of a hat but whatever else you add is really up to your own imagination. I've seen everything walk by me this afternoon, from a man with an airplane perched on his hat/head, to a woman doing a tribute to Campbell's soup à la Andy Warhol, to a literal house of cards.  You can add beads, feathers, coins, even baseball cards. I think a couple of people here may have a future in hat design. And what's really great is that people are wearing their hats as they leave the courtyard and enter the main building, as if there's nothing unusual about strolling around the museum on a Sunday afternoon with an airplane on your head.

• Kogod Courtyard, Smithsonian American Art Museum