Director’S Desk

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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Director’s Desk: Welcome Back!

Posted: November 3, 2023
Category: Director’S Desk
After a long two-and-a-half-year renovation, NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling reflects on the celebratory and action-packed reopening festivities.
A large group of people wearing the same white-and-black T-shirt pose for a photo in an ornate great hall. They stand in two rows, with the front row people crouching down. Everyone smiles widely and excitedly, some people raise their hands in celebration.

Celebrate NMWA’s Reopening in October

Posted: February 15, 2023
Category: Director’S Desk
NMWA will reopen to the public on Saturday, October 21. Director Susan Fisher Sterling details exciting plans for the collection galleries and special exhibitions.
A digital rendering of a grand space with people of various ages and genders walking around. At ground level, a cream-colored marble floor features an oval pattern in the center of the room. Two staricases are on the sides and lead to a mezzanine level. A large crystal chandelier hangs from the center of the ceiling.

Director’s Desk: Solid Foundation

Posted: October 4, 2022
Category: Director’S Desk
NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling shares news about the ongoing building renovation and reopening plans.
Exterior color photo of the museum building with a blue sky and clouds.

Director’s Desk: Editing for Equity

Posted: March 4, 2021
Category: Director’S Desk
Join us for our next Wikipedia Edit-a-thon this Saturday, March 6, when we will improve or create entries for women artists of African descent whose work is in NMWA’s collection.
A woman with ombré dreadlocks sits at a table working on her laptop. Two other women are doing the same thing at different tables directly behind and in front of the woman.

Director’s Desk: A Recipe for Deeper Connections

Posted: November 23, 2020
Category: Director’S Desk
This holiday season, when many families will not gather in person during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, NMWA's new online exhibition RECLAMATION offers us a way to honor and share our...
An antique sepia photo portrait of a light-skinned woman with brown hair staring longingly at the camera.

Director’s Desk: The Power of Paper

Posted: November 2, 2020
Category: Director’S Desk
In our newest exhibition Paper Routes—Women to Watch 2020, now on view at NMWA, many of the featured artists explore paper’s long association with identity and advocacy, using their practices...
Dozens of pale, hollow, ghostly feet of different sizes made of translucent paper arrayed in pairs on a white background.

Director’s Desk: Welcome Back!

Posted: August 10, 2020
Category: Director’S Desk
After just over four months closed, it was so gratifying to welcome visitors back to NMWA on August 1. We have implemented new health, safety, and operations protocols so that...
Abstract painting features a vivid yellow background covered by circles, daubs, and straight and wavy lines in red, orange, cobalt, sky blue, and violet. Arcing red strokes evoke concentric circles. Straight lines in other hues radiate out from the center circle like a starburst.

Director’s Desk: Getting to Work

Posted: July 28, 2020
Category: Director’S Desk
As the pandemic continues, it is exacerbating existing inequalities in race, gender, and class. Women and women artists have always faced a balancing act between career and personal pursuits.
A light-skinned young woman with long, dark brown hair in a black, long lace sleeved dress stands confidently in a crumbling loggia. She gazes at the viewer with a serious, captivating look.

Director’s Desk: Throwback Thursday—Women to Watch

Posted: June 11, 2020
Category: Director’S Desk
More than 12 years ago, NMWA began the Women to Watch exhibition series as a way to identify and celebrate emerging and underrepresented women artists from across the country and...
A detail of contemporary paper art with a colorful painted base underneath thousands of cut alphabet letters in concentric designs.

Director’s Desk: Illuminating Frida Kahlo

Posted: May 13, 2020
Category: Director’S Desk
Frida Kahlo created intense and revealing self-portraits that chronicle, among many other subjects, her involvement with the worldwide Communist Revolution.
In a painted self-portrait, the artist stands in a stage-like space framed by white curtains. Beneath black hair woven with red yarn and flowers, heavy brows accent her dark-eyed gaze. Clad in a fringed, honey-toned shawl; long, pink skirt; and gold jewelry, she holds a bouquet and a handwritten letter.