SAAM Stories

Black and white Image of boy and girl with back to camera blurred
Leslie Thornton’s feminist punk reset of experimental filmmaking’s aims and inclusions tackles issues we still grapple with today.
This is a photograph of curator Saisha Grayson
Saisha Grayson
Curator of Time-Based Media
"SAAM Arcade" Repeated five times
SAAM Arcade 08/02/2021
Chris Totten reflects on how the gaming community around SAAM Arcade has grown since the first event debuted seven years ago
Chris Totten
Close up of a man in a sombrero
Go in-depth with ¡Printing the Revolution's! iconic image
Headshot of woman with black hair
Rebekah Mejorado
Public Relations Specialist
A photo of musician Bartees Strange standing on a sidewalk between trees
Bartees Strange warns us against creating musical silos and describes how DC’s rich legacy of Black musicianship shaped his goals and his worldview.
Anne Wilsey
Program Specialist for the Luce Foundation Center
Woman with her arms crossed with a sunset background.
Exhibitions 07/27/2021
Now on tour! Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, a collaboration among SAAM and four partner museums, offers counterviews of “the West” and showcases modern and contemporary artists who are who are reclaiming the narratives of their region.
"SAAM Arcade" Repeated five times
SAAM Arcade 07/22/2021
SAAM Arcade is back with a new virtual program format, the museum’s first-ever Game Jam. Learn more about what a game jam is in this blog post!
This is an image of Lauren Kolodkin.
Lauren Kolodkin
External Affairs and Digital Strategies Assistant
A print of a woman's face with facial tattoos, against a printed background
Artist Melanie Cervantes explores indigeneity, identity, and activism in her printmaking practice
Headshot of woman with black hair
Rebekah Mejorado
Public Relations Specialist
A painting of Mrs. Charles Boynton Darling.
Three years ago we imagined the letters of nineteenth-century portrait sitters to Jonathan Van Ness, star of the Netflix’s series Queer Eye. With so many of us looking for advice about how to tame our unmanageable pandemic hair, we thought we’d take another look.
A black and white photograph of a person leaning out of a window, holding an umbrella.
A close exploration of a resilient community through the lens of three women photographers
Headshot of woman with black hair
Rebekah Mejorado
Public Relations Specialist
Painting of a glass with lemon slices on a white plate next to a red cup and saucer.
Behind-the-Scenes 07/12/2021
SAAM’s third floor galleries for modern and contemporary art are closed to the public temporarily beginning Monday, July 12 to make way for new artworks and new stories.
A photograph of a woman.
Katie Hondorf
Public Affairs Specialist
Two views of a painting under different lighting conditions.
Conservators at SAAM uncover new aspects of the influential artist’s work
Amber Kerr
Sydney Nikolaus
A woman looks up at a bust.
Senior Curator Eleanor Jones Harvey takes readers behind the scenes of an exhibition’s 17-month run
A photograph of Eleanor Harvey
Eleanor Jones Harvey
Senior Curator (19th-Century Art)
A woman in her studio making a cloth facemeask.
The artist focused on health and happiness, for herself and others, during the pandemic.
A photograph of a woman with brown hair and a dress standing inside a building.
Mary Savig
Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft
A black and white photograph of a person with short hair standing in front of a sign that says "Stop AIDS Los Angeles."
Pride Women Artists 06/30/2021
Claudia Zapata, curatorial assistant for Latinx art, shares their insights on a series of photographs by Laura Aguilar recently acquired by SAAM
A photograph of Claudia Zapata
Claudia Zapata
Former Curatorial Assistant of Latinx Art
Head of Romaine Brooks wearing a hat, coat, and white shirt open at the collar.
Pride Women Artists 06/29/2021
Romaine Brooks declaring who she is in her 1923 work, Self-Portrait, is ultimately a transgressive act for a LGBTQ+ person.
A picture of a man with a green shirt and tie on standing inside a room.
Geoffrey Cohrs
Docent Coordinator
Etching of a healing scene
Artist Carmen Lomas Garza’s scenes from everyday life honor borderland culture and create community
Headshot of woman with black hair
Rebekah Mejorado
Public Relations Specialist
photograph of artist Wes Felton
Wes Felton reminisces about his father, jazz legend Hilton Felton, and lets us in on how to freestyle like a pro.
Anne Wilsey
Program Specialist for the Luce Foundation Center
Detailed crop of Twisted Column Figure
Pride Women Artists 06/22/2021
Twisting Column Figure represents the freedom that comes once we commit to unlearning and undoing restrictions, from society and from ourselves.
Nathaniel Phillips