it may be cold outside…

But it’s warm at these Affiliates! While you’re on winter break, check out the Smithsonian in your neighborhood: 

The Smithsonian Community Coral Reef is on view at the Putnam Museum in Davenport, Iowa. The coral reef, composed of thousands of crocheted natural forms, creates a version of the Great Barrier Reef with loopy “kelps,” fringed “anemones,” crenellated “sea slugs,” and curlicue “corals.” On loan from the National Museum of Natural History

Photo credit: Putnam Museum

Photo credit: Putnam Museum

Imagine you too are standing on a sun-dappled lawn picking wildflowers just like the figure in Dear Fay, one of several painted ceramic sculptures on loan to the Springfield Museum of Art in Springfield, Ohio, for their exhibition Jack Earl: A Modern Master- A Retrospective. On loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, through January 6, 2013.  

Photo credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum

Photo credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum

Native Words, Native Warriors tells the remarkable story of Indian soldiers from more than a dozen tribes who used their Native languages in the service of the U.S. military. On view at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, through March 2013. Organized for travel by the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service

Courtesy U.S. Marine Corps

Courtesy U.S. Marine Corps

Sick of dreary white, winter days? Head to the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Florida, for Vibrant Color: Vintage Celebrity Portraits from the Harry Warnecke Studio, a collection of color photographs of celebrities who rose to fame at a time when color photography was in its infancy. Organized by the National Portrait Gallery, the exhibition is on view until January 12, 2013. 

Photo credit: Harry Warnecke Studio for The Daily News/National Portrait Gallery

Photo credit: Harry Warnecke Studio for The Daily News/National Portrait Gallery

While you’re in Florida, stop by the Frost Art Museum in Miami. On view until January 13, 2013 is Reflections Across Time: Seminole Portraits, a collaboration with fellow Affiliate Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum in Clewiston, Florida. Showing more than 150 years of portraits of Seminole leaders and tribal members, the exhibition features works of art from the National Museum of the American Indian, National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  

Photo credit: Frost Art Museum

Photo credit: Frost Art Museum

In 1898, New York photographer Gertrude Käsebier watched the grand parade of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, on its way to Madison Square Garden. Inspired by what she saw, she photographed the Lakota (Sioux) travelling with the show in her 5th Ave studio. The result was a set of prints that are among the most compelling of Käsebier’s celebrated body of work. See Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Warriors: Photographs by Gertrude Käsebier at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington, through February 9, 2013. On loan from the National Museum of American History and includes artifacts from fellow Affiliate, Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming.

Photo credit: Dean Davis

Photo credit: Dean Davis Photography

Mittens, boots, puffy jacket and scarf may work in our winter weather, but imagine what astronauts had to prepare for when venturing into space! Suited for Space, an exhibition from the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service and the National Air and Space Museum, explores the evolution of spacesuit development from the first quarter of the 20th century until the dawn of the shuttle era. On view at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts, until March 3, 2013.

Phot credit:Sun/Bob Whitaker

Phot credit:Sun/Bob Whitaker

Is the Smithsonian in YOUR neighborhood? Find an Affiliate here.

2012, Seriously Amazing!

Season’s greetings and best wishes for the new year!


From your friends at Smithsonian Affiliations,

Jennifer Brundage – Elizabeth Bugbee
Harold Closter – Alma Douglas
Aaron Glavas – Laura Hansen
Christina Di Meglio Lopez
Caroline Mah – Gertrude Ross
Natalie Wimberly

History Colorado Center Hosts Its First Smithsonian National Youth Summit

Special thanks for this guest post to Liz Cook, Environmental Educator at History Colorado.

We were thrilled that the History Colorado Center was to be selected as one of the nine Smithsonian Affiliate sites to participate in the National Youth Summit: Dust Bowl on October 17, 2012.  Over 150 high school and middle school students from around Colorado participated, including students from western Colorado, Denver, and the Colorado Springs’ neighborhoods that were impacted by this summer’s Waldo Canyon Fire.  Students watched the live broadcast from the National Museum of American History, which included insights from Dust Bowl survivor Cal Crabill, who grew up near Holly, on the plains of eastern Colorado.  In the second half of the Youth Summit, presenters made connections between current environmental issues in Colorado and the lessons of the Dust Bowl, including hydraulic fracturing, wildfire, climate change and water. Media partner Rocky Mountain PBS taped the presentations, which will be available online for future use by students and teachers.  The Youth Summit was a perfect opportunity for us to explore these topics, as our “Living West” exhibition (opening in 2013) will focus on how natural systems have impacted human history and how human choices have impacted the environment in Colorado, and will include stories of the Dust Bowl in southeastern Colorado, and current issues in our state.  

Schools Attending

  • Roaring Fork High School, Carbondale, CO (Garfield County Libraries)-10 students
  • Grand Valley High School, Parachute, CO (Garfield County Libraries)-10 students
  • Dora Moore School, Denver Public Schools, Denver-87 students
  • George Washington High School, Denver Public Schools-15 students
  • Coronado High School, Colorado Springs School District 11- 17 students 

Local Youth Summit Presentations

  • “Colorado’s Water Future”
    Kristin Maharg, Program Manager, Colorado Foundation for Water Education 
  • “Catastrophic Wildfires in Colorado”  
    Einar Jensen, Life Safety Educator South Metro Fire Rescue Authority
  • Hydraulic Fracturing: Folly or Fortune?
    Adrianne Kroepsch, Graduate Research Assistant, Center of the American West, and Doctoral Student, Environmental Studies, University of Colorado
  • “Snowpack in the Rocky Mountains”
    Ryan Vachon, Director at Earth Initiatives and affiliate with INSTAAR (Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado)

The National Museum of American History partnered with the National Endowment for the Humanities, WETA television, and Smithsonian Affiliations to present the National Youth Summit on the Dust Bowl. More information on upcoming National Youth Summits at http://americanhistory.si.edu/nys

the Smithsonian in Miami Science Museum’s neighborhood

Special thanks to Lindsay Bartholomew, Science Curator at the Miami Science Museum, for allowing us to repost these amazing blogs. 

With 175 Smithsonian Affiliates in 40 states, Panama and Puerto Rico, there is always an opportunity for people to engage with the Smithsonian in their own communities. Here’s an example of one Affiliate’s recent collaborations with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, National Museum of American History, and Smithsonian Magazine. Are you an Affiliate interested in guest blogging or seeing your collaborations posted here? Contact Elizabeth Bugbee for more information.

Smithsonian Affiliations- Opportunities Galore!
The Smithsonian is a name recognized all over the world. Internationally, if people know one museum in the US, it’s most likely the Smithsonian. But through Smithsonian Affiliations, museums all over the country can partner in efforts to share science, art, and history with everyone. The Miami Science Museum is a proud Affiliate member, and recently has taken advantage of several unique opportunities made available by the Smithsonian. Read more…

Students filled the Miami Science Museum theater for the town hall meeting to talk to local environmental experts for the National Youth Summit: Dust Bowl. Photo credit- Miami Science Museum.

The Dust Bowl – Man and Nature, Cause and Effect
The Miami Science Museum is one of only 10 museums nationwide that was selected to participate in the Smithsonian’s National Youth Summit on October 17th.  The focus of this summit was contemporary environmental issues and the legacy (as well as lessons learned) from the Dust Bowl period in the 1930s. During this time, the boom of wheat farming (sometimes called the “great plow-up”) brought on a 10 year drought, showing that human activities can cause large scale environmental effects. Students from around the country participated in the summit via video/web conferencing, and had the opportunity to view clips from Ken Burns’ recently released “The Dust Bowl” documentary. They discussed what they learned from the Dust Bowl and shared ideas on how they can be protectors of their environments.  The overarching theme of the event was to explore how to better understand the complexity of environmental issues and to learn what people can do today to avoid (or lessen) other environmental crises. Read more…

Baby’s First Museum
It’s not something normally recounted in baby albums, but as you read this story, you may start to wonder . “Why not?” You always hear about baby’s first words, first steps, first laugh – but what about baby’s first museum? Recently the Museum received a lovely email from a family who brought their 3 month old son to our Museum, on a free-admission day sponsored by Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day Live. They were not sure how much he would even react to the trip. But as it turns out, baby loved the Museum just as much as mommy did when she came here as a child. This is the kind of story that makes our work at the Museum all the more worthwhile…Read more…

Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos
We’ve all seen the amazing images from the Hubble Space Telescope. The details in the colors and swirling patterns are not just beautiful – they also tell a story about what is happening there. Is that cloud of gas and dust a nursery for newborn stars? Are these massive bubbles of gas that have exploded from a supernova? And perhaps most importantly, who creates these images, and how? Read more…  And read even more in the YCCC blog series from Pinhead Institute, an Affiliate in Telluride, Colo., here.


Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

 

 

Affiliates in the news! november 2012

Each month we’re highlighting Affiliate-Smithsonian collaborations making headlines. Congrats to these Affiliates making news this month! If you have a clipping you’d like to have considered for the Affiliate blog, please contact Elizabeth Bugbee.

This photograph of Navajo code talkers working a radio in 1943 is part of the exhibit “Navajo Code Talkers: Photographs” by Kenji Kawano at the Heard Museum in Phoenix.

Heard Museum (Phoenix, Ariz.)
Smithsonian, Heard exhibits shed light on Code Talkers

Ohio Historical Society (Columbus, Ohio)
Ohio taps Smithsonian treasures 

Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Denver, Colo.)
D.C.’s Own Indiana Jones comes from Denver 

Tellus Science Museum (Cartersville, Ga.)
Students Can Take Photos of Planets, Stars at Tellus Science Museum

Smithsonian’s Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos Exhibition at Miami Science. Photo courtesy Miami Science Museum.

Miami Science Museum (Miami, Fla.)
Smithsonian’s Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos Exhibition at MiaSci 

Peoria Riverfront Museum (Peoria, Ill.) 
Experts declare museum is ‘fantastic’

Senator John Heinz History Center (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
The Gridiron Glory exhibition: a peek inside and a look at Smithsonian artifact loans 

Springfield Museum of Art (Springfield, Ohio)
Springfield Museum of Art honors living local legend: Pieces came from the Smithsonian, other museums and private collections 

Long Island Museum (Stony Brook, N.Y.)
National Portrait Gallery curator speaks on Elvis to complement the Museum’s current exhibition 

New from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service

Special thanks to SITES’ Scheduling Department for this guest post.  

SITES Quarterly Corner | November 2012 sites.si.edu

Whether you are a new or veteran Affiliate, one of the best ways to maximize your unique relationship with the world’s largest museum and research complex is to host a Smithsonian exhibition. SITES has a plethora of exciting new offerings in the works, and we’re pleased to give the Affiliate network the scoop before widely publicizing them. Contact us for more detailed information or click on the links below.


Jacob Lawrence Illustrates Aesop’s Fables

Jacob Lawrence, 1969. The Ant and the Grasshopper from Aesop’s Fables. Image Courtesy DC Moore Gallery, New York.

The classic Aesop’s Fables seen through the eyes of one of most important American artists of the 20th century. In 1969, Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) created a series of twenty-three lively ink drawings of Aesop’s Fables, which interpreted the ancient tales for a contemporary audience. As a socially engaged American artist who created powerful narratives of American history and historical figures, Lawrence often explored themes of social justice and ethical conduct. His drawings depict timeless stories, teaching morals in a simple, understandable way. Tour begins: 2014

Contact: Ed Liskey, liskeye@si.edu, 202.633.3142

  

 

Asian Pacific Americans

Princess Kaiulani, the last princess of the Kingdom of Hawaii prior to annexation.

Asian and Pacific Americans make up more than 5% of the U.S. population –over 17 million people–and those numbers are growing. In the first exhibition of its kind, the Smithsonian celebrates Asian Pacific American history across the multitude of incredibly diverse cultures, and explores how Asian Pacific Americans have shaped and been shaped by the course of our nation’s history. Rich with compelling, often surprising stories, the exhibition takes a sweeping look at this history, from the very first Asian immigrants to the influx of highly skilled workers many decades later.Tour begins: September 2014

Contact: Minnie Russell, russellm@si.edu, 202.633.3160

 

Patios, Play Sets, and the Invention of the American Back Yard

An American family enjoys their yard. Image courtesy AAG collection.

Retreats for recreation, entertainment, dining, and relaxation, the American back yard combines the comfort and convenience of living rooms with the freedom of the open air. Patios. examines the growing popularity of outdoor living since the mid-20th century with a look at fascinating social trends like the transition from the front porch to the back yard patio, the rise of the do-it-yourself homeowner, and the use of “chemical warfare” to achieve the perfect lawn. Featuring rare, vintage photographs, along with pop-culture references and period advertisements, this exhibition will be a fun stroll through America’s back yard. Learn more here.

Tour begins: April 2014

Contact: Ed Liskey, liskeye@si.edu, 202.633.3142

Women, Art, and Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise

Newcomb Pottery Vase, c. 1931. Low relief of stylized Pitcher plant. Aurelia Arbo, decorator; Jonathan B. Hunt, potter. Collection of the Haynie Family.

This major exhibition of Newcomb pottery and crafts features 175 exceptional works of pottery, metalwork, bookbinding, and textiles from important public and private collections. Enriched by new scholarship, historical photos and archival materials, the exhibition looks beyond the beauty of the works and illuminates the philosophy of the Newcomb Art School, the women and educators who embodied it, and its place in the American Arts & Crafts movement. Learn more here.

Tour begins: June 2014

Contact: Minnie Russell, russellm@si.edu, 202.633.3160

Visit our website to search for exhibitions by subject, size, or fee. Or contact us at 202.633.3140 or sites_schedule@si.edu.