Artist Spotlight

View of the museum from outside showing the Neoclassical building from one corner. The building is a tan-colored stone with an arched doorway, long vertical windows, and detailed molding around the roof.
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Close Encounter: Well Prepared and Maladjusted
Posted: August 29, 2024
Category: Artist Spotlight
Associate Educator Ashley Harris delves into the work of Amy Sherald through a painting on loan through September.
In this painted portrait, a woman with dark skin tone rendered in grayscale stands with her arms by her side, looking straight at the viewer. She is set against a blue background speckled with red, watery drips. She wears a short-sleeved polka-dot blouse with a bow at the collar and a white skirt.

Artist Spotlight: Alexa Patrick
Posted: April 8, 2024
Category: Artist Spotlight
April is National Poetry Month. We spoke with Alexa Patrick, who wrote and performed a new poem for NMWA's grand reopening in October.
A dark-skinned woman wearing all white sits on a white box against a white background. She looks at the camera confidently.

5 Questions with Sayaka Suzuki
Posted: September 1, 2022
Category: Artist Spotlight
Throughout 2022, NMWA’s award-winning #5WomenArtists campaign champions emerging and underrepresented artists. With the help of partner arts organizations around the country, we’re featuring the work and voices of selected artists...
Two light skinned individuals sit on short wooden stools facing one another. They each hold a bird-shaped figure in one hand and are passing it to the other.

Susan H. Bradley: A Rediscovered Powerhouse
Posted: August 24, 2022
Category: Artist Spotlight
Watercolorist Susan Hinckley Bradley (1851–1929) was influential in the art world of her day, although her significance was forgotten by history. New research uncovers her impact.
A black-and-white portrait photograph of a light-skinned woman from the late 1800s.She wears a dark, ruffled dress that has a high collar and puffy sleeves. Her light hair is pulled back and she looks to the right, slightly smiling, while one hand rests on her hip and the other in her lap, atop a small leather bag.

5 Questions with Amy Hughes Braden
Posted: August 3, 2022
Category: Artist Spotlight
Throughout 2022, NMWA’s award-winning #5WomenArtists campaign champions emerging and underrepresented artists. With the help of partner arts organizations around the country, we’re featuring the work and voices of selected artists...
Header image: An assemblage of a variety of objects with different textures such as stones, textiles, beads, wood, and paper. The objects are painted mainly in red and pink colors and stacked on top of each other, creating a chaotic, colorful scene.

5 Questions with Joanne Leonard
Posted: June 22, 2022
Category: Artist Spotlight
NMWA curator Ginny Treanor speaks to renowned photographer Joanne Leonard on the occasion of a major donation of the artist’s works to the museum.
In this black-and-white photo, an older, light-skinned man wearing glasses sits in a dark armchair. He holds two babies on his chest, both of his arms cradling them close. Both babies wear white, footed onesies. One baby faces away from the camera on its stomach, while the other is cradled on its back at an angle, looking to the left. The man smiles directly at the camera.

5 Questions With Very Sad Lab
Posted: March 15, 2022
Category: Artist Spotlight
Throughout 2022, NMWA’s #5WomenArtists campaign will champion emerging and underrepresented artists. Get to know D.C.-based houseplant rehabilitation duo Very Sad Lab!
An installation view of a tiny gallery space shows a long wood desk and shelving set up against one wall, holding jars and pots of plant clippings with a flat screen TV mounted to the wall in the center. The back wall is painted green with white text on it: "The Incubator Resource Lab." More plants hang from the ceiling. The floor is concrete and painted dark grey.

5 Questions with Stephanie J. Williams
Posted: January 27, 2022
Category: Artist Spotlight
Throughout 2022, NMWA’s #5WomenArtists campaign will champion emerging and underrepresented artists. Get to know D.C.-based interdisciplinary artist Stephanie J. Williams!
In this screen still from a puppet stop motion animation, miniature sculptures made from wood, metal, and other materials are arranged on top of, and hang above, green turf, set against a pitch black background. The sculpture's shadows appear on the turf. The sculptures are made up of various circular designs.

Ruth Orkin: On the Scene
Posted: September 15, 2021
Category: Artist Spotlight
Celebrated photographer Ruth Orkin (1921–1985) told stories in a single frame. Today, 100 years after her birth, a recent publication and works from NMWA’s collection illuminate her singular career.
Ava Gardner, a woman with light skin tone and wavy, short brown hair, is shown from the shoulders up. She wears a jeweled necklace and is surrounded by lights and people at a party. She looks to the side of the camera at something out of frame with a fixed gaze and slight smile.

The Fine Print: Grace Arnold Albee
Posted: July 15, 2021
Category: Artist Spotlight
Renowned for her intricate wood engravings of urban cityscapes and rural countrysides, American printmaker Grace Arnold Albee (1890–1985) explored the dualities of the natural and built worlds.
A black-and-white print of a pair of cicadas perched on the stems of wildflowers. Each blade of grass is delicately rendered; the hairy flower stems, imperfect petals, and lacy cicada wings appear almost tactile; and the low sun beams in ethereal spirals.