WASHINGTON—This fall the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is pleased to present a wide range of programs and exhibitions, including a new body of work in Judy Chicago—The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction and a selection of modern and contemporary photography in Live Dangerously. NMWA’s Women, Arts, and Social Change initiative programming will include Fresh Talk—Art, Power, and the Vote: 100 Years After Suffrage andthe Cultural Capital program Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood.
The first Sunday of every month is a free Community Day for the public. The information below is current as of Aug. 2019.
Fresh Talks
Fresh Talk: Judy Chicago: New Views
Sunday, Sept. 22, 4:30–6 p.m., followed by book signing and Catalyst, a cocktail hour with a topic and a twist, 6–7 p.m.
Join iconic feminist artist Judy Chicago for the debut of Judy Chicago: New Views—the first major monograph on the artist in nearly 20 years. Published by NMWA and Scala Arts Publishers, Judy Chicago: New Views offers fresh perspectives on the artist’s oeuvre by leading scholars and curators. Chicago joins book contributor Martha C. Nussbaum, philosopher and Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, to discuss New Views and the current exhibition Judy Chicago—The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction, featuring her newest body of work. The exhibition is on view at NMWA from Sept. 19, 2019, to Jan. 20, 2020. Reservations required. $80 general, $65 members, seniors, students. Price includes museum admission, program, one copy of Judy Chicago: New Views and Catalyst cocktail hour (during which Chicago and Nussbaum will be available to sign copies of Judy Chicago: New Views).
Fresh Talk—Rooms of Her Own: Women, Art, and Ownership in the Hotel Industry
Sunday, Oct. 27, 4:30–6 p.m. followed by Catalyst, a cocktail hour with a topic and a twist
The hospitality industry is changing to adapt to today’s concerns over sustainability and the preservation of place and culture. How can women hoteliers, artists and artisans help address these concerns and lead businesses to foster their communities? Join us for a conversation that explores the ways in which innovative women are changing the industry’s business models, values and operations. Featuring Zita Cobb, founder and chief operating officer of the Shorefast Foundation and Fogo Island Inn, and other women hoteliers and artists. Reservations required. $25 general; $20 members, seniors, students. Price includes museum admission and Catalyst cocktail hour.
Fresh Talk—Art, Power, and the Vote: 100 Years After Suffrage
Sunday, Nov. 17, 4:30–6 p.m., followed by Sunday Supper
In 1907, the Artists’ Suffrage League galvanized to create banners, posters, postcards and cartoons to provide a visual identity for the suffrage movement. More than 100 years after the 19th Amendment, artists, political organizers and activists continue to work together in the push for social change. Hear from two artists making work in response to social unrest and two activists working on the front lines of these issues. Reservations required. $25 general; $20 members, seniors, students. Price includes museum admission and Sunday Supper.
Cultural Capital Programs
Cultural Capital: Step Afrika!
Friday, Aug. 30, 12–1 p.m.
Step Afrika!, the world’s first professional dance company dedicated to the tradition of stepping, celebrates its 25th anniversary season with the energetic and exciting 7th annual Step Xplosion tour of all eight wards in Washington, D.C. This free tour includes performances and workshops for all ages. NMWA hosts the Ward 2 lunchtime performance. Enjoy this interactive experience and then grab a bite at the museum’s Mezzanine Café. For more information about other tour performances, visit www.stepafrika.org. Free. No reservations required.
This Cultural Capital program partnership is presented by the museum’s Women, Arts, and Social Change initiative in collaboration with Step Afrika!
Cultural Capital: Girlhood Interrupted
Sunday, Sept. 8, 4:30–7 p.m.
In 2017, the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality released a groundbreaking study, Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood, which revealed that adults view Black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than their white peers. Now, follow-up research centers the voices of Black women and girls, who confirmed in focus groups that they commonly experience this bias and believe it is linked to harsher treatment in schools and other public systems. Learn about the unique ways the initiative is using art and storytelling to highlight the experience of young Black girls. Speakers include: Naomi Wadler, 12-year-old youth advisor to the center; Rebecca Epstein, executive director, Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality; and Ashley Joi, artist commissioned to respond. Reservations required. $20 general; $15 members, seniors, students.
This Cultural Capital program partnership is presented by the museum’s Women, Arts, and Social Change initiative in collaboration with the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality’s Initiative on Gender Justice and Opportunity.
Cultural Capital: In the Parlour
Sunday, Sept. 29, 2–4 p.m.
Enjoy an evening highlighting African American women in the suffrage movement. This one-act play provides an intimate view into the racial tensions that surrounded the historic Women’s Suffrage March of 1913. Set the night before the event, African American activist Mary Church Terrell negotiates with white suffragette Alice Paul, who has organized the march and will not allow African American women to participate. The play takes place in the parlour of the home of Edna Brown, a Howard University scholar and sorority sister of Delta Sigma Theta who is making walking skirts for the event. The famous educator Nellie Quander, leader of a rival sorority, has arranged the meeting between the two formidable opponents. As they battle, viewers witness history being made. Written by Judy Tate, directed by Dianne Kirksey Floyd, produced by The American Slavery Project. Reservations required. $10 general; $5 students.
This Cultural Capital program partnership is presented by the museum’s Women, Arts, and Social Change initiative in collaboration with the March on Washington Film Festival.
Cultural Capital: The Big Quiet
Wednesday, Oct. 23, 7:15–9:15p.m.
The Big Quiet is a mass meditation movement that brings together thousands of people at cultural landmarks and institutions across the U.S. Designed for people with any level of meditation experience, each event incorporates live sound practitioners, string instrumentalists and musicians to create a guided meditation and music experience unlike anything else. Visitors will have the opportunity to arrive early to browse NMWA’s galleries and exhibitions, then breathe deeply and slow down for this special event in the museum’s iconic Great Hall. Reservations required. $33 general; $28 members, seniors, students. Reserve online after Sept. 11.
This Cultural Capital program partnership is presented by the museum’s Women, Arts, and Social Change initiative in collaboration with The Big Quiet
2nd Annual MakeHer Summit Workshops
Monday, Oct. 28, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
This day of meaningful connection and deep-dive workshops will offer practical tips and resources for creative entrepreneurs at all levels. Workshops are designed for entrepreneurs looking for guidance, interested in growing their networks and hungry for new tools to help their creative endeavors thrive. Workshop presenters include Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts and more. Reservations required. $25 general; $20 members, seniors, students.
Cultural Capital: Mujeres de Cine—Journey to a Mother’s Room
Wednesday, Nov. 6, 6:30–9 p.m.
Written and directed by Celia Rico Clavellino, Journey to a Mother’s Room (95 min.) is an intimate mother/daughter drama that looks at life inside the empty nest. Estrella (Lola Dueñas) has raised her daughter Leonor (Anna Castillo) to be a fine young woman, and it has always been just the two of them. Now entering adulthood, Leonor wants to leave home and explore, but she’s afraid to disappoint her mother. When the pressure of being a dutiful daughter becomes too much, Leonor makes an impulsive choice that leaves Estrella no choice but to let her go and adjust to the next part of her life. Free. Reservations required.
This Cultural Capital program partnership is presented by the museum’s Women, Arts, and Social Change initiative in collaboration with SPAIN arts & culture’s Mujeres de Cine: Traveling Spanish Film Showcase Made by Women.
Cultural Capital: 19: The Musical
Monday–Wednesday, Nov. 25, 26 and 27, 7–9:30 p.m.
NMWA hosts the world premiere of 19, a musical telling of the dynamic and little-known story of Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, Inez Milholland and all of the suffragists who fought to get women the right to vote—the 19th Amendment. The inspirational story of these fearless women is brought to life through jazz, traditional musical standards style, spoken word, hints of gospel and dance. The suffragists and their fight for equality have been reimagined for a new generation with a poignant and uplifting message. In an age when women’s rights are again front and center, the time to tell the story of 19 is now. Please note: the Nov. 25 showing is a live recording. Reservations required. $50 general; $45 members, seniors, students. Register online.
This Cultural Capital program partnership is presented by the museum’s Women, Arts, and Social Change initiative in collaboration with 19: The Musical.
The Women, Arts, and Social Change public programs initiative is made possible through leadership gifts from Denise Littlefield Sobel, the Dauray/Davis Family Fund, and the Susan and Jim Swartz Public Programs Fund. Additional funding is provided by the Bernstein Family Foundation, the Revada Foundation of the Logan Family, and Stephanie Sale.
Special Events
After-Hours Party: Live Dangerously
Friday, Nov. 1, 8–11 p.m.
This kick-off to Halloween weekend at NMWA will include a celebration of the special exhibition Live Dangerously as well as spotlight tours, an open bar sponsored by Smirnoff and Captain Morgan and light bites. Artsy costumes are encouraged! A special prize will be given for the fiercest costume inspired by women in the arts. $55 general; $45 members. IDs checked at the door. Reservations required.
In the Galleries
Museum Day
Saturday, Sept. 21, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
NMWA opens its doors free of charge as part of Smithsonian magazine’s 15th annual Museum Day. This nationwide event offers free admission for two to visitors presenting a Museum Day ticket at a participating museum. Tickets are available to download starting Aug. 15. Valid for Sept. 21 only. One ticket per household, per email address. Tickets required.
Artist in Conversation: Janaina Tschäpe
Wednesday, Jan. 8, 6:30–8:30 p.m.
Brooklyn-based artist Janaina Tschäpe (b. 1973) discusses her “100 Little Deaths” (1996–2002), a series of 100 large-scale photographs exhibited together for the first time in the special exhibition Live Dangerously. Tschäpe is known for her two- and three-dimensional explorations of the human body in nature. Following the in-gallery talk, guests will have time to explore the galleries, speak with the artist and enjoy food and beverages. Reservations required. $30 general; $20 members, seniors, students. Reservations required.
Free Community Days
Sundays, Sept. 1, Oct. 6, Nov. 3, and Dec. 1, 2019; Jan. 5 and Feb. 2, 2020, 12–5 p.m.
The first Sunday of every month is a free Community Day for the public. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore current exhibitions as well as the museum’s newly reinstalled collection. Free. No reservations required.
Lunchtime Gallery Talks
Most Wednesdays, Sept. 4, 2019–Feb. 26, 2020, 12–12:30 p.m.
Express lunchtime talks—30 minutes or fewer—are offered most Wednesdays. Facilitated by museum staff members, these conversational thematic talks highlight three to six works on view. Free. No reservations required.
Drop-In Tour: Fierce Women 2.0
Sundays, Oct. 6, Nov. 3, and Dec. 1, 2019; Jan. 5 and Feb. 2, 2020, 1–2 p.m.
Visitors will discover a diverse cast of fierce women artists who refused to let men define their place; pushed back on the limited roles society accorded them; and blazed trails as artists, activists and innovators. If you’ve participated in our “Fierce Women” tour and want more, this is your chance to meet a new squad of pioneering artists. Inspired by Museum Hack, this unconventional, fast-paced tour is fun and fearless. Free. No reservations required, but space is limited. First come, first served—sign up at the Information Desk upon arrival. Tour departs from the Great Hall.
Conversation Pieces
Most days, 2 p.m.
Join us for 30-minute “conversation pieces” most days at 2 p.m. These brief and informative experiences with museum staff spotlight two works on view. Check in at the Information Desk to learn more. Free with admission. No reservations required.
Young Learners Tours and Program
Young Learners Tour: Animal Adventure
Saturday, Oct. 19, 10–11 a.m.
Kids rule and art is cool! Young Learner Tours, exclusively for children ages 3 to 6 and their guardians, are designed to get little bodies moving, minds thinking, hands making and mouths talking about works of art. The newest program in this series is Animal Adventure! Children learn about the museum, practice museum manners and discover art concepts through developmentally appropriate discussions, a themed story and hands-on activities. Note: One adult per three young learners is required. Free. Reservations required.
Young Learners Program: Read for the Record 2019
Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, 12–1 p.m.
Bilingual story time and artmaking take center stage as NMWA hosts an event for Jumpstart’s 14th annual Read for the Record. Children ages 3 to 6 and their adults will hear, in English and in Spanish, the 2019 Read for the Record selection, Thank you, Omu! (¡Gracias, Omu!) by author-illustrator Oge Mora. Inspired by the book and artwork on view, participants will create an original work of art to brighten their home or the life of someone in their community. Thank you, Omu! has won accolades including 2019 Caldecott Honor Book and 2019 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award. Note: One adult per three young learners is required. Free. No reservations required.
Young Learners Tour: Spotting Shapes and Looking for Lines
Saturday, Dec. 14, 10–11 a.m.
Kids rule and art is cool! Young Learner Tours, exclusively for children ages 3 to 6 and their adults, are designed to get little bodies moving, minds thinking, hands making and mouths talking about works of art. Children learn about the museum, practice museum manners and discover art concepts through developmentally appropriate discussions, a themed story and hands-on activities. Note: One adult per three young learners is required. Free. Reservations required.
Young Learners Tour: Color-Full Fun
Saturday, Feb. 15, 10–11 a.m.
Kids rule and art is cool! Young Learner Tours, exclusively for children ages 3 to 6 and their adults, are designed to get little bodies moving, minds thinking, hands making and mouths talking about works of art. Participants will go on an adventure through the galleries and look closely at works in the collection. Children learn about the museum, practice museum manners and discover art concepts through developmentally appropriate discussions, a themed story and hands-on activities. Note: One adult per three young learners is required. Free. Reservations required.
Education programming is made possible by Mrs. Marjorie Rachlin, the Leo Rosner Foundation, SunTrust, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is provided by Wells Fargo, the Harriet E. McNamee Youth Education Fund, William and Christine Leahy, and the Junior League of Washington.
Shenson Chamber Music Concert
Shenson Chamber Music Concert: Anniversaries: a Recital and Narration with Jamie Bernstein and Spencer Myer
Wednesday, October 2, 7:30–9:30 p.m.
Shenson Concerts’ Artistic Director Gilan Tocco Corn welcomes Jamie Bernstein and Spencer Myer for a program honoring the work and life of legendary composer and musician Leonard Bernstein. Jamie Bernstein, the daughter of Leonard Bernstein, is a writer, broadcaster, filmmaker and concert narrator. She travels extensively to speak about music and her father. Her documentary Crescendo: the Power of Music has won numerous prizes and is now viewable on Netflix. Her memoir, Famous Father Girl, was published by HarperCollins in June 2018. Myer is one of the most respected pianists on today’s concert stage. He has been soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Indianapolis and Phoenix Symphonies, and the Johannesburg and Cape Town Philharmonics. He has made two solo appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall and is currently Artist-Teacher of Piano and Collaborative Piano at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. Since 2017, Myer has released three recordings on the Steinway & Sons label, including William Bolcom’s Piano Rags and two recordings of cello/piano music with Brian Thornton. Free. Reservations required.
The 2019–20 Shenson Chamber Music Concert Series is made possible by support from Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston, The Shenson Foundation in memory of Drs. Ben and A. Jess Shenson, and The Honorable Mary V. Mochary.
New Exhibitions
Judy Chicago—The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction
Sept. 19, 2019–Jan. 20, 2020
NMWA presents the newest body of work by feminist artist and pop-cultural icon Judy Chicago. Nearly 40 works of painted porcelain and glass, as well as two large bronze sculptures, comprise The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction. Through this series, the artist reflects on her own mortality and issues an appeal for compassion and justice for all earthly creatures affected by human greed. Chicago’s bold, graphic style viscerally communicates the intense emotion she experienced while contemplating her own individual death as well as the deaths of entire species. Visually striking and emotionally charged, Chicago’s works from this series continue her commitment to challenge the status quo and advocate for change.
Judy Chicago—The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The exhibition is made possible by the MaryRoss Taylor Exhibition Fund. Additional support is provided by the Sue J. Henry and Carter G. Phillips Exhibition Fund and the museum’s members.
Live Dangerously
Sept. 19, 2019–Jan. 20, 2020
As a pendant to Judy Chicago’s reflection on the transience of earthly life, this exhibition features fierce, dreamy and witty images of the female figure integrated into the Earth’s terrain. Drawn primarily from NMWA’s collection of modern and contemporary photography, the exhibition features artists who make the female body their sculptural material, positioning figures in natural surroundings to suggest provocative narratives. Figures balance on blocks of ice, struggle against the wind on ocean shores and scramble to the tops of precariously tall trees. The exhibition includes Janaina Tschäpe’s series of 100 large-scale photographs, “100 Little Deaths” (1996–2002), exhibited in full for the first time. In Tschäpe’s immersive installation, images show the artist lying down on beaches, pathways, terraces and forest floors in locations around the world. Earthly life comes to an end, but Live Dangerously illuminates the planet’s surface as a stunning stage for human drama.
Live Dangerously is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The exhibition is made possible by the Sue J. Henry and Carter G. Phillips Exhibition Fund and the museum’s members.
Women Artists of the Dutch Golden Age
Oct. 11, 2019–Jan. 5, 2020
This focus exhibition examines the lives and works of several highly successful artists in the Netherlands during the 17th and early 18th centuries, including Judith Leyster and Rachel Ruysch. The Dutch Golden Age was a period of unprecedented economic growth. A rising middle class of wealthy merchants fueled the demand for paintings and prints of still lifes, portraits and scenes of everyday life. Becoming an artist during this time was often part of the family business, for both men and women. While women faced more obstacles than their male counterparts did, this exhibition reveals that women of this era not only succeeded but also excelled as artists, pushing boundaries in art and in life.
Women Artists of the Dutch Golden Age, presented in the Teresa Lozano Long Gallery of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, is organized by the museum and generously supported by the members of NMWA.
DMV Color
Nov. 4, 2019–March 4, 2020
Washington, D.C., and its surroundings have long been home to a rich community of artists of color, including those born and raised here and others who built connections to the region while attending area art schools and universities. DMV Color features an eclectic assortment of contemporary works by women of African American, Asian American and Latina heritage with ties to the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia—known locally as the DMV. The artists’ books, graphic novels, photobooks and zines depict intimacies of family life, legacies of enslavement, dislocation tied to immigration, changes resulting from rampant development and other topics that illustrate facets of life in the DMV.
Ongoing Exhibitions
Power in My Hand: Women Poets, Women Artists, and Social Change
Apr. 1–Oct. 31, 2019, in the Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center
Open Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. and 1–5 p.m.
A shared yearning for free expression has animated an enduring solidarity between women poets and artists. Using words and images, and brimming with passion and determination, they communicate with and inspire one another across geographic boundaries and historic eras. Such devotion is evident in Muriel Rukeyser’s honor poem for the German artist Käthe Kollwitz and in Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party homage to Emily Dickinson. The critic Lucy Lippard has argued that “making poetry out of politics, making art from lives lived outside of power, and making politics out of that art and poetry—these are the three solid dimensions, the third power of the women’s liberation movement.” This collection of printed poems, artists’ books and art objects celebrates these creative and social bonds.
More is More: Multiples
May 3–September 22, 2019
Multiples—three-dimensional art objects produced in series of identical editions—find their way from the shelves of retail stores into museum collections and the homes of consumers worldwide. This focus exhibition, featuring approximately 25 multiples, highlights the medium’s sense of whimsy. Textiles, ceramics, clothing, decorative objects and toys by women artists frequently offer tongue-in-cheek social and cultural commentary. A number of works in More is More were created to benefit charitable initiatives within the arts. Eye-catching multiples by Cindy Sherman, Mickalene Thomas, Barbara Kruger, Helen Marten, Jiha Moon and others invite inquiry into the temptation of retail and the allure of fine art.
More is More: Multiples, presented in the Teresa Lozano Long Gallery of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, is organized by the museum and generously supported by the members of NMWA.
New York Avenue Sculpture Project: Betsabeé Romero
Sept. 28, 2018–Sept. 20, 2020
The dynamic works of Mexico City-based artist Betsabeé Romeroform the newest chapter in NMWA’s public art program, the New York Avenue Sculpture Project, established in 2010. Signals of a Long Road Together comprises four sculptures developed expressly for this installation. Using a process similar to tattooing, Romero carves figures and intricate patterns into the sidewalls and treads of tires, which are then filled with gleaming metallic paint. The tires are assembled into totemic structures that speak to themes of human migration and the natural environment.
New York Avenue Sculpture Project: Betsabeé Romero is made possible with funding provided by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Public Art Building Communities Program, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, with support provided by the Sue J. Henry and Carter G. Phillips Exhibition Fund. The exhibition is organized by the museum in partnership with the DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) and with assistance from the Embassy of Mexico’s Cultural Institute.
Visitor Information
HOURS: Museum hours are 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon–5 p.m. Sunday. Closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day
LOCATION: 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20005, two blocks north of Metro Center
ADMISSION: Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for visitors 65 and over and students, and free for NMWA members and youths 18 and under. Free Community Days take place on the first Sunday of each month.
WEBSITE: nmwa.org
PHONE: 202-783-5000
SOCIAL MEDIA: Broad Strokes Blog, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.