May Programs at SAAM

Featured Program
SAAM Fellows Lectures
Wednesday, May 8, 1–5 p.m.
Thursday, May 9, 1–5 p.m.
Friday, May 10, 1–5 p.m. 

Smithsonian American Art Museum
McEvoy Auditorium and YouTube
Free | Registration required

Join the 2023–2024 SAAM Fellows as they present new scholarship on a range of topics and time periods, media and messages. This multi-afternoon program will highlight a new generation of scholars who are engaging the Smithsonian’s collections and archives in order to tell new stories about American art. The lectures will be held in person and online; registration is required.

The Temple of Invention Augmented Reality Experience
April 18 through May 16 

Before it was an art museum, SAAM’s historical building housed the patent office, the heart of America’s early drive to inspire innovation. Through this AR game, meet some of the fascinating people—including presidents, inventors, soldiers, poets, artists, and architects—who walked the halls of this “temple of invention.” Explore on your own or together with family and friends. Play the game to collect cogs, restore the temple’s heart, and see how this building is still a place where exploration, creativity, and change are celebrated.

This free experience is available April 18 through May 16, from noon to 5 p.m. on selected days. Recommended for families with elementary school-age children. Registration is encouraged; walk-ins welcome on a limited basis. 

Eye-Popping Art: Tours for People with Colorblindness
Thursday, May 9, 5:30 p.m. 

Join the Smithsonian American Art Museum for a docent-led tour of highlights from the museum’s collection using museum-provided, colorblind correcting glasses that bring the vibrancy of these works to life.

Take 5: Jazz at SAAM with Ally Hany Albrecht
Thursday, May 16, 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, with Washington DC-based trumpet player, arranger, composer and educator Ally Hany Albrecht. She is a member of the United States Navy Band, where she plays jazz trumpet with the Commodores jazz ensemble. Albrecht has also played jazz trumpet in the Grammy-nominated One O’Clock Land Band at the University of North Texas, and performed with the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the Jim Widner Big Band, Maria Schneider and Wycliff Gordon. She also plays with her own quintet, which released their first album, Journeys Ahead, in 2016.

Attendees can also enjoy playing board games, and refreshments are available for purchase from the Courtyard Café. 

Virtual Art Signs: Artful Conversations in ASL
Tuesday, May 21, 5:30 p.m.

Online
Free | Registration required

Curious about American art? Join us for a 30-minute virtual conversation about selected works from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection. This program is presented in American Sign Language (ASL) with voice interpretation for hearing participants.

Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women Lecture with Janneken Smucker
Thursday, May 23, 6:30 p.m. 

Join Pattern and Paradox contributor and cultural historian Janneken Smucker for insights into the history of Amish quilts and the works featured in SAAM’s exhibition, Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women, that were donated to SAAM by Faith and Stephen Brown. Smucker traces the journey of quilts from Amish homes to SAAM, revealing the ways the quilts’ limitless colors and patterns delight the eye and intrigue the mind. She also will discuss the significance behind the prolific creative time period in quilt making, from 1880 to 1950.

Leslie Umberger, curator of folk and self-taught art at SAAM, will introduce Smucker, professor of history at West Chester University and former SAAM fellow.

This program was generously supported by Mary Anne Goley.

Art Bites Gallery Talk 
Friday, May 31, 12:15 p.m. 

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. Natalie E. Wright, George Gurney Predoctoral Fellow, discusses Andrew Clemens’ Untitled (The Mary Heye Bottle).

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.

The Temple of Invention Augmented Reality Experience is generously powered by AT&T 5G.


 

Image Credits: SAAM 2023–2024 Fellows, courtesy of subjects  

The Temple of Invention AR Experience; Photo by Albert Ting

Alma Thomas, The Eclipse, 1970, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1978.40.3

Ally Hany Albrecht; Photo by Alyssa Hedenstrom

Artful Conversations in ASL; Photo  by Mary Tait

Photo courtesy of Janneken Smucker

Andrew Clemens, Untitled (The Mary Heye Bottle), 1883, naturally colored rock sand in pharmacy bottle, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift from the estate of Mary Brashier, granddaughter of Mary Heye, 2021.69

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