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At the Smithsonian / Exhibitions

“The Chesapeake is one of my favorite waterways, partly because people outside of the area aren’t as familiar with it,” says Maya Lin, who created Folding the Chesapeake at the Renwick Gallery.

Maya Lin Used 54,000 Marbles to Model the Chesapeake Bay

The artist’s highly imaginative waterway was created using satellite imagery from NASA

Hybrid Holism, dress, July 2012. 3D-printed UV-curable polymer. In collaboration with Julia Koerner and Materialise. High Museum of Art.

The Dutch Designer Who Is Pioneering the Use of 3D Printing in Fashion

In a new exhibition, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta shows how Iris van Herpen started a high-tech movement

A detail of Jennifer Angus' work In the Midnight Garden, 2015

The Renwick Reopens

How Thousands of Dead Bugs Become a Mesmerizing Work of Extraordinary Beauty

With much love for the insect world, artist Jennifer Angus crafts an installation made entirely out of beetles, cicadas, katydids and weevils

When people come to the Smithsonian,” says lighting designer Scott Rosenfeld, (inside the gallery displaying the work of mixed media artist Gabriel Dawe) “they want to experience art. They don’t have to worry about spectrum.”

The Renwick Reopens

The Renwick’s New Lighting Saves Energy, Money, Art, and Your Eyes, All at the Same Time

There’s way more to it than just screwing in the bulb and the museum’s chief lighting designer is turning it into an artform

2015 Grand Prize Winner Atlantic Puffin with Wild Iris, by Megan Lorenz, Elliston, Newfoundland, Canada. "Perched precariously on the edge of a cliff trying desperately to overcome my fear of heights,' says Megan Lorenz, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, "I watched this Atlantic Puffin pull a Wild Iris from the ground and walk along the cliff toward me. He stopped for a moment and I had enough time to capture him with the blue sky in the background before he dropped the Iris over the side where his mate was waiting at the burrow entrance."

A Taste of “The Best of the Best” Nature Photography

Take a trip around the world with these breathtaking images of nature

The Renwick Reopens

The Renwick’s Curator-in-Charge On What It Means to Open Ourselves to Wonder

Before the renovation, Nicholas Bell asked nine artists to tour the building and think deeply about public spaces dedicated to art

The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, after a $30 million renovation, is qualified once again to be called the "American Louvre."

The Renwick Reopens

The Renwick: Finally The Gem It Was Meant to Be

When the newly renovated museum reopens this month, one of Washington D.C.’s most storied buildings will be elegantly reborn

Girl Behind Bottle (Jean Patchett) by Irving Penn, New York, 1949, printed 1978

A Major Retrospective of Photographer Irving Penn Includes Previously Unseen Works

At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, view works from the master photographer’s 70-year career

Breaking Ground

Watch the African American History Museum Became a Giant Movie Screen

With state-of-the-art projection imagerie, acclaimed filmmaker Stanley J. Nelson’s 3D video transformed the museum for three nights in November

Craft beer sales grew by 17.6 percent last year compared to a rate of just 0.5 percent in overall beer sales.

There’s No Stopping The Craft Beer Craze

How innovations in the craft brewing industry have changed (and improved) our taste in beer

Nikiko Masumoto works with raisins on her family's farm.

Age of Humans

Where Will Our Future Food Come From? Ask a Farmer

Two farmers with different viewpoints talk about organic farming, GMOs and farm technology

The pivotal accuser at the trials, Tituba, would go down in history as a purveyor of satanic magic. An 1880s engraving depicts her in the act of terrifying children.

Secrets of American History

Unraveling the Many Mysteries of Tituba, the Star Witness of the Salem Witch Trials

No one really knows the true motives of the character central to one of America’s greatest secrets

Robert Kondo, Remy in the Kitchen, "Ratatouille," 2007

The Art and Design Behind Pixar’s Animation

A new exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt in New York City draws on the rich backstory of what it takes to give computer-animated life to pen and ink sketches

Invisible, 1971, by Giovanni Anselmo

Playful Artworks at the Hirshhorn Get the Better of One Mystified Observer

A group of international mid-century artists built a number of kinetic experiments into their abstract art

The title of Gardner's photograph (taken with Timothy O'Sullivan) Field Where General Reynolds Fell, Gettysburg, July 1863 was added later to capitalize on the famous general's heroism.

Alexander Gardner Saw Himself as an Artist, Crafting the Image of War in All Its Brutality

The National Portrait Gallery’s new show on the Civil War photographer rediscovers the full significance of Gardner’s career

“People who want to have fun,” Starr Hagenbring says. “These are fun, beautiful clothes. Seeing beautiful things makes you happy, and that’s what I do."

Wearing Your Art On Your Sleeve

These three artists come from a long tradition of creating wearable art. See many more at the Smithsonian’s upcoming Craft2Wear show this weekend

The Innovative Spirit

The Smithsonian’s Innovation Festival Demystifies the Invention Process

Inventors of a number of new technologies shared their stories at a two-day event at the National Museum of American History

The Innovative Spirit

The Smithsonian Spotlights American Invention at This Weekend’s Innovation Festival

Universities, federal agencies, companies and independent inventors will give visitors a glimpse of the future

"What About Grandma"

Awkward Family Photos Is Playing in Peoria

Like a long family road trip, the hilarious exhibition of awkward photos featuring kith and kin makes a stop in Illinois

Mouth (for L’Oréal), New York, 1986; printed 1992.

How Irving Penn Turned Fashion Photography Into a Fine Art

A new show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum looks back at a photo giant who blurred the lines

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