Nmwa Exhibitions

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.
Back to all blog posts

Women Artists of the DMV: Suzanne Coley

Posted: September 22, 2021
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Learn about the work of Suzanne Coley, a featured artist in the online exhibition DMV Color and one of few African American full-time book artists working today.
A book made from colorful print fabrics collaged and stitched together is laid flat and open to a spread that features an stencil cut image of a woman's face overlaid with an intricate flower positioned on her hair.

RECLAMATION Welcomes More Voices

Posted: June 30, 2021
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Starting July 5, submit your favorite summer recipes to the online exhibition RECLAMATION: Recipes, Remedies, and Rituals. Learn about the project’s genesis from curator Melani N. Douglass.
Circular glass, wood, and ceramic plates and bowls arranged on a red and white checkered tablecloth, seen from above. The plates and bowls are filled with blueberries, long carrot stems, halved avocados, an onion and onion peels, and a cups of tea and teabags on saucers.

Sonya Clark’s Resistance and Revolution

Posted: June 23, 2021
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Writer A’Lelia Bundles, who is the great-great-granddaughter of famed hair care entrepreneur Madam C. J. Walker, reflects on Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend.
A sculpted portrait of a woman in partial profile with short hair, depicted from the chest up. The portrait is sculpted from black plastic pocket combs, whose teeth have been removed in varying quantities to create the image of the woman.

Poet Nikky Finney and the Art of Sonya Clark

Posted: June 16, 2021
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Get to know National Book Award-winning poet Nikky Finney (b. 1957), who wrote a lyrical imagining of Sonya Clark’s creative inspirations for the Tatter, Bristle, and Mend exhibition catalogue.
A black-and-white photo of an light-skinned African American woman with long dreadlocks. She wears a button-up black shirt and black-rimmed glasses. She stands with her hands clasped in front of her and smiles warmly at the camera.

Now on View: Her Flag

Posted: June 9, 2021
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, NMWA has partnered with Her Flag, a nationwide art and travel project led by artist Marilyn Artus.
Three light-skinned people stand in front of a large textile installation that mimics the U.S. flag. Over the stars square "Votes for Women" is written in a yellow circle. The stripes on the rest of the flag are done in various shades of pink and red and each feature a different theme or imagery, most of which is indistinguishable from the distance the photo is taken.

Divine Touch in Tatter, Bristle, and Mend

Posted: June 2, 2021
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Howard University Associate Professor Dr. Gwendolyn Everett considers Sonya Clark’s beadwork and the material’s function as an ancestral bond among African Americans and the African diaspora.
Tiny, colorful beads arranged in patterns to depict Esther Mahlangu painting a large artwork of geometric shapes in light pink and blue, black, white, yellow, and green. She is a dark-skinned adult woman wearing colorfully patterned robes.

Behind the Scenes: RECLAMATION

Posted: April 28, 2021
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Melani N. Douglass, NMWA director of public programs, details her process curating the online exhibition Reclamation, which examines the power of food as creative medium and connector.
A black-and-white photograph of two women and two girls, all with medium-dark skin tones, together at a dining table set for dinner. A lamp hangs over the table and a mirror hangs on a wall behind them. The woman on the left is standing, while the other three sit at the table.

Reclamation: Q&A with Jenny Dorsey

Posted: April 19, 2021
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Chef, writer, and artist Jenny Dorsey talks with us about her process and work, part of NMWA's new online exhibition RECLAMATION: Recipes, Remedies, and Rituals.
A light-skinned woman of Asian descent stands behind a large, wooden kitchen table that is full of two white dishes of finely plated food and various small, plastic to-go dishes., alongside a small bronze French Press coffee maker. The woman smiles and wears a grey tshirt under a black and white vertical striped apron.

Forming a More Perfect Union

Posted: April 14, 2021
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Web designer Sue Anna Joe created the central magnolia motif on Mississippi’s new state flag, which recently replaced the original flag’s Confederate imagery. We asked Joe to consider Sonya Clark’s...
A photograph of two figures standing side by side, unraveling the threads of an American Confederate battle flag. The figure on the left has light skin, and the figure on the right has darker skin. They face away from the camera, with their hands in the center of the image pulling loose the threads.

A Closer Look—Mary Ellen Mark: Girlhood

Posted: April 5, 2021
Category: Nmwa Exhibitions
Mark often took personal interest in those she met and photographed. Learn about the photographer's relationships with several of her subjects, who she portrayed with empathy, humor, and candor.
A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned girl submerged in a white bathtub. Only her head is visible above the soap suds, and her dark hair hangs over the side of the tub. The floor beneath the tub is tiled.