WASHINGTON—Although the museum building is temporarily closed during our extensive renovation, you can continue to join the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) for meaningful moments with art. Listen to live music and the stories behind the songs, or join a discussion about art, creation and divinity during Fresh Talk: Art and the Ecstatic. Catch the debut of Katharina Cibulka’s monumental installation, to be unveiled on the side of NMWA’s building on October 14.
The information below is current as of August 2022. All times listed are Eastern. For more information, visit the museum’s online calendar. Live transcriptions are provided during most virtual programs. To request additional access services, please check the online calendar for contact information or email access@nmwa.org.
Women, Arts, and Social Change Programs
The Tea: Like Water
Friday, October 7, 12–1 p.m.
Online
Baltimore-based musician Like Water is featured in this monthly online series where women musicians perform original work via livestream. Each session includes a short interview, conducted over a cup of tea, which explores the artist’s creative process. Seamlessly blending electronic and acoustic instruments with transcendent vocals, Like Water is changing the way people experience music. She allows the audience to watch as she masterfully layers unique sounds while looping them on the spot. Free. Reservations not required. Stream live here.
FRESH TALK: Art and the Ecstatic
Sunday, October 23, 2021, 4:30–6 p.m.
Online
For thousands of years, humans have created art expressing their thoughts on creation, spirituality and the divine. Visual art serves as a tool to witness and share feelings that cannot always be expressed in language. Like much of artistic expression, the ecstatic space has been dominated by men. What does it mean for women to document creation and divinity? As witnesses to the divine and creators of life and art, how can women illuminate spirituality? Join us for a conversation featuring artists discussing their work documenting the divine. Free. $10 donation suggested. Reservations required. Recording available on YouTube one week after the event.
The Tea: B-FLY
Friday, December 2, 12–1 p.m.
Online
B-FLY is featured in this monthly online series where women musicians perform original work via livestream. Each session includes a short interview, conducted over a cup of tea, which explores the artist’s creative process. Free. Reservations not required. Stream live here.
NMWA Book Club
Thursday, December 8, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Online
This program, presented by the Public Programs and Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center teams, brings the community together to discuss art, gender and social change in the contemporary art world and beyond through a book discussion. Join us for a discussion of Natasha Gordon-Chipembere’s Finding La Negrita (2022). Free. Reservations required, will open in September.
Art Talks
Art Chats @ 5
Fridays, October 7, 14, 21, 28, November 4, 11, 18, December 2, 9, 16, January 6, 20, 5–5:45 p.m.
Online
Jump-start your weekend with art! Join NMWA educators online for informal 45-minute art chats about selected artworks in the collection. Each week a new sampling of artworks will be considered. You can even enjoy your favorite happy hour drink or snack during the sessions. Free. Reservations required and limited. Registration for each month’s Art Chats opens by the 20th of the preceding month.
NMWA xChange: Past, Present, Future with Dianne Smith
Tuesday, October 11, 12–12:45 p.m.
Online
On the second Tuesday of each month, join NMWA and special guests who consider topics relevant to our world. In this episode, artist Dianne Smith discusses her provocative and meaningful imagery that challenges the viewer to see and consider pure color, movement and organic shapes. Her minimalist abstracts, sculptures and installations represent her inner connection to self, which reflects the artistic and spiritual journey that has enabled her to find her voice as an artist. While her work is rooted in her African origins, its purpose is more universal. She says, “Human civilizations and cultures all have Africa as their mother and are therefore more similar than we realize. I want my work to justly portray that connection, the essence of human existence, and thereby possibly affecting the whole of humankind for the better.” Free. Reservations required. For more information, email education@nmwa.org.
NMWA xChange: Girl Power with Gallerist Myrtis Bedolla
Tuesday, November 8, 12–12:45 p.m.
Online
On the second Tuesday of each month, join NMWA and special guests who consider topics relevant to our world and offer insight into collaborations that the museum is fostering while the building is temporarily closed for renovation. In this episode, NMWA educators chat with gallerist Myrtis Bedolla. Bedolla is the owner and founding director of Galerie Myrtis, an emerging blue-chip gallery and art advisory specializing in 20th- and 21st-century American art with a focus on work by African American artists. Established in 2006, the gallery aims to raise awareness of artists for their contributions in portraying our cultural, social, historical and political landscapes and to recognize art movements that paved the way for freedom of artistic expression. Bedolla recently gained national press in the New York Times article “Black Gallerists Press Forward Despite a Market That Holds Them Back” and wrote “Why My Blackness is Not a Threat to your Whiteness” for Cultured Magazine. Bedolla holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland, University College and received her curatorial training at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. Free. Reservations required. For more information, email education@nmwa.org.
NMWA xChange: Lookout with Katharina Cibulka
Tuesday, January 10, 12–12:45 p.m.
Online
On the second Tuesday of each month, join NMWA and special guests who consider topics relevant to our world and offer insight into collaborations that the museum is fostering while the building is closed for renovation. In this episode, artist Katharina Cibulka discusses her Lookout installation on the façade of NMWA’s building, as well as other iterations of her “SOLANGE” project. Cibulkaworks as an artist, filmmaker and photographer and develops concepts for artistic processes. She is co-founder of the all-female band telenovela and the performance group peek a corner. Cibulka studied art and film at the Academy of Fine Art and School for Artistic Photography, both in Vienna, as well as the New York Film Academy. Her work has appeared in several exhibitions and film festivals at venues including the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast; Glucksman Gallery, Cork; Künstlerhaus, Vienna; Kunstverein, Bonn; Lidgett Gallery, Budapest; Museum of Applied Art, Belgrade; Neue Galerie, Innsbruck; Shedhalle, Zürich; and St. Claude Gallery, New Orleans. Her work was also featured in the 2006 St. Petersburg Biennale, Marmara University’s 2010 International Student Triennial in Istanbul, inaugural Rabat Biennale for Contemporary Art in 2019, and Vierzon Biennale in 2022. Free. Reservations required. For more information, email education@nmwa.org.
Installations
Lookout: Katharina Cibulka
October 28, 2022–February 26, 2023
Austrian artist Katharina Cibulka covers the museum’s north-facing façade with one of her monumental “SOLANGE” (German for “as long as”) nets, a project that addresses gender-based inequity and social power structures. In bright pink tulle, Cibulka stitches witty messages across the exteriors of scaffolded buildings, such as “As long as the art market is a boys’ club, I will be a feminist” and “As long as women’s power is an underrated energy source, I will be a feminist.” Prior to developing each site-specific “SOLANGE” phrase, the artist seeks public input to understand the concerns and hopes of local residents. Lookout: Katharina Cibulka is the artist’s first installation in the United States.
Information
RENOVATION: The museum building at 1250 New York Avenue NW is closed for a major renovation, with plans to reopen in fall 2023. Visit nmwa.org/renovation for more information.
INFORMATION: nmwa.org, 202-783-5000
SOCIAL MEDIA: Broad Strokes blog, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram