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Lectures and Symposia

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is dedicated to enhancing our visitors' museum experience by bringing in authorities on topics related to our collections and exhibitions. Join our featured speakers as they share their expertise while highlighting influential artists and important works of art.

Current and upcoming events are listed below. A full archive of Webcast lectures and symposia is available from the links on the left of this page.

Upcoming events Friday August 7, 2009 Superheroes and Alter Egos 12:00 PM Grand Salon Renwick Gallery Mark Newport explores notions of gender, masculinity, and fatherhood by knitting oversized superhero costumes drawn from pop culture. Join Newport as he discusses his unique approach to portraying masculinity by using nontraditional materials. Come early to see his work in the new exhibition Staged Stories: Renwick Craft Invitational 2009. Friday September 25, 2009 Staged Stories Artists’ Roundtable 6:00 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum While Christyl Boger, Mark Newport, Mary Van Cline, and SunKoo Yuh work in the traditional mediums of ceramics, fiber, and glass, their work is anything but traditional. Each artist incorporates theatrical elements in his or her work that unify Staged Stories: Renwick Craft Invitational 2009. Exhibition curator Kate Bonansinga moderates a roundtable discussion with the four artists to highlight their work and methodologies and to discuss the curatorial perspective informing the exhibition. Artists’ Roundtable is made possible by the Smithsonian Women’s Committee Endowment for lectures in American craft. Please note this program is being held in The American Art Museum's McEvoy Auditorium Saturday September 26, 2009 Production and Propaganda 3:00 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum Panamanian art historian Orlando Hernández Ying explores the context and meaning of Hispanic religious paintings, sculptured figurines, and sacred objects. Wednesday September 30, 2009 Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures 7:00 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum The Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures in American Art brings outstanding artists,critics, and scholars to the museum to add to the ongoing national conversation about art. This annual series is made possible by the generosity of Clarice Smith. Lectures begin at 7 p.m. Free tickets, G Street Lobby, one hour prior. A reception follows each lecture. McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Artist William Wiley What’s It All Mean Wednesday, September 30 Critic Dave Hickey The Evils of Creationism: Art History according to Darwin Wednesday, October 21 Scholar Linda Nochlin Consider the Difference: American Women Artists from Cassatt to Contemporary Wednesday, November 18 Thursday October 1, 2009 A Long and Tumultuous Relationship 1:00 PM - 6:00 PM 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum Thursday, October 1, 1–6 p.m. Friday, October 2, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. This two-day symposium features lectures by sixteen scholars exploring the complicated interactions between American and Asian artists and visual traditions from the eighteenth century to the present. For the full schedule of talks and related tours, visit the symposia webpage. Friday October 2, 2009 A Long and Tumultuous Relationship 1:00 PM - 6:00 PM 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum Thursday, October 1, 1–6 p.m. Friday, October 2, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. This two-day symposium features lectures by sixteen scholars exploring the complicated interactions between American and Asian artists and visual traditions from the eighteenth century to the present. For the full schedule of talks and related tours, visit the symposia webpage. Friday October 9, 2009 Latino Art in Transition 7:00 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum Explore the development of Latino art with a discussion between renowned artist Pepón Osorio and emerging artist Miguel Luciano. Friday October 16, 2009 The Woman behind the New Deal 7:00 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum Kirstin Downey’s biography is the first complete portrait of a devoted public servant who changed the landscape of American business and society during and after the Great Depression. Book signing to follow. McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Wednesday October 21, 2009 Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures 7:00 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum The Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures in American Art brings outstanding artists,critics, and scholars to the museum to add to the ongoing national conversation about art. This annual series is made possible by the generosity of Clarice Smith. Lectures begin at 7 p.m. Free tickets, G Street Lobby, one hour prior. A reception follows each lecture. McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Artist William Wiley What’s It All Mean Wednesday, September 30 Critic Dave Hickey The Evils of Creationism: Art History according to Darwin Wednesday, October 21 Scholar Linda Nochlin Consider the Difference: American Women Artists from Cassatt to Contemporary Wednesday, November 18 Friday October 23, 2009 The American Scene in 1934 6:30 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum Realities and ideals of the Great Depression shaped the paintings American artists made for the Public Works of Art Project. Ann Prentice Wagner, the principal author of the exhibition catalogue 1934: A New Deal for Artists, shares her discoveries about the artists and the scenes they depicted. Book signing follows. McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Thursday November 5, 2009 Dorothea Lange: A Life beyond Limits 7:00 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum Linda Gordon, author of the first biography of photographer Dorothea Lange, shares her research and knowledge of Lange as a mother, artist, feminist, political activist, environmentalist, and photographer and chronicler of the Great Depression. Book signing to follow. McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Sunday November 8, 2009 Korean Folktales 3:00 PM Grand Salon Renwick Gallery Learn about the fascinating tradition of Korean folktales with Young-Key Kim-Renaud, chair of the Korean Studies Department at the George Washington University. She elaborates on the history and significance of this rich art form in Korean culture that has inspired the work of SunKoo Yuh, one of the four featured artists in Staged Stories: Renwick Craft Invitational 2009. Wednesday November 18, 2009 Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures 7:00 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum The Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures in American Art brings outstanding artists,critics, and scholars to the museum to add to the ongoing national conversation about art. This annual series is made possible by the generosity of Clarice Smith. Lectures begin at 7 p.m. Free tickets, G Street Lobby, one hour prior. A reception follows each lecture. McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Artist William Wiley What’s It All Mean Wednesday, September 30 Critic Dave Hickey The Evils of Creationism: Art History according to Darwin Wednesday, October 21 Scholar Linda Nochlin Consider the Difference: American Women Artists from Cassatt to Contemporary Wednesday, November 18 Thursday November 19, 2009 When Art Worked 7:00 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum Historian Roger Kennedy discusses the New Deal’s mobilization of artists, including filmmakers, painters, photographers, landscape designers, architects, and composers— those responsible for bringing the nation together during the Great Depression. Book signing to follow. McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Thursday December 3, 2009 Annual Eldredge Prize lecture 4:00 PM McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum has awarded the 2009 Charles C. Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art to Cécile Whiting for her book Pop L.A.: Art and the City in the 1960s (University of California Press, 2006). Whiting is chair of the department of art history and a member of the faculty in the graduate program in visual studies at the University of California, Irvine. In celebration of her award, Whiting presents the annual Eldredge Prize lecture California War Babies: Picturing World War II in the 1960s. A reception follows the event.
See all calendar of events.

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