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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Artist Spotlight: Daniela Rossell Captures the Rich and Famous
Posted: January 20, 2011
Category: Artist Spotlight
Learn more about artist Daniela Rossell, whose "Ricas y Famosas" series is featured in the NMWA collection.
A slim, light-skinned woman wearing a long, emerald-green dress gazes up at the viewer from the foot of the bed, her bare feet near the headboard. Brown hair radiates from her head in 10 curled, snake-like segments. Her arms, bent at the elbows, extend from her body to form a W.

Artist Spotlight: Catherine Yass Lights Things Up
Posted: January 11, 2011
Category: Artist Spotlight
Catherine Yass explores the power of architecture to affect psychological states. By experimenting with color processing, Yass imbues her images of commonplace sites with an otherworldly formal beauty. P(art)ners: Gifts...
A photograph of the interior of a bathroom showing several urinals. The photograph is tinted in green.

Loïs Mailou Jones: The Designer
Posted: December 22, 2010
Category: Artist Spotlight
Loïs Mailou Jones’s long career had many chapters. One that is less-known is her career as a designer. In their 2000 study of women in design Pat Kirkham and Lynne...
Intervior view of the museum galleries features a vibrant blue wall with the text 'Lois Mailou Jones: A Life in Vibrant Color'. Multiple artworks are displayed in the background.

Remembering Miriam Wosk: Celebrating Color
Posted: December 1, 2010
Category: Artist Spotlight
“More is more,” was the motto of Miriam Wosk, the celebrated illustrator and mixed-media artist who passed away November 5. With her keen eye for detail, love for ornament and...
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.

The Matriarchs: Pottery by American Indian Women
Posted: November 24, 2010
Category: Artist Spotlight
One of the most enduring traditions in American Indian life is pottery, which plays a central role in tribal rituals and ceremonies. Made primarily by women. these objects reflect both...
Blackware jar made of clay and volcanic ash. A painted, matte design adorns the upper half of the jar.

Artist Spotlight: Maria Helena Vieira da Silva
Posted: November 19, 2010
Category: Artist Spotlight
Learn more about painter Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, whose work The Town (1955) is featured in the NMWA collection.
Landscape-oriented, rectangular painting of black lines and slashes across white. The black lines run vertically and horizontally, and appear to be slashed through while the paint was wet, evoking raindrops running down a window during a storm.

From the Vault: Blanche Grambs Mines for Inspiration in the New Deal Era
Posted: November 12, 2010
Category: Artist Spotlight
Drawing inspiration from the social and economic conditions of the Great Depression, American illustrator and printmaker Blanche Grambs incorporated the struggles of the New Deal era into her work. Grambs...
Etching of a coal mine with several carts transporting coal going up to a piece of machinery.

Remembering Sylvia Sleigh
Posted: November 9, 2010
Category: Artist Spotlight
Learn more about Sylvia Sleigh (1916-2010), whose work Paul Rosano, Seated Nude (1973) is featured in the NMWA collection.)

“Dearest Frieducha!”: The Letters of Guillermo Kahlo to His Daughter Frida
Posted: October 28, 2010
Category: Artist Spotlight
The correspondence between Frida Kahlo and her father, Guillermo Kahlo, is of interest not only because it concerns two figures prominent in Mexico’s cultural history, but also because it can...
A letter handwritten in Spanish from 1931. The paper is worn and stained and the letter is addressed to Mamacita Linda.

Elizabeth Turk Named 2010 MacArthur Fellow
Posted: September 28, 2010
Category: Artist Spotlight
In 2008, Washington D.C.-based collectors Heather and Tony Podesta donated a group of contemporary sculptures and photographs to NMWA. The works focus on gender and identity issues and challenge assumptions...
A photo of an abstract, white marble statue installed in a museum gallery. The sculpture appears to be a cluster of feathers with two large feathers resting on the ground.