Smithsonian Associates April 2024 program guide

Dear Friends and Members,

Our cover image—a delicate explosion of cherry blossoms in a print created by the Japanese master Utagawa Hiroshige nearly 170 years ago (p. 43)—reminds us that the beauty of spring is timeless. Here in the nation’s capital, where cherry trees gifted by Japan define the season, it’s also a reminder to make the most of outdoor activities as the weather grows warmer.

This month’s guide invites you to step into the fresh air with a wide range of programs. Enjoy an architecturefocused walking tour of historic Anacostia (p. 67); learn how the District is becoming a greener city through urban gardens and other environmental initiatives (p. 67); and scan stunning vistas from atop Maryland’s Sugarloaf Mountain (p. 65).

Farther afield, visit a pair of captivating green spaces in the Philadelphia region, known for its abundance of beautiful public gardens (p. 63). Set sail on a replica of a 17th-century Swedish ship, one of the highlights of a day exploring the history of Wilmington, Delaware (p. 68). And get ready for a western adventure by joining the tour to the Dakota Badlands that shaped a young Theodore Roosevelt (p. 69). Studio arts classes in wildlife photography (pp. 54, 61) will have you cameraready for the trip.

Hiroshige’s blossoms aren’t the only Japanese connection in this issue. There’s a place for you at a special lunch at D.C.’s Nama Ko restaurant (p. 18). Take a look at why the traditional Japanese ingredient koji is trending (p. 20) and join a film historian as he salutes the career of director Akira Kurosawa (p. 25). They’re the perfect way to prepare for celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May.

I hope your spring is memorable one—and that you’ll make Smithsonian Associates a part of it.

April 2024

On the cover: No. 45

Yoshitsune's Cherry Tree and the Shrine of Noriyori from the series Pictures of Famous Places of the

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Programs with these icons showcase Smithsonian’s world of

Frederica R. Adelman, Director adelmanf@si.edu

Smithsonian Associates In Person

We invite you to join us for selected in-person programs, concert series, and studio arts classes and workshops in our nation’s capital, as well as walking tours, full-day study tours, and overnight tours.

Lunch at Nama Ko

Fri., April 12

Enjoy a three-course lunch, prepared by chef Derek Watson, at Washington’s modern Japanese restaurant Nama Ko and learn how a single fish can be used to make essential Japanese pantry ingredients, both fresh and preserved. (see p. 18)

Artist Spencer Finch in Conversation

Mon., April 15

Join multidisciplinary artist Spencer Finch in conversation with Sarah Newman, the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s James Dicke curator for contemporary art. Finch discusses his work and process, as well as the ways in which environmentalism connects to what he does. (see p. 43)

Joan Nathan: My Life in Recipes

Tues., April 16

Joan Nathan, noted authority on global Jewish cuisine, talks about the treasury of recipes and stories in her new book, My Life in Recipes. She shares her story of marriage, motherhood, and a career as a food writer—and of a life well-lived and centered around Jewish cuisine from around the world. (see p. 18)

Lincoln: The Months Before Sumter

Wed., May 1

Drawing on his new book, The Demon of Unrest, Erik Larson examines the chaotic five months that led to the start of the Civil War—a slow-burning crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two. (see p. 8)

The Future of Exploration

Mon., May 6

Terry Garcia, former National Geographic executive vice president and chief science officer, and Chris Rainier, nature and cultural photographer and National Geographic Explorer, draw on their new book, The Future of Exploration: Discovering the Uncharted Frontiers of Science, Technology, and Human Potential, as part of a panel discussion to share their insights about the future of exploration. (see p. 26)

A Wine Dinner at Shilling Canning Company

Mon., May 13

Chef Reid Shilling showcases the bounty of the Chesapeake in a special dinner menu that features locally sourced, creatively inspired dishes. Sommelier Erik Segelbaum pairs wines with the courses and joins Shilling to talk about the food and drink. (see p. 20)

Please visit SmithsonianAssociates.org to view the FAQ on Health & Safety guidelines for in-person programs Read

Koji: The Secret Ingredient

Thurs., May 30

Takashi Sato, an eighth-generation member of a family that has produced tamari and other sauces for 200 years, shares how the traditional ingredient called koji creates the flavors behind many Japanese dishes. Sample foods and beverages that have been flavored with it. (see p. 20)

A Lebanese Lunch at ilili DC

Wed., June 5

Enjoy a three-course lunch designed exclusively for Smithsonian Associates. Chef and owner Philippe Massoud and executive chef Satinder Vij are on hand to introduce the menu, which includes mezze, an entrée, and dessert. (see p. 19)

A Singapore-Style Dinner at Cranes

Thurs., June 13

Singaporean chef Danny Ng Wei Jun takes over the kitchen of Cranes for a four-course dinner developed specially for Smithsonian Associates that features a menu that reflects the history of Singaporean hawkers. (see p. 19)

HAIR

Thurs., June 20

Discussing the ongoing relevance of HAIR is a panel including theater critic Peter Marks, original Broadway cast members Shelley Plimpton and Dale Soules, and longtime HAIR publicist Merle Frimark, moderated by arts journalist Patrick Pacheco. Attendees have the opportunity to see objects from the National Museum of American History’s HAIR collection that are not on public display. (see p. 32)

Studio Arts

SmithsonianAssociates.org

2024 Concert Season

Enjoy performances by the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (p. 21) and the Axelrod String Quartet (p. 22)

Let your creative side shine in a wide variety of hands-on classes led by professional artists.

(see pp. 52–54)

Tours

Our expert-led tours offer oneof-a-kind travel experiences.

(see pp. 62–69)

MICHELLE GOLDCHAIN

SPENCER FINCH

Unless noted, all programs are presented on Zoom; listed times are Eastern Time. Online registration is required.

Ever-Evolving Emerson

The Complex Humanity of an American Icon

More than two centuries after his birth, Ralph Waldo Emerson remains one of the presiding spirits in American culture. Yet his reputation as the prophet of self-reliance has obscured a complicated figure—one who spent a lifetime wrestling with injustice, philosophy, art, desire, and suffering. Emersonian lecturer and editor James Marcus pieces together a new portrait of Emerson’s life. Using landmark essays such as “SelfReliance,” “Experience,” and “Circles,” Marcus reveals an eerily modern persona of rebel, lover, friend, husband, and father.

His new book, Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Princeton University Press), is available for purchase.

Tues., April 2, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1T0-001; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

The 80th Anniversary of D-Day

June 6, 2024, will mark the 80th anniversary of the greatest amphibious operation in history. D-Day was the most complex, intricately planned, and competently executed military operation the world has ever seen, and it signaled the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany.

Kevin Weddle, professor emeritus of military theory and strategy at the U.S. Army War College, traces the development and deployment of the Allied military strategy for Europe and the cross-channel invasion known as Operation Overlord; the execution of the plan on D-Day; and the resulting stalemate and the Allied breakout from the narrow Normandy lodgment.

MAY 7 Allied Strategy and Operation Overlord

MAY 14 D-Day: Breaching the Atlantic Wall

MAY 21 Breakout: From Stalemate to the Liberation of Paris

3-session series: Tues., May 7–21, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1K0-463; Members $75; Nonmembers $85

The Battle of the Bulge

On the morning of December 16, 1944, German chancellor Adolf Hitler launched a lastgasp surprise attack against Allied forces holding a narrow section of the front in Belgium’s Ardennes region. By driving a wedge into Allied lines, Hitler hoped to turn the tide of war in Germany’s favor.

Called the Battle of the Bulge, combat over snow-covered ground in freezing temperatures lasted for five weeks. An American counteroffensive forced German troops to withdraw, with the Allies claiming victory. Military historian Mitch Yockelson shares the history of the Battle of the Bulge and its significance as a turning point of World War II. Mon., April 8, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1H0-810; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

What time does the program end? Unless noted, Smithsonian Associates programs run 1 hour 15 min.–2 hours, including Q&A

Men of the 16th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 1st Infantry Division, wading ashore on Omaha Beach on the morning of June 6, 1944

American infantrymen of the 290th Regiment fight in fresh snowfall near Amonines, Belgium

The Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Trials

Their History and Legacy

In 1945, Nazi officials involved in heinous crimes committed during the Holocaust of World War II and Japanese leaders responsible for war crimes including aggressive war, mass murder, and torture were indicted by International Military Tribunals in Nuremberg and Tokyo. The principal trials were conducted by a four-state tribunal in Germany and by many more states in Japan. Together with subsidiary trials by national tribunals, these proceedings set new standards for war crimes and crimes against humanity, leading to the creation of the International Criminal Court.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt personally ordered the creation of rules in the American trial of German spies and saboteurs. Whether the trials would be fair depended largely upon the attitude of the judges, prosecutors, and, notably, of who was in command. As a result, the proceedings sometimes ended with agonizingly fair results and even complete acquittals of defendants—and other trials were hardly fair at all.

Even today, the trial rules from 1946 have echoes in current events. They were copied in 2001 as the initial evidence rules for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, and as recently as January, the Israeli Knesset was legislating procedures for dealing with unlawful enemy combatants. Evan Wallach, a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and one of the nation’s foremost experts on war crimes and the law of war, explores the history of these trials and their impact on the world.

Thurs., May 16, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1H0-812; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

“One Life: Frederick Douglass”

Connecting Art and Protest

Frederick Douglass was the preeminent African American voice of the 19th century and among the nation’s greatest orators, writers, and intellectuals. Born into slavery, he became a leading abolitionist, civil rights activist, and as the most photographed American of the 19th century, a public face of the nation.

An exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, “One Life: Frederick Douglass,” explores the life and legacy of Douglass. It showcases over 35 objects, including a pamphlet of his oration “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”; two of his three autobiographies—My Bondage and My Freedom and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself; a letter from Douglass to Lincoln; portraits of activists in Douglass’ circle, such as Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth; and portraits of Black leaders Ida B. WellsBarnett, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Langston Hughes, all of whom carried on his legacy.

The exhibition’s guest curator, John Stauffer, and Ann Shumard, the National Portrait Gallery’s senior curator of photographs, discuss the intimate relationship between art and protest through prints, photographs, and ephemera.

Tues., April 9, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1L0-566; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus

Archaeology enables us to reconstruct with a great degree of accuracy the city of Jerusalem as it appeared in the 1st century, where Jesus spent his final days on earth. Archaeologist Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill surveys the history and archaeology of Jerusalem in the Herodian period, ending with the city’s destruction by the Romans in the year 70.

She focuses on the buildings of King Herod the Great, particularly his reconstruction of the Second Temple and Temple Mount, and provides an overview of other key sites associated with Jesus in Jerusalem, including the Lithostrotos pavement and Arch of Ecce Homo and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. She also considers the evidence for the historicity of the traditions associating Jesus with some of these sites.

Her new book, Jerusalem Through the Ages: From Its Beginnings to the Crusades (Oxford University Press), is available for purchase.

Wed., April 10, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-314; Members $25; Nonmembers $30 Note: This program will not be recorded and will not be available for later viewing via Associates Encores.

Defense counsel addresses the court at the International Military Tribunal in Tokyo, 1946

ANDREW SHIVA

Southern aerial view of the Temple Mount

Law and Order on the Railroad

Railroads became the primary mode of long-distance transportation in the United States during the mid-to-late 1800s. As the number of railroads increased, so did problems such as theft, vandalism, robberies, labor disputes, and trespassing. Local law-enforcement agencies often did not exist, or if they did, they lacked the resources to handle the challenges and railroads were left to handle them by themselves.

Modern railroad special agents are far more professional than the hired guns of a hundred years ago. Experience and highly specialized training make today’s railroad police some of the most highly trained law-enforcement officers in the country. Explore this fascinating history of crime-fighting on the rails—which has some surprising Hollywood connections—with Patricia LaBounty, curator at the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Wed., April 10, 7 p.m.; CODE 1NV-077; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Royal History at Hampton Court Palace

British royal history is more popular than ever: We’ve tuned in to royal weddings and funerals, binge-watched “The Crown,” and read countless takes on the inside dramas of the modern royal family.

Drawing on his new book, The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court, historian Gareth Russell observes the monarchy from King Henry VIII to Queen Elizabeth II through a unique lens—their connections to specific rooms at Hampton Court Palace. Architecturally breathtaking and rich in splendid art and decor, the palace has served as the stage for some of the most important events in the country’s history.

Among other stories, Russell covers Hampton Court’s links to Henry VIII and his wives, its role in the commissioning of the King James Bible, and how Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother made sure Princess Margaret’s divorced boyfriend, Group Captain Peter Townsend, was not on the guest list for a ball celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Enjoy these glimpses of Hampton Court as Russell uncovers the ups and downs of royal history at the palace and what (and who) was at play politically, socially, and economically throughout the centuries.

Copies of The Palace (Atria Books) are available for purchase.

Thurs., April 11, 12 p.m.; CODE 1L0-560; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

The posse sent after the Wild Bunch after they robbed a Union Pacific train outside Tipton, Wyoming, August 29, 1900

Gareth Russell

JAKE

DOUGLAS

Queens, Crowns, and Conflicts

The Royal Ambitions of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots

One of the greatest battles of the late 16th century was the clash of two women who were cousins and rivals in power: Elizabeth I, Queen of England, and Mary, Queen of Scots. In a world ruled by men, they took center stage in a battle to the death over a prize only one could claim: the throne of England. Tudor and Renaissance scholar Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger explores how their epic political and personal battles finally led to a unified rule in England.

10 a.m. England and Scotland: One Island, Two Kingdoms

11:30 a.m. The Early Years

12:45 p.m. Break

1:15 p.m. Two Queens, Two Crowns

2:45 p.m. Two Queens Battle for the Throne

Sat., April 27, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; CODE 1M2-317; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

Henry VIII: The Man Behind the Royal Image

The image of Henry VIII is immediately recognizable—hands on hips, lips curled into a sneer, eyes piercing and unrelenting. He has been portrayed as a large, buffoonish womanizer by Charles Laughton, a slender athletic lover by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and a stern, powerful monarch by Damian Lewis. Was he a tyrant seeking wealth and power willing to destroy a thousand years of spiritual and cultural tradition in the process? Or a true reformer, seeking to rid the church of years of corruption? An egomaniacal misogynist who used and disposed of women, or a dedicated king putting his kingdom’s need for an heir ahead of his own desires?

The real Henry VIII is all these men, a complex king who built a dynasty that changed England and Europe. Tudor scholar Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger explores how Henry continues to resist efforts to be reduced to a one-dimensional character and how he seized on the challenges and opportunities of a changing world to become a monarch who fascinates us more than 450 years after his tumultuous reign.

Tues., June 11, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-327; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

Enduring Splendors: Four Historic English Cities

Enjoy a unique opportunity to explore four of England’s most beloved cities, each possessed of intriguing history, magnificent architecture, rare treasures, and famous residents. From York’s bustling medieval streets and Oxford’s beautiful colleges to the splendid vistas of Cambridge and the Georgian elegance of Bath, cultural historian Lorella Brocklesby showcases what has long made these cities unforgettable.

APR 11 York: City of Abundant Treasures

APR 18 Oxford: Dreaming Spires, Architectural Masterpieces, and Idyllic Vistas

APR 25 Cambridge: The City of Ancient Colleges (Where Town Met Gown)

MAY 2 Bath: Scandals, Secrets, and Georgian Splendors

4-session series: Thurs., April 11–May 2, 6:30 p.m. CODE 1M2-315; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

Portrait of Mary at about 17 years old, by François Clouet, ca. 1558–1560

Official portrait of Elizabeth I (the “Darnley Portrait”), ca. 1575

Portrait of Henry VIII after Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1537–1562

York Minster and Oratory, York Radcliffe Camera, Oxford

A National History of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico, a Spanish-speaking territory of the United States, has a history shaped by conquest and resistance. For centuries, Puerto Ricans have crafted and negotiated complex ideas about nationhood. Historian Jorell Meléndez-Badillo of the University of Wisconsin–Madison offers a new history of Puerto Rico, providing a lens through which to understand the political, economic, and social challenges confronting its people.

He sheds light on the vibrant cultures of the archipelago in the centuries before the arrival of Columbus and captures the full sweep of Puerto Rico’s turbulent history in the centuries that followed, from the first Indigenous insurrection against colonial rule in 1511 to its establishment as a commonwealth in 1952. He also discusses the contemporary period and the intertwined—though unequal—histories of Puerto Rico and the continental United States.

Meléndez-Badillo’s book Puerto Rico: A National History (Princeton University Press) is available for purchase.

Thurs., April 11, 7 p.m.; CODE 1NV-078; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Booth’s Escape Route

On the night of April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln in a crowded theater and disappeared into the night. For 12 days he remained at large. Finally, pursuing troops found him hiding in a Virginia barn in the dead of night and killed him, ending one of history’s most dramatic episodes and setting in motion one of its most persistent waves of rumor and speculation.

Historian Michael W. Kauffman leads a talk that retraces Booth’s 100-mile-long escape route and reveals the personalities and intrigues surrounding the Lincoln assassination. Kauffman has led bus tours tracing Booth’s escape route for more than 40 years.

Mon., April 15, 7 p.m.; CODE 1CV-036; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Lincoln’s Legacy: A Dual Perspective

Abraham Lincoln, a staunch advocate of democracy, believed in the fundamental principles of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Two leading Lincoln scholars, Allen C. Guelzo and Harold Holzer, discuss the intricacies of Lincoln’s legacy, providing a dual perspective on the challenges and triumphs that defined the nation during the 19th century and drawing parallels to the complexities of the current one.

Discussing his new book, Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment, Guelzo reveals Lincoln’s commitment to the delicate balance between majority and minority rule, showcasing how this belief shaped his actions during the war and beyond. He also offers a compelling glimpse into Lincoln as a visionary thinker, analyzing his perspectives on civil liberties, race, and government.

Drawing on his new book, Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration, Holzer examines Lincoln’s political career through the lens of immigration, from his role as a member of an increasingly nativist political party to his evolution into an immigration champion, a progression that would come at the same time as he refined his views on abolition and Black citizenship.

Our Ancient Faith (Knopf) and Brought Forth on This Continent (Dutton) are available for purchase.

Thurs., April 18, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1D0-046; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

What time does the program end? Unless noted, Smithsonian Associates programs run 1 hour 15 min.–2 hours, including Q&A

Abraham Lincoln, taken on November 8, 1863

Lincoln: The Months Before Sumter

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the unlikely victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds—Southern extremists were moving closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but the passions of North and South came to focus on a federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.

Drawing on his new book, The Demon of Unrest, Erik Larson examines the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln described these five months of trials as “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”

Using information from diaries, secret communiqués, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson discusses the pivotal period between the election of Lincoln and the start of the Civil War—a slow-burning crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two. A pre-signed copy of The Demon of Unrest (Crown) is included in the ticket price.

Wed., May 1, 6:45 p.m.; Baird Auditorium, National Museum of Natural History; CODE 1L0-571; General Admission $50

The Wide Awakes

The Forgotten Force that Spurred the Civil War

At the start of the 1860 presidential campaign, a handful of fired-up young Northerners appeared as bodyguards to defend anti-slavery stump speakers from frequent attacks. The group called themselves the Wide Awakes. Soon, hundreds of thousands of young white and Black men and a number of women were organizing boisterous, uniformed, torch-bearing brigades of their own.

Drawing on his new book, Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War, Smithsonian historian Jon Grinspan examines exactly how the nation crossed the threshold from a political campaign into a war. He traces how the Wide Awakes—whose members were mostly working-class and in their 20s—became one of the largest, most spectacular, and most influential political movements in our history. Within a year, the nation would be at war with itself—and many on both sides would point to the Wide Awakes as one of the mechanisms that got them there.

Copies of Wide Awake (Bloomsbury Publishing) are available for purchase.

Wed., June 26, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1L0-580; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

The Mysterious History of the Knights Templar

In the aftermath of the First Crusade, a quasi-religious military order of knights emerged as a new era of exchange between Europe and the Holy Land expanded in a complex environment of conflict and commerce. The Knights Templar, more formally known as the Poor FellowSoldiers of Christ of Solomon’s Temple, soon became one of the most powerful, wealthy, and secretive orders of knights—circumstances that contributed to both its mystique and its downfall as a target of King Philip IV of France.

When the last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, and other Templar leaders were burned at the stake in 1314, the order ceased to exist. Or did it? Experts disagree, as vestiges of Templar influence are still apparent even today. Historian Cheryl White of Louisiana State University at Shreveport examines the extraordinary beginnings, context, and ultimate end of the Knights Templar as part of a complex tapestry of changing life in Europe in the era of the Crusades and turns a critical eye on the order’s lasting impact as part of the great age of chivalry.

Wed., April 17, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-316; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

NINA SUBIN

Erik Larson

Seal of the Templars, 1894

Clovis and the Franks

From Roman Gaul to the Creation of France

When the Western Roman Empire collapsed in the fifth century, Germanic kingdoms dominated Italy, Gaul, and Spain. Yet only one of those kingdoms laid a foundation from which a modern country would arise: the Franks, who conquered the lands that came to be known as France. The king who led their original conquests was Clovis, who reigned from approximately 481 to 511.

David Gwynn, associate professor in ancient and late antique history at Royal Holloway, University of London, re-examines Clovis’ career and the factors that explain his remarkable success. He traces Clovis’ legacy through the centuries to the greatest Frankish ruler, the emperor Charlemagne.

Thurs., April 18, 12 p.m.; CODE 1J0-354; Members $25; Nonmembers $30 Clovis

Thinking About the Unthinkable

Planning for Nuclear Conflict in the Early Cold-War Era

Through the 1950s and 1960s, the world witnessed a first in its history: two global superpowers armed with enough thermonuclear weapons to destroy the planet several times over. For decades, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists kept its Doomsday Clock just a few minutes shy of midnight to underline how perilously close the world stood to a nuclear war. While many Americans repeated the idea that nuclear war was too terrible to contemplate, a group of scholars and theorists within the defense and policy worlds thought deeply and carefully about how to wage—and win—such a conflict should it ever erupt.

Historian Christopher Hamner examines the thinking of scholars like Herman Kahn and those at the RAND Corporation as they puzzled out how to deter World War III or, failing that, how the U.S. could emerge victorious—as well as to understand how everyday Americans were thinking about the monstrous possibility of nuclear war.

Thurs., April 25, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1D0-047; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

McClellan and the Seven Days Battles

Early 1862 was a time of frustration for President Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet, particularly in the Civil War’s eastern theater. Gen. George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac seemed immobilized in its camps around Washington, D.C., and McClellan himself unwilling to confront the Confederate Army, a mere 35 miles away. Yet things were about to change.

In March, McClellan began to move his 100,000-man army by ship from Alexandria to Fort Monroe, Virginia, only 80 miles from Richmond, the Confederate capital. In May, McClellan and his army were just outside Richmond, ready to execute the coup de grâce to the Confederacy. Ultimately, however, McClellan’s strategy failed.

Former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer Marc Thompson looks at McClellan’s 1862 Peninsula Campaign with an emphasis on the Seven Days Battles. Evaluating McClellan’s state of mind and actions, Thompson explains why this bold campaign plan yielded disastrous results.

Tues., April 30, 7 p.m.; CODE 1CV-038; Members $25; Nonmembers $30 Related tour: The Seven Days Battles, p. 63

at the Battle of Tolbiac by Ary Scheffer, 1836

GALERIE DES BATAILLES

Nuclear detonation conducted at Bikini Atoll, 1946

Federal battery, near Fair Oaks, Virginia, 1862

A Journey Through Ancient China

Historian Justin Jacobs takes you on a thematic tour of four important topics in ancient Chinese history: relations with nomads, sacred mountains, the civil service exams, and the maritime voyages of Zheng He. Each lecture includes a rich, nuanced overview based on the latest scholarship and illustrated with copious slides.

Making Democracy Count

Math’s Influential Role in Voting and Representation

Jacobs, a professor of Chinese history at American University, is the author of several books.

MAY 1 China and the Nomads

MAY 8 Sacred Mountains of China

MAY 15 The Chinese Civil Service Exams

MAY 22 The Maritime Voyages of Zheng He

4-session series: Wed., May 1-22, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1J0-358; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

Individual sessions: Wed., May 1 (CODE 1J0-358A); Wed., May 8 (CODE 1J0-358B); Wed., May 15 (CODE 1J0-358C); Wed., May 22 (CODE 1J0-358D); 6:45 p.m.; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Presenting mathematical thinking as an objective, nonpartisan framework, math professor Ismar Volić examines why he believes the current voting system stifles political diversity; the size of the House of Representatives contributes to its paralysis; gerrymandering entrenches partisanship and disenfranchisement; and the Electoral College needs to be rethought. Volić also taps into the legal and constitutional practicalities involved in representative government while proposing a road map for repairing our democracy.

Volić’s new book, Making Democracy Count: How Mathematics Improves Voting, Electoral Maps, and Representation (Princeton University Press), is available for purchase.

Thurs., May 2, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1T0-002; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

“Bridgerton” and the Real World of Regency London

In Regency England the London season—from the end of January, when Parliament reopened, until July—brought members of the titled peerage into the city to conduct government. Meanwhile, their wives held balls and parties to network. Known as the “Ton,” they comprised a few hundred wealthy families whose strict codes of conduct, fashion, and social customs dictated who and what was acceptable. They were the celebrities of the early 19th century, engaged in what was described as “a business of pleasure.”

Historian Julie Taddeo examines the men and women who lived “in the fashionable mode” and were circumscribed by exacting rules that dictated everything from what they wore to who they married, where they lived to what work men did. It was not easy to gain entry to this elite circle, as fans of the series “Bridgerton” know, and anything done beyond its rigid proscriptions was enough to render the offender ignored—or worse. Eventually the Ton was forced to change over time to welcome non-aristocratic members into their ranks or risk dying off.

Mon., May 6, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1L0-568; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Huà Shān

CHENSIYUAN

PRINCETON

History, National Identity, and International Affairs

A shared understanding of history is a core part of national identity. However, in countries as disparate as Russia, China, Turkey, Germany, and the United States, leaders are increasingly trying to control how historical narratives are shaped, taught, and even discussed.

In Russia, criticism of Soviet policy during World War II can land you in prison. In Turkey, recognition of the Ottoman genocide of Armenians in 1915 is illegal and seen as an insult to “Turkishness.” In Germany, it is illegal to deny the Holocaust. Vladimir Putin insists that there has never been a separate Ukrainian nation, making his war on Ukraine justified to reunite the country.

Historian Hope M. Harrison of George Washington University explores how and why certain versions of history are being used by world leaders to support contemporary policies—and why all citizens should develop the skills to critically view the political uses of history.

Wed., May 8, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1H0-813; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

The Reverse Underground Railroad

Slavery and Kidnapping in Pre-Civil War America

In the decades before the Civil War a clandestine network of human traffickers and slave traders stole away thousands of free African Americans from the northern states to sell them into slavery in the Deep South. Philadelphia was the Reverse Underground Railroad’s northern terminus. The city’s proximity to the Mason-Dixon line, which divided the mostly free North from the expanding slave South, made its many free Black residents attractive targets. Those captured could fetch up to the equivalent of $15,000 in today’s money in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, three of the new territories and states rising along the Gulf Coast.

Historian Richard Bell of the University of Maryland examines the prevalence of this heinous practice, the routes the kidnappers took, and the techniques they used to lure free Black people. He considers the dramatic impact these kidnappings had on American history by accelerating the spread of slavery into new corners of the country, radicalizing Black communities across the free states, and focusing the public’s attention for the first time on the suffering of Black families forcibly separated by slavery. He also discusses the actions of state and city governments to end the kidnappings and the ways in which some children and adult victims were rescued. Wed., May 15, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-321; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

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1838 woodcut of the kidnapping of a free Black woman to be sold into slavery

The Wonders of Copan and Tikal

Classic Maya City-States of Central America

The sophisticated courts of the classic Maya offer a trove of information and artifacts. Classic Maya civilization (3rd through 9th centuries) flourished in the form of a network of interconnected city-states, each with its own dynasties of ruling elites and court culture, whose interactions involved trade, marriage alliances, warfare, treaties, diplomacy, and civic and religious ceremonies.

At the heart of these city-states are the impressive architecture of palaces, temples, and ball-courts; intriguing relief carvings of deities, kings, queens, and scribes; painted ceramic vessels; and richly appointed burials.

Cultural historian George Scheper of Johns Hopkins University, an expert on the Indigenous cultures of the Americas, explores the storied splendors of Copan and Tikal and how the decipherment of Maya glyph-writing has opened new worlds of written history of the dynasties of these impressive sites.

Thurs., May 16, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-322; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

The Archaeology of Judaism

The period of post-biblical Judaism is exceedingly rich in archaeological evidence, found both in Israel and in the lands of an everwidening Diaspora. In an illustrated full-day program, biblical scholar Gary Rendsburg of Rutgers University synthesizes archaeological findings and literary evidence to reveal a multifaceted portrait of Jewish life in late antiquity.

Urban Oasis

A History of Rock Creek Park

10 a.m. The First Diasporas: Egypt and Babylonia

11:30 a.m. The Jews of Hellenistic Egypt

12:45 p.m. Break

1:15 p.m. The Diaspora

2:45 p.m. The Land of Israel

Sat., May 18, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; CODE 1M2-323; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

Established in 1890, Rock Creek Park was the third national park created in the United States and the first in a major city. More than 2,000 acres winding through Northwest Washington were set aside as a refuge for wildlife and an escape for District residents. Before the founding of the park, the land supported Indigenous people, agriculture, fishing, and industry. The creek powered mills, watered orchards, and was a conduit for trade in the nation’s capital.

While the landscape feels natural today, much of Rock Creek Park was meticulously laid out by the Olmsted Brothers landscape architectural firm. Their rustic style of bridges, roads, and structures helped set the tone of national “parkitecture” across the country. Carolyn Muraskin, founder of DC Design Tours, surveys familiar parts of the landscape, including the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, as well as lesser-known landmarks, memorials, ruins, and other remnants of Rock Creek Park’s past. Thurs., May 16, 7 p.m.; CODE 1NV-081; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Temple 1 at Tikal Aerial view of the Tel Arad fortress archaeological site

GEORGE SCHEPER

Boulder Bridge, Rock Creek Park

It’s About Time

Organizing the Calendar, Time Zones, and the Clock

Once upon a time, humans could mostly ignore the clock, but the Industrial Age and its expanding system of railroads forced societies to devise a system of global timekeeping. Journalist and historian Adam Tanner traces the intriguing evolution of the human invention of time—the source of today’s crazy quilt of different times across the globe, which developed after surprisingly heated international debate.

He also discusses how it took many centuries before Europe widely embraced the system of counting years from the first century and why Daylight Saving Time remains controversial even today.

Fri., May 17, 12 p.m.; CODE 1NV-082; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Working the Night Shift

The Ancient World After Dark

As twilight settled in the ancient world, a host of activities began, some of which were significantly different from what people did during the daytime. Some artifacts, features, and buildings associated with these activities were particular to the dark, while other material culture was transformed in meaning as the sun set. So much of our economic, social, and ritual lives takes place at night and yet, until recently, relatively little archaeological research has been undertaken specifically on nocturnal quotidian practices.

April Nowell, a Paleolithic archaeologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Victoria, Canada, discusses the people who worked the night shift in ancient societies—from the hunters, agriculturists, sewage workers, and ironsmiths to the poets, navigators, and rebellion leaders. Drawing on archaeological data and textual evidence, she argues that night in the ancient world was anything but sleepy.

Tues., May 28, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1H0-814; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Adventures in the Archives—and Beyond

A Historian’s Unconventional Research

For historians like Megan Kate Nelson, the “archive”—usually a library, university, museum, or historical society collection—is a sacred place. They go there to uncover the lived experiences of past Americans through first-person accounts: diaries, letters, family papers, newspapers and magazines, and other primary source materials. But what happens when these sources don’t contain the answers they seek?

Nelson discusses research adventures that led her to places beyond the traditional archives during her preparation for The Three-Cornered War, a book about the American Civil War in the desert Southwest that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2021. A visit to a pass in the Organ Mountains of New Mexico revealed that battle reports, letters, and maps don’t always account for the environmental realities of warfare. A two-month search for information on the daughter of a colonel who commanded U.S. troops in New Mexico showed Nelson how and why women often disappear from the historical record. And viewing baskets and blankets woven by Navajo women helped her use insights from material culture to tell the story of Juanita, a Navajo civilian whose story is at the heart of The Three-Cornered War.

Nelson’s behind-the-scenes glimpses offer unique perspectives on the historical research process for her book and the challenges historians face as they try to reconstruct the large-scale and intimate details of past events.

Thurs., May 30, 12 p.m.; CODE 1NV-075; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Read more about programs in this guide on our website. Search by code or date. Expanded program descriptions, presenters’ information, and more at SmithsonianAssociates.org.

Eisenhower and the Planning of Operation Overlord

In the months leading up to D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s attention was in relentless demand, whether he was negotiating, rallying troops, or solving crises from his headquarters in Bushy Park, London. He projected optimism throughout, but after a rousing speech to troops on the day of the invasion he drafted a resignation letter in case of its failure.

Drawing on his new book The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower, author Michel Paradis discusses the strategic planning of Operation Overlord—which led to D-Day and the liberation of France—focusing on the six months preceding the mission when Dwight Eisenhower grew from a widely respected general into one of the singular figures of American history.

Copies of The Light of Battle (Mariner Books) are available for purchase.

Mon., June 3, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1L0-577; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

After 1177 B.C.

The Survival of Civilizations

At the end of 1177 B.C., many of the Late Bronze Age civilizations of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean lay in ruins, undone by invasion, revolt, natural disasters, famine, and the demise of international trade. An interconnected world that had boasted major empires and societies, relative peace, robust commerce, and monumental architecture was lost and the so-called First Dark Age had begun. But what happened over the next four centuries?

Classicist and anthropologist Eric Cline, author of 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, surveys this dramatic period and examines how the demise of powerful civilizations created circumstances to which people and societies had to adapt. Those who failed to adjust disappeared from the world stage, while others transformed, resulting in a new world order that included Phoenicians, Philistines, Israelites, Neo-Hittites, Neo-Assyrians, and Neo-Babylonians. Far from being the First Dark Age, says Cline, it was one that ushered in new inventions and new opportunities.

After 1177 B.C. (Princeton University Press) is available for purchase.

Wed., June 5, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1D0-051; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

The Axis Powers and the Buildup to World War II

To America, it was a day that would live in infamy. But for Japan, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 was merely an attempt to protect its flank from the U.S. Navy while it pursued a decades-long plan to conquer China.

But the move proved to be a colossal losing bet by the Axis that unleashed the U.S. and its mighty military arsenal as the decisive war machine in World War II. Hitler’s High Command had not focused their intelligence on America as an enemy and were left with little intelligence to assess its war policy—which cost Germany the war.

Military historian Harry Yeide studied original documents from Axis powers to understand how and why they underestimated America and identifies the points in time when their leaders realized America and its American-supplied allies were on the path to victory. Yeide is the author of Betting Against America: The Axis Powers’ Views of the United States (Casemate), which is available for sale.

Thurs., June 13, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1H0-818; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

The Architects of “Toxic Politics”

With the 2024 presidential race in full swing, many Americans are troubled by the caustic nature of today’s campaigns. The reality is vitriol has been at play from the beginning of the Republic, reflected in character assassin J.T. Callender; the vicious 1800 presidential battle of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams; and Andrew Jackson's no-holds-barred campaigns in the mid-1800s.

Today, the same phenomenon is undermining our public life again. The political climate has been intensified over the years by the news media and social media—inherently attracted to conflict and outrage—and by a variety of political provocateurs, merchants of discord, and peddlers of anger.

Veteran White House correspondent, historian, and author Ken Walsh explores the history of poison politics in America and highlights the figures who helped shape the modern landscape.

His book The Architects of Toxic Politics in America: Venom and Vitriol (Routledge) is available for purchase.

Mon., June 10, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1D0-055; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

1932: FDR, Hoover, and the Dawn of a New America

In 1932, the country was experiencing a broken economy, natural disaster, bubbling political radicalism, and a rise of dangerous forces ushering in an era of global conflict. Amid this turmoil loomed a choice in the presidential election between two men with different visions of America. Republican President Herbert Hoover embraced small government and a largely unfettered free market, while New York Democratic Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt believed that the path out of the economic crisis required government intervention and a national sense of shared purpose.

Author Scott Martelle places that campaign in the context of Americans’ daily lives and the significant political and social issues of the day in his book 1932: FDR, Hoover and the Dawn of a New America (Kensington), available for purchase.

Thurs., June 13, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1CV-041; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Inside Georgetown

Rags to Riches in Washington’s Oldest Neighborhood

Founded 50 years before the federal capital of Washington, D.C., Georgetown got its start as a gritty port city on the banks of the Potomac River. Despite very modest beginnings, the area eventually came to have some of the most expensive and desirable property in the District. Carolyn Muraskin, founder of DC Design Tours, reveals the highlights and secrets of one of the city’s most exclusive neighborhoods, home to palatial mansions, notable cemeteries, stately churches, and a world-class university.

Fri., June 14, 12 p.m.; CODE 1NV-085; Member $25; Nonmembers $30

What time does the program end? Unless noted, Smithsonian Associates programs run 1 hour 15 min.–2 hours, including Q&A

Georgetown University

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Herbert Hoover

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

The Normal Women of England

900 Years of Making History

What did women do to shape England’s culture and traditions in nine centuries of turmoil, plague, famine, religious reform, and the rise of empire and industry? Author Philippa Gregory offers the answer as she draws on her new book, Normal Women.

With accounts of female soldiers, highwaywomen, pirates, miners, ship owners, international traders, theater impresarios, runaway enslaved women, “female husbands,” social campaigners, and rebels, Gregory discusses the individuals, the prejudice they faced, and how they built a society as diverse and varied as the women themselves. Her radical retelling of her nation’s story focuses not on the rise and fall of kings and the occasional queen but on the social and cultural change powered by the determination, persistence, and effectiveness of women from 1066 to modern times.

Copies of Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of History (HarperOne) are available for purchase.

Sat., June 15, 1 p.m.; CODE 1L0-579; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

The Last Island

In November 2018, a young American missionary kayaked onto a remote beach in the Indian Ocean and was killed by Indigenous islanders wielding bows and arrows. News of that fatal encounter on North Sentinel Island—a small patch of land in the Andaman archipelago—fascinated people around the world. Most were unaware such a place existed in our time: an island whose hunter-gatherer inhabitants still live in near-total isolation.

Author and historian Adam Goodheart, who has also traveled to the waters off North Sentinel, tells the stories of others drawn to the island and its surrounding archipelago through the centuries, from imperial adventurers to an eccentric Victorian photographer to modern-day anthropologists. He also discusses other Andaman tribes’ encounters with the outside world and how the modern age is drawing closer to North Sentinel’s shores.

Goodheart’s book The Last Island: Discovery, Defiance, and the Most Elusive Tribe on Earth (Godine) is available for purchase.

Thurs., June 20, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1K0-483; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

The Last Kings of Shanghai

The Jewish Dynasties That Shaped Modern China

At the height of World War II, two rival Jewish families in China—the Sassoons and the Kadoories—joined together to rescue and protect 18,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism. But that was only one chapter in a remarkable 175-year-long story of survival, ambition, and political intrigue that connects the families, both originally from Baghdad, who dominated Chinese business and politics and whose lavish buildings define Shanghai and Hong Kong to this day.

Author Jonathan Kaufman, director of the Northeastern University School of Journalism, opens the rarified world these dynasties encountered and examines how their members helped transform China during pivotal years of growth and responded to revolutions that changed the future and how they reluctantly had to leave it all behind with the advent of communism.

Mon., June 24, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1H0-819; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Read more about programs in this guide on our website. Search by code or date. Expanded program descriptions, presenters’ information, and more at SmithsonianAssociates.org.

Philippa Gregory

Adam Goodheart Shanghai Bund, 1930

US SIGNAL CORPS

JULIE NAPEAR

Spring Wine Adventures

APR 19 Winning with Walla Walla Wine

A TOP SOMMELIER'S GUIDE TO WINE

Spend three fascinating evenings expanding your knowledge of wine as you travel the world with sommelier Erik Segelbaum in a series of delectable wine-tasting adventures. Each immersive program includes a curated personal tasting kit to enhance the experience.

Explore the rich diversity of Washington State’s Walla Walla Valley as it celebrates 40 years since becoming an appellation. Taste wines crafted by Walla Walla’s iconic and innovative leaders, delving into the region’s winemaking techniques and history and the distinct characteristics of each wine. Discover the nuances in aroma, flavor profiles, and aging potential of select Walla Walla Valley wines and gain a deeper appreciation for this renowned wine region.

MAY 17 Wines of the Southern Hemisphere Part 1: Chilean Wine

Winemakers in Chile are amid a new era of innovation, modernization, discovery, and rejuvenation—leading to some of the most exciting wines the country has ever known. With a much deeper focus on regional identity and making wines based on terroir, rather than commercial market factors, Chilean wine has never been better. This delicious deep dive into one of the wine world’s hidden gems is sure to surprise and delight. The session’s special guest is Amanda Barnes, author of The South American Wine Guide

JUN 28 Wines of the Southern Hemisphere Part 2: New Zealand Wine

Despite producing only 1% of the world’s wine, New Zealand has had a commanding presence in the international wine market. For years, bright and tropical Sauvignon Blanc was the cornerstone of New Zealand’s vinous reputation. However, the modern New Zealand winescape has much more complexity and depth. This delicious exploration spotlights New Zealand’s commitment to viticultural sustainability and the country’s distinctive fusion of traditional and modern winemaking.

3-session series: Fri., April 19, May 17, June 28, 6 p.m.; CODE 2WINE2024; Members $180; Nonmembers $210

Individual sessions: Fri., April 19 (CODE 1L0-562); Fri., May 17 (CODE 1L0-563); Fri., June 28 (CODE 1L0-564); Members $70; Nonmembers $80

Wine-tasting kit information: The cost includes a curated personal tasting kit with enough wine for one person to sample the full lineup of wines. Additional participants must register individually to receive their own tasting kit, which is an essential component of the workshop. Kits are available during two scheduled pick-up times the day before the program and the day of the program, 12–5 p.m., at Shilling Canning Company (360 Water Street SE, Washington, DC; Metro: Navy Yard-Ballpark station, Green line). Patrons receive additional wine tasting kit pick-up information by email prior to the program.

Due to state and federal laws, Smithsonian Associates cannot ship wine kits. However, SOMLYAY may be able to provide kits to participants outside the Washington, D.C., area (who must cover shipping costs). Please contact erik@thesomlyay.com for more information.

Please visit SmithsonianAssociates.org to view the FAQ on Health & Safety guidelines for in-person programs

In Person

Lunch at Nama Ko

Japanese Essentials: Tuna, Miso, Dashi, and Soy Sauce

Enjoy a three-course lunch at Washington’s modern Japanese restaurant Nama Ko and learn how a single fish can be used to make essential Japanese pantry ingredients, both fresh and preserved.

Chef Derek Watson begins with a whole bonito or skipjack tuna and demonstrates how it is used in each course of the lunch. Miso soup is first up, made with katsuobushi, or dried bonito, a key ingredient in Japanese cuisine. He demonstrates how the soup’s fish broth, called dashi, is made.

The second course features a classic preparation of tuna sashimi with house-made ponzu sauce and garnishes. Watson explains how the same ingredients are used in the fresh sashimi and the preserved sauce. He also covers how soy sauce is made and how to turn it into ponzu for the dish. For one of the third-course options, salmon is marinated in Saikyo miso, made in the creamy, sweet Kyoto style.

Please note: Ticket price covers the three-course lunch, gratuities, and demonstration. Drinks are not included but may be purchased separately at the restaurant.

Fri., April 12, 12 p.m.; CODE 1L0-559; full menu on website; Nama Ko, 1926 14th St., NW (Metro: Shaw-Howard University, Green line); Members $100; Nonmembers $130

In Person

Joan Nathan: My Life in Recipes

Before hummus was available in every grocery store and shakshuka was a dish on every brunch menu, Joan Nathan taught home cooks how and why they should make these now-beloved staples themselves. In her new book, My Life in Recipes, the noted authority on global Jewish cuisine uses recipes to trace her family’s history and her own story of marriage, motherhood, and a career as a food writer—and punctuates it with all the foods she has come to love.

Our programs... your time

With over 100 recipes from roast chicken to rugelach, matzoh ball soup to challah and brisket, the new book features updated versions of her favorites and new dishes such as salmon with preserved lemon and za’atar and her perfect black and white cookies. Join Nathan and Sally Swift, co-creator of The Splendid Table, for a conversation covering the treasury of recipes and stories in her book and her personal journey of discovering Jewish cuisine from around the world.

Copies of My Life in Recipes: Food, Family, and Memories (Knopf) are available for purchase and signing, courtesy of Bold Fork Books.

Tues., April 16, 6:45 p.m.; Ripley Center; CODE 1L0-567; Members $25; Nonmembers $35

Registered for a Smithsonian Associates online program but missed it because of a schedule conflict? Wish you could take a second look at a presentation you loved? Associates Encores offers the answer to these questions—and more.

Visit SmithsonianAssociates.org for more information

TWELVE

MICHELLE GOLDCHAIN

MICHELLE GOLDCHAIN

Joan Nathan

HOPE LEIGH

A Lebanese Lunch at ilili DC

In colloquial Lebanese Arabic, “ilili” means “tell me.” A casually intimate phrase, “ilili” tempts the listener to share whatever’s in their heart: a joke, a secret, a desire, or just the daily gossip. It’s always an invitation.

Take advantage of your invitation to visit The Wharf in Southwest Washington and break fresh pita at ilili DC in a three-course lunch designed exclusively for Smithsonian Associates. A culinary expression of Lebanon, ilili offers both traditional Mediterranean plates and their creative contemporary inspirations. Chef and owner Philippe Massoud and executive chef Satinder Vij are on hand to introduce the menu, which includes mezze, an entrée, and dessert.

Please note: Ticket price includes meal and gratuities; drinks are not included and may be purchased separately at the restaurant.

Wed., June 5, 12 p.m.; CODE 1L0-578; ilili DC at The Wharf, 100 District Square, SW (Metro: L’Enfant Plaza, Orange, Silver, Blue, Yellow, and Green lines); Members $100; Nonmembers $130

A Singapore-Style Dinner at Cranes

Ask about the key element of local heritage in Singapore and you’re likely to hear one resounding answer: hawker culture. Singapore hawker centers are large food markets ringed by stalls that serve everything from full meals to snacks and drinks.

You’ll usually find a selection of local dishes as well as flavors from across the world, including China, Malaysia, and India. The culinary artisans at Singapore’s hawker centers have nourished generations across diverse backgrounds. Hawker food goes beyond satiating hunger: It stands as a legacy that unites all Singaporeans.

Singaporean chef Danny Ng Wei Jun (formerly of Jiwa Singapura in Tysons Galleria) takes over the kitchen of Cranes for a four-course dinner developed specially for Smithsonian Associates that features a menu that reflects the history of Singaporean hawkers. He offers an overview of hawker culture and each course’s connection to it.

Please note: Ticket price includes meal and gratuities; drinks are not included and may be purchased separately at the restaurant.

Danny Ng Wei Jun

Susan Page on Barbara Walters

Television’s Rulebreaker

Barbara Walters was a force from the time TV was exploding on the American scene in the 1960s to its waning dominance in a new world of competition from streaming services and social media half a century later. By the end of her career, Walters had interviewed more of the famous and infamous, from presidents to movie stars to criminals to despots, than any other journalist in history. Then at 67, past the age many female broadcasters found themselves involuntarily retired, she pioneered a new form of talk TV with “The View.”

Drawing on her new book, The Rulebreaker, Susan Page, Washington bureau chief of USA Today, examines the woman behind the legacy. She looks at how Walters was driven to keep herself and her family afloat after her mercurial and famous impresario father attempted suicide. She never lost the fear of an impending catastrophe, which led her to ask for things no woman had ever asked for before, to ignore the rules of misogynistic culture, outcompete her most ferocious competitors, and to protect her complicated marriages and love life from scrutiny.

Page’s portrait of the most successful female broadcaster of all time reveals a woman whose personal demons fueled an ambition that broke all the rules and finally gave women a permanent place on the air. Copies of The Rulebreaker (Simon & Schuster) are available for purchase.

Wed., May 8, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1L0-574; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

A Wine Dinner at Shilling Canning Company

Celebrate spring with a delicious evening at Shilling Canning Company, a modern Mid-Atlantic restaurant where executive chef Reid Shilling serves his take on seasonal cuisine highlighting ingredients from around the Chesapeake. His specially designed canapes and four-course menu for the event showcase locally sourced, creatively inspired dishes—all in the restaurant’s spirit of sharing the bounties of the Bay region.

Smithsonian Associates’ favorite sommelier Erik Segelbaum, who leads the popular Wine Adventures series, pairs wines with the courses. Chef Shilling and Segelbaum are on hand to talk about the food and drink.

Please note: Ticket price includes meal and gratuities; drinks are not included and may be purchased separately at the restaurant.

Mon., May 13, 6:30 p.m.; Shilling Canning Company, 360 Water St. SE, Washington, DC (Metro: Navy Yard-Ballpark Station, Green line); CODE 1L0569; Members $250; Nonmembers $280

In Person In Person

With Tasting

Koji: The Secret Ingredient

One of the biggest food trends today is a traditional Japanese ingredient called koji, the moldinoculated grains responsible for miso, soy sauce, sake, mirin, and a host of other ingredients. Although it has been a culinary mainstay in Asia for centuries, it’s only recently that Western chefs have started catching on to its transformative powers as a seasoning and a curing agent.

Takashi Sato, president of San-J International in Virginia, is an eighth-generation member of the founding family of a tamari and miso brewery. He shares how koji creates the flavors behind your favorite Japanese foods and discusses his work to support and revive the tradition of the country’s fermentation culture. After the presentation, savor the secret ingredient as you sample foods and beverages that have been flavored with koji, including small bites provided by chef Matt Baker of the Michelin-starred D.C. restaurant Gravitas and sake from the Embassy of Japan.

Thurs., May 30, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1L0-572; Ripley Center; Members $45; Nonmembers $55

Please visit SmithsonianAssociates.org to view the FAQ on Health & Safety guidelines for in-person programs

HANNAH GABER

Susan Page

Takashi Sato

In Person

Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra

2023–2024 Concert Series

Under the artistic direction of maestro Charlie Young, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra has celebrated some of the greatest jazz music throughout its 33-year history as one of the crown jewels of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The 2023–2024 SJMO season adds new excitement and luster to that musical tradition.

Fri., April 5 | Aspects of Ellington Duke Ellington composed dynamic music that inspired vivid visual imagery and emotion. Combining his unconventional orchestration technique with the unique talent of his individual orchestra members, Ellington was able to transpose everyday life into musical works of art. To mark what would have been his 125th year, the SJMO launches Jazz Appreciation Month by highlighting elements of the Duke’s music and his orchestra with signature works such as “East St. Louis Toodle-oo,” “The Degas Suite,” and “Jack the Bear.” (Full Orchestra)

Sat., June 1 | Sarah Vaughan: The Divine One

Sarah Vaughan’s colorful vocal tone, unparalleled range, elastic stylized phrasing, and all-around dynamic musical interpretation earned her the moniker “The Divine One.” Also known as “Sassy,” Vaughan became one of the greatest jazz vocalists in the history of the music. The SJMO features singer Sharón Clark in celebration of the centennial year of NEA Jazz Master Sarah Vaughan. Songs like “After You’ve Gone,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” and “The Lady’s in Love with You” rekindle the Vaughan spell. (Full Orchestra)

Individual concerts: Fri., April 5 (CODE 1P0-836); Sat., June 1 (CODE 1P0-837); Members $25; Nonmembers $30. Please note: Concerts take place at 7 p.m. at Baird Auditorium in the National Museum of Natural History.

Each concert’s musical program is subject to change.

JACLYN NASH

Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra in concert

JACLYN NASH

Charlie Young

JACLYN NASH

In Person

Smithsonian Chamber Music Society

2023–2024 Season

The 46th season of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society features musical masterpieces from the late 16th century to the cusp of the 21st, played on some of the world’s most highly prized musical instruments. Concerts take place in the National Museum of American History’s intimate Nicholas and Eugenia Taubman Hall of Music, with repertoire ranging from acclaimed masterpieces to undeservedly obscure gems by all-but-forgotten composers.

Veteran musicians of the Society are joined on several of the programs by emerging artists. Kenneth Slowik, SCMS artistic director and recipient of the Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar Award, again curates a series of pre-concert talks one hour prior to the Saturday concerts, shedding light on the glorious music and the lives and times of the featured composers.

The Axelrod String Quartet: Stradivarius and Amati

Smithsonian Chamber Music Society audiences are privy to the unparalleled experience of being able to hear two magnificent quartets of instruments—one made by Antonio Stradivari, the other by his teacher Nicolò Amati—in this popular concert series. The Axelrod String Quartet, which now includes violinist Mark Fewer, presents two programs, both of which are anchored by one of Schubert’s last quartets.

Works of quartet masters Haydn and Shostakovich are joined by 20th-century works related, in their diversity, to varied interests of the National Museum of American History. The music of the Argentinian Osvaldo Golijov, resident in the United States since 1986, has been characterized as “forcing us to look and listen in a way that we’re not asked to do inside other music, speaking to the divisiveness and coming together of cultures.”

The Austrian American Erich Wolfgang Korngold is probably most widely known for the nearly two dozen Hollywood film scores he wrote in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s (among them The Adventures of Robin Hood, for which he won the Academy Award in 1934), but many of his operas, orchestral and chamber works, songs, and piano pieces employ the same appealingly kaleidoscopic harmonic palette.

The Axelrod String Quartet

Mark Fewer, violin; Marc Destrubé, violin; James Dunham, viola; Kenneth Slowik, violoncello

Sun., April 7, 6:30 p.m.

Joseph Haydn: Quartet in F Minor, Op. 20, No. 5

Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Quartet No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 26

Franz Schubert: Quartet in D Minor, D810, Death and the Maiden

Sat., April 27, 7:30 p.m. and Sun., April 28, 6:30 p.m.

Osvoldo Golijov: Tenebrae for String Quartet

Dmitri Shostakovich: Quartet No. 7

Franz Schubert: Quartet in G Major, D887

Note: Saturday concerts at 7:30 p.m. include a pre-concert lecture at 6:30 p.m.

Individual concerts: Sun., April 7 (CODE 1P0-818); Sat., April 27 (CODE 1P0-816); Sun., April 28 (CODE 1P0819); Members $30; Nonmembers $35

All Axelrod concerts take place at the Nicholas and Eugenia Taubman Hall of Music, National Museum of American History, 14th St. and Constitution Ave., NW (Metro: Federal Triangle)

Please visit SmithsonianAssociates.org to view the FAQ on Health & Safety guidelines for in-person programs

Marc Destrubé, James Dunham, and Kenneth Slowik

Mark Fewer

SMITHSONIAN

The American Musical: Evolution of an Art Form

The American musical has a rich, expansive history reaching back to the 1800s. Musical theater artist and historian Ben West details the evolution of this American art form, including its maturation in the middle of the 20th century; its often overlooked Black and female artists; and its outside influences such as minstrelsy, vaudeville, nightclubs, and burlesque. To illustrate this history, he highlights pivotal locales, shows, artists, and topics, including the Plantation, a Broadway nightclub in the 1920s that featured Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, and Ethel Waters; and Gower Champion, the director and choreographer whose shows included Bye Bye Birdie and Hello, Dolly!

West’s book, The American Musical (Routledge), is available for purchase.

Thurs., April 4, 7 p.m.; CODE 1CV-035; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Third Millennium Thinking

Creating Sense in a World of Nonsense

In our deluge of information, it’s getting harder and harder to distinguish the revelatory from the contradictory. Drawing from their multidisciplinary UC Berkeley Big Ideas course, physicist Saul Perlmutter, philosopher John Campbell, and psychologist Robert MacCoun tackle how to better understand the world and make informed decisions as scientists do—with discernment, discipline, and firm foundations of reason.

They illustrate how developing these skills can help individuals avoid mental traps, such as cognitive biases, when making decisions; differentiate between fact and fiction and good science and bad science; and become comfortable with uncertainty across discourse—and disagreements.

Their book Third Millennium Thinking: Creating Sense in a World of Nonsense (Little Brown Spark) is available for purchase.

Mon., April 8, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1D0-045; Members $20; Nonmembers

How Jazz Captivated France

How did jazz get more firmly established in France than, arguably, in any other country? And in return, how did French jazz influence the course of American jazz prior to and after World War II? John Edward Hasse, curator emeritus of American music at the National Museum of American History, draws on rare film clips, photographs, and original recordings to provide insight into how the quintessentially American art form of jazz captured the fancy of French dancers, musicians, and audiences.

Clips capture performers including Josephine Baker; U.S. Lt. James Reece Europe’s Hell Fighters band; Duke Ellington; Cab Calloway; and the legendary Belgian-French Roma musician Django Reinhardt. The fate of jazz in Nazi-occupied Paris rounds out the story.

Mon., April 8, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-313; Members $25; Nonmembers $30 Django Reinhardt

“It’s a Wonderful Town”

New York City in the Movies

For more than 125 years, filmmakers have been drawn to the vitality of New York City. Its diverse neighborhoods, universally recognized landmarks, and 8 million stories have helped make the city a featured player in more than 17,000 movies. The city has starred in a wide variety of films, including King Kong, Naked City, On the Town, West Side Story, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Taxi Driver, Wall Street, and Do the Right Thing. With more than 50 clips, media historian Brian Rose demonstrates the changing ways New York has been captured on film and why it remains a star attraction.

Tues., April 9, 12 p.m.; CODE 1J0-346; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

King Kong 1933 promotional image, RKO Pictures

High School Classics Revisited

Joseph Luzzi, a professor of literature at Bard College, revisits and provides new perspectives on novels that typically appear on high school reading lists.

Frankenstein

Steeped in the Gothic and supernatural imagery of the Romantic era, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from 1818 is frequently described as the first science fiction novel. Luzzi leads participants through an exploration of the cultural sources, scientific elements, and literary devices that make Shelley’s book so inventive and groundbreaking. He highlights how Shelley balances her inquiry into philosophical questions with the bold narrative strategies that have made her Frankenstein a mainstay of school and college curricula for generations of students.

Thurs., April 11, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-351; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway’s 1952 novella The Old Man and the Sea received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was also singled out when Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Luzzi guides the audience through a close reading of this masterpiece, showing how Hemingway creates a spellbinding narrative through brilliant characterization, detailed depictions of the natural world, and sustained inquiry into the relationship between the human and animal world. He also shows how this work both opens up new lines of writing and reprises many of Hemingway’s literary strengths.

Thurs., April 25, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-356; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

Macbeth

Shakespeare’s Macbeth from 1606 is one of his bloodiest and most haunting plays, as its recurrent use of the supernatural distinguishes it from most of his other tragedies. Luzzi guides participants through the rich verbal intricacies and captivating themes of the play, especially its treatment of political ambition and the nature of the monarchy, with special attention to how Macbeth relates to other great tragedies in Shakespeare. Also considered is how the play provides valuable insight into Shakespeare’s relationship with his patron King James I.

Thurs., May 9, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-361; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

Lord of the Flies

Ever since its publication in 1954, Nobel laureate William Golding’s iconic novel Lord of the Flies has been a mainstay of syllabi and reading lists throughout the world. A harrowing story of a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island during a time of war, the narrative develops complex themes regarding violent tendencies in human nature and the way that group psychology and power struggles can lead to fatal consequences. Luzzi leads participants through a detailed analysis of a work celebrated for its narrative force and psychological tensions.

Thurs., May 23, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-371; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

The Genius of Akira Kurosawa

For 50 years, Akira Kurosawa (1910–1998) reigned supreme as Japan’s premier filmmaker and one of the world’s leading cinematic masters. After his landmark Rashomon (1950) won festival prizes in Venice and an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, cinephiles throughout the globe embraced both the director’s prolific genius and the remarkable post-World War II film culture of Japan. The mastery of Kurosawa is evidenced in the 31 unforgettable films he directed between 1943 and 1993, 16 of which starred his strikingly charismatic alter ego, Tôshiro Mifune.

Kurosawa is best known today as the filmmaking warrior behind such masterful swordplay spectacles as The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro, which electrified art screens throughout the 1950s and early ‘60s. But there are other sides to Akira Kurosawa: his forays into film noir (Drunken Angel); Shakespearean tragedy (Throne of Blood); literary adaptations of Dostoyevsky (The Idiot) and Maxim Gorky (The Lower Depths); and an Oscar-winning Russian co-production (Dersu Uzala). His human psychological dramas include works such as No Regrets for Our Youth and the final Kurosawa–Mifune collaboration, Red Beard. Kurosawa’s haunting To Live was recently remade in England as Living. Film historian Max Alvarez unfolds this sweeping saga, tracing Akira Kurosawa’s remarkable life from a meteoric rise at Toho Studios during the 1930s through personal and professional triumphs, frustrations, and artistic comebacks.

Tues., April 16, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1K0-461; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

Great Musical Partnerships

Composing is solitary work, but artistry cannot flourish in isolation. Whether reclusive or gregarious, socially inept or beloved and charming, all successful composers were supported by a wide network of friends, family, fellow professionals, and patrons. In a new series, speaker and concert pianist Rachel Franklin examines some of these fascinating associations and the inspiring music that we owe to them.

Relationships among fellow music makers and patrons explored include Robert Schumann, Clara Wieck, and Johannes Brahms; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn; Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams; Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein; Ludwig van Beethoven and patrons Count Ferdinand von Waldstein and Prince Karl Lichnowsky; and Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt.

APR 17 Meetings of Hearts and Minds

APR 24 Kindred Spirits

MAY 1 Beethoven and his Circle

MAY 8 Strange Connections

4-session series: Wed., April 17–May 8, 12 p.m.; CODE 1K0-464; Members $95; Nonmembers $105

Love and Death in Dante: Reading Inferno

What makes Dante’s Inferno essential reading today, even though it was written seven centuries ago? Joseph Luzzi, professor of literature at Bard College, sheds light on the world of Dante’s epic poem in all its cultural and historical richness. He highlights Dante’s relationship to his beloved hometown of Florence, lacerating experience of exile, and lifelong devotion to his muse, Beatrice. Paying close attention to the originality and brilliance of Dante’s poetic vision, Luzzi examines how and why Inferno, the first canticle of The Divine Comedy, has become one of the most influential works in literary history.

10 a.m. Dante’s Literary Revolution

11:15 a.m. In the Dark Wood: Inferno 1–10

12:15 p.m. Break

12:45 p.m. Dante’s Divine Education: Inferno 11–22

2 p.m. Seeing Stars: Inferno 23–34

Sat., April 20, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.; CODE 1J0-355; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Maria Barbara Krafft, 1819

Akira Kurosawa, 1937

Joseph Haydn by Thomas Hardy, 1791

Illustration of Dante's Inferno, Canto 8 by Johannes Stradanus, 1587

ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC

SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OF MUSIC IN VIENNA

To Be Is To Be Anxious

Anxiety is usually thought of as a pathology, but it isn’t always or only a medical condition. Philosophy professor Samir Chopra explores valuable insights about anxiety from philosophies and theories, including Buddhism, existentialism, psychoanalysis, and critical theory. Many philosophers and theorists—including the Buddha, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Freud, and Heidegger—have viewed anxiety as an inevitable human response to existence: To be is to be anxious. Philosophy may not be able to cure anxiety, but by leading to greater self-knowledge and self-acceptance, it may make us less anxious about being anxious.

Chopra’s book Anxiety: A Philosophical Guide (Princeton University Press) is available for purchase. Mon., April 29, 7 p.m.; CODE 1CV-037; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Steinbeck and the Arthurian Saga

In the latter half of the 1950s, having already won lasting fame as the author of Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, and East of Eden, John Steinbeck was seized by a powerful urge to return to his first great inspiration: a copy of The Boy’s King Arthur he received as a 9-year-old. Setting aside the American themes and places that he explored in his fiction, he sought to translate Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur into a slightly archaized modern English and to retell Malory’s stories from a more contemporary point of view. In this he failed. Biographers and critics tend to dismiss Steinbeck’s quest as a minor chapter in his life, but public humanities scholar Clay Jenkinson, who is writing a book about Steinbeck and the Morte, believes that it deserves much more careful attention. He offers a fascinating look at the book that was to become The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights and the tale of what began for Steinbeck as a straightforward work of translation and revision that acquired a life of its own, as he strove both to give new life to Malory and to use the tales of King Arthur as a medium for his own expression.

Tues., April 30, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1K0-476; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

The Golden Age of Television

When NBC and CBS began broadcasting to their East Coast affiliates at the end of the 1940s, they offered viewers a wide variety of programs, including live original dramas. Within a few years, these programs, such as “Kraft Television Theatre” and “Ford Television Theatre,” launched the careers of soon-to-befamous directors like Arthur Penn and John Frankenheimer, actors like Paul Newman and James Dean, and playwrights like Paddy Chayefsky and Rod Serling.

But by the end of the 1950s, the era of live TV theater was over. Media historian Brian Rose looks at the forces that made this golden age such an intriguing chapter in TV history and why it was so short-lived. Tues., May 7, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-360; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

The Future of Exploration

Former National Geographic executive vice president and chief science officer Terry Garcia and nature and cultural photographer Chris Rainier, a National Geographic Explorer, lead a journey with some of the world’s most renowned explorers, scientists, astronauts, visionaries, and authors as they discuss their insights about what motivates them, what is left to explore, and why we should care. Following the presentation, Garcia and Rainier are joined by a few of the explorers for a discussion on the future of exploration.

Garcia and Rainier’s new book, The Future of Exploration: Discovering the Uncharted Frontiers of Science, Technology, and Human Potential (Simon & Schuster), is available for sale and signing.

Mon., May 6, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1J0-359; Ripley Center; Members $20; Nonmembers $30

The two volumes of an illustrated edition of Le Morte D'Arthur, 1893

Spiritual But Not Religious Healthy Trend or Crisis of Faith?

Is it possible to be spiritual but not religious at the same time? Self-identification as “SBNR” is a growing trend, even a movement, in the United States and abroad that promotes the deinstitutionalization of religion and a kind of spiritual individuation. But what meanings do the words “spiritual” and “religious” carry? Is this a healthy trend or a crisis of faith?

Comparative religion scholar Graham Schweig of Christopher Newport University examines the nature of the SBNR movement, compares the advantages and disadvantages of the spiritual and the religious positions, and analyzes this phenomenon psychologically and theologically by drawing from ancient Eastern and Western wisdom traditions. Tues., May 14, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-325; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Language Peeves

Inner Grammandos vs. Inner Wordies

Are you someone who still isn’t sure whether the pronoun “they” can be singular? Have you noticed younger speakers using “on accident” rather than “by accident”? Do you worry that no one knows how to use the apostrophe anymore? If so, this lively session on language is wordperfect for you.

From her perspective as a historian of the English language, linguist, and veteran English professor at the University of Michigan, Anne Curzan examines some common peeves in grammar, tackling such puzzlers as “who vs. whom,” “less vs. fewer,” “ based on vs. based off,” and the eternal “between you and I.”

Curzan explains that everyone has an inner grammando (who can’t help but judge bits of usage we see and hear) and an inner wordie (who loves to play Wordle and make new puns and the like). Her observations are designed to help both sides hash out what we’ve learned is “right” and “wrong” in language. You’ll leave with a heightened awareness of changes afoot in the English language and tools for becoming an even more skilled word watcher.

Curzan’s most recent book, Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words (Penguin Random House), is available for sale.

Thurs., May 9, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-319; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Words, Words, Words

English-Language Dictionaries and the People Who Made Them

Dictionaries are repositories of erudition, monuments to linguistic authority, and battlefields in cultural and political struggles. For centuries, they were also works of almost superhuman endurance, produced by people who devoted themselves for years, even decades, to the wearisome labor of corralling, recording, and defining the vocabulary of a language. Today, the future of the printed dictionary is in question, but the central relevance of dictionaries, whatever their format, to communication and culture is unchanged.

Educators Bryan A. Garner and Jack Lynch share some of the stories behind these great works of scholarship and the people who produced them, including towering figures of English lexicography— Samuel Johnson (who mocked his own trade by defining a dictionary writer as “a harmless drudge”); Noah Webster; the Oxford English Dictionary’s James Murray—and more obscure lexicographers whose achievements and biographies are no less fascinating.

Garner and Lynch’s book Hardly Harmless Drudgery: A 500-Year Pictorial History of the Lexicographic Geniuses, Sciolists, Plagiarists, and Obsessives Who Defined the English Language (Godine) is available for purchase.

Mon., May 20, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1K0-474; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Jack Lynch Bryan A. Garner

Inventing English Literature

The Story of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer is often called the “father of English literature” because of his groundbreaking work, The Canterbury Tales, written between 1387 and 1400, a remarkable collection of stories that contains a wealth of narrative innovations and captivating literary forms. Joseph Luzzi, professor of literature at Bard College, explores what makes this masterpiece tick. He explains the defining elements of Chaucer’s style and examines the social and cultural issues informing his aesthetic vision.

10 a.m. Geoffrey Chaucer: From Personal Drama to Literary Success

11:15 a.m. Chaucer, High and Low: Narrative Elements

12:15 p.m. Break

12:45 p.m. Literature’s First “Real Woman”? The Wife of Bath

2 p.m. Rethinking Tradition

Sat., May 11, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.; CODE 1J0-363; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

More Stories from the American Songbook

Explore and enjoy glorious songs from the Great American Songbook with stories about their long, often-unexpected lives. The spring lineup covers songs that are considered “simply the best”—ageless and favorite beauties, many by songwriters unmet in prior sessions of this popular series.

Combing a lively lecture with a wide variety of film clips, filmmaker and cultural historian Sara Lukinson traces how these songs came to be and how different artists, unexpected arrangements, and changing times transformed them into something new but still the same.

MAY 15 Harold Arlen: The Most Original of Them All

MAY 29 Makers of Magical Worlds: Lerner and Loewe

JUNE 12 The Great Forget-Me-Nots: Songs That Stand Alone

3-session series: Wed., May 15, May 29, June 12, 12 p.m.; CODE 1K0-458; Members $50; Nonmembers $60

Individual sessions: Wed., May 15 (CODE 1K0-469); Wed., May 29 (CODE 1K0-470); Wed., June 12 (CODE 1K0-471); 12 p.m.; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Writing Letters, Writing Books

With Joyce Carol Oates

In 1975, author Joyce Carol Oates received a letter from graduate student

Greg Johnson about a professor’s suicide. She wrote back empathetically. Soon the two began a largely epistolary friendship, and Johnson eventually wrote several biographies of Oates.

The letters give a fascinating glimpse into her writing practice. They also display her droll and sometimes wicked sense of humor, phenomenal energy, and mastery of the lost art of letter writing.

Inspired by the letters in her new book, Joyce Carol Oates: Letters to a Biographer (Akashic), Oates, in conversation with author Rebecca Boggs Roberts, discusses her writing process and style over the past four decades. The book is available for purchase.

Mon., May 20, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1J0-365; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Illustration of the Wife of Bath, 1889

Rebecca Boggs Roberts Joyce Carol Oates

Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue

A Centenary Celebration

George Gershwin’s groundbreaking fusion of classical music and jazz, Rhapsody in Blue, is one of America’s most beloved cultural icons, a symbol of the nation’s melting pot self-image and its vigor, optimism, and constant reinvention.

Pianist and speaker Rachel Franklin celebrates this very big birthday by diving into how Gershwin conceived the work; the roles of arranger Ferde Grofé and bandleader Paul Whiteman; and the composition’s myriad reincarnations since its exuberant premiere with Gershwin at the piano on February 12, 1924, as part of a concert titled “An Experiment in Modern Music.”

Wed., May 22, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1K0-472; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Igor Stravinsky: The Classicist

Igor Stravinsky’s spectacular early ballet scores such as Le Sacre du Printemps can sometimes distract us from where this amazing artist went next. Classical music and opera expert Saul Lilienstein examines a selection of the classically inspired masterworks Stravinsky composed between 1918 and 1951.

Works explored include L’Histoire du Soldat, which compresses the rhythmic vitality of his earlier large ballet scores into a miniature masterwork for just seven instruments; the Bach-inspired Octet for Winds; the opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex, which Leonard Bernstein called the “most awesome product” of Stravinsky’s neoclassical period; the Symphony of Psalms, one of the greatest choral works of the last century; and The Rake’s Progress, Stravinsky’s brilliant farewell to classicism.

Each session features outstanding performances captured in musical and video recordings. Lilienstein also provides a portrait of a man and a conductor through a series of film excerpts of Stravinsky in conversation with other artists.

MAY 28 Toward Neoclassicism and Italian Comedy

JUNE 4 Stravinsky, Cocteau, and Koussevitzky

JUNE 11 Stravinsky and Balanchine

JUNE 18 Stravinsky in America

JUNE 25 A Culminating Work

5-session series: Tues., May 28–June 25, 12 p.m.; CODE 1M2-329; Members $85; Nonmembers $95

Anna May Wong: Hollywood’s Unsung Heroine

History has long neglected the wild and inspiring story of Anna May Wong, a taboo-smashing star whose career left an indelible mark on Hollywood. Wong rose to stardom in Douglas Fairbanks’ 1924 silent blockbuster The Thief of Bagdad. Fans and the press clamored to see more of this unlikely actress, but when Hollywood repeatedly cast her in stereotypical roles, she headed abroad in protest.

After starring in acclaimed films in Germany, France, and England, Wong returned to challenge Hollywood at its own game by speaking out about the industry’s blatant racism. She used her new stature to move away from her typecasting as the China doll or dragon lady and worked to reshape Asian American representation in film. Biographer Katie Gee Salisbury discusses the vibrant, radical career of a groundbreaking artist, bringing an unsung heroine to light and reclaiming her place in cinema history.

Salisbury’s book, Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong (Dutton), is available for purchase.

Thurs., May 30, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1D0-050; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Anna May Wong, 1937

Igor Stravinsky by George Grantham Bain

Cover of the original sheet music of Rhapsody in Blue, 1927

George Gershwin, 1935

The Golden Age of Hollywood

From the late 1920s through the end of World War II, Hollywood studios including MGM, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and RKO dominated film production throughout the world. Despite the economic problems posed by the Depression, the studios became virtual entertainment factories, with each studio producing more than 50 movies a year.

The results of these years of frenzied activity are among the best-loved and most significant films ever made. Media historian Brian Rose examines the forces that made Hollywood the giant of global filmmaking, studio politics and economics, the star system, and the nature of the movie-going experience.

Tues., June 4, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-367; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Baseball in the Movies

Baseball has always been a symbol as much as a sport, offering a sunny rendering of the American Dream—both the hard work that underpins it and the rewards it promises. Film, which magnifies and mythologizes all it touches, has long been the ideal medium to canonize this aspirational idea.

Washington City Paper film critic Noah Gittell sheds light on well-known classics and overlooked gems while exploring how baseball cinema creates a stage upon which the American ideal is born, performed, and repeatedly redefined. Gittell’s new book, Baseball: The Movie (Triumph), is available for purchase.

Wed., June 12, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1J0-372; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Alfred Hitchcock

Behind the Curtain of Suspense

Legendary master of screen tension Alfred Hitchcock shocked, thrilled, amused, and delighted moviegoers and TV viewers throughout his half-century directing career. The meticulous planning that went into his productions resulted in more than 50 tension-filled films—among them Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Vertigo, To Catch a Thief, Rear Window, North by Northwest, and Psycho—that continue to grip audiences in the 21st century.

Signature Hitchcockian moments are among the most famous in film history: ominous crows gathering on a playground jungle gym to await the exodus of schoolchildren; repentant embezzler Janet Leigh taking a fateful shower in a dreary motel; James Stewart spying from a wheelchair on one neighbor too many in his Greenwich Village apartment; Cary Grant facing off with a crop-dusting biplane; emotionally damaged police detective Stewart making the fatal mistake of falling in love with mysterious Kim Novak; and Grace Kelly defending herself with scissors.

Film historian Max Alvarez traces Alfred Hitchcock’s professional and artistic development from silent filmmaker in 1920s England to a Hollywood commercial force to be reckoned with during the 1940s and ’50s. He includes electrifying selections from the director’s filmography and rare behind-the-scenes archival material illustrating how key Hitchcock productions evolved from page to screen.

Wed., June 26, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1K0-484; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

All Smithsonian Associates online programs are closed captioned

Alfred Hitchcock, 1955

Milton’s Paradise Lost

John Milton’s Paradise Lost from 1667 is generally considered to be the greatest epic poem in the English language. Joseph Luzzi, a professor of literature at Bard College, examines the literary elements and cultural contexts that make Milton’s writing essential reading, exploring such issues as Milton’s relation to ancient literature, his rewriting of religious doctrine, and his role in major political and social struggles.

Attention is also given to Milton’s dramatic personal circumstances, including his blindness and his role as one of the major pamphleteers of the times.

10 a.m. John Milton: An Inimitable Life and Its Literary Innovations

11:15 a.m. War in Heaven and Free Will

12:15 p.m. Break

12:45 p.m. Questions of Creation and Cosmic Battles

2 p.m. Human Disobedience and the Fate of Humankind

Sat., June 8, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.; CODE 1J0-368; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

Broadway’s Beginnings

Pull back the curtain on show-biz history to explore Broadway’s early years: an era of roof-garden theaters, tap shoes, theatrical con artists, and a ghost or two. Tim Dolan, an actor and owner of Broadway Up Close tours in New York City, leads a virtual stroll down the Great White Way as he shares rare photos and stories of the theater district’s past and shines a spotlight on some of its most intriguing secrets.

Dolan’s itinerary includes landmarks like Keens Steakhouse and Times Square and the sites of today’s Nederlander, New Amsterdam, New Victory, Lyric, and Todd Haimes theaters. Along the way, learn the difference between Broadway theaters and their off-Broadway counterparts, find out how a Broadway show is put together, and explore the spirits that may still be lurking in the backstage shadows

Tues., June 11, 7 p.m.; CODE 1NV-087; Members $250; Nonmembers $30

“Beauty and the Beast”: A Tale as Old as Time

Few stories capture the imagination like “Beauty and the Beast,” the romantic tale of a beautiful girl who sees past appearances to fall in love with a hideous monster. One of the oldest fairy tales, it has existed in countless forms. Folklorists Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman explore “Beauty and the Beast,” discussing what the tale looks like around the world, how it has been retold in contemporary times, and what kinds of reactionary, rebellious, and revolutionary points it has allowed tellers and authors to make. They explain why it has had such staying power and why many people count it as their favorite fairy tale. The lecture also includes a few prompts for audience interaction.

Mon., June 17, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1J0-373; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

What time does the program end? Unless noted, Smithsonian Associates programs run 1 hour 15 min.–2 hours, including Q&A

New Amsterdam Theatre, New York City, 1905

John Milton

AMYPA RRISH

Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman

Fiddler on the Roof: To Life!

A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? Yet this musical about a poor Jewish milkman, his wife, and five daughters who live in a tiny village in a corner of Eastern Europe captivated the entire world. From Paris to Beijing to Baltimore, whatever their background, audiences see themselves in the stories and songs.

At the Gilded Age Table

Dining and Entertaining

How did this happen? The songwriters Jerr y Bock and Sheldon Harnick juggled love with tears and laughter with melancholy, mixed it with loving parents, hopeful children, and colorful friends all trying to survive in a precarious world to create a joyous, tearful celebration of life, music, and love unlike any other.

Documentary filmmaker and cultural historian Sara Lukinson shares film clips and stories that trace the show’s improbable beginnings in Yiddish short stories by Sholem Aleichem and its journey to the stage led by the best—often squabbling— Broadway talents who created a miracle of a musical.

Tues., June 18, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1K0-478; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Whether their fortunes were old or new, members of Gilded Age society reveled in hosting and attending teas, cotillions, lawn parties, luncheons, and formal dinners—all of which had their own codes of dress and manners. Even picnics were served on fine china. Food historian Francine Segan highlights the variety of foods, elaborate etiquette, and entertainments enjoyed by the period’s upper crust.

Uncover the favored toasts of that era and discern the etiquette surrounding glove removal and hat tipping. Decode the calling card equivalent of unfriending someone and find out why the nutmeg grater was the must-have accessory of the 1890s. And enjoy a trivia contest on the uses for dozens of unique but now-obsolete objects from the era, as well as period recipes to recreate at home.

Mon., June 17, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1D0-054; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

and Online Program In Person

HAIR

The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical

In 1968, HAIR not only changed the face of the American musical theater but also proved that a Broadway musical could be a powerful form of protest and free speech, exploring the ideas of rebellion and challenging the political, social, and theatrical norms the creators observed around them. Discussing the ongoing relevance of HAIR is a panel including theater critic Peter Marks, original Broadway cast members Shelley Plimpton and Dale Soules, and longtime HAIR publicist Merle Frimark, moderated by arts journalist Patrick Pacheco

Following the panel discussion, attendees have the rare opportunity to see objects from the National Museum of American History’s HAIR collection that are not on public display and hear from curators Ryan Lintelman and Krystal Klingenberg about collecting the objects. The program also includes a special performance by members of the cast of Signature Theatre’s current production of the musical.

Thurs., June 20, 12 p.m.; CODE 1J0-375; in person at the National Museum of American History’s Warner Bros. Theater and online via Zoom Free, registration required

Presented in partnership with the National Museum of American History

Performance of Fiddler on the Roof at Otterbein University, 2016

Performance of HAIR in Norway 2011

Unless noted, all programs are presented on Zoom; listed times are Eastern Time. Online registration is required.

A Grand Tour of the Solar System

Presented in partnership with George Mason University Observatory

This series treks to the sun and the four inner terrestrial planets before traveling outward to the asteroid belt, four Jovian planets, and beyond. At each session, a professional astronomer presents the latest research on a solar system body. Following the talk and a question-and-answer period, Peter Plavchan, a professor of physics and astronomy at George Mason University, brings that night’s sky right into participants’ living rooms via remote control of the university observatory, weather permitting.

Pluto: Ice World Full of Surprises

Pluto is the largest known member of the Kuiper Belt, which contains some 100,000 dwarf planets and is located just outside of Neptune’s orbit. This belt contains many worlds such as Pluto that have active weather and internal heat generation. The New Horizons mission, which flew by Pluto in 2015, revealed surprises including vast fields of organic compounds, ice volcanoes, and evidence pointing to an internal ocean of liquid water. Michael Summers, a professor of planetary science and astronomy at George Mason University, describes how the New Horizons mission revolutionized how we view the most distant worlds in our solar system.

Tues., April 16, 7 p.m.; CODE 1J0-352; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Comets: Dirty Snowballs

In the distant past, people were both awed and alarmed by comets, perceiving them as longhaired stars that appeared in the sky unpredictably. We now know that comets are leftovers from the dawn of our solar system around 4.6 billion years ago and consist mostly of ice coated with dark organic material. They have been referred to as “dirty snowballs.” They may yield important clues about the formation of our solar system. Carey Lisse, a planetary astronomer at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, highlights what we know about comets and what we hope to find out.

Tues., May 21, 8 p.m.; CODE 1J0-366; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

The Kuiper Belt: Way Out There

Pluto was the first discovered object in the Kuiper Belt, which contains hundreds of thousands of icy bodies near and beyond Neptune’s orbit. The orbits of Kuiper Belt objects provide information about the formation of our solar system and how the planets moved around in the past. Most exploration of this far-off part of the solar system is conducted via telescopes. Samantha Lawler, an astronomy professor at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, discusses how these meticulous observations and simulations are carried out.

Tues., June 25, 8 p.m.; CODE 1J0-374; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Pluto, captured during a flyby on July 13, 2015 by the New Horizons spacecraft

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland observed the comet Lovejoy when it passed near Earth in 2015

A composite image of one of the many icy bodies in the Kuiper Belt, created from data captured by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft

NASA/JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY/SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Not the End of the World

The Beginning of a Better Future

With climate change seemingly spiraling out of control, it’s easy to become consumed by anxiety when contemplating the future of our planet. Author Hannah Ritchie challenges this prevailing narrative in her new book, Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet. She argues that a more optimistic outlook emerges when we step back and consider the progress that humanity has achieved throughout history.

Drawing from the latest research and offering practical guidance, Ritchie illustrates that with optimism and proactive lifestyle changes, we can be the first generation to pave the way for a sustainable world. She discusses critical topics including air pollution, deforestation, biodiversity loss, protecting the world’s wildlife and oceans, and other areas. Like the Smithsonian’s Earth Optimism Initiative, created to spotlight people who are developing sustainable solutions that preserve nature as well as our own well-being, Ritchie advocates that with active change it may not be the end of the world but the beginning of a better future.

Ritchie is the deputy editor and lead researcher of the online scientific publication Our World in Data. Copies of Not the End of the World (Little, Brown Spark) are available for purchase.

Thurs., April 4, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1L0-565; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Beyond Audubon

Bird Images Through the Centuries

Nearly three centuries before the publication of John James Audubon’s Birds of America, Ulisse Aldrovandi in Italy and Conrad Gessner in Switzerland were commissioning detailed images of birds for their groundbreaking animal encyclopedias. The earliest printed images were created using woodcuts, and these were followed by engraved and etched copper plates, which could reproduce finer details. Lithography, used by Audubon, was not in wide use until the 19th century.

Kay Etheridge, professor emerita of biology at Gettysburg College, discusses natural history images that combine art and science in ways that have furthered our knowledge of birds.

Thurs., April 4, 12 p.m.; CODE 1J0-350; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Understanding the Human–Canine Connection

Dogs have been considered people’s best friend for thousands of years, but never has the relationship between humans and their canine companions been as important as it is today. Rates of anxiety and depression have been skyrocketing and people have been turning to their dogs for solace and stability. Amid these dire realities, in the United States alone dog adoptions doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As people have brought furry friends into their lives for the first time or seized this opportunity to deepen the connections they already have, they’re looking to understand how owning a dog can change their lives.

Jen Golbeck, the “internet’s dog mom” behind the social media platform The Golden Ratio, and science writer Stacey Colino draw on their book, The Purest Bond: Understanding the Human–Canine Connection, to reveal the benefits our dogs can have on our physical, emotional, cognitive, and social well-being, often without our realizing it. They also remind us of what’s right in the world—love, trust, affection, playtime, fresh air, and sunshine—even when so much feels wrong.

The Purest Bond (Atria Books) is available for purchase.

Tues., April 9, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1K0-460; Members $20; Nonmembers $25 These programs are part

The red Wing'd Starling by Mark Catesby, 1727–1731

SMITHSONIAN

Poás volcano crater, central Costa Rica

The Pacific Ring of Fire

A Geologic Overview

Characterized by constant seismic and volcanic activity, the Pacific Ocean’s Ring of Fire is a vast horseshoe-shaped basin that sweeps over nearly 25,000 miles and includes more than 75% of the planet’s active and dormant volcanoes. Approximately 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur here, triggered by the volatile confluence of major tectonic plates in constant collision that exemplify the dynamic nature of our planet.

Volcanologist Kirt Kempter leads a geologic overview of the Ring of Fire and an exploration of how relentless tectonic movements—including some of Earth’s fastestmoving plates—drive earthquake and volcanic activity in hot spots such as Peru, New Zealand, Japan, and Alaska. Maps, diagrams, and Google Earth flyovers support geologic concepts and interpretations in the presentation.

The Private Gardens of Philadelphia

The Philadelphia region boasts a wealth of exceptional gardens, both public and private. Nicole Juday, author of the new book Private Gardens of Philadelphia, digs into the history and circumstances—from politics to economics to religion—that have contributed to the intense concentration and high quality of horticulture in the area.

Using stunning photos, Juday showcases examples of the region’s finest private gardens, ranging from small urban jewel boxes to vast estates. She finds themes that connect these disparate spaces, shares details about what makes them so special, and reveals the stories of the fascinating people who created these gardens, often under challenging conditions.

Wed., April 17, 7 p.m.; CODE 1NV-076; Members $25; Nonmember $30

Butterflies and Moths: Winged Wonders

Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) are one of the most abundant groups of insects—one in every ten animals on the planet is a butterfly or moth. What are the secrets of their extraordinary success?

An io moth

These

In a lively presentation accompanied by stunning images, Emmy Award–winning wildlife documentary filmmaker Steve Nicholls presents some of the latest scientific discoveries as he explores the world of butterflies and moths to find out why they’ve been so successful.

Along the way, discover the world’s deadliest caterpillars; a moth with a tongue over a foot long; a caterpillar that looks exactly like a venomous snake; a butterfly that shares its world with polar bears at one extreme and penguins at the other; and screaming moths that can jam the sonar of predatory bats. It seems there’s no end to the tricks that evolution has come up with as it turned the Lepidoptera into one of the most advanced of all insect groups.

Fri., April 26, 12 p.m.; CODE 1K0-473; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Nicole Juday

ROB CARDILLO

ROB CARDILLO

STEVE

NICHOLLS

programs are part of Smithsonian Associates I N SI DE S C I ENCE

The Human Disease

How We Create Pandemics

The COVID-19 pandemic won’t be our last, says biological anthropologist Sabrina Sholts of the National Museum of Natural History, because what makes us vulnerable to pandemics also makes us human. Her new book, The Human Disease: How We Create Pandemics, from Our Bodies to Our Beliefs, travels through history and around the globe to examine how and why such pandemics and many other infectious disease events are an inescapable threat of our own making.

Sabrina Sholts

Sholts discusses the human traits and tendencies that double as pandemic liabilities, from the anatomy that defines us to the misperceptions that divide us. She explains how humanity will continue to face new pandemics because humans cause them by the ways that we are and the things that we do. By recognizing our risks, she suggests, we can take actions to reduce them. Sholts holds that when the next pandemic happens and how bad it becomes are largely within our highly capable human hands—and will be determined by what we do with our extraordinary human brains.

Copies of The Human Disease (MIT Press) are available for purchase.

Tues., April 30, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1L0-561; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Presented in collaboration with the National Museum of Natural History

Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines

From beneficial yeasts that aid digestion to toxic molds that cause disease, we are constantly navigating a world filled with fungi. Drawing on the latest advances in mycology, Nicholas P. Money, professor of biology at Miami University in Ohio, explores the amazing ways fungi interact with our bodies, showing how our health and well-being depend on an immense ecosystem of yeasts and molds inside and all around us.

Money leads a guided tour of a marvelous unseen realm, describing how our immune systems are engaged in continuous conversation with the teeming mycobiome inside the body, and how we can fall prey to serious and even life-threatening infections when this peaceful coexistence is disturbed. He also sheds light on our complicated relationship with fungi outside the body, from wild mushrooms and cultivated molds that have been staples of the human diet for millennia to the controversial experimentation with magic mushrooms in the treatment of depression.

Money’s book Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines: Our Lifelong Relationship with Fungi (Princeton University Press) is available for purchase.

Silk: A World History

Silk—prized for its lightness, luminosity, and beauty—is also one of the strongest biological materials known. More than a century ago, it was used to make the first bulletproof vest, and yet science has barely begun to tap its potential. The technologies it has inspired—including sutures, pharmaceuticals, and replacement body parts—continue to be developed in laboratories around the world and are now beginning to offer a sustainable alternative to the plastics choking our planet.

Aarathi Prasad, author of Silk: A World History, outlines the cultural and biological history of the fabric, from its origins and the ancient silk routes to the biologists who learned the secrets of silk-producing animals. From the moths of China, Indonesia, and India to the spiders of South America and Madagascar and the mollusks of the Mediterranean, Prasad offers a mix of biography and science that brings to life the vast, winding history of silk and looks to its future as a powerful resource.

Copies of Silk: A World History (William Morrow & Company) are available for purchase.

Tues., May 14, 12 p.m.; CODE 1NV-086; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Thurs., May 9, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1K0-466; Members $20; Nonmembers $25 These

Nicholas P. Money

GIA MARIANI

A New Theory of Being Human

Humans have long thought of their bodies and minds as separate spheres of existence, with the body as physical and the mind as mental. But such thinking is a barrier to discovery and understanding, and a new framework is needed, argues neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux.

He shares his latest research, which says that human beings are a composite of four fundamental realms of existence—biological, neurobiological, cognitive, and conscious. Together our realms account for all of what and who we are, LeDoux says.

His book The Four Realms of Existence: A New Theory of Being Human (Harvard University Press) is available for sale.

Tues., May 21, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1H0-815; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Hog Island: Maine’s Showcase of Nature

Tucked away along coastal Maine, Hog Island is the home of a National Audubon Society nature-study camp that has been in operation since 1936. Isolated from the outside world and filled with both pristine forest and coastal habitats, the surrounding Muscongus Bay teems with terns, bald eagles, common eiders, harbor seals, and gray seals.

Eastern Egg Rock, the site of Project Puffin, is a vital location for breeding Atlantic puffins, Artic terns, and black guillemots and is perhaps the southernmost point where puffins breed. The forest of Hog Island is primarily red and black spruce frosted with lichens. Clearings of hay-scented ferns and coves around the island have productive wetlands, as well as small bogs with carnivorous plants, including sundews and pitcher plants.

Naturalist Matt Felperin shares his experiences at the Audubon camp and in southern Maine, displays striking wildlife photos, and reveals why Hog Island should be on your bucket list of nature-education programs. Wed., May 29, 7 p.m.; CODE 1NV-083; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

From Ancient History to the Heavens

Digital Technology Reveals Insights

Using sophisticated tools that include a repurposed particle accelerator and working with museums, universities, and private collectors, Michael B. Toth and his colleagues have digitized everything from manuscripts to fossils to historical astronomical plates, mining them for new information about their content and creation. Among the pieces they have worked on are the earliest known copy of work by Archimedes, Sir Isaac Newton’s sketch of how a rainbow is formed, Gutenberg and other early Bibles, and Muslim manuscripts. Toth, the president of R.B. Toth Associates, talks about some of their findings.

Mon., June 3, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1J0-369; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

All Smithsonian Associates online programs are closed captioned

These programs are part of Smithsonian Associates

Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) off the coast of Maine

High-tech equipment creates images of a Gutenberg Bible and early Confucian pages

R.B. TOTH ASSOCIATES

Literary Theory for Robots

In a provocative look at the shared pasts of literature and computer science, former Microsoft engineer Dennis Yi Tenen provides a context for recent developments in artificial intelligence, which holds important lessons for the future of humans living with smart technology.

Intelligence expressed through technology should not be mistaken for a magical genie capable of self-directed thought or action, holds Yi Tenen. Rather, he asks us to look past the artifice—to better perceive the mechanics of collaborative work. Something as simple as a spell-checker or a grammar-correction tool, embedded in every word processor, represents the culmination of a shared human effort spanning centuries. Blending history, technology, and philosophy, he discusses why AI should be viewed as a matter of labor history, celebrating the long-standing cooperation between authors and engineers.

Yi Tenen is an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University and an affiliate at Columbia’s Data Science Institute. His book, Literary Theory for Robots: How Computers Learned to Write (W. W. Norton & Company), is available for purchase.

Tues., June 4, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1K0-475; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

The Heart and the Chip

The Future of Robots

Robots have enabled us to explore dark ocean depths and the surface of Mars. They can act as transportation, serve as personal trainers, help diagnose disease, plow fields, milk cows, and even do household chores. Though robots can mimic a great deal, they cannot replicate care, says pioneering roboticist and computer scientist Daniela Rus: They lack heart.

Drawing on her new book, The Heart and the Chip: Our Bright Future with Robots, co-written with Gregory Mone, Rus—the first woman to direct MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory—reframes the way we think about intelligent machines and weighs the moral and ethical consequences of their role in society. She envisions a world in which these technologies augment and enhance our skills and talents, both as individuals and as a species, and where the proliferation of robots allows us to be more human.

Copies of The Heart and the Chip (W. W. Norton & Company) are available for sale.

Mon., June 10, 7 p.m.; CODE 1NV-089; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Dennis Yi Tenen

Nature of the Book

Throughout history, books were handwritten, printed, bound, and decorated using a wide variety of materials from the natural world, from standard ingredients like flax, leather, copper, and lead to the unexpected, like wasps and seaweed. The “Nature of the Book” exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History, assembled by Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, shows what the use of these materials in a book can tell us about it, touching on questions of purpose, process, global trade, and economy. Book conservators Katie Wagner and Vanessa Haight Smith, who curated “Nature of the Book,” share their process and research.

Interpreting Earth’s Patterns

The human mind is very good at discerning patterns in nature: shapes, symmetries, repetitions. Even in random visual noise like cloud shapes or Rorschach blots, we see things that have meaning to us. But why do we see hexagons in beehives, mud puddles, ice crystals, and lava flows but not sand dunes, rose bushes, or comets? What are the commonalities among galaxies, hurricanes, and ammonites that inform their spiral forms?

Callan Bentley, a geology professor at Piedmont Virginia Community College, explores various formations, from branches and braids to waves, and wiggles, and explains the science behind each. By decoding some of nature’s formations—from prosaic to sublime—we can better understand our ability for pattern recognition.

Wed., June 12, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1L0-581; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Abuzz About Bees

Mon., June 10, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1T0003; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Bees are part of the biodiversity on which we all depend for our survival, but some of their activity has been unexplainable—until now. Cornell University biology professor Thomas D. Seeley provides an up-close account of how he and his colleagues solved mysteries about honey bee nature and communication. His research illuminates how worker bees function as scouts to choose a home site for their colony, furnish their home with beeswax combs, and stock it with brood and food while keeping tens of thousands of colony inhabitants warm and defended from intruders.

Seeley’s book Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz-Runners: 20 Mysteries of Honey Bee Behavior Solved (Princeton University Press) is available for purchase.

Tues., June 18, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1T0-004; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Cover and interior pages from Tsuru no sōshi (The Tale of the Crane), a 17th-century Japanese book

Overlapping “lava toes”, the Galápagos Islands

CALLAN BENTLEY

SMITHSONIAN L IBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

Art-full Fridays | Live from Italy, with Elaine Ruffolo

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit for each

Elaine Ruffolo, a Florence-based Renaissance art historian, examines the rich heritage of Italian art and architecture across the centuries.

Ravenna: The Twilight of the Roman Empire

For a brief, dazzling moment, Ravenna was an unlikely refuge for a world drifting apart. The city’s history, enshrined in superb Byzantine mosaics, reflects the twilight of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages. While ageless monuments were falling everywhere, Ravenna was crowded with new and sumptuous palaces and monuments. As the capital of the Western Roman Empire in its last days, then of the occidental provinces of the Byzantine Empire, it offered a refuge of luxury and splendor, a return to antique civilization rising above the relentless waves of barbarians. Ruffolo leads an exploration of Ravenna’s extraordinary early Christian-era structures, which UNESCO has recognized for their magnificent displays of mosaic art, and what they reveal of artistic and religious relationships and contacts at an important period of European cultural history.

Fri., April 5, 12 p.m.; CODE 1D0-044; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

The History of the True Cross (detail) by Piero della Francesca, ca. 1452–1466

Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna

The Footsteps of Piero della Francesca

More than any other creator, Piero della Francesca was responsible for the development of 15th-century, painting in Florence and its crucial dissemination throughout Italy. His compositions marry art and science with cool precision and a sophisticated grasp of perspective—he was, after all, a mathematician. Piero might in fact be defined as a “wandering painter” in the sense that he traveled continuously from the humble Tiber River valley where he was born to the great Italian courts.

Following his death in 1492, his artistic achievements faded from memory, only to be rediscovered in the mid-19th century, and he later emerged as one of the most beloved and intriguing artists today. Ruffolo follows Piero’s extraordinary career and his journey through Tuscany, Umbria, and Urbino. Fri., May 3, 12 p.m.; CODE 1D0-049; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Michelangelo and the Medici Popes

Friendship, Patronage, and Betrayal

In the latter part of his career, Michelangelo undertook remarkable architectural ventures, predominantly commissioned by the Medici popes. Following the completion of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, he embarked on significant projects for his childhood friends Pope Leo X and Pope Clement VII.

However, Michelangelo’s relationship with the Medici turned sour when he joined Florentine forces attempting to throw off the yoke of the family—who were later banished into exile. Clement VII was furious with the artist’s betrayal and ordered his death. It is believed that Michelangelo hid from the wrath of the Medici for several weeks in a secret chamber in one of the structures he designed. Ruffolo takes a close look at Michelangelo’s projects for the Medici popes and the tumultuous events that unfolded along the way.

Fri., June 7, 12 p.m.; CODE 1D0-053; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Project drawing for the façade of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence

Writing Workshops

Experience the power of reflective writing guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface. These reflections can become creative fertile ground for memoir, poetry, and more. The workshops have a limited enrollment to maximize interaction among the instructor and students

Mothering

A Reflective Writing Workshop

The work of two British artists, painter Evelyn De Morgan and poet and playwright Carol Ann Duffy, opens participants to an exploration of Demeter, Greek mythology’s goddess of fertility and Mother Earth. Through close looking and imaginative writing, they reflect on the myriad meanings of mothering in their lives, in the natural world, and in the creative process. Designed for writers of all levels, the workshop offers an invitation to look outwardly at paintings and poetry and to look inwardly through writing.

Tues., May 7, 10 a.m.; CODE 1K0-465; Members $40; Nonmembers $45

Lesser-Known Museums of Florence

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

In this quarterly series, Renaissance art expert Rocky Ruggiero spotlights the significant collections of Florence’s sometimes-overlooked museums.

Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo

Despite its name, the Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo is not a music museum but a museum containing extraordinary artwork that was commissioned by the opera, or building committee, of Florence Cathedral. Nearly all of the artwork was intended for or removed from this breathtaking cathedral across the street. Ruggiero explores the collection, which includes the reconstructed original 13th-century Gothic façade of the cathedral; Lorenzo Ghiberti’s “Gates of Paradise,” the original bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery; and Donatello’s wooden carving of Mary Magdalene. Mon., May 13, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-364; Members $30; Nonmembers $35 Penitent Magdalene by Donatello

You love art. Now go deeper.

Art is all around us. It excites us, enriches our lives, and enlivens our imaginations. To truly appreciate any work of art, we need to understand the context and culture in which it was created. That’s why Smithsonian Associates offers a World Art History Certificate Program.

The wide-ranging offerings are designed to provide a global perspective on art and architecture and draw on the Smithsonian’s world-class collections and the rich resources of other Washington institutions. They are selected from among Smithsonian Associates courses, seminars, study tours, and studio art classes. Look for World Art History Certificate throughout the program guide to see current listings. Get started today and complete the certificate requirements at your own pace. Registration is ongoing; for a limited time, new participants receive a World Art History Certificate tote bag. Credits are counted from day of registration and are not given retroactively.

SmithsonianAssociates.org/artcertificate

DE MORGAN

Demeter Mourning for Persephone by Evelyn De Morgan, 1906

SAILKO / MUSEO DELL'OPERA DEL DUOMO

World

Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Artemisia Gentileschi

Painting Against the Odds

Artemisia Gentileschi is considered one of the most important women artists of the Baroque period as well as one of the greatest women in the world of art in general. She worked against all odds at a time when art was dominated by men, becoming the first woman to be accepted by the Academy of the Arts in Florence.

Gentileschi specialized in painting women, depicting their strong characters and important roles in history—as seen in dramatic works that portray biblical heroines. She built a reputation as one of Europe’s most sought-after artists, enjoying patronage from Charles I and Michelangelo’s grandnephew, Buonarroti il Giovane, among others. Art historian Joseph Paul Cassar surveys Gentileschi’s works and discusses her training in the workshop of her father.

Wed., April 3, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1K0-449; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

Kingship in Southeast Asia

Strategically located for trade, rich in resources, and containing a variety of cultural traditions, the civilizations of mainland and island Southeast Asia are among the most dynamic in the world. Robert DeCaroli, an associate professor in the department of history and art history at George Mason University, examines the cultural and artistic traditions of ancient Southeast Asia from the earliest archaeological evidence to the onset of colonialism, with a focus on the royal arts of the great civilizations that arose within the borders of modern Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Burma (Myanmar), and Vietnam.

Sunrise view of temples in Bagan, Myanmar Face of the Bayon in Angkor Wat, Cambodia

APR 6

11 a.m. The Kingdoms of Java 1 p.m. Break

1:30 p.m. The Khmer Empire of Cambodia

APR 13

11 a.m. Dai Viet and Champa 1 p.m. Break

1:30 p.m. The Burmese Kingdom of Pagan and the Sukhothai Period 2-session series: Sat., April 6 and 13, 11 a.m.; CODE 1J0-370; Members $90; Nonmembers $100

World

Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Mark Rothko and the Spiritual in Art

The most daring development in modern art in the first half of the 20th century was the step into abstraction the decision to make paintings that were no longer pictures of the visible world but simply paintings. Abstraction elicited both excitement and anxiety, with painters looking to new sources for the kind of structure that observation once provided: to music; the logic of geometry; the material facts of paint and canvas; scientific developments that revealed new ways to “see” the world, from X-rays to Einstein’s special theory of relativity; and the forces of emotion and spirituality.

Artists from several countries hoped that abstraction might become a lingua franca, transcending cultural differences. While that did not quite happen, the energies unleashed by abstraction and the search for the spiritual in art were far-reaching. Art historian David Gariff discusses the complex relationship between art and spirituality through works of Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, and their European counterparts Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian.

Sun., April 7, 3 p.m.; CODE 1H0-811; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Red by Mark Rothko, 1968

G. STARKE/CC BY-SA

2.0 DEED

Mark Rothko

BROOKLYN MUSEUM/CONSUELO KANAGA

WADSWORTH

World Art History Certificate core course: Earn 1 credit Art and

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Figurines

of the Ice Age

The Mysteries of Venus

Some of the most iconic artifacts of the Ice Age are more than 200 so-called Venus figurines. Made by hunter-gatherers from stone, bone, ivory, and even kiln-fired clay 10,000 to 40,000 years ago, these female statuettes have been found at archaeological sites from France to Siberia. Since the discovery of the first figurine in 1864, fierce debate as to their function and meaning has ensued: Were they toys, educational aids, dolls, personal ornaments, or sexual artifacts? All of these at once—or something else entirely?

Paleolithic archaeologist April Nowell, a professor of anthropology at the University of Victoria, Canada, explores what they might have meant to the societies who made them and the complicated history of the interpretation of Venus figurines. She offers a detailed look at how these objects were made; where they were found; examples of male figurines; and clues to the clothing and aspects of daily life we can glean from them. Perhaps, says Nowell, how we interpret these objects now may say more about ourselves rather than our ancestors.

Tues., April 9, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1H0-808; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

In Person

and Online Program

Artist Spencer Finch in Conversation

Blooming Calendar (my garden) by Spencer Finch, 2020

Join multidisciplinary artist Spencer Finch in conversation with Sarah Newman, the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s James Dicke curator for contemporary art. Finch is best known for his large-scale, site-specific works that explore changing landscapes, such as the Hudson River and the Great Salt Lake.

Through his work he touches on the ideas of memory, environmentalism, the passage of time, and perception of experience. Finch discusses his work and process, as well as the ways in which environmentalism connects to what he does.

Mon., April 15, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1L0-576; in person at SAAM’s McEvoy Auditorium (800 G St., NW; Metro: Gallery Place, Green, Yellow and Red lines) and online via Zoom Free, registration required

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Master

of Composition

Hiroshige and His Innovative Woodblock Prints

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) was one of the last great masters of the Japanese woodblock print. Credited with firmly establishing landscape as a distinctive genre within the art form, he radically cropped and reframed existing black-and-white images to suit the dimensions of the print format, adding the saturated colors that are one of the most compelling facets of woodblock prints.

National Museum of Asian Art curator Kit Brooks examines Hiroshige’s training, departures from conventional woodblock print subjects, and unconventional aesthetics.

Wed., April 17, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1J0-353; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE / NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ASIAN ART, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, FREER STUDY COLLECTION, GIFT OF VICTOR AND TAKAKO HAUGE, FSC-GR-705.45

Venus von Willendorf

MATTHIASKABEL

No. 45 Ishiyakushi: Yoshitsune's Cherry Tree and Shrine of Noriyori

SPENCER FINCH

World Art History Certificate core course: Earn 1 credit The Art of the Italian Renaissance Form, Function, and Experience

During the Italian Renaissance, works of art could serve many different functions. From sacred paintings that celebrated the stories of the life of Christ, to refined portraits of members of the elite, to the funerary monuments of formidable rulers, each of these works was designed to serve a specific purpose and to elicit a certain type of response in its viewers. Architectural structures were also designed to convey similar ideas and to shape visitors’ experiences of them.

Art historian Sophia D’Addio of Columbia University offers an introduction to the visual culture of Renaissance Italy from the 14th through 16th centuries in a series of richly illustrated programs on varying types of images, objects, and structures. She examines some of the most influential and fascinating works of the period, exploring their formal innovations and the relationships between powerful patrons and skilled artists that resulted in their creation. Works from both the great centers of artistic production—Florence, Venice, Rome—and the periphery are considered.

APR 24 Narrative and Naturalism

MAY 1 The Development of the Altarpiece

MAY 8 Portraiture and the Fashioning of the Self

MAY 15 Tomb Monuments: Commemorating the Dead

MAY 22 Eloquent Architecture: Sacred Shrines and Civic Strongholds

5-session series: Wed., April 24–May 22, 12 p.m.; CODE 1M2-324; Members $85; Nonmembers $95

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Pioneering Women in Architecture

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the emerging profession of architecture in America was very much a man’s world. But several talented and tenacious women created doorways into it.

Louise Blanchard Bethune became the first woman to establish an independent practice in the United States by opening an office with her husband in Buffalo, New York, in 1881. Seven years later, she became the first female associate of the American Institute of Architects. In 1894, Marian Mahony was the second woman to graduate from MIT in architecture and later became the first woman registered as an architect in Illinois. Hired as Frank Lloyd Wright’s first employee in 1895, she was responsible for many of the drawings produced at his Oak Park studio.

In 1902 Julia Morgan was the first woman to receive a certificate in architecture from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and two years later became the first female architect licensed in California. Other than the Hearst Castle, her work is largely unknown outside of that state.

Lecturer Bill Keene examines the careers of these pioneering women and their importance in the development of the profession of architecture.

Wed., April 24, 7 p.m.; CODE 1NV-080; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Notre-Dame de Paris

On April 15, 2019, the world watched as Notre-Dame de Paris withstood a devastating fire. But this great Gothic cathedral itself has watched steadfastly over its city for nearly a thousand years. From the beginning of its construction in 1163 to the Hundred Years War when an English king was crowned there to the French Revolution when its statues of kings were beheaded to Napoleon’s coronation to witnessing the adversities of World War II, Notre-Dame has stood at the heart of Paris. With its reopening scheduled in December, Barbara Drake Boehm, curator emerita of the Met Cloisters, traces the history of this monument through times of turbulence and triumph.

Fri., April 26, 12 p.m.; CODE 1J0-357; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Lamentation by Giotto in Scrovegni Chapel, 1305

The Hearst Castle facade

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

The Bauhaus: A Brief History

Considered the most influential art school of the 20th century, the Bauhaus lasted merely 14 years, from 1919 to 1933. Its story evolved in three acts—Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin—and was shaped by four directors, all celebrated architects: one Belgian, Henry van de Velde; one Swiss, Hannes Meyer; and two Germans, Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Museum educator Erich Keel traces the pressures that led to the formation of the Bauhaus, the changing aesthetic philosophies that guided the teaching of subjects as varied as architecture, weaving, and typography, and finally the inevitable exposure to political headwinds that questioned not only the existence of a progressive art school but the very idea of a liberal republic following the defeat of Germany in World War I.

Mon., April 29, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1H0-809; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

Hieronymus Bosch: Heaven and Hell

Painting on the cusp of the medieval and Renaissance worlds, Hieronymus Bosch (1450–1516) continues to fascinate with his fantastic imagery and densely symbolic compositions. Though little is known about the background of this Netherlandish painter, his works seem to both express the spiritual dilemmas of his generation and exist in a timeless world of his own.

His most famous painting, The Garden of Earthly Delights, has been interpreted in myriads of ways, none of them mutually exclusive. So have many of Bosch’s other works, which offer countless imaginative perspectives on human foibles and temptations, with rare hints at the possibility of salvation. Even after decades of research and close examination, many of his masterpieces remain as perplexing as they probably appeared to their original viewers. Art historian Aneta Georgievskia-Shine discusses ways of approaching the unique vision of reality and human nature contained within Bosch’s painted worlds.

Tues., April 30, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1K0-462; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1 credit Great Houses of Scotland and Their Treasures

The architecture and interiors of Scotland’s finest historic houses uniquely reflect the country’s heritage and culture. Spend a day exploring more than 400 years of splendor from fortified 16th-century tower houses and palaces of Baroque extravagance to elegant 18th-century residences and exuberant revival styles of the Victorian period.

In a richly illustrated journey into history, cultural historian Lorella Brocklesby examines why so many of these residences, including three significant palaces, were fashionably updated over the centuries. Among the locations, admire Sir Walter Scott’s Abbotsford, which promoted a growing passion for medieval Scotland; examine Robert Adam masterpieces; and conclude in a wonderful Art Nouveau music room and an Edwardian kitchen.

10 a.m. Renaissance Inspiration and Soaring Tower Houses

11:30 a.m. Baroque Theatricality, Georgian Splendor, and Classical Harmony

12:45 p.m. Break

1:15 p.m. Late Georgian Elegance and Early 19th-Century Fashions

2:45 p.m. From Victorian Exuberance to Art Nouveau

Sat., May 4, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., CODE 1M2-318; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

Poster for the Bauhaus Ausstellung, 1923

The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, ca. 1495–1505

Abbotsford, located in the Scottish Borders

Trades Hall, Glasgow, by Robert Adam, 1791–1794

LECARDINAL

STEVE CADMAN

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Introduction to Italian Futurism

In the early 20th century, a group of Italian artists sought to embrace modernity in all its glorious messiness and contradictions. The result was Futurism, not a style but a way of looking at life. Its adherents called for abrupt change and the replacement of reason and order with vitality and force of will.

Art historian Mary Ann Calo examines Futurism as an idea and a development in the visual arts. She considers the uniqueness of this movement in terms of its inflammatory rhetoric and charts the emergence of Futurist art. She also discusses why this modern artistic platform was launched in Italy.

Fri., May 10, 12 p.m.; CODE 1J0-362; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Westminster Abbey: A Royal Destination

Founded over nine centuries ago, this medieval masterpiece has been cherished by monarchs and admired by Londoners. Historian Lorella Brocklesby of New York University explores Westminster Abbey’s Gothic magnificence and important royal patronage from the Middle Ages. She discusses later additions, including extravagant Tudor adornments and towers designed in the Baroque era, as well as the myriad of rare and royal treasures that abound within the spectacular soaring interior.

History unfolds as Brockelsby surveys wall paintings, carvings, painted glass, Poets’ Corner, and commemorations of the famous and the noble. And everywhere are the visible reminders of England’s kings and queens, including a rare full-length medieval royal portrait, the Coronation Chair dating from the 1300s, and the dramatically impressive tomb of Queen Elizabeth I.

Mon., May 13, 6.30 p.m.; CODE 1M2-320; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

World Art History Certificate core course: Earn 1 credit African Art Through the Centuries

From the vibrant paintings found in Stone Age caves to the abstract sculptures produced during the continent’s colonial period, the arts of Africa have been shaped by unique creative insight as well as by specific political, social, religious, and economic forces. Art historian Kevin Tervala explores these vibrant artistic expressions through an examination of the continent’s historical trajectory.

JUNE 6 Ancient Africa (Prehistory–1000)

JUNE 13 Medieval Africa (1000–1500)

JUNE 20 Early Modern Africa (1500–1900)

JUNE 27 Modern and Contemporary Africa (1900–Present)

4-session series: Thurs., June 6–27, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1D0052; Members $90; Nonmembers $100

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space by Umberto Boccioni, 1913

AFRICAN ART MUSEUM

Face mask by a Chokwe artist, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, early 20th century

RUUD ZWART

Great Mud Mosque, Djenné, Mali

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin

A Creative Partnership

Art historian Joseph P. Cassar takes a close look at the brief period in the late 1880s when Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin shared the Yellow House in Arles, where van Gogh planned to develop an artists' colony. The union between the two artists would end after nine weeks, with a tragic episode in which van Gogh threatened Gauguin with a razor after a disagreement. While this proved to be a highly productive time for van Gogh, Gauguin left Arles after van Gogh’s hospitalization for cutting off his own ear.

Several works by both artists are studied and analyzed by Cassar, identifying similarities and differences to illustrate how van Gogh and Gauguin, despite their many disagreements, influenced each other.

Tues., May 14, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1K0-467; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1 credit

Van Gogh and the Painters of the Petit Boulevard

Vincent van Gogh spent 1886 to 1888 in Paris, living with his brother Theo, an art dealer. Theo’s connections with the avant-garde art world gave van Gogh a quick and intensive contemporary art education as he was drawn into a social and artistic circle of like-minded painters that included Pissarro, Seurat, Signac, Gauguin, Laval, Bernard, Anquetin, and Toulouse-Lautrec.

He called the rising group the Painters of the Petit Boulevard to distinguish them from the established and successful Impressionists like Monet, Degas, and Renoir. Van Gogh’s time among these young artists was among the most influential in his brief life.

Art historian Bonita Billman explores the Parisian lives and careers of the Painters of the Petit Boulevard and their depictions of the celebrities and scenes of everyday Montmartre— the night life and low life of a bohemian world.

10 a.m. The Avant-Garde Art World of Paris

11:30 a.m. Vincent in Paris, 1886–1888

12:45 p.m. Break

1:15 p.m. Divisionists and Symbolists

2:45 p.m. Moulin Rouge: Toulouse-Lautrec and Colleagues

Sat., June 15, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; CODE 1M2-328; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

Smithsonian Associates’ Digital Digest is a lively monthly e-newsletter filled with information about programs and experiences that are entertaining, informative, eclectic, and insightful. Be sure to see the current issue at: smithsonianassociates.org/digital-digest

Vincent van Gogh Painting Sunflowers by Paul Gauguin, 1888

Haymaking, Éragny by Camille Pissarro, 1887

RODIN MUSEUM

VAN GOGH

MUSEUM

Portrait of Père Tanguy by Vincent van Gogh, 1887

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit “Brilliant Exiles”

Convention-Defying Women in Paris

A new exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939,” illuminates the accomplishments of 60 convention-defying women who crossed the Atlantic to pursue personal and professional aspirations in the vibrant cultural milieu of Paris. As foreigners in a cosmopolitan city, these “exiles” escaped the constraints that limited them at home.

Many used their newfound freedom to pursue culture-shifting experiments in a variety of fields, including art, literature, design, publishing, music, fashion, journalism, theater, and dance. The progressive ventures they undertook while living abroad profoundly influenced American culture and opened new possibilities for women. “Brilliant Exiles” highlights the dynamic role of portraiture in articulating the new identities that American women were at liberty to develop in Paris.

The gallery’s curator of prints and drawings, Robyn Asleson, provides an overview of the first exhibition to focus on the impact of American women on Paris—and of Paris on American women—from the turn of the 20th century until the outbreak of World War II. She discusses portraits of cultural influencers such as Josephine Baker, Isadora Duncan, Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Anna May Wong, among others.

Tues., May 21, 6:45 p.m.; CODE 1L0-570; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit for each session Impressionism’s Roots in Normandy and Beyond

Impressionism ignited in the rolling green countryside of Normandy, France, where Claude Monet and other local artists developed this new way of painting, shocking many traditionalists. Impressionists rebelled against the classical art tradition by painting outdoors and representing the modern world, emphasizing landscapes and everyday life. They especially focused on capturing the essence of light and how it could define a moment.

Travel writer Barbara Noe Kennedy takes you to visit the sites where Impressionism was born and evolved—even the exact places where well-known paintings were created. Maps, photos, videos, and other visuals accompany the journey through the countryside and the Paris area.

MAY 29 The Origins of Impressionism in Normandy

JUNE 5 Beyond Normandy

2-session series: Wed., May 29 and June 5, 7 p.m.; CODE 1CV-INF; Members $40; Nonmembers $45

Individual sessions: Wed., May 29 (CODE 1CV-039); Wed., June 5 (CODE 1CV-040); 7 p.m.; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

Georgia O’Keeffe: American Modernist

When she died in 1986 at the age of 98, Georgia O’Keeffe’s obituary appeared on the front page of The New York Times. This was rare for any artist and unheard-of for a female painter. But she had been famous since the late 1920s, and a century later she remains an icon of American art. Images of O’Keeffe’s paintings are ubiquitous in popular culture. Collectors covet her pictures: In 2014 the painting Jimson Weed/White Flower #1 (1932) broke the auction record for a work by any female artist when Sotheby’s sold it for more than $44 million to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

In a richly illustrated program, art historian Bonita Billman explores O’Keeffe’s life and artistic career, from her upbringing in rural Wisconsin to her association with New York City’s avant-garde circle to her years in New Mexico, where the desert opened a new range of subject matter for her work. Billman also looks at the influences on O’Keeffe—including fellow artist Arthur Wesley Dow, who taught her the importance of “filling a space in a beautiful way,” and her husband, gallerist and photographer Alfred Stieglitz.

Thurs., June 6, 12 p.m.; CODE 1M2-326; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

Georgia O’Keeffe by Alfred Stieglitz, 1918

Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare SaintLazare by Claude Monet, 1877

Josephine Baker by Stanislaus Julian Walery, 1926

Theresa Helburn by Marion H. Beckett, 1922

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit each session

Lunchtime with a Curator

Decorative Arts Design Series

Join curator Elizabeth Lay, a regular lecturer on the topics of fashion, textiles, and American furniture, and her guests for an image-rich lunchtime series focusing on decorative arts and design topics.

A younger generation of collectors and novices are making their decorating decisions much differently than their parents: Today family portraits, silver, and antiques are no longer treasured the way they once were. Antique dealer Taylor Thistlethwaite discusses the current state of the decorative arts world and how to make it more relatable to the next generation.

La Pausa, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s deceptively simple vacation home on the Riviera, harbors a complexity not apparent at first view. Design historian Jean Marie Layton delves into the history of the home and its creation to demonstrate that it indeed mirrors its owner—a woman who promoted simplicity and modernity in women’s fashion but who was equal parts modern, simple, and complex.

Research fellow Benjamin Bowery examines the roots and evolution of American interior design, from the French-obsessed doyennes of the Gilded Age to the women decorating the mid-century boardroom. He discusses an emphasis on the designers, tastemakers, and business owners who defined the aesthetics of the modern era, including Elsie de Wolfe, Dorothy Draper, Mary and Russel Wright, and Florence Knoll.

JUNE 10 My Kids Hate Antiques

JUNE 17 Gabrielle Chanel’s La Pausa

JUNE 24 From “Designing Women” to “Fixer Upper”

3-session series: Mon., June 10, 17, and 24, 12 p.m.; CODE 1K0-479; Members $50; Nonmembers $60

Individual sessions: Mon., June 10 (CODE 1K0-480); Mon., June 17 (CODE 1K0-481); Mon., June 24 (CODE 1K0-482); 12 p.m.; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Édouard Manet

Pioneer of an Artistic Revolution

Édouard Manet was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. His early masterworks, The Luncheon on the Grass and Olympia, both from 1863, caused great controversy, but today, these are considered key paintings that mark the start of modern art.

The last 20 years of Manet’s life saw him form bonds with other great artists of the time such as Pissarro, Cézanne, and van Gogh, yet he developed his own simple and direct style that would be heralded as innovative and serve as a major influence for future painters. In a richly illustrated program, art historian Joseph P. Cassar critically examines several of Manet’s key works within their historical context.

Wed., June 12, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1K0-485; Members $30; Nonmembers $35

What time does the program end? Unless noted, Smithsonian Associates programs run 1 hour 15 min.–2 hours, including Q&A

Chippendale chest of drawers, courtesy of Thistlethwaite Americana

The Luncheon on the Grass by Edouard Manet, 1863

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1 credit Art and Fiction

A picture is not only worth a thousand words: It can sometimes inspire a whole invented world. Independent art historian Heidi Applegate explores the art and artists behind three works of historical fiction: Rules of Civility by Amor Towles; The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt; and The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz.

Gain new perspectives on American art and photography of the 1930s; a previously little-known 17th-century Dutch painting; art-world theft and forgeries; collecting 20th-century paintings; and Outsider art by delving into the novels, followed by Applegate’s examination of the factual background along with the fiction. It’s a “novel” way to explore the arts.

3-session series: Wed., June 12, July 10, and Aug. 14, 12 p.m.; CODE 1H0-816; Members $60; Nonmembers $65

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1 credit

Close-Up on Rembrandt

Rembrandt van Rijn is widely considered as one of the most important and influential figures in Western art. Though best known for his psychologically revealing self-portraits, he is also an unrivaled master of light and shadow and expressive, luxuriant brushwor k, qualities that would be emulated by generations of later artists.

Art historian Aneta Georgievska-Shine explores the most distinctive aspects of Rembrandt’s artistic language through close looking and an analysis of some of his greatest masterpieces—from his public commissions such as The Night Watch to his representations of stories from classical history and the Old Testament, as well as in his most private of works.

10 a.m. Rembrandt’s Formation and Breakthrough

11:15 a.m. Painting and Story-Telling

12:15 p.m. Break

12:45 p.m. Rembrandt’s Loves: Portrayals of Women

2 p.m. The Self-Portrait as Diary

Fri., June 14, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.; CODE 1K0-477; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Mid-Century Design Series

California: A Paradise of Mid-Century Architecture

Since the late 1940s, California has been an epicenter for some of the most striking and innovative modern architecture in the world. World War II and its aftermath opened the state to tremendous population growth, drawing tens of thousands of people to its aircraft and shipbuilding industries and creating a housing boom in which demand far exceeded supply. The need for housing for workers and returning GIs resulted in some of the most iconic examples of Mid-Century Modern houses in the nation. Bill Keene, a lecturer on architecture and urban studies, surveys this bold new landscape of housing design. He examines the experimental Case Study Houses of Los Angeles,

the use of new materials and construction methods in residential architecture; the highend Modernist homes of the Palm Springs desert; and how California Mid-Century Modern architecture evolved from an experiment of the wealthy to a mass-marketed style trend that reached a national scale.

Tues., June 18, 7 p.m.; CODE 1NV-088; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

which fostered

The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius, 1654

The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn

MBTRAMA

Stahl House (Case Study House No. 22) in the Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Painting with Monet

At pivotal moments in his career, Claude Monet would go out with a fellow artist, plant his easel beside his friend’s, and paint the same scene. Examining paintings made side by side, Harmon Siegel, a junior fellow at Harvard University, shows how Monet explored challenging questions in concrete, practical ways while painting alongside his teachers, Eugène Boudin and Johan Barthold Jongkind; his friends Frédéric Bazille and Pierre-Auguste Renoir; and his hero, Édouard Manet. Siegel’s book, Painting with Monet (Princeton University Press), is available for purchase.

Mon., June 24, 7 p.m.; CODE 1CV-042; Members $25; Nonmembers $30

World Art History Certificate elective: 1 credit Monet: Impressions of

an Artist

Monet. The name alone conjures up vivid images: water lilies in Giverny, haystacks in the French countryside, trains pulling into Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris, the façade of the Rouen cathedral. A pioneer of the Impressionist movement, Claude Monet created paintings capturing nature’s fleeting moments—and rendered the scenes unforgettable.

Monet first concentrated on landscapes and seascapes because of his fascination with how the changing atmospheric elements of light, clouds, sun, and wind transformed the scenes before him. Later at his home and garden in Giverny, he found a new setting in which to explore that inspiration of a lifetime. Art historian Joseph P. Cassar leads an in-depth look at one of the most influential and bestloved Impressionist painters.

JULY 10 The Early Years

JULY 17 The Birth of Impressionism

JULY 24 A Home in Giverny

JULY 31 The Water Lilies Installation

4-session series: Wed., July 10–31, 10:30 a.m.; CODE 1K0-486; Members $80; Nonmembers $90

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Masterpieces and Mayhem Caravaggio’s Artistic Revolution

Few artists have generated so much fascination and revolutionized the history of art as profoundly as Michelangelo Merisi, better known as Caravaggio (1571–1610). He was a hot-headed, anti-social outlaw and murderer who despite a short lifespan created a sensation with a bold naturalistic style—one that evoked intense drama and emotion through theatrical light and expressive, often violent gestures. He was both loved and reviled by his contemporaries for this new approach to realism. Author Ross King explores the life and times of this complicated man and puts his innovative paintings and notorious lifestyle into the context of Rome’s turbulent first decade of the 17th century, which witnessed a crisis in the Catholic Church as well as the rise of Galileo and his new science.

Wed., June 26, 6:30 p.m.; CODE 1H0-817; Members $20; Nonmembers $25

Portrait of Claude Monet by Nadar

The Beheading of Saint John by Caravaggio, 1608

IN PERSON

In-person classes are taught by professional artists and teachers. View detailed class descriptions and supply lists at SmithsonianAssociates.org/studio. View portfolios of work by our instructors at SmithsonianAssociates.org/art instructors.

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Art Journaling for Self-Expression

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By Carter Umhau

Guided through mindfulness activities, delve into emphasizing process over product and play over perfection. This class is grounded in both creative theory and therapeutic principles that deepen your relationship with yourself as an artist and as a person.

IN PERSON: Tues., May 14–June 4, 6 p.m.; Carter Umhau; Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0GZ; Members $145; Nonmembers $160

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By George Tkabladze

Intermediate Drawing

Participants refine and expand their drawing skills through studio practice in traditional media. Sessions focus on classic subject areas such as landscape, portrait, and figure; warm-up exercises, critiques, and demonstrations are included.

IN PERSON: Tues., April 2–May 21, 2 p.m.; George Tkabladze, Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0ED; Members $270; Nonmembers $305

Drawing Treasures

Sculptures in the National Gallery of Art

Stretch your creative muscles and deepen your observational skills at the National Gallery of Art. Create a drawntreasure map as you visually explore time, space, and place in the museum’s West Wing sculpture galleries.

IN PERSON: Sat., May 18, 10 a.m.; Renee Sandell; National Gallery of Art West Building, Ground Floor; CODE 1E0-0EF; Members $110; Nonmembers $125

NEW CLASS By Renee Sandell

Beginning Oil Painting

In this course, gain the technical background and experience you need to get started as a painter. Lectures, demonstrations, and experimentation introduce the medium of oils. Working from museum masterpieces, still-life arrangements, or your favorite photos, explore basic techniques, including colormixing, scumbling, and glazing.

SOLD OUT

IN PERSON: Wed., April 3–May 22, 2:30 p.m.; Shahin Talishkhan; Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0FV; Members $270; Nonmembers $305

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit En Plein Air Landscape Painting in the Smithsonian Gardens

Post-Impressionism Inspired by Cézanne

By Sandra Gobar

Using watercolors, capture the nuances of the natural light in the beautiful Enid A. Haupt Garden next to the Smithsonian Castle. Study the delicate subtleties of the plants and learn to translate your observations into stunning Post-Impressionistic studies and paintings.

IN PERSON: Sun., April 7–May 5, 11 a.m.; Sandra Gobar; Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0FY; Members $245; Nonmembers $260

Advantages to providing your email to customer service:

• Receive a digital version of the member program guide so you can read it anywhere

• Receive important notices regarding your class along with other useful information

IN PERSON

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Playing with Pulp

Take a dive into making dimensional materials from raw paper pulp. Using molds and other forms, cast into a multitude of shapes and colors that can be mounted on twodimensional surfaces to provide 3D elements that are unique and lightweight.

By Sharon Robinson

IN PERSON: Sat., April 20–May 4, 1 p.m.; Sharon Robinson; Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0FB; Members $115; Nonmembers $140

By Sharon Robinson

Mixed Media Constructions

Take your mixed-media ventures in a new direction with 3D constructions using wood, personal mementos, old jewelry, metal fixtures, photos, and other found objects. Experiment with molding objects from air-dry clay, along with techniques such as weaving, image transfers, and stitching with cord.

IN PERSON: Tues., April 9–May 14, 6:30 p.m.; Sharon Robinson; Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0FA; Members $215; Nonmembers $250

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Wool Embroidery from the Andes

Discover the joy of this craft characterized by colorful floral designs embroidered with wool in a style that originated in the Andean mountains of Peru. Create a design using a variety of stitches that can be applied to future projects.

IN PERSON: Wed., April 3–24, 2 p.m.; Susana Romero; Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0EQ; Members $155; Nonmembers $190

By

Susana Romero

Fair Isle Knitting

Peeries, XOX, and Boarders: These may sound like the names of rock bands, but in fact they are patterns found in Fair Isle knitting. In this workshop, students focus on learning this intricate but approachable stranding color technique.

IN PERSON: Sun., April 14, 10 a.m.; Ann Richards; Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0ER; Members $85; Nonmembers $100

NEW CLASS

Painting with Wool

Use your knowledge of the principles of art and design as you create compositions, blend colors, and form shadows to evoke realistic or abstract painted images with felt. Play with the possibilities of felt to create 3D and relief effects.

By Renate Maile-Moskowitz

IN PERSON: Sat., May 11 and Sun., May 12, 10:30 a.m.; Renate Maile-Moskowitz; Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0EU; Members $185; Nonmembers $210

Embroidered Patch Workshop

Use basic stitches to create an embroidered rainbowwatermelon patch to embellish a favorite jacket or pair of jeans. Learn how to prepare fabric with a simple design, then ready a hoop and begin stitching.

IN PERSON: Sat., May 4, 11 a.m.; Heather Kerley; Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0ET; Members $55; Nonmembers $70

By Heather Kerley

IN PERSON

Embroidered Pendant Workshop

Create a unique stitched pendant hung from a strand of colorful beads. Learn a variety of easy and lovely stitches, how to mount the embroidered cloth in a pendant bezel, and jewelry-making techniques to finish the piece.

IN PERSON: Sat., May 18, 11 a.m.; Heather Kerley and Mïa Vollkommer; Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0FC; Members $75; Nonmembers $90

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Figure Sculpture

By George Tkabladze

By Heather Kerley and Mïa Vollkommer

Students examine the materials and processes for sculpting a portrait, torso, or full figure using a live model. Learn clay sculpture techniques focused on tool use, armatures, anatomy, and proportion and explore individual style.

SOLD OUT

IN PERSON: Tues., April 2–May 21, 6:30 p.m.; George Tkabladze; Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0FM; Members $290; Nonmembers $325

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On-Location Photography

Capture the vibrancy of Washington, D.C., and sharpen your way of thinking about shooting outdoors in a course that focuses on deploying a minimal amount of equipment and a lot of fresh perspective. Emphasis is placed on what happens before the shutter release is pressed and on truly pre-visualizing the photograph.

IN PERSON: Sun., April 21–June 2, 1:45 p.m., no class May 26; Joe Yablonsky; Ripley Center; CODE 1E00GM; Members $195; Nonmembers $230

By Joe Yablonsky

NEW CLASSES

Wildlife Photography in the Field

Gear up and head out for a wildlife photography session. Come look for new spring life that may include newly hatched ducklings, displaying blackbirds, courting snapping turtles, and hopping American bullfrogs.

By Matt Felperin

Cyanotype Workshop

IN PERSON: Wed., April 17, 6 a.m.; Matt Felperin; Huntley Meadows Park; CODE 1E0-0HB; Members $65; Nonmembers $80

The cyanotype photographic method uses the sun to expose UV-light–sensitive chemicals in order to create rich, deep blue prints. Learn a short history of cyanotypes and how to use the cyanotype chemicals alongside objects from nature or your home, then put basic techniques to work to create prints.

By Sammie Correa

IN PERSON: Sun., May 19, 11 a.m.; Sammie Correa; Ripley Center; CODE 1E0-0HA; Members $70; Nonmembers $85

Support lifelong learning at Smithsonian Associates

Please help us in presenting vibrant educational programs by making a charitable contribution today. Your gift is essential because, unlike the museums, Smithsonian Associates is not federally funded and relies entirely on donations and membership support to bridge the gap between program expenses and ticket revenue.

SmithsonianAssociates.org/levels

Unless noted, all programs are presented on Zoom; listed times are Eastern Time. Online registration is required.

Online classes are taught by professional artists and teachers. View detailed class descriptions and supply lists at SmithsonianAssociates.org/studio. View portfolios of work by our instructors at SmithsonianAssociates.org/art instructors.

ART THEORY AND PRACTICE n n n n

Keeping up the Sketchbook Habit

By Sue Fierston

Jump-start your creative ideas by enriching your sketchbooking with new techniques. Learn how to map your day, get creative with colored pencil on midtone kraft paper, and draw one object over several weeks.

ONLINE: Sat., April 6, May 4, June 1, 10 a.m.; Sue Fierston; CODE 1E0-0DW; Members $165; Nonmembers $190

Artful Mind, Tranquil Mind

Artists throughout the world have developed practices that allow them to center themselves and prepare for making art. Students explore some of these techniques: mark making with lines, swirls, and puddles and using paper to experiment with folding and tearing.

Visual Journaling: Creativity Workout

By Renee Sandell

In an afternoon of artistic experimentation, explore five modes of visual thinking: working from memory, observation, imagination, narrative, and experimental approaches. Create visual journaling pieces and engage in mark-making and mapping exercises.

ONLINE: Sat., May 4, 1 p.m.; Renee Sandell; CODE 1E0-0EB; Members $80; Nonmembers $95

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Composition

This workshop examines fundamental concepts of composition and their practical application in studio art practice, offering participants tools to enrich their work as well as to analyze and appreciate visual art in general.

Moroccan Café by Matisse, 1913

By Renee Sandell

By Sushmita Mazumdar

ONLINE: Mon., April 8–May 20, 12 p.m., no class April 22; Sushmita Mazumdar; CODE 1E0-0FE; Members $95; Nonmembers $130

Seeing More: Visual Fitness Workouts

Through group discussions and imaginative studio activities, engage your creativity and boost your insight in weekly eye-opening, hands-on art workouts. Strengthen artistic muscles by decoding (reading) and encoding (expressing) visual meaning.

ONLINE: Mon., April 8–May 6, 4 p.m., no class April 22; Renee Sandell; CODE 1E0-0DX; Members $185; Nonmembers $210

ONLINE: Mon., April 29–May 20, 10 a.m.; Shahin Talishkhan; CODE 1E0-0DZ; Members $160; Nonmembers $185

Color Theory and Chroma-psychology

Learn how to make color choices in your art to bring out a reaction from the viewer. Use a color wheel to clarify your understanding of color basics and then create color combinations with pencils for a practical understanding of color theory.

ONLINE: Thurs., May 2, 1 p.m.; Lori VanKirk Schue; CODE 1E00EA; Members $55; Nonmembers $70

By Lori VanKirk Schue

Developing Your Sketchbook

A sketchbook is so much more than just a book for drawing. Boost your creativity as you record your thoughts and visual observations in a sketchbook and discover how to capture the essence of what you see and think.

SOLD OUT

ONLINE: Thurs., June 6 and 13, 1 p.m.; Lori VanKirk Schue; CODE 1E0-0EP; Members $105; Nonmembers $130

DRAWING n n n n

Drawing with Silverpoint

Silverpoint drawing uses a silver stylus on specially prepared paper to produce delicate lines. Initially silver-gray, the drawing tarnishes when exposed to air, resulting in the characteristic warm brown tone. Learn the history of silverpoint, the materials required, and the process for this technique used by artists like Leonardo da Vinci.

ONLINE: Thurs., April 4 and 11, 1 p.m.; Lori VanKirk Schue; CODE 1E0-0EH; Members $95; Nonmembers $120

By Lori VanKirk Schue

By Lori VanKirk Schue

Introduction to Charcoal Drawing

Learn about different forms of charcoal as well as a variety of styes and techniques—including pressure, twisting, blending, and smudging—by doing exercises in class. Then create a more finished project of choice: portrait, landscape, or still life.

ONLINE: Thurs., April 18 and 25, 1 p.m.; Lori VanKirk Schue; CODE 1E0-0EK; Members $95; Nonmembers $120

NEW CLASSES

Digital Drawing Fundamentals

Learn to use the iPad, Apple Pencil, and Procreate for illustration and animation. With this deceptively minimal toolset, artists can create a wide range of visuals. Students get an introductory lecture on the basics of digital art production, demonstrations, and experience drawing in Procreate on an iPad.

By Mike O’Brien

SOLD OUT

ONLINE: Wed., April 17, 6:30 p.m.; Mike O’Brien; CODE 1E0-0ES; Members $45; Nonmembers $60

Drawing Backyard Birds in Chalk Pastels

Learn all the techniques you need to illustrate birds and their delicate feathers, glossy eyes, and unique wings and feet with chalk pastels. The instructor discusses materials and how to use them effectively while observing the anatomy of birds to aid in accurate representations.

ONLINE: Thurs., May 9 and 16, 1 p.m.; Lori VanKirk Schue; CODE 1E00EM; Members $105; Nonmembers $130

By Lori VanKirk Schue

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Drawing Light

By Nick Cruz Velleman

How the Masters Did It Learn the strategies Rembrandt, Daumier, and Cézanne used to harness light in their images. Participants investigate how these masters manipulated light to unify, intensify, and give volume to their images. In-class exercises revolve around using graphite to draw studies of masterworks.

ONLINE: Tues., April 24–May 22, 6:30 p.m.; Nick Cruz Velleman; CODE 1E0-0EL; Members $190; Nonmembers $225

ONLINE

PAINTING n n n n

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1/2 credit Techniques in Modernist Painting

Experiment with a variety of Modernist painting styles such as Cubism, Suprematism, and Abstract Expressionism. Through a series of exercises, including still-life setups and model sessions, learn practical applications of the concepts and techniques of Modernism.

By Shahin Talishkhan

ONLINE: Mon., April 8–May 20, 6:30 p.m., no class April 22; Shahin Talishkhan; CODE 1E0-0GH; Members $245; Nonmembers $280

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Drawing Light

How the Masters Did It in Color

By Nick Cruz Velleman

Using watercolor and oil pastels, learn the strategies Delacroix, Turner, Monet, and Cézanne employed to manipulate the viewer’s experience of light in their images. In-class exercises focus on making studies of masterworks to create similar luminous effects.

ONLINE: Thurs., April 25–May 23, 6:30 p.m.; Nick Cruz Velleman; CODE 1E0-0GG; Members $190; Nonmembers $225

The Mark of van Gogh

This course is an introduction to Vincent van Gogh’s accomplishments in drawing, with particular attention to his unique and instantly recognizable touch. Participants investigate how his imaginative mark making forms his images. In-class exercises revolve around drawing studies of his masterworks.

ONLINE: Tues., May 14–28, 6:30 p.m.; Nick Cruz Velleman; CODE 1E0-0EN; Members $135; Nonmembers $160

By Nick Cruz Velleman

Watercolor Workshop: Quick-Sketch for a Day

Spend the day learning to capture your travels with flowing lines and painterly colors. Discover how to simplify a scene and to compose and draw more organically and confidently. This technique is perfect for studies, travel journals, and finished fine art.

By Cindy Briggs

TWO ONLINE OPTIONS: Sat., June 1 (CODE 1E0-0GA); Sat., June 8 (CODE 1E0-0HD); 10:15 a.m.; Cindy Briggs; Members $160; Nonmembers $185

By Cindy Briggs

Simply Start Painting Watercolors

The limitless creative possibilities of watercolor can be a bit intimidating for beginning students. In this series, focus on the basics with methods that narrow parameters. Learn what supplies make all the difference and how to manipulate your brush to create flowing lines.

ONLINE: Tues., June 4–Thurs., June 6, 6 p.m.; Cindy Briggs; CODE 1E0-0GJ; Members $185; Nonmembers $210

MIXED MEDIA n n n n

Collage and Mixed Media

This class focuses on the variety of choices in collage. Whether constructing a piece of personal history with mementos or an abstract piece, students learn through experimentation with color, form, and design. They explore the use of text, images, texture, and natural and found objects.

ONLINE: Wed., April 17–June 5, 1:30 p.m.; Marcie Wolf-Hubbard; CODE 1E0-0FH; Members $250; Nonmembers $285

By Marcie Wolf-Hubbard

Collage and Mixed Media

Animals and Nature

Learn to sketch animals and objects found in nature, then combine your drawings with painting and additional elements and textures to create whimsical or serious mixed-media art. Create your own story by experimenting with a range of materials and techniques.

By Marcie Wolf-Hubbard

ONLINE: Wed., April 17–June 5, 6:30 p.m.; Marcie Wolf–Hubbard; CODE 1E0-0FJ; Members $245; Nonmembers $280

By Marcie Wolf-Hubbard

Mixed Media Art Warmups

Art warmups enable students to jump right into their projects knowing there are no wrong answers. Students work with positive and negative space, do quick sketches, go beyond the color wheel, and use mixed-media techniques to build layers and texture.

ONLINE: Fri., May 17–31, 1:30 p.m.; Marcie Wolf-Hubbard; CODE 1E0-0FK; Members $175; Nonmembers $200

NEW CLASS

Handmade Card Workshop

Bold Sentiments

Inspired by bold sentiments and big wishes, create cards for most events on your calendar. Attention is given to card construction, sentiments, a bit of ink blending, and water coloring with dye-based ink.

ONLINE: Sun., May 19, 10:30 a.m.; Karen Cadogan; CODE 1E0-0HE; Members $80; Nonmembers $95 By Karen Cadogan

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Color Theory for Embroidery Artists

Find your sense of color confidence while learning to apply color to embroidery art as would a painter using pigments and a palette. Learn the vocabulary of color theory through exercises and embroidery hoop experiments.

SOLD OUT

ONLINE: Thurs., April 4–18, 12 p.m.; Heather Kerley; CODE 1E0-0EW; Members $85; Nonmembers $110

By Heather Kerley

Basic Weaving on the Rigid Heddle Loom

The versatile and portable rigid heddle loom is a great entryway into weaving. Learn how to prepare (dress) the loom for weaving along with basic handcontrol techniques including: flat tapestry; raised tapestry; open-lace work; pickup; plane weave; and several finishing techniques. The instructor provides step-by-step instructions, demonstrations, and feedback.

ONLINE: Tues., April 9–May 21, 6:30 p.m.; Tea Okropiridze; CODE 1E0-0EV; Members $190; Nonmembers $225

NEW CLASS

“Feltrigami”

Exploring Folded Felt

Take felting to the next level in this 3D exploration of the art. Combine felting and origami techniques to create a collapsible, space-saving “feltrigami” bag and use up the smallest scraps of wool fibers, yarns, and fabric.

By Renate Maile-Moskowitz

ONLINE: Fri, April 26–May 10, 1 p.m.; Renate Maile-Moskowitz; CODE 1E0-0EZ; Members $140; Nonmembers $165

When Good Patterns Go Bad

Avoiding and Fixing Knitting Mistakes

Nothing can be more frustrating than realizing there’s something wrong with your knitting and not knowing how to fix it. This workshop focuses on avoiding errors, learning to detect them sooner, and figuring out what to do once you know there’s a problem.

ONLINE: Sun., May 5, 12 p.m.; Ann Richards; CODE 1E0-0EX; Members $45; Nonmembers $60

By Heather Kerley

Botanical Illustration in Redwork

Learn the history of redwork quilts and how this type of embroidery, primarily done in red but also in blue and black, can be used to make beautiful, delicate botanical illustrations. Students create designs based on plants native to their area, transfer those designs onto fabric, and then make a basic small quilt using their embroideries.

ONLINE: Thurs., May 9–23, 12 p.m.; Heather Kerley; CODE 1E00EY; Members $105; Nonmembers $130

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Introduction to Pointed Pen Calligraphy

OTHER MEDIA n n n n

Introduction to White-Line Woodblock Printing

White-line woodcuts are multicolor images printed from a single block of wood. Learn to create your own by cutting a nature print or simple line drawing into a wood block, creating the “white lines” when printed.

By Sue Fierston

ONLINE: Sun., April 7, 10 a.m.; Sue Fierston; CODE 1E0-0FN; Members $75; Nonmembers $90

By Arrin Sutliff

The Art of Floral Design

Explore the spectrum of floral design. Among the practical areas covered are sourcing (with a focus on sustainability), making the most of seasonal flowers, creating centerpieces, wiring techniques, and photographing your work. The class is designed for students of all levels.

ONLINE: Wed., April 10–May 15, 7:30 p.m.; Arrin Sutliff; CODE 1E0-0FR; Members $160; Nonmembers $195

NEW CLASS

Gel Plate Journey Part I

Pointed pen calligraphy, commonly known as copperplate, is unmatched in its usefulness for social stationery. Beginning with basic tools and mechanics, students discover how to develop their skills and to recognize the small details that make this style of writing so appealing.

ONLINE: Sat., April 6–June 8, 1:30 p.m., no class April 20 and May 26; Sharmila Karamchandani; CODE 1E0-0FQ; Members $235; Nonmembers $270

Printmaking using a gel plate offers many options for combining materials, tools, and techniques to achieve an array of effects on both paper and fabric. Explore the possibilities for layering with stamps, stencils, inks, and acrylic paint markers.

By Sharon Robinson

ONLINE: Mon., April 29–May 20, 6:30 p.m.; Sharon Robinson; CODE 1E0-0FD; Members $140; Nonmembers $165

By Barb Schmidt

Propagating Orchids

Join an orchid care expert for a fun, informative evening learning to cultivate orchids. These favorite household plants are both beautiful and sometimes challenging to grow.

ONLINE: Wed., May 22, 6:30 p.m.; Barb Schmidt; CODE 1E0-0FT; Members $50; Nonmembers $65

Orchids in the Summer

Just in time for summer, learn how to safely move and care for your orchids outside in the hotter months.

ONLINE: Sat., June 1, 11 a.m.; Barb Schmidt; CODE 1E0-0FS; Members $50; Nonmembers $75

PHOTOGRAPHY: Beginner n n n n

The Art of Black-and-White Photography

By Lewis Katz

Learn how to create powerful blackand-white images. Through lecture, demonstration, and critiques, discover how to previsualize blackand-white images; compose scenes emphasizing texture, line, and contrast; and use software such as Lightroom Classic and Silver Efex Pro.

ONLINE: Tues., April 2–23, 6:30 p.m.; Lewis Katz; CODE 1E0-0GP; Members $125; Nonmembers $150

Aspect Ratios

Gain an understanding of aspect ratios for both digital sensors and film. The class explores changing the aspect ratio in your camera, aspect-ratio constraints in cropping and postproduction, and use of the Photoshop image size and canvas size commands.

ONLINE: Wed., April 3, 6:30 p.m.; Joe Yablonsky; CODE 1E0-0GQ; Members $45; Nonmembers $60

By Joe Yablonsky

Achieving Balanced Compositions in Photography

Balance is rarely mentioned as an attribute in photography, but it’s important. Learn how to arrange positive and negative elements in space to achieve an aesthetically pleasing outcome in your previsualization process and obtain stronger compositions.

ONLINE: Thurs., April 4, 6:30 p.m.; Joe Yablonsky; CODE 1E0-0GR; Members $45; Nonmembers $60

The Joy of Photography

Designed for beginners who want to learn how to use their digital or mirrorless camera as a creative tool, this class gives students the opportunity to learn about technical aspects of photography so they can concentrate on composing beautiful images.

ONLINE: Mon., April 8–May 20, 6:30 p.m.; Marty Kaplan; CODE 1E0-0GS; Members $185; Nonmembers $220

Exposures and Histograms

Histograms are a graphic display of the brightness levels of pixels in an image. For new photographers, they can be an essential guide to achieving the correct exposure. This workshop is an introduction to all aspects of exposure and how to manipulate each element to positively affect your histogram.

ONLINE: Wed., April 24, 6:30 p.m.; Joe Yablonsky; CODE 1E0-0FL; Members $45; Nonmembers $60

Read more about programs in this guide on our website. Search by code or date. Expanded program descriptions, presenters’ information, and more at SmithsonianAssociates.org.

Wildlife Photography: A Crash Course for Success

Take a crash course in wildlife photography. In part one, learn the technical aspects to use for your camera and strategy for shooting; in part two, dive into processing your photographs to highlight the most striking images.

ONLINE: Wed., April 10 and 24, 6:30 p.m.; Matt Felperin; CODE 1E0-0HC; Members $95; Nonmembers $120

By Matt Felperin

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1/2 credit The Cyanotype: HandsOn History of Photography

By Patricia Howard

Delve into the history of cyanotypes, a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue and white print, and create your own cyanotype in this unique studio arts class.

ONLINE: Sat., May 4 and 11, 12 p.m.; Patricia Howard; CODE 1E0-0GV; Members $85; Nonmembers $105

Digital Photography: Beyond the Basics

Take your digital photography up a notch by honing your use of exposure and composition to frame the information in the camera lens and create your most expressive and meaningful photographs.

ONLINE: Sat., June 1 and 8, 10 a.m.; Eliot Cohen; CODE 1E0-0GY; Members $280; Nonmembers $305

By Eliot Cohen

PHOTOGRAPHY: Experienced n n n n

Macro Photography

Take a much closer look at your photographic subjects through the art of macro photography. Get an introduction to the technique’s aesthetics and design, as well as technical tips on lenses, close-up focusing distance, depth of field, tripod use, lighting, and other key elements.

ONLINE: Thurs., May 2 and 9, 6:30 p.m.; Joe Yablonsky; CODE 1E0-0GU; Members $90; Nonmembers $115

The Photo Essay

Learn how to create a photo essay, a set of photographs that tells a story or evokes a series of emotions. Homework assignments are designed to encourage students to explore their personal interests.

ONLINE: Wed., May 1 and 29, 6:30 p.m.; Joe Yablonsky; CODE 1E0-0GT; Members $90; Nonmembers $115

Build Your Photographic Portfolio

Show off your photos like a pro and learn how to assemble a personal portfolio that reflects your best work and your distinctive vision as a photographer. Targeted homework assignments help you increase your collection of portfolioquality work.

By Joe Yablonsky

ONLINE: Thurs., May 16–30, 6:30 p.m.; Joe Yablonsky; CODE 1E00GX; Members $125; Nonmembers $150

Smithsonian Associates expert-led Study Tours offer one-of-a-kind in-person experiences. They’re the perfect way to learn more about the places and topics that fascinate you, and you’re sure to discover plenty of new favorites along the way.

All Things German in DC

Even if your knowledge of German is limited to “ja” and “nein,” it’s easy to enjoy learning about Germany’s cultural influence on Washington, D.C., on this tour. Highlights include a visit to the German American Heritage Museum, which sits in the old European-American section of the city, to explore the cultural legacy of German Americans in the city; an inside look at St. Mary Mother of God Catholic Church, a parish founded by and for 19th-century German immigrants; and a visit to the National Gallery of Art exhibition on German Expressionism.

Begin the day with a stop at a hidden symbol of diplomacy on the National Mall: the German-American Friendship Garden, which was built to commemorate 300 years of German immigration to America and was restored in 2022. A visit to Prospect Hill Cemetery highlights the contributions German immigrants made to the growth of Washington as skilled craftsmen; it is the resting place of the architect of the dome of the Capitol, August Schoenborn. Lunchtime brings on traditional German fare at Old Europe, in business since 1948.

The day also includes a visit to the National Gallery of Art for a guided tour of the exhibition “The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy,” which features works from early 20th-century German Expressionist artists who interpreted the dramatic changes in the world around them during a tumultuous time.

Thurs., April 18, 8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; by bus; detailed tour information on website; CODE 1CD-030; Members $160; Nonmembers $210

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit Mid-Century Modern Design in Pennsylvania

From the period after World War II through the late 1960s, the Mid-century Modern design movement swept through the United States and Europe, emphasizing functionality, clean lines, and simplicity. Design historian Elizabeth Lay Little leads a tour to eastern Pennsylvania that explores how the movement took root in the region.

Begin the day with a private tour of the George Nakashima House, Studio, and Workshop in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Nakashima (1905-1990), a preeminent furniture designer-craftsman of the American studio craft movement of the mid-20th century, embraced American and International Modern styles while infusing his pieces with Japanese designs. A guided tour of the complex visits structures Nakashima built using traditional Japanese building principles—including incorporating indigenous materials and demonstrating respect for the natural landscape—while experimenting with innovations.

During the afternoon, visit Rago Auctions in Lambertville, New Jersey, one of the country’s principal specialty auction houses, founded by David Rago, a leading dealer in the field of American arts and crafts. Meet with staff members, who talk about notable modern pieces and show examples before they go to auction.

Conclude with a tour of the Michener Art Museum that focuses on the permanent collection, which showcases the strong Arts and Crafts and modern studio furniture traditions of southeastern Pennsylvania. Visit exhibitions on the studio craft movement and the Nakashima Reading Room, a traditional Japanese-style room that includes several classic pieces of furniture in the Nakashima tradition.

Fri., May 3, 7 a.m.–9 p.m.; CODE 1CD-032; by bus; detailed tour information on website; Members $215; Nonmembers $265 (includes lunch)

Bus Tour

Grave of August Schoenborn at Prospect Hill Cemetery

The German-American Friendship Garden

Bus Tour

George Nakashima House, Studio and Workshop, Arts Building ”Conoid Chair” by George Nakashima, 1988

SHUVAEV

JIMCCHOU

The Seven Days Battles

In March 1862, Union Gen. George B. McClellan embarked upon a bold campaign to move his 100,000-man army by ship from Alexandria to Fort Monroe, Virginia, only 80 miles from Richmond, the Confederate capital. By the end of May, McClellan and his army were on Richmond’s outskirts.

Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was assigned the daunting task of stopping a Union juggernaut capable of ending the Civil War. Thus, the stage was set for what became known as the Seven Days Battles.

Led by Civil War tour guide and career military intelligence officer Col. Marc Thompson, travel to five of these battlefields: Beaver Dam Creek, Gaines’ Mill, White Oak Swamp, Glendale, and Malvern Hill. The tour also includes other significant locations associated with the Seven Days Battles, including Chickahominy Bluff, Walnut Grove Church, and McClellan’s headquarters at the Trent House.

Sat., May 4, 7 a.m.–6 p.m.; by bus; CODE 1CD-033; detailed tour information on website; Members $160; Nonmembers $210 (ticket purchase includes free access to the related online program McClellan and the Seven Days Battles, p. 9)

Captivating Spring Gardens

The Scott Arboretum and the Mt. Cuba Center

The Philadelphia region boasts the title of America’s Garden Capital—and with more public gardens than anywhere else in the country, it’s a well-deserved one. Spend a day with horticulturist Chelsea Mahaffey exploring two captivating green spaces in the area and gathering new ideas for your own home garden.

Spread across more than 300 acres of the Swarthmore College campus, the Scott Arboretum is a plant lover’s delight that focuses on engaging horticultural designs, plants of merit, and creative ideas to encourage the home gardener. The campus acts as a “garden of ideas” and as you meander through the spectacular landscapes you’re sure to get your inner designer excited about the next growing season.

After lunch, visit a hidden gem in the Brandywine Valley, the Mt. Cuba Center. This native-plant haven covers 1,000 acres and is anchored by a stately Colonial Revival manor house built in 1935 by Lammot du Pont Copeland and his wife, Pamela. Sustainable gardening practices are reflected throughout the landscape as you take in the beauty of native plants in conservation settings such as woodlands and grasslands; in more formal settings around the residence; and in the trial garden, which offers insights into how the center’s research team evaluates native plants and related cultivars for horticultural and ecological value.

Thurs., May 9, 8 a.m.–7:30 p.m.; by bus; detailed tour information on website; CODE 1ND-010; Members $195; Nonmembers $245

Support lifelong learning at Smithsonian Associates

Please help us in presenting vibrant educational programs by making a charitable contribution today. Your gift is essential because, unlike the museums, Smithsonian Associates is not federally funded and relies entirely on donations and membership support to bridge the gap between program expenses and ticket revenue.

SmithsonianAssociates.org/levels

Please visit SmithsonianAssociates.org to view the FAQ on Health & Safety guidelines for in-person programs

Bus Tour

Bus Tour

Beaver Dam Creek Battlefield

Cunningham House and the site of the former observatory at Swarthmore College

SMALLBONES

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn ½ credit

Bus Tour

The Wyeths, Kuerner Farm, and the Brandywine Valley

For the past century, the Brandywine Valley has been home to the Wyeth dynasty and the origin of their artistic inspiration. While all of the area’s breathtaking scenery has been a source of creativity, Kuerner Farm, with its 19th-century farmhouse and adjacent barn, fascinated Andrew Wyeth for over 70 years. A day-long visit to the Brandywine Museum of Art led by art historian Bonita Billman brings the landscape to life and offers an opportunity to explore a trio of special exhibitions, featuring works by Andrew Wyeth, Jamie Wyeth, and Karl J. Kuerner—plus the Andrew Wyeth house and studio and Kuerner Farm (open to public tours for only a few days of the year).

“Karl J. Kuerner: The Continuity of Creativity” marks the 25th anniversary of Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art’s acquisition of Kuerner Farm as well as highlighting Kuerner’s work there over the decades as he continues to mine the property’s power of creative inspiration. In addition to painting, Kuerner has been offering art classes on-site for many years, part of Brandywine’s programmatic interpretation at the farm.

Also on view is “Jamie Wyeth: Unsettled,” which traces a vein of intriguing, often disconcerting imagery over the artist’s career. The exhibition, while not a retrospective, provides both a reflective look at Wyeth’s imagery and insights into the artist and the art of visual storytelling.

The third exhibition, “Every Leaf & Twig: Andrew Wyeth’s Botanical Imagination,” tells the story of Andrew Wyeth’s focus on the fragile rhythms and intimate dramas of plant life. Drawn from the holdings of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, most of the 40 watercolors and drawings have never been exhibited before.

Travel offsite in small groups to tour Andrew Wyeth’s nearby home and studio as well as Kuerner Farm. Enjoy a boxed lunch at the museum’s Millstone Café. The day ends with a private wine tasting at Chaddsford Winery, just down the road from the museum. The guided tasting features five of their signature wines.

Fri., May 10, 7:15 a.m.–8:15 p.m.; by bus; detailed tour information on website; CODE 1CD-034; Members $220; Nonmembers $270

Walking Tour

Cleveland Park and the National Cathedral Grounds

Dubbed “The Queen of the Washington Suburbs” in 1903, Cleveland Park is one of the District’s most beautiful and architecturally eclectic neighborhoods. With a rich history that spans from its beginnings as pastoral farmland to the summer escape of wealthy Washingtonians to one of the first streetcar suburbs, the neighborhood boasts fanciful Victorian mansions, gorgeous gardens, and the second-largest cathedral in the United States.

Carolyn Muraskin, founder of DC Design Tours, leads a visit to the National Cathedral’s grounds, including the Bishop’s Garden, and explores Cleveland Park highlights including the Rosedale Conservancy, the location of the oldest home in the District; the site of President Grover Cleveland’s summer home, Red Top; the William Slayton House, designed by I.M. Pei; and the condominium complex McLean Gardens, built on the grounds of the former estate of Evalyn Walsh McLean, owner of the Hope Diamond.

Sun., May 19, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.; detailed tour information on website; CODE 1CW-C19; Members $45; Nonmembers $55

National Cathedral grounds

Andrew Wyeth’s studio with reproduction painting and drawings

CARLOS ALEJANDRO

Hiking Tour

Spring on Sugarloaf Mountain

Natural beauty and fascinating history await on a day spent hiking to the summit of Washington’s local mountain, a natural treasure less than an hour’s drive from the city. Picturesque and rocky Sugarloaf Mountain offers spectacular views of the surrounding countryside of Montgomery and Frederick counties in Maryland.

Guided by study leader Melanie Choukas-Bradley, learn about the mountain’s plants and wildlife, seasonal changes, geology, and history. Spend time on the summit, composed of pink quartzite and forested with uncommon table mountain pines and mountain laurel, for a light lunch and a bit of forest bathing.

In addition to the deep dive into the flora and fauna, get insights into two remarkable preservation stories: Gordon Strong’s lifelong mission to save Sugarloaf Mountain from development and Montgomery County’s innovative 93,000-acre farmland preservation area known as the Agricultural Reserve. Hikers also hear tales about how plans for Sugarloaf Mountain by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Frank Lloyd Wright were thwarted.

View from the peak of Sugarloaf Mountain

THREE OPTIONS: Tues., May 21 (CODE 1NW-A01); Wed., May 22 (CODE 1NW-B01); Thurs., May 23 (CODE 1NW-C01); 10 a.m.–1:30 p.m.; each tour is limited to 20 participants; detailed tour information on website; Members $60; Nonmembers $85

NOTE: Tour participants must be in good physical condition to hike the steep trail to the summit, which includes a long set of stone steps.

Please visit SmithsonianAssociates.org to view the FAQ on Health & Safety guidelines for in-person programs

The Battle of Cedar Creek and Its Aftermath

Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat

Among all the battles fought in the Shenandoah Valley, none achieved more significant results and had wider consequences than the Battle of Cedar Creek on Oct. 19, 1864. What began disastrously for Union forces in the morning, as Confederate Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early’s Army of the Valley launched a surprise attack, transformed during the afternoon into arguably one of the Union’s most remarkable triumphs.

Militarily, the battle finally wrested the Shenandoah Valley, a vital source of provender for Confederate troops in Virginia and an avenue of invasion into the North, from Confederate control. Politically, the victory achieved by Union Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah tremendously aided President Abraham Lincoln’s bid for reelection in November 1864.

Additionally, Union success at Cedar Creek defined Sheridan’s legacy and elevated him to the pantheon of great American generals. In the decades after the Civil War, the Cedar Creek battlefield attracted both Union and Confederate veterans as they attempted to shape how this critical moment in the Republic’s history would be remembered.

History professor Jonathan A. Noyalas leads a daylong tour exploring the complexities of the battle, its impact on the soldiers who fought there and their families, its significance in the Civil War’s broader context, the battle’s aftermath, and veterans’ efforts to shape the battlefield’s commemorative landscape. The tour includes a visit to Belle Grove Plantation, a National Trust Historic Site. Lunch at the historic Wayside Inn is included.

Sat., June 1, 8 a.m.–6:15 p.m.; by bus; detailed tour information on website; CODE 1CD-035; Members $165; Nonmembers $215

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1 credit

3-Day Tour

The Hudson River Valley: Art and Culture

New York’s Hudson River Valley has long been a center for art and culture, attracting artists north from the cities to explore and visually capture the pristine riverbanks and mountainsides that stand in contrast to centers of industry and urban development.

Beginning in the early 19th century, the artists who came to be known as members of the Hudson River School of painting visited and lived in the Catskill Mountains, drawn to the region’s sublime vistas. Their paintings depicted the sylvan landscape and documented how new feats of engineering such as railroads and canals were impacting their beloved Hudson Valley.

Over the course of this three-day tour, share the perspectives of these artists as historian Paul Glenshaw explores the homes and studios of Hudson River School founder Thomas Cole and his fellow painters Jasper Cropsey and Frederic Church, whose stunning mansion Olana, set on the banks of the Hudson, blends Victorian and Middle Eastern influences.

Enjoy a private guided tour of the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation collection in Mount Kisco and explore more unique aspects of the area with a visit to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome and a tour and lunch at an innovative local farm.

Sun., June 2, 7 a.m.–Tues., June 4, 9 p.m.; by bus; detailed tour information on website; CODE 1NN-HUD; Members $1,215; Nonmembers $1,620

View on the Hudson River by Jasper Francis Cropsey, 1890

Olana, Frederic Church’s former home

MUSEUM OF THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY

PETER AARON/OTTO

Belle Grove Plantation

Bus Tour

Going Green in DC

The Washington, D.C., area is becoming a greener urban environment. Bill Keene, a lecturer in urban studies, architecture, and history, spotlights innovative approaches to the environment and sustainability that have taken root—sometimes literally—in many types of buildings around town.

Begin the day in the Navy Yard neighborhood at the rooftop garden of the office building at 55 M St., SE. Staff from Up Top Acres, which installed and maintains the garden, discuss upkeep, what is grown, and the garden’s community impact. The garden includes an area for annual vegetables, another for flowers, and one for native plants and perennials—plus resident pollinators at the onsite beehive. Last year, 243 pounds of produce were grown there.

At the Oxon Run community solar farm—the largest community solar project in the District—explore how the facility is helping to provide free electricity to hundreds of households in the surrounding community. Development of the site also included the restoration of native pollinator plantings, meadows, and native plant and shrub landscaping.

In the afternoon, visit the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), where a team presents an overview of the green roof movement and its environmental benefits, then offers a look at UDC’s urban agriculture farm, part of the university’s Urban Food Hubs initiative.

The day concludes at the Sidwell Friends School, which has been recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council for its efforts. Get a look at the campus’s middle school building, which features not only a green roof but a constructed wetland and other environmentally friendly features.

Fri., June 14, 8:45 a.m.–5 p.m.; by bus; detailed tour information on website; CODE 1CD-036; Members $130; Nonmembers $180

Walking Tour

East of the River Architecture of Historic Anacostia

Homes

W

SE,

The rolling hills east of the Anacostia River, with a commanding view of Washington, D.C., have been settled for centuries. From the trading grounds of the Indigenous Nacotchtank to a whites-only suburb known as Uniontown to a predominantly Black community, Anacostia has seen dramatic change. The neighborhood has served as a home for abolitionist Frederick Douglass, part of the escape route for assassin John Wilkes Booth, protest grounds for World War I veterans, and a modern testament to the resilience of Washington’s Black community.

Join Carolyn Muraskin, founder of DC Design Tours, for a look at the architecture of Anacostia, which encapsulates the area’s many identities. Highlights include Old Market House Square, built in 1913 and a centerpiece of the Anacostia Historic District; Rose’s Row; the 19½-foot-tall Big Chair; the historic home known as Big Green; and the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.

THREE OPTIONS: Fri., June 14, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. (CODE 1CW-A20); Thurs., June 20, 4–6 p.m. (CODE 1CW-B20); Sun., June 23, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. (CODE 1CW-C20); detailed tour information on website; Members $45; Nonmembers $55

Please visit SmithsonianAssociates.org to view the FAQ on Health & Safety guidelines for in-person programs

University of the District of Columbia’s East Capitol Urban Farm

at 13th and

Sts.,

in the Anacostia Historic District

Bus Tour

Historic Wilmington

With a cruise on the tall ship Kalmar Nyckel

Travel back to 1638 in Wilmington, Delaware, with a daylong immersive exploration led by transportation expert Scott Hercik. In that year, Swedish and Finnish settlers arrived on the ships Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Grip, landing on the Christina River at the site of present-day Wilmington. Eventually they signed a treaty with the Lenni Lenape Indigenous people and built Fort Christina, creating the first permanent European settlement in the Delaware Valley.

The first stop upon arriving in Wilmington is the Copeland Maritime Center and Museum for a private guided tour exploring why the Swedes and Finns settled in the Delaware Valley. After a boxed lunch at the museum, visit the Old Swedes Historic Site, which includes a former church and a repurposed historic home. Old Swedes Church is one of the very few surviving remnants of the New Sweden Colony in the Delaware Valley and one of the oldest structures in Delaware. The Hendrickson House, a furnished 18thcentury Swedish-American farmhouse, serves as museum, office, and research space.

Stop at Fort Christina Park, the Swedes’ 1638 landing site, before a leisurely afternoon sailing on the Kalmar Nyckel—a full-scale replica of the original ship—where you have the opportunity to haul lines, set sails, and learn the history of the ship from its crew.

Sat., June 22, 7:45 a.m.–6:30 p.m.; by bus; detailed tour information on website; CODE 1CD-037; Members $225; Nonmembers $275

2-Day Tour

Summer at the Theater

The Contemporary American Theater Festival

The Marinoff Theater, site of the Contemporary American Theater Festival

One of the top theater festivals in the world, the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, helps shape the future of American theater. Each summer since 1991, the festival has produced bold new plays that spotlight daring and diverse stories. Washington, D.C., area theater aficionado Lynn O’Connell leads a visit to the festival.

Over the course of two days, attend the premieres of three plays. In addition to the performances, enjoy “talktheater” sessions that offer an opportunity to meet with actors, artistic directors, staff, and special guests for lectures, discussions, and staged readings, all focused on issues and themes in the plays.

Fri., July 12, 8:15 a.m.–Sat., July 13, 7 p.m.; by bus; detailed tour information on website; CODE 1CN-CTF; Members $725; Nonmembers $965

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Kalmar Nyckel

ECRAGG

World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1 credit

2-Day Tour

An Artful Weekend in Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Barnes Foundation, and Rodin Museum

The art of Impressionist-era creators is in the spotlight during a 2-day visit to three of Philadelphia’s outstanding collections led by art historian Ursula Rehn Wolfman.

Begin with a guided tour of the Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition “Mary Cassatt at Work,” devoted to the works of the celebrated Pennsylvania-born Impressionist, who challenged the conventional expectations of Philadelphia’s elite. This is the first major showing of the artist’s oeuvre since 1998–99 and presents new findings about the materials she used and her processes, which were advanced for her era. The exhibition displays over 130 works that follow Cassatt’s evolving practice and demonstrate her interest in artmaking.

Works by Renoir, Cezanne, Seurat, Monet, Manet, and Degas are among the treasures in the Barnes museum’s collection of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. The exhibition “Matisse & Renoir: New Encounters at the Barnes” places masterpieces from the same period near each other and traces the development of the work of these two artists. Enjoy a private guided tour of the galleries before the museum opens to the public and then time on your own before lunch in the museum’s Garden Pavilion.

Focus on the art and legacy of one of France’s most influential sculptors during a visit to the Rodin Museum. Showcased in an elegant Beaux-Arts style building, the collection of nearly 150 bronze, marble, and plaster sculptures represents every phase of Auguste Rodin’s career. It is one of the most comprehensive public collections of Rodin’s work outside Paris.

Sat., Aug. 10., 7 a.m.–Sun., Aug. 11, 8 p.m., by bus; detailed tour information on website; CODE 1CN-PAO; Members $650; Nonmembers $865

5-Day Tour

Theodore Roosevelt’s North Dakota Badlands, Bison, and the Making of a Conservationist

In 1883, Theodore Roosevelt looked to the Badlands of western North Dakota as a place where he could transform himself from an asthmatic 24-year-old New Yorker into a big-game hunter, rancher, and authentic cowboy. A year later, it took on new meaning as a place of refuge and solace after the deaths of his wife and mother.

Over the course of the more than three decades he lived or visited there, the Badlands did indeed transform Roosevelt into the kind of vigorous outdoorsman that he’d idealized as a youth—and that shaped his public image as president. Perhaps more importantly, this corner of the West turned him into a passionate conservationist dedicated to the preservation of the rugged landscapes and native wildlife of the place he described as “where the romance of my life began.”

Experience those landscapes—filled with dramatic vistas, vividly colored canyons, and wandering herds of wild bison—on a 5-day study tour led by author and naturalist Melanie Choukas-Bradley that brings you into the heart of Roosevelt’s Badlands and the national park that bears his name.

Sat., Sept. 14, 6 p.m.–Wed., Sept. 18, 12 p.m.; CODE 1CN-TND; detailed tour information on website; Members $1,950; Nonmembers $2,600. NOTE: Participants are responsible for their own airfare.

Downtown Medora, North Dakota

In the Loge, ca. 1879, by Mary Cassatt

PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART

Installation at the Rodin Museum

PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

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