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Artists

Contemporary artist Gavin Jantjes’s untitled work is a part of the “African Cosmos: Stellar Arts,” exhibit on display through December 9.

Events July 13-15: After Hours at the Museum of African Art, Cranes and Clouds, “Don Juan” Screening

This weekend, hit up the Museum of African Art after hours, create Korean art and view a screening of “Don Juan”

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The Battle in Our Backyard: Remembering Fort Stevens

Historian David C. Ward recounts the short but unprecedented Civil War attack on Washington, D.C. at the Battle of Fort Stevens on July 11, 1864

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Smithsonian Gets Google Mapped

Smithsonian and Google Maps launched an easy to use application Tuesday providing step by step directions inside 17 museums and the National Zoo

Duke Kahanamoku, pictured here circa 1915, helped popularize surfing on the mainland and won several Olympic medals for swimming.

Amy Henderson: Team USA!

Guest blogger and Portrait Gallery historian Amy Henderson reflects on the Gallery’s Olympian collection

Works like this, Untitled by Jackson Pollock, can cause a fair amount of head scratching. So is it art? Find out Tuesday July 10.

Events July 10-12: Questionable Art, Crafty Mail, and the Battle of Shiloh

This week at the Smithsonian, debate the merits of contemporary art, craft your own stationery, and learn more about the Battle of Shiloh

The “Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon” exhibit maps out a web of relatedness between Bacon and well-known artists, celebrities and historical figures.

It’s a Small World After All: “Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon”

“Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon” shows how one relatively unknown but well-connected artist was linked to many of art and society’s most influential people

Escape the Sunday heat for a little refinement with the American Art Museum’s Steinway Series concert.

Events July 6-8: Constellations, Silk Road Treasures and a Sunday Concert

This weekend, become a constellation, make your own Silk Road mirror and enjoy the Classical stylings of pianist James D’León

The Mother Ship Model, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” is on display in the Rockets and Missiles exhibition station at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.

Insider Tips for the Tourists in Town

Think you know all of the cool sights on the Mall? We bet you’ll find these insider tips from the Institution helpful this tourist season

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At the Portrait Gallery: “One Life: Amelia Earhart” Opens 75 Years After Her Disappearance

This Sunday, local artist Kristina Bilonick will hold a workshop on screen printing and t-shirt design in pop culture.

Events June 29-July 1: Remembering Amelia Earhart, the War of 1812, and Hands-On Screen Printing

This weekend, commemorate Amelia Earhart, observe the bicentennial of the War of 1812 and make your own graphic tee

In association with the new exhibition, “African Cosmos: Stellar Arts," the African Art Museum hosts a talk by astronomist-artist Karel Nel this week.

Events June 19-21: The Art of Political Ads, Luce Design with Jackie Flanagan, and Karel Nel

We Owe Allegiance to No Crown, by John Archibald Woodside. c. 1814

“1812: A Nation Emerges” Opens at the National Portrait Gallery

To commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812, the museum debuts a curated collection of portraits and artifacts

Tour the former Old Patent Office, now the National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum.

Events June 12-14: Temple of Invention Tour, A Healthy Future in Renewable Energy, and Painting with Maya-Mam

This week, take a tour of the Old Patent Office Building, learn about renewable energy sources, and paint with Mayan artist Ubaldo Sánchez

Celebrate World Oceans Day with Phoenix, the 45-foot, full scale model of a North Atlantic right whale this Friday.

Events June 8-10: World Oceans Day, 100 Years of Girl Scouts, Hat-Making Workshop

This weekend celebrate World Oceans Day, 100 Years of Girl Scouts and hat designer, Lula Mae Reeves

Tuesday is the last chance of the century to see Venus pass between the sun and the earth.

Events June 5-7: Transit of Venus, Living Portraits, and Ai WeiWei

This week, watch the transit of Venus, take a “living portrait,” and explore the work of Chinese dissident artist Ai WeiWei

Pollock’s studio in East Hampton, New York, is now the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center.

Sharing Pork Chops With Jackson Pollock

Richard Field was an undergrad with gumption when he visited the painter at his Long Island home. Nearly 60 years later, Field recalls the memorable affair

The installation “We the people (detail)” was a deconstructed replica of the Statue of Liberty housed at an art museum in Kassel Germany.

Re-envisioning the Statue of Liberty

Sculptor Danh Vo deconstructs the American icon

Legendary birdwatcher, artist and author Kenn Kaufman discusses the phenomenon of migration at the National Zoo on Thursday.

Events May 29-31: Tarantula Feedings, Hollywood Pop Quiz, and Kenn Kaufman

Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Douglas Granville Chandor

Amy Henderson: The Shock of the Old

For generations immersed in social media, culture means a different thing than it did in 1940

Ross Braught, a largely forgotten artist who surely knew Jackson Pollock, painted the mural Mnemosyne and the Four Muses for the Kansas City Music Hall.

Where Did Jackson Pollock Get His Ideas?

A talented painter who died poor and forgotten may have inspired the influential American artist’s work in ceramics

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