WASHINGTON—Champion women artists this season at the National Museum of Women in the Arts! Participate in lively Friday Art Chats, catch special exhibitions before they close and create your own pop-up-book in a hands-on workshop. Save the date for Suchitra Mattai: Myth from Matter, a new exhibition of the multi-disciplinary artist’s explorations of complex binaries.
The information below is current as of June 2024. All times listed are Eastern Time. For more information, visit the museum’s online calendar. To request access services, please check the online calendar for contact information or email accessibility@nmwa.org.
In the Galleries
Free Community Day
Sunday, July 7; Wednesday, July 10; Sunday, August 4, Wednesday, August 14; Sunday, September 1, Wednesday, September 11; Sunday, October 6, Wednesday, October 9; Sunday, November 3, Wednesday, November 13, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Visit us on the first Sunday and second Wednesday of each month for free museum admission. Take this opportunity to explore our collection and current exhibitions. Join NMWA educators in the museum’s studio for free, self-directed drop-in art-making activities inspired by artworks on view. Activities and inspirations change each month. Reservations required. Free.
Closing Day: New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024
Sunday, August 11, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Don’t miss out on the last chance to visit New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024, the seventh and largest installment of the museum’s Women to Watch exhibition series. Visionary artists reimagine the past, present alternate realities and inspire audiences to create different futures. Works by the 28 artists featured in New Worlds explore these ideas from perspectives that shift across geographies, cultural viewpoints, and time. Free with admission.
NMWA Nights
Wednesdays, September 18, October 16, November 20, 5:30–8 p.m.
Join us for a creative and engaging after-hours experience! Peruse the galleries, grab a cocktail, listen to a performance, attend a tour or participate in art-making and craft activities. Ticket includes two drinks; additional drinks for purchase. $25; $22 for seniors/students; $20 NMWA members. Reservations required; tickets available the first week of the preceding month.
Opening Day: Suchitra Mattai: Myth from Matter
Friday, September 20, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Be among the first to visit Suchitra Mattai: Myth from Matter, a new special exhibition at NMWA. See 40 large-scale textile installations and mixed-media works that explore how memory, myth and oral traditions can be harnessed to counter colonial and patriarchal narratives. The exhibition marks the Los Angeles-based artist’s first major solo museum exhibition on the East Coast. Free with admission.
Closing Day: Fourth Floor Exhibitions
Sunday, October 20, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
This is your last chance to visit a trio of exhibitions in the museum’s Learning Commons: Hung Liu: Making History, featuring “Weeping” paintings and prints by Hung Liu (1948–2021) with her signature paint drips, layers of color and cultural symbols; Holding Ground: Artists’ Books for the National Museum of Women in the Arts, featuring nine new works by celebrated book artists inaugurating NMWA’s Learning Commons and its reinvigorated Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center; and Impressive: Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella, a presentation of The Entrance of the Emperor Sigismond into Mantua, an extraordinary series of 25 prints by 17th-century French artist Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella (1641–1676).
Gallery Talks
Wednesdays, 12–12:30 p.m.
Thematic talks highlight two to three works on view. Topics and locations in the museum vary. Free. Reservations not required. Meet at the Information Desk. Subject to staff availability.
Collection Highlights Tours
Daily, 2–2:45 p.m.
Explore the museum’s collection during engaging, interactive drop-in tours. These guided experiences will feature six to eight works on view highlighting the creative contributions of artists from the 16th century to today. Free with admission. Reservations not required. Meet at the Information Desk. Subject to docent availability.
In the Studio
The Bigger Picture
Sundays, August 25, September 22, October 27, 2–3:30 p.m.
Looking to expand your knowledge of women’s contributions to the history of Western art? Tired of outdated surveys that still marginalize them? Join us for a new monthly series that shakes up the traditional chronological and stylistic narratives by exploring art from the 16th century to today through the lens of the museum’s collection and thematic topics. During sessions that combine lectures with conversations in the galleries, Director of Education and Interpretation Deborah Gaston recounts compelling biographies, introduces mediums and genres in which women have innovated and invites participants to share their own observations and insights. Topics include “Spaces and Places” and “Material Matters.” Reservations required. $25; $22 seniors, students and D.C. residents; $20 members.
Wikipedia Edit-a-thon: Disability Activism
Saturday, July 20, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.
Join us for our annual Art+Feminism edit-a-thon to help close information gaps related to gender, feminism and the arts on Wikipedia. This year, to complement NMWA’s 2024 #5WomenArtists campaign, we will focus on disability activism and advocacy in the arts. Anyone and everyone interested in learning more about editing Wikipedia, regardless of experience, gender or background, is welcome to attend. We will provide tutorials, reference materials, internet access and refreshments. Reservations required. Free. Bring your laptop and charger.
Firsthand Experience Workshop: Pop-Up Books
Saturday, August 10, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
Firsthand Experiences bring contemporary artists together with learners ages 13 and up for hands-on programs that combine making, gallery conversations and discovery. In this session, learn about the history and engineering behind pop-up books. Create your own with the instruction and encouragement of published author and acclaimed artist Carol Barton. Art supplies provided. No experience required. Reservations required. $25; $22 students, seniors and D.C residents; $20 members.
Firsthand Experience Workshop: Bookmaking
Saturday, October 12, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
In this session, explore bookmaking techniques with artist Sarah Matthews and create your own one-of-a-kind artist book. Reservations required. $25; $22 seniors, students and D.C. residents; $20 NMWA members.
Firsthand Experience Workshop: Nature Portraits
Saturday, November 9, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
In this workshop, Amy Lamb, scientist turned photographer, teaches how she cultivates and captures the souls of plants in her images and helps you to create your own photographs. The workshop begins at NMWA, where participants will experience Lamb’s work on view. Then, the group heads to the United States Botanic Garden, where they will meet staff to learn about and photograph in-season plants. Digital camera or cell phone required. No experience required. Reservations required. $25; $22 students, seniors and D.C residents; $20 members.
Virtual Programs
Art Chats @ 5
Fridays, July 26, August 23, September 27, October 25, November 27, 5–5:45 p.m.
Online
Jump-start your weekend with art from home! Join NMWA educators online for informal 45-minute art chats about selected artworks in the collection. Each week the group will consider a new sampling of artworks. You can even enjoy your favorite happy hour drink or snack during the sessions. Free. Reservations required. Registration for each month’s Art Chats opens by the 20th of the preceding month.
For Educators
ABC Teacher Institute
Monday, July 8 through Friday July 12, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
Join NMWA educators, professional book artists and curriculum and literacy specialists for this intensive and fun week centered on NMWA’s Art, Books, and Creativity (ABC) curriculum. No prior art experience is necessary. All pre-K through 12th-grade schoolteachers are welcome. Classroom teachers are especially encouraged to apply. $50 materials fee collected upon registration. Participants who successfully complete the institute receive art materials for their classrooms.
Virtual Educator Summer Camp
Monday, July 22 through Friday, July 26, 10–11:30 a.m.
NMWA’s virtual Educator Summer Camp is designed for all educators. Sessions, inspired by the Art, Books, and Creativity (ABC) Institutes and NMWA’s collection, are hands-on, participatory and fun. The Educator Summer Camp explores the museum’s collection and resources, introduces historical and contemporary women artists, and engages participants in experimental art-making and close-looking exercises. Guest instructors include artists and educators from around the country. You will receive a recommended supply list, applicable digital resources and a Zoom meeting link in advance of each session. Camp activities are designed to make use of materials and tools that you might have at home and encourage repurposing and seeing everyday objects in a new light. Register for one session or many depending on your interest and commitments. Free. Registration required.
Exhibitions
Suchitra Mattai: Myth from Matter
September 20, 2024–January 12, 2025
In her multifaceted artistic practice, Suchitra Mattai (b. 1973, Georgetown, Guyana) explores and complicates understandings of binaries such as East and West, art and craft, and history and memory. The way certain histories are remembered—or not—is central to much of her art. This exhibition pairs Mattai’s recent work, including mixed-media installation and sculpture, with historical objects sourced from nearby collections in Washington, D.C. For the first time, this exhibition provides the opportunity for a visual call and response between historical objects and Mattai’s contemporary work.
Suchitra Mattai: Myth from Matter is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The exhibition is generously supported by Stephanie Sale and the members of NMWA.
New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024
Through August 11, 2024
Visionary artists reimagine the past, present alternate realities and inspire audiences to create different futures. During the past few years, our world has been transformed by a global pandemic, advocacy for social reform and political division. How have these extraordinary times inspired artists? Works by the 28 artists featured in New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 explore these ideas from perspectives that shift across geographies, cultural viewpoints and time.
New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts and sponsored by the museum’s participating outreach committees. The exhibition is made possible by the Clara M. Lovett Emerging Artists Fund and the Sue J. Henry and Carter G. Phillips Exhibition Fund, with additional major support provided by Patti and George White, Share Fund, the Pennsylvania Committee of NMWA and the San Francisco Advocacy for NMWA.
Hung Liu: Making History
Through October 20, 2024
“Weeping” paintings and prints by Hung Liu (1948–2021)—featuring signature paint drips, layers of color and cultural symbols—pay homage to overlooked figures in history, predominantly vulnerable women and children from the artist’s native China. Liu lived through Mao Zedong’s totalitarian regime during the Cultural Revolution before immigrating to the U.S., and her work reveals boundless empathy for the plights of the working class. Drawing inspiration from a collection of vintage photographs that she discovered on a return visit to China in the 1990s, she portrays migrant laborers, sex workers, female soldiers and refugees with dignity, endurance, strength and courage.
Hung Liu: Making History is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The exhibition is generously supported by Stephanie Sale and the members of NMWA.
Holding Ground: Artists’ Books for the National Museum of Women in the Arts
Through October 20, 2024
Nine new works by celebrated book artists inaugurate NMWA’s new Learning Commons and its reinvigorated Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center. Some of the artists reflect on NMWA as a special place for art by women. Others remind viewers that creativity is expressed in other environs, from small interiors to vast outdoor geographies. Above all, the artists’ books celebrate the varied spaces where women’s creativity blooms. Participating artists include Alisa Banks, Adjoa J. Burrowes, Julie Chen, Suzanne Coley, IBé Crawley, Maricarmen Solis Diaz, Colette Fu, Kerry McAleer-Keeler and María Verónica San Martín.
Holding Ground: Artists’ Books for the National Museum of Women in the Arts is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The exhibition is made possible by a generous bequest from Marjorie B. Rachlin.
Impressive: Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella
Through October 20, 2024
The Entrance of the Emperor Sigismond into Mantua (1675), an extraordinary series of 25 prints by 17th-century French artist Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella (1641–1676) is presented at NMWA for the first time in almost 15 years. The exhibition explores the circumstances of the work’s creation and focuses on Bouzonnet-Stella’s life in Paris, where she lived and worked with her uncle, artist Jacques Stella, in his prestigious lodgings in the Louvre. There, she produced copies of his paintings and accepted commissions for works such as The Entrance of the Emperor Sigismond into Mantua, her best-known work.
Impressive: Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The exhibition is generously supported by Stephanie Sale and the members of NMWA.
In Focus: Artists at Work
Through April 20, 2025
Enjoy a close-up look into the practices and perspectives of eight contemporary collection artists via short documentary-style videos. Presented in NMWA’s ground-floor Long Gallery, welcoming visitors to the renewed museum, these videos feature Ambreen Butt, Sonya Clark, Colette Fu, the Guerrilla Girls, Graciela Iturbide, Delita Martin, Rania Matar and Alison Saar. The installation’s intimate and immersive design sparks curiosity, inspires advocacy and encourages slow looking during visitors’ exploration of the museum. Dynamic graphic panels include information about each artist and share online resources as well as a map leading to their art on view at NMWA. Presented in two phases, with four artists highlighted in each phase, this series spotlights groundbreaking women artists at work today. For this project, NMWA partnered with Emmy and James Beard award-winning film production company Smartypants and experiential design firm Art Processors to ensure an accessible and enriching experience.
In Focus: Artists at Work is produced by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in collaboration with Smartypants Pictures and Art Processors.
The video series is generously supported by the members of NMWA. Project design is made possible through the generous support of Denise Littlefield Sobel, with additional funding provided by Jamie Gorelick and Richard Waldhorn.
Display screens contributed by Sony Corporation of America.
Remix: The Collection
Ongoing
Remix showcases familiar collection favorites as well as never-before-exhibited recent acquisitions. Artworks are grouped around themes, in some cases anchored by a medium and in others by an idea, that resonate among global artists across time, including photography, fiber works, the colors red and purple, nature, domesticity and more.
Remix: The Collection is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
The exhibition is sponsored by Lugano Diamonds.
Additional funding provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sue J. Henry and Carter G. Phillips Exhibition Fund, and the Clara M. Lovett Emerging Artists Fund.
Information
Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday; Closed Mondays and select holidays
Location: 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20005, two blocks north of Metro Center
Admission: $16 for adults, $13 for D.C. residents and visitors 70 and over; free for visitors 21 and under and visitors with disabilities. Through September 2, admission is free for active-duty military and their families. Admission is free the first Sunday and second Wednesday of each month.
Information: nmwa.org, 202-783-5000
Social Media: Broad Strokes blog, Facebook or Instagram