WASHINGTON—While the museum building may be temporarily closed, you can continue to join the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) for meaningful moments with art. Celebrate the lives of women artists with interactive virtual happy hours, or join a discussion about online privacy with experts in the field. You can also visit Positive Fragmentation: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, an off-site exhibition at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, which opens this month and features more than 100 prints by artists including Louise Bourgeois, Jenny Holzer, Julie Mehretu and Kara Walker. Starting in March, NMWA will also debut a new outdoor public art series, Lookout, with mural artist MISS CHELOVE.

The information below is current as of January 2022. For more information, visit the museum’s online calendar.

Special Events

Virtual Happy Hours

Join NMWA staff and special guests to celebrate the lives of women artists. AJ Johnson, partner and bar director of Serenata, demonstrates how to make a specialty cocktail (or mocktail) in the artists’ honor as we share artworks and stories and explore the museum’s collection and archives. Free. Registration required. To support these programs and others like them, please consider making a donation.

• Wednesday, February 16, 5:30–6:30 p.m.: Celebrating Artemisia Gentileschi with special guest Eve Straussman-Pflanzer, curator and head of Italian and Spanish paintings at the National Gallery of Art
• Wednesday, March 16, 5:30–6:30 p.m.: Celebrating Black Women Printmakers
• Tuesday, May 10, 5:30–6:30 p.m.: Celebrating Surrealist Women Artists

Opening Day: Positive Fragmentation: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation

Saturday, January 29, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Mark your calendar for the opening day of Positive Fragmentation: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, organized by NMWA and on view at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center. Check here for visitor information.

International Women’s Day Virtual Festival

Tuesday, March 8, 10 a.m.–6:30 p.m.

Spend your International Women’s Day with the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Join conversations with artists from around the world, explore what’s new in the field of book arts, enjoy a cocktail and music with a special broadcast of The Tea and much more! Free. Live and pre-recorded programming available. Register for each program separately. Full program information available in early February.

Opening Day: Lookout: MISS CHELOVE

Friday, March 25

Be the first to see Reseeded: A Forest Floor Flow, MISS CHELOVE’s original 60-x-40-foot mural covering the scaffolding across the museum’s façade at New York Avenue, 13th Street and H Street NW. This installation is the first in the series Lookout, which activates NMWA’s building during its renovation. Check here for visitor information.

2022 Spring Gala

Friday, April 8, 6:30 p.m.
Location: National Building Museum

Join co-chairs Ashley Davis and Marlene Malek for a special night at the museum’s largest annual fundraising event. Proceeds from the gala benefit the museum’s special exhibitions and diverse education and public programming initiatives, allowing us to champion women artists of the past, present and future. Please contact Fiona McNally at fmcnally@nmwa.org for information on tickets, sponsorship opportunities and more.

Virtual Workshop: MISS CHELOVE

Saturday, May 14, 1–3 p.m.

Explore NMWA’s Lookout project through making. During this virtual workshop, participants will create an original artwork inspired by MISS CHELOVE’s mural Reseeded: A Forest Floor Flow, installed on NMWA’s building. Cita Sadeli, also known as MISS CHELOVE, will guide makers through a hands-on activity based on her art and creative practice. Registration information will be available in March.

NMWA Book Club

Thursday, June 16, 5:30–7:30 p.m.

This program, presented by the public programs and Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center teams, brings art lovers together to discuss the lives and work of women artists, gender politics in the art world and more. For this Book Club, we will discuss Stunt (2020) by Saida Agostini. Free. Reservations required. Registration opens in February.

Art Talks

Art Chats @ 5

Fridays, January 7–June 24, 5–5:45 p.m.

Jump-start your weekend with art! Join NMWA educators online every Friday for informal 45-minute art chats about selected artworks in the collection. Discuss a new sampling of art each week. You can even enjoy your favorite happy hour drink or snack during the sessions.

February Art Chats will be presented as a four-part series. The first three sessions introduce attendees to artwork by some of the fiercest women in NMWA’s collection. The final session of the month is the inaugural Art Chat: Deep Dive, in which participants look at, respond to and discuss a single artwork from the past month’s chats.

April Art Chats will celebrate the museum’s #5WomenArtists campaign and exhibitionPositive Fragmentation: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation. Each session presents a printmaker featured in the exhibition alongside works from NMWA’s collection. Free. Registration required and limited. Register online. Registration for each month’s Art Chats opens by the 20th of the preceding month.

NMWA xChange

Tuesdays, January 11, February 8, March 8, April 12, May 10, June 14, 12–12:45 p.m.

This monthly talk show connects viewers to NMWA and its mission to champion women artists. Join as hosts from the museum interview special guests including artists, educators and curators; consider topics relevant to our world; and offer insight into collaborations that NMWA is fostering while its building is closed for renovation. Free. Registration required. For more information, email education@nmwa.org.

• Tuesday, February 8, 12–12:45 p.m.: Pulsating Patterns
• Tuesday, March 8, 12–12:45 p.m.: Equity in Gallery Representation
• Tuesday, April 12, 12–12:45 p.m.: NMWA x Micaela Cianci
• Tuesday, May 10, 12–12:45 p.m.: MISS CHELOVE
• Tuesday, June 14, 12–12:45 p.m.: To be announced

Slow Art Week Conversation

Saturday, April 2, 1–2 p.m.

Join a movement! Slow Art Week, March 25 through April 2, is an international event encouraging people of all ages to visit community art spaces—virtually or in person—and to look at art slowly. To participate, invest time looking closely at a limited number of artworks from NMWA, then consider a series of prompts. You are encouraged to examine at least five works of art from the options provided for 10 minutes each. On April 2, connect with other slow art lookers to discuss your experience and learn more about the selected artworks. Free. Registration is required for the online conversation, and space is limited. Visit this page starting on March 25 for selected artworks and slow looking suggestions.

The Power of Female Art and Friendship: Remedios Varo and Camille Claudel in The Sculptress

Wednesday, May 4, 1–2:30 p.m.

Join NMWA and the ExPats Theatre for an exploration of Marilyn Millstone’s award-winning play The Sculptress, which imagines a friendship between painter Remedios Varo and sculptor Camille Claudel. Actors will read scenes directed by Karin Rosnizeck, and a discussion with the playwright will follow. Free. Registration required.

Virtual Tour

Virtual Tour of Positive Fragmentation: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation

Thursday, March 24, 1–2 p.m.

Join curator Virginia Treanor for a virtual tour of NMWA’s exhibition Positive Fragmentation: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, on view at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center. Positive Fragmentation includes more than 100 works by 21 contemporary artists who use fragmentation both stylistically and conceptually. Free. Registration required.

Women, Arts, and Social Change Programs

The Tea

Fridays, February 4, April 1, May 6, June 3, 12–1 p.m.

In this online series, women musicians perform original work via livestream on the first Friday of the month. Sessions each include a short interview, conducted over a cup of tea, exploring the artist’s creative process. Free. No reservations required. Stream live here.

• Friday, February 4, 12–1 p.m.: Ting Lin
• Friday, April 1, 12–1 p.m.: Joy Postell
• Friday, May 6, 12–1 p.m.: Cecily
• Friday, June 3, 12–1 p.m.: To be announced

The Tea: SPIKED with Afi Soul

Tuesday, March 8, 5:30 p.m.–6:30 p.m.

In this special presentation of The Tea for International Women’s Day, Afi Soul will perform original work via livestream and Chocolate City’s Best will demonstrate a signature, tea-themed cocktail to accompany the performance. Over this special cup of spiked tea, Afi Soul will discuss her creative process with Melani N. Douglass, director of public programs. Free. No reservations required. Stream live here.

Cultural Capital: Environmental Film Festival

Friday, March 18–Sunday, March 27

A proud partner of the Environmental Film Festival since 2013, NMWA will host a film highlighting women and the environment. Title to be announced in February. Free. Check back to reserve online.

FRESH TALK: Righting the Balance—Photographic Power

Wednesday, March 23, 5:30–7 p.m.

For nearly two centuries, women have been leaders, inventors and innovators within the field of photography. Inspired by NMWA’s recent acquisition of vintage photographs by U.K.-based artists, this Fresh Talk presents a new view of photography through the lens of some of the U.K.’s most exciting photo scholars and curators. Each guest works passionately to recover and underscore the creative power of women and nonbinary artists working in this vital medium. Join us for a conversation with Dr. Del Barrett, chair and founder of Hundred Heroines; photographic artist and curator Bindi Vora; and Renée Mussai, senior curator and head of archive and research at Autograph, about how they are working toward gender parity in the art world. Free. $10 suggested donation. Registration required. The conversation will be posted to the museum’s YouTube channel and website one week after the event.

FRESH TALK: Privacy for Sale

Sunday, May 15, 4:30–6 p.m.

The rise of the digital age has drastically changed the world that we live in. We share our private lives on social media, our cell phones track our movements, and algorithms determine what we are exposed to. This Fresh Talk will examine what we sell, what we gain, and what we lose. Join us for a conversation featuring women artists who work with data and experts in the tech industry. Free. $10 suggested donation. Registration required. This conversation will not be recorded or made available for later viewing.

Exhibitions

Positive Fragmentation: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation

January 29–May 22, 2022, at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center

Organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts and on view at the American University Museum, Positive Fragmentation features more than 100 prints by 21 artists from the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation collection. Employing a wide range of printmaking processes, artists use fragmentation—both literal and lyrical—to explode concepts such as gender, race and the environment.

Positive Fragmentation, organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, is made possible through the generous support of Jordan D. Schnitzer and The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation. The exhibition is presented in partnership with the American University Museum in memory of Arlene Schnitzer.

Lookout: MISS CHELOVE

March 25–July 31, 2022

The first in a series of outdoor commissioned artworks during NMWA’s renovation, Lookout: MISS CHELOVE is a four-story mural covering the scaffolding on the museum building’s façade. Reseeded: A Forest Floor Flow, by Washington, D.C.-based artist MISS CHELOVE (a.k.a. Cita Sadeli), is an image of a woman immersed in botanicals native to the islands of Indonesia. The work reflects on the resurgence of the natural world during the pandemic and the critical role of women in ecological activism.

Lookout: MISS CHELOVE is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The project is organized by the National Museum of Women in the Arts.