Na-Klectic likes to encourage and promote free events. January is a cold month! We need to still enjoy events during the Winter. Please review the free events at the National Portrait Gallery. Enjoy!
January Events and Programs
Portrait Discovery Kits
Jan. 1 and 2
Jan. 8 and 9
Jan. 15 and 16
Jan. 23
Jan. 29 and 30
1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Portrait Discovery Kits are an interactive and imaginative way to learn more about people who are in the National Portrait Gallery and their contributions to American history in a self-guided tour. The kits include “Seek and Find” cards, “Portrait Detective” and “Historian Guides,” and a “Compare and Contrast” activity using a doll. Visitors can check out kits at the National Portrait Gallery education center. Kits need to be returned before 4 p.m.
Face-to-Face Portrait Talks
Thursdays, 6 to 6:30 p.m.
F Street lobby
Each week, a staff member of the National Portrait Gallery or a special guest speaker brings visitors face-to-face with a portrait by offering insight into one person. January talks are about works and artists in the exhibition “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture”; February talks are about portraits in the exhibition “Americans Now.”
Jan. 6 Historian David C. Ward speaks about Marsden Hartley’s Eight Bells Folly
Jan. 13 Catherine Dawson speaks about Roy Cohn
Jan. 20 Curator Anne Goodyear speaks about Marcel Duchamp
Jan. 27 Curator Frank Goodyear speaks about Carl van Vechten
Curator’s Tour
Jan. 8; 2 p.m.
Join historian and co-curator of “Hide/Seek” David Ward on a tour to consider the art and the ideas in the Portrait Gallery’s largest exhibition to date. Meet at the exhibition entrance (second floor, Struggle for Justice side of the gallery).
Young Portrait Explorers
Joseph Cornell and Shadowbox Collections
Jan. 10; 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.Toddlers up to age 5 and their adult companions are invited to become a Young Portrait Explorer and to discover the National Portrait Gallery through history and art. The activities include looking at an abstract portrait of Joseph Cornell, listening to a story about Cornell and participating in a hands-on activity inspired by his shadowbox collections. Registration required at [email protected]. Class size is limited to 25 participants. Parents and guardians must remain with their children. Gather in G Street lobby at 10:15 a.m. The program will begin promptly at 10:30 a.m. This program will also be held on Feb. 7, featuring Andy Warhol and Colorful Portraits.
Author Talk/Book Signing
Jan. 12; Noon
Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage, with author Hazel Rowley
Author Talk/Book Signing
Jan. 19; Noon
Painting Indians & Building Empires in North America, 1710-1840, with author William Truettner
Cultures in Motion
Elvis Presley, Live-in-Concert
Jan. 20; 7 p.m.
In collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and Govinda Gallery, Cultures in Motion presents Elvis Presley, Live-in-Concert. In a concert of Elvis music from his breakout year of 1956, tribute artist Scot Bruce and his four back-up musicians will be accompanied by narration written and performed by “Elvis at 21” co-curator E. Warren Perry Jr. This event is free; however, reservations are suggested since seating is limited. For reservations call (202) 633-8520 or e-mail [email protected]. Located in the McEvoy Auditorium.
Facing History: Be the Artist Youth and Family Program
Joseph Cornell
Jan. 22; 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
This class is designed for children ages 5 and older with their families to better understand shadowbox collections like those made by Joseph Cornell. A portrait of Cornell is featured in the “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” exhibition. Participants will take a brief guided tour of the exhibition focusing on a single artist’s work, listen to a children’s story about the artist and create a piece of art using some of the same materials or concepts. Registration required [email protected]. Class size is limited to 30 participants. Parents and guardians must remain with their children. Please note that this program already has a wait-list.
Author Talk/Book Signing
Jan. 26; Noon
She Was One of Us: Eleanor Roosevelt & the American Worker, with author Brigid O’Farrell
Hide/Seek Symposium
Jan. 29; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Addressing (and Redressing) the Silence: New Scholarship in Sexuality and American Art
Detailed schedule will be sent in a separate e-mail.
Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium
National Portrait Gallery walk-in tours
Walk-in tours begin in the F Street lobby.
Highlights of the National Portrait Gallery tours
Weekdays, 11:45 a.m. and 2:15 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 11:45 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.
Docent’s Choice tours
Weekdays, 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Highlights of the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Mondays, 12:30 p.m. Please note: no tour Jan. 17 or Feb. 21
Behind the Scenes
An Introduction to the Lunder Conservation Center
Wednesdays, 3 p.m.
Learn how museum conservators use science, art history and skilled hands to preserve objects in the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum collections. Group size is limited; please register at the Luce Foundation Center information desk before 3 p.m. on the day of the program.
Conservation Clinic
Lunder Conservation Center
Jan. 4
Guests can make an appointment with a conservator at the National Portrait Gallery for the first Tuesday of each month to assess the condition of a painting, drawing, print or photograph. E-mail Lou Molnar at [email protected] and specify “clinic” in the subject line, or call (202) 633-5822.
All events are held at the National Portrait Gallery, located at Eighth and F streets, N.W., Washington, D.C., and are free unless otherwise noted. For information, call (202) 633-1000 or visit npg.si.edu. The National Portrait Gallery is open every day from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., except Dec. 25.
