Happy Birthday, Alma Woodsey Thomas!

Join staff of the National Museum of Women in the Arts for a virtual happy hour to celebrate Alma Woodsey Thomas’s birthday! We will make a specialty cocktail in her honor, share artworks and stories, and explore the museum’s collection and archives for all things Alma.

Registration is required. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join.

Special Guests:

Andra ‘AJ’ Johnson will be teaching us how to make a specially created cocktail inspired by an Alma Woodsey Thomas artwork in the NMWA collection. Johnson has been part of the DMV restaurant scene for years and currently serves as the Bar Director for the Serenata/Zumo cocktail bar in La Cosecha. She is a co-founder of DMV Black Restaurant Week and her forthcoming book, White Plates, Black Faces, tells the stories of people of color in the restaurant industry.

Dr. Gwendolyn H. Everett is an Associate Professor of Art History in the Department of Art at Howard University and will speak about Alma Thomas’s legacy at the historic university. As the former director at the Howard University Gallery of Art, Dr. Everett curated and co-curated many outstanding exhibitions including Visualizing Legacy: American and African American Highlights from the Permanent Collection, Peter L. Robinson, Jr.: An American Colorist, and Trajectory: Art, Artists, and Civil Rights in the Sixties and Seventies.

Featured Cocktail: The Mother of Color

Get ready for the event by making sure you’re ready to create the specialty cocktail inspired by Alma Woodsey Thomas’s work Orion.

Ingredients for Cocktail:

• 1.25 oz Rye
• .5 oz Campari
• .25 oz Yellow Chartreuse
• .75 oz Chamomile-Honey Syrup
  • Can be made by steeping chamomile tea in equal parts boiling water and honey. Stir continuously until the honey dissolves. Let cool.
• .5 oz Ginger Juice
• .5 oz Lemon
• 1 whole lemon

Ingredients for Mocktail:

• 2 oz Fresh pressed Watermelon Juice
• .75 oz Chamomile-Honey Syrup
  • Can be made by steeping chamomile tea in equal parts boiling water and honey. Stir continuously until the honey dissolves. Let cool.
• .5 oz Ginger Juice
• .25 oz Lemon Juice
• Soda Water to finish (optional)

Additional Materials:

Also requires a cocktail shaker set, strainer, ice for shaking and for garnish, peeler, paring knife, cutting board, and your choice of Rocks glass or glassware.