Art & Artists

Armenian shadow puppetry is a technique whose origins can be traced to the 1300s. The puppet theater group known as Ayrogi has set out to keep this imaginative art form alive.

Armenia

Illuminating the Shadowy Art of Armenian Puppet Theater

Tricksters and beasts dance across the imagination in these silhouetted puppet shows

Nadya Kwandibens' “10 Indigenous Lawyers” is one of the featured works in "Resilience," a nation-wide billboard campaign that will be seen by thousands of people every day.

Unprecedented Billboard Campaign Puts Spotlight on Indigenous Artists in Canada

“Resilience” features artwork by 50 indigenous women supersized on billboards throughout Canada—from British Columbia's coast to Newfoundland's eastern tip

“The white sea urchin (Lytechinus pictus) is found below the tide line,” writes marine biology graduate student Julia Notar in her submission. “I study how these animals see, and what they can see. They usually live in flat, sandy areas, where there aren't many places to hide from fish predators. Different species of sea urchins, which live in rocky areas, usually hide from fish in dark crevices in, between, or under rocks. Those urchins can use their blurry, but still useful vision to find those hiding spots. Does this species, which doesn't live in an environment with many hiding spots, do the same thing?”

Future of Art

Scientific Images Make Dazzling Art In a Duke University Exhibit

Three graduate students set out to show that the scientific and artistic processes are more similar than many imagine

Over the course of the 2018 Folklife Festival, experienced artisans worked hand in hand with crochet novices to decorate a humble tree of life.

Armenia

Armenia’s “Tree of Life” Tradition Took Root Thousands of Years Ago, and Has Only Grown Since

The tree adorned in this year’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival will continue to blossom overseas

Using an artist's tools and the skills of a scientist, Tangerini makes “art in the service of science.”

The Botanical Artist Who Translates Plant Science Into Beautiful Art

The Smithsonian’s first and only botanical illustrator brings her subjects to life in all their scientific glory

Sahkanush and Haykanush Stepanyan became experts at rugmaking while still teenagers.

Armenia

The Age-Old Tradition of Armenian Carpet Making Refuses to Be Swept Under the Rug

A new generation is emerging to craft the ancient rugs

The giants and big heads have been a hit among Folklife Festival-goers, says performer Jesus Bach Marques. "They're amazed by our giants! For most of them, it's something really new."

Catalonia

For Hundreds of Years, Papier-Mâché Has Lent a Surreal Face to Catalan Culture

Street performers disguised as Giants and Big Heads blend reverence with ribaldry at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

"My goal with music is to represent myself in a natural and sincere way," says musician Alidé Sans, "and what is more natural and sincere than an Aranese woman expressing herself in Aranese?"

Catalonia

This Musician’s Songs Give Powerful Voice to a Language in Crisis

Singer and linguistic activist Alidé Sans hails from an isolated Catalan valley where a rare dialect is spoken

Images of Vickie Jones for the March 1969 Jet profile.

The Counterfeit Queen of Soul

A strange and bittersweet ballad of kidnapping, stolen identity and unlikely stardom

Royal swan uppers now wear scarlet jackets, but they still pilot traditional rowing skiffs. The 2018 swan upping will begin July 16.

An Artistic Reimagining of London's Past in 'Old River Thames'

Tally ho! Photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten English looks at when swan lovers come to their census

Miqayel Voskanyan plays the tar, an Armenian folk instrument.

Armenia

These Soulful, Soothing Armenian Songs and Instrumentals Blend East With West

Performers from all over the globe gather with traditional instruments to perform at this year’s Folklife Festival

An artist's rendering of the Capitol dome as seen through Harvey Pratt's proposed "Warriors' Circle of Honor"

This Innovative Memorial Will Soon Honor Native American Veterans

The National Museum of the American Indian has reached a final decision on which design to implement

The Armenian countryside on the road from Yerevan to Vanadzor.

Unfurling the Rich Tapestry of Armenian Culture

This year’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival will offer a window on Armenian visions of home

Porquerolles Island

You'll Have to Take a Boat Ride and a Hike Through the Forest to Get to France's Newest Art Museum

A new French museum puts an out-of-the-box spin on the usual gallery experience

Dancing during the last day of Hatun Puncha.

Andean Solstice Celebrations Capture the Wondrous Churn of Spacetime

Exploring the similarities and differences between Indigenous and Western cosmologies

Maya Freelon's Reciprocity Respite & Repass at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building

Future of Art

Maya Freelon’s Immersive and Interactive Sculptures Bring Tissue Paper to Life

Her artwork will be a part of this weekend’s By the People Festival at the Arts and Industries building

The Nasotek is on display at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark.

What a Cabinet of Fake Noses Tells Us About How Art Preservation Has Evolved

The collection of replica appendages is on display in Copenhagen's Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek art museum

Among the colorful characters immortalized in the colorless daguerreotype medium are (clockwise from upper left): writer Henry Thoreau, Seneca leader Blacksnake, Navy Commodore Matthew Perry, mental health crusader Dorothea Dix, showmen P.T. Barnum and Tom Thumb, and actress Charlotte Cushman.

How Daguerreotype Photography Reflected a Changing America

The National Portrait Gallery brings the eerie power of a historic medium into focus

Artist Evan Keeling will be meeting visitors at the four-day "By the People Festival," a new gathering for arts and dialogue that the DC incubator Halcyon presents June 21 to 24.

How This Comic Maker Plans to Make Everyone an Artist

The first annual "By the People Festival" kicks off in the Washington, D.C. area with interactive art, gospel, Jazz, opera and other performances

Clockwise from upper right, the items Feliciano donated to the Smithsonian included: his beloved Concerto Candelas guitar, a Braille writer his wife Susan used, a pair of his trademark glasses, and a heartfelt embroidered note from a Japanese admirer.

For More Than Five Decades, José Feliciano's Version of the National Anthem Has Given Voice to Immigrant Pride

The acclaimed musician offers a moving welcome to the newest U.S. citizens and donates his guitar

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