SAAM Stories

Are you a Stave or are you a Knave? Who do you swear allegiance to? American Art's Pheon reveals a hidden world in our museum, full of spies, secrets, and cell phones. It's Capture the Flag, but in a world where art is the holy grail.

US Highway 1 was acquired by American Art earlier this year. This post is part of an ongoing series spotlighting works that have been recently added to the collection.

This post is part of an ongoing series on Eye Level: The Best of Ask Joan of Art. Begun in 1993, Ask Joan of Art is the longest-running arts-based electronic reference service in the country.

"Watch this. You've got to see what I'm doing," an enthusiastic Nam June Paik would say to John Hanhardt, his longtime friend, curator, and currently curator of new media at American Art. Paik, who died in 2006 at the age of 74, is long considered the father of video art.

"In 2006 I built a boat and was attracted to the process as well as to the form. It required a whole new way of thinking for me--a 180 degree turnaround," said artist Matthias Pliessnig, whose sublime, wood-ribbed works are on view in History in the Making: Renwick Craft Invitational 2011 at the Renwick Gallery through July 31.

Emily Moazami, one of American Art's photograph archivists, needs your help identifying an artist.

Artworks within American Art are meticulously attended to. Humidity and lighting are kept at optimum conditions. But how do you take care of an artwork that adorns the outside entrance to the museum and stands tall during the heat and humidity of the summer as well as the cold of the winter? Also very attentively.

Join John Hanhardt, senior curator for media arts, and artist Jim Campbell Wednesday evening at 6pm in American Art's Watch This! gallery for a celebration in honor of video artist Nam June Paik's birthday. Paik (1932-2006), internationally recognized as the father of video art, was also a composer, performer, and multimedia artist.

Exhibition coordinator Georgina Goodlander and curator Chris Melissinos have been conducting interviews with video game designers, developers, writers, and composers for the upcoming exhibition, The Art of Video Games, which opens March 16, 2012 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In this series, Georgina reveals some of the things she learned during these interviews and this month, she takes a look at the unique team behind thatgamecompany and the inspiration for their game, Flower.

E. Carmen Ramos became the Smithsonian American Art Museum's curator of Latino art last fall. Now that she's had a chance to get settled, we caught up with her to ask about her interests and the rich holdings of Latino art in the museum's permanent collection.

"Welcome to the disquieting, and I may say, disturbing world of George Ault," independent historian Stephen May told us at the beginning of his lecture on the painter who is the subject of the exhibition To Make a World: George Ault and 1940s America, currently on view at the museum.

On July 4, 1836, President Andrew Jackson authorized the construction of a patent office, the historic landmark building that is now home to the American Art Museum.

Staying close to home this July 4th weekend? Out of town guests making the sacrifice on the New Jersey Turnpike to visit you this time? Bring them to the Renwick Gallery to explore History in the Making: Renwick Craft Invitational 2011, highlighting the creativity and talent of craft artists working today.

A crew from Antiques Roadshow, along with Nancy Druckman from Sotheby's, filmed a segment about some of American Art's portrait miniatures last summer and it will be premiering tonight, June 27 (check your local PBS channel for times and other airings).

This post is part of an ongoing series on Eye Level: The Best of Ask Joan of Art. Begun in 1993, Ask Joan of Art is the longest-running arts-based electronic reference service in the country. The real Joan is actually many people from our museum’s Research and Scholars Center. These experts answer the public's questions about art.

"Yellow makes everything shine," ceramicist Cliff Lee said at the opening of the Renwick Gallery exhibition History in the Making: Renwick Craft Invitational 2011, which features his work.

Summer is almost officially here, though it already feels like it when we step out of the crisp, cool corridors of the museum. In celebration of the sunshine and swelter, one of our public programs assistants, Laurel Fehrenbach, has some ultra funky sessions of our monthly jazz series, Take 5!, lined up for you. Eye Level grabbed Laurel on the fly to ask her about what's in store.

Some of the more interesting clouds these days are hanging out at American Art's exhibition, To Make a World: George Ault and 1940s America.