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Current Exhibitions

Close-up detail of an abstract painting with very thick and gestural brushstrokes of mostly orange paint.

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Featured Current Exhibition

Mar 03 to Jun 27, 2021
This exhibition—the first survey of textile artist Sonya Clark’s 25-year career—includes the artist’s well-known mixed-media sculptures that address race and visibility, explore Blackness, and redress history.
View Exhibition: Sonya Clark: Tatter, Bristle, and Mend
U.S. five-dollar bill has an embroidered afro and sideburns stitched onto the portrait of Lincoln’s head. One-third of the afro protrudes beyond the top of the bill.
Sonya Clark, Afro Abe II, 2012; Five-dollar bill and hand-embroidered thread, 4 x 6 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection; © Sonya Y.S. Clark; Photo by Lee Stalsworth

All Current Exhibitions

  • Her Flag

    Jun 09 to Jul 12, 2021

    The museum has partnered with Her Flag, a nationwide art and travel project created by artist Marilyn Artus. Her Flag marks the 100th-anniversary year of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which enshrined women’s right to vote within the text of the U.S. Constitution.

    Marilyn Artus, Her Flag, 2020; UV grade polyester, 18 x 26 ft.; Courtesy of the artist; Photo by Marilyn Artus

  • Mary Ellen Mark: Girlhood

    Mar 03 to Aug 08, 2021

    This exhibition presents approximately 30 images photographer Mary Ellen Mark made throughout her career depicting girls and young women. The images are drawn from an exceptional recent donation of more than 160 photographs by the artist, given by members of the Photography Buyers Syndicate.

    A black and white photograph of a young girl wearing a dress and coat jumping over a brick wall. Three other figures lean over the wall in the upper right corner of the composition. The jumping girl is the only figure who is in focus.

    Mary Ellen Mark, Girl Jumping over a Wall, Central Park, New York City, 1967 (printed later); Gelatin silver print, 16 x 20 in.; NMWA, Gift of Jill and Jeffrey Stern; © Mary Ellen Mark/The Mary Ellen Mark Foundation

  • Julie Chen: True to Life

    Oct 12, 2020 to Jun 30, 2021

    Renowned book artist Julie Chen combines highly complex structures and poetic reflections to create ambitious artists’ books that raise questions about time, memory, and human survival. This exhibition will include a selection of the California-based artist’s captivating works from throughout her 33-year career.

    An open artist’s book resembling two open books connected end to end. The four inner cover panels feature small sculpted brown shapes, small indented shapes, and a rocky-looking panel. The two groups of pages feature different patterns that resemble rock climbing walls.

    Julie Chen, Wayfinding, 2019; Courtesy of the artist; © Julie Chen

  • RECLAMATION: Recipes, Remedies, and Rituals

    Jan 18 to Dec 31, 2021

    This innovative exhibition examines food as a creative medium for visual art and a connective tool for exploring intergenerational and intercultural experiences.

    A table set with bowls and containers of fresh and dried herbs and grains. A large black bowl filled with dried corn sits to the right of the image, with a smaller black bowl of dried rice below.

    Photo credit: Melani N. Douglass, NMWA

  • Selections from the Collection

    Aug 01, 2020 to Aug 08, 2021

    NMWA’s collection of more than 5,000 works of art spans from the late sixteenth century through today. Explore the exceptional range of techniques and mediums by global women artists as embodied in paintings, prints, photo-based works, and sculptures.

    Partial gallery view of a young woman in a ponytail and glasses bending down to look at a tiny contemporary sculpture in a glass vitrine. The sculpture is a wooden cage with an object stored inside. On the back wall hangs a photograph of a light-skinned woman in a white dress.

    Photo credit: Kevin Allen