Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Announces for Fall Programs

In–Person Programs, Sept. – Nov.

Spanish-Language Walk-In Tours 

Select Sundays, Sept. 1, Oct. 6 & Nov. 3, 2 – 3 p.m.  

G Street Lobby 

 

Join a volunteer docent on select Sundays for lively tours of the National Portrait Gallery in Spanish. We hope to see you there! Free – No Registration Required. 

 

Conversation Circles  

Select Fridays, Sept. 20, Oct. 25 & Nov. 22, 10 a.m. – noon 

G Street Lobby 

 

Calling all English-language learners! Join National Portrait Gallery educators and friends from all over the world. Together, we’ll use portraiture to learn about U.S. art, history and culture. Meet new friends, learn about different cultures and practice your English. For more information, email Beth Evans at evansb@si.edu. Free – No Registration Required. 

 

Portrait Gallery Kids  

Select Mondays, Sept. 9, 16, 23 & 30; Oct. 7, 21 & 28; Nov. 4, 28, & 25

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. 

Education Center, E151  

 
Children and families are invited to learn, play and create at the National Portrait Gallery! Join educators every Monday as we explore a new topic and different materials. Participants will look at art, enjoy hands-on activities, listen to music and participate in story time. Portrait Gallery Kids is a fun way to engage with art and each other. Free – No Registration Required. 

 

Sketch Break  

Select Thursdays, Sept. 12 & 26; Oct. 3, 17 & 31; Nov. 7, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.  

In the Galleries 
 

Join us for a sketching session in our galleries! Create, connect and sketch with fellow artists while drawing inspiration from the Portrait Gallery’s collection. Participants can expect guided instruction from an artist educator before heading into the galleries to sketch on their own. Open to all skill levels, ages 18 and up. All materials will be provided. Participants are welcome to bring their own sketchbooks. Free – Registration Encouraged.  

 

Writing Workshop Inspired by 20th Century Americans

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 5 – 7 p.m.

G Street Lobby

 

Join the National Portrait Gallery for a writing workshop inspired by thinkers, dreamers, artists, and makers in the 20th Century Americans exhibition. Participants will look closely at works of art and receive guided writing prompts to develop new writing that infuses our lived experiences and explores the ideas of contemporary innovators of the 20th and 21st centuries. Free – Registration Required. 

 

In-Gallery Portrait Signs  

Select Saturdays, Sept. 21, Oct. 26 & Nov. 23, 12 – 1 p.m. 

G Street Lobby   

 
Portrait Signs is a Deaf–led tour in American Sign Language. Tours explore portraiture, history and biography through the lens of our special exhibitions and permanent collection. Dates and topics are continually updated. Free – Registration Required. 

 

Brilliant Exiles: Salons

Select Saturdays, Sept. 21: Jazz; Oct. 19: Dance; Nov. 9: Fashion Sketching, 4 – 5:30 p.m.

G Street Lobby

 

Join the National Portrait Gallery for a three-part salon that draws inspiration from the brilliant women featured in the exhibition Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939. During the 20th century, women like Natalie Barney, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, and Peggy Guggenheim would host salons for women across different fields to discuss art, literature, music and more.

 

Participants will experience an intimate look into how salons impacted arts and culture more than 100 years ago.  Each salon will have a different theme, including a jazz set, an excerpt dance performance and a fashion sketching tutorial. Free – Registration Required. 

 

Trivia Night: Con Mucho Mucho Amor

Tuesday, Sept. 24, 5 – 6:45 p.m.

Kogod Courtyard

 

Join us at the National Portrait Gallery for a happy hour trivia night to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with our friends from New Columbia Pub Quiz. Get ready to test your knowledge of Latinx art, history and culture in the United States with questions inspired by the museum’s collection.

 

Our free collections-themed trivia game can be played individually or in teams of up to six people. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the evening. The Courtyard Café will be open during the event, and snacks and beverages will be available for purchase. Free – Registration Encouraged.  

 

Fotos y Recuerdos: Hispanic Heritage Month Festival

Saturday, Sept. 28, 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Kogod Courtyard

 

Join the Hispanic Heritage Month fiesta at the National Portrait Gallery! Back by popular demand, our friends from Lil’ Libros are returning for another celebration for all ages. Learn about Latinx trailblazers with vibrant portraits from our collection and the Lil’ Libros book series The Life of/La vida de during this day of art, dancing, museum tours, story times, book signings, and more! Free – No Registration Required.

 

In Conversation with Miguel Luciano and Sylvia Méndez
Saturday, Sept. 28, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
McEvoy Auditorium

Join us for a conversation with Puerto Rican artist Miguel Luciano, whose “Porto Rican Cotton Picker” and “Freedom Rider Vest” are on view on the museum’s third floor, and civil rights activist Sylvia Méndez, who was instrumental in desegregating schools in California. The works represent Sylvia’s mother, Felicitas Méndez, who successfully sued the state of California to desegregate schools in the landmark case Mendez v. Westminster (1947). The case brought an end to school segregation in California and provided the eventual legal basis to end racial segregation nationally. The conversation will be moderated by curator Taína Caragol. Free – Registration Required. 

For Teens, By Teens Pop-Up Event

Select Wednesdays, Oct. 9 & Nov. 6, 5 – 6:30 p.m.

Kogod Courtyard

 

Calling all teens! Join the National Portrait Gallery’s Teen Museum Council for an event inspired by the current exhibitions. Free – Registration Required. 

 

Writing Workshop Inspired by the Literary Paris of Brilliant Exiles

Saturday, Oct. 12, 10 a.m. – noon

G Street Lobby

 

Join the National Portrait Gallery for a creative writing workshop inspired by the words and portraits of American women in Paris as part of the captivating exhibition “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939.” 

 

Participants will read and discuss works of literature and look at portraits of literary innovators, booksellers, and influencers, such as Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sylvia Beach, Gertrude Stein, May Sarton, Kay Boyle, and Anaïs Nin. Free – Registration Required. 

 

Director’s Essay Prize Lecture
Tuesday, Oct. 15, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
McEvoy Auditorium

Laura Katzman, the winner of the National Portrait Gallery’s biennial Director's Essay Prize for “Lorenzo Homar’s ‘Cine Alba’: An Intimate Portrait of North American Artists in Nineteen-Fifties Puerto Rico,” will deliver a lecture on her work. Free – Registration Required. 

 

Trivia Night: Spooky Season

Tuesday, Oct. 15, 5 – 6:45 p.m.

Kogod Courtyard

 

Are you afraid of the dark? Join us at the National Portrait Gallery for a spooky happy hour trivia night. With our friends from New Columbia Pub Quiz, we will test your knowledge of urban legends, superstitions, and things that go bump in the night—all with questions inspired by the museum’s collection.

 

Our free collections-themed trivia game can be played individually or in teams of up to six people. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the evening. The Courtyard Café will be open during the event, and snacks and beverages will be available for purchase. Free – Registration Encouraged.  

 

Artists and Their Afterlives: Perspectives on the Value of Archival Materials

Saturday, Oct. 19, 1 – 2 p.m.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Auditorium (Floors 4 & 5)

 

Join us for a compelling conversation as a curator, a collector of archives, and an artist share their perspectives on the importance of artists’ archives and how they inform exhibition-making and public understanding. The starting point for the conversation will be the new exhibition “Felix Gonzalez–Torres: Always to Return,” co–organized by the National Portrait Gallery and the Archives of American Art.

 

The conversation will begin with a discussion of topics that emerged doing archival research for the Felix Gonzalez-Torres exhibition. It will continue with an overview of contemporary collecting at the Archives of American Art and extend into a closer look at archive-based projects spearheaded by an artist who works in Washington, D.C., and London. Free – For More Information.

Curator Tour of “Felix Gonzalez–Torres: Always to Return”

Sunday, Oct. 20, 3 – 4 p.m.

G Street Lobby

 

Take a tour of the exhibition “Felix Gonzalez–Torres: Always to Return” and hear from co-curators Josh T Franco, head of collecting for the Archives of American Art, and Charlotte Ickes, curator of time-based media art at the National Portrait Gallery. Free – Registration Encouraged.  

 

A Walking Tour of “Untitled” (America)

Select Wednesdays, Oct. 23, Nov. 6 & 20, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.

G Street Lobby

 

What does a portrait of America look like? In the exhibition “Felix Gonzalez–Torres: Always to Return,” “Untitled” (America) comprises twelve light strings that are shown in different configurations across locations inside and outside the museum, including the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.

 

Please join exhibition curators Charlotte Ickes, curator of time-based media and special projects, National Portrait Gallery, and Josh T Franco, head of collecting, Archives of American Art for a special walking tour of “Untitled” (America). Participants will discuss the connections between democracy, labor, change, and the site-specific installation of the work. Free – Registration Required. 

 

Paint and Sip at the Portrait Gallery
Select Thursdays Oct. 24 & Nov. 21, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
G Street Lobby

Join us for an after-work paint and sip at the National Portrait Gallery! Explore one of our iconic portraits, and then create your own piece of art inspired by it. Art-making materials provided, BYOB (or buy something at the Courtyard Café!). Free – Registration Required. 

 

Curator Tour of “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939”; Fashion and Flair

Sunday, Oct. 27, 3 – 4 p.m.

G Street Lobby

 

How did American women refashion their identities in early twentieth-century Paris? Find out by joining Robyn Asleson, the National Portrait Gallery’s curator prints and drawings, for a tour of “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939.” Viewing portraiture through the lens of fashion, the tour will explore the ways in which new modes of self-styling (including clothing, hairstyle, cosmetics and deportment) enabled unconventional American women to express the revised personal and professional identities they developed in France. Free – Registration Encouraged.  

  

El Día de los Muertos

Saturday, Nov. 2, 5 – 8:30 p.m.

Kogod Courtyard

 

Join us for our annual celebration of el Día de los Muertos—one of the National Portrait Gallery’s biggest events of the year—with live music, Mexican folk-dance performances, workshops, and a variety of activities for all ages. Create calaveras and papel picado to decorate the community altar, get your face painted to look like la Catrina, and more! Take the celebration to the streets as you witness the live video mapping projection by artists MasPaz and Guache. The artists will create their work live from the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, projected onto the G and 9th street façade. Free – No Registration Required.  

 

Curator Tour of “Star Power: Photographs from Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell”

Sunday, Nov. 3, 3 – 4 p.m.

G Street Lobby

 

Join the National Portrait Gallery’s Senior Curator of Photographs Ann Shumard for a lively tour of “Star Power: Photographs from Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell.” These vintage prints from the 1930s and 1940s feature Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Anna May Wong and other Golden Age favorites! Free – Registration Encouraged.  

 

Curator Tour of “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance”

Sunday, Nov. 10, 3 – 4pm

G Street lobby

 

Join the National Portrait Gallery’s Director of Curatorial Affairs Rhea Combs for a tour of “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance.” This exhibition, which takes place during the centennial of the author’s birth, presents portrayals of Baldwin (1924–1987) and others in his circle, such as Lorraine Hansberry, Bayard Rustin, and Nina Simone. Artists represented include Beauford Delaney, Glenn Ligon, Faith Ringgold, and Lorna Simpson. Free – Registration Encouraged.

 

A Conversation on Lois Mailou Jones: Painting a Legacy

Sunday, Nov. 17, 2 – 3 p.m.

McEvoy Auditorium

 

During her pathbreaking career, Lois Mailou Jones traversed diverse cultural landscapes and artistic styles. Her engagement with the arts of Africa and the Caribbean began in 1930s Paris, which is highlighted in the current exhibition “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939.” Jones’s art and legacy will be the focus of a conversation moderated by Robyn Asleson, the exhibition curator, with guest speakers Melanee Harvey, associate professor of art history at Howard University; Alicia Knock, curator in the contemporary creation and prospective department at the Centre Pompidou; and Christina-Kelly Grant, former Smithsonian American Art Museum fellow and Villa Albertine resident. This event is a joint program of the National Portrait Gallery and the Embassy of France. Free – Registration Required. 

 

Writing Workshop Inspired by Felix Gonzalez–Torres: Always to Return

Monday, Nov. 18, 5 – 7 p.m.

G Street Lobby

 

Join the National Portrait Gallery for a writing workshop inspired by the exhibition “Felix Gonzalez–Torres: Always to Return.” The exhibition, featuring several installations and works of minimalist and conceptual art as forms of portraiture, focuses on the construction of identity, as well as how history is told and inherited. Through guided writing prompts and close looking, we will explore these themes to create new stories in response to the works of art. Free – Registration Required. 

 

Portrait Gallery Art Studio
Select Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays, 1 – 4 p.m. 

Education Center, E151 

 

Calling all artists! Join the National Portrait Gallery for a free, drop-in art program. Every weekend, visitors of all ages are invited to explore a different artistic medium while drawing inspiration from the Portrait Gallery’s collection and exhibitions. On select weekends, learn from a featured guest artist, who will lead specialized workshops and share their expertise in various artistic disciplines. To stay informed about upcoming guest artist workshops, please check the Portrait Gallery’s Eventbrite page. Free – No Registration Required. 

 

Virtual Programs, Sept. – Nov. 

Virtual Young Portrait Explorers  

Select Wednesdays, Sept. 4 & 18; Oct. 2 & 30; Nov. 13

11 – 11:30 a.m. 

Online via Zoom  

 

Join educators with the National Portrait Gallery as we learn about art, history and more! This 30-minute virtual workshop incorporates close looking at portraiture, movement activities and artmaking. Recommended for children ages three and up and their adult companions. 

Sept. 4 - Sonia Sotomayor

Sept. 18 - Juan Marichal

Oct. 2 - Celia Cruz

Oct. 30 - Carmen Herrera

Nov. 13 - Maria Tallchief

Free – Registration Required. 

 

Drawn to Figures 

Select Thursdays, Sept. 6 & 19; Oct. 10 & 24; Nov. 12 & 21

11 a.m. – noon 

Online via Zoom  

 

Discover your inner artist in this live virtual drawing workshop. Facilitated by artist Jill Galloway, each program will highlight a National Portrait Gallery exhibition or a portrait from the collection. Open to all skill levels, ages 18 and up. Free – Registration Required. 

 

Virtual Writing Hour 

Select Tuesdays, Sept. 10 & 24; Oct. 1 & 8; Nov. 12 & 19

5 – 6 p.m.  

Online via Zoom

  

Join us for a virtual creative writing hour at the National Portrait Gallery! We’ve set up an online space where writers can create, connect and draw inspiration from the Portrait Gallery’s collection. Bring a happy hour beverage of your choice and write with us. We will provide writing prompts, but participants are also welcome to bring their own in-progress writing projects. Attendees will write for about 30 minutes, and each session will end with a brief discussion or reading. Free – Registration Required.  

 

Virtual Portrait Signs  

Select Thursdays, Sept. 12, Oct. 10 & Nov. 14, 5 – 6 p.m.  

Online via Zoom   

  
Portrait Signs is a Deaf–led tour in American Sign Language. Tours explore portraiture, history and biography through the lens of our special exhibitions and permanent collection. Dates and topics are continually updated. Free – Registration Required. 

 

Conversation Circles  

Select Fridays, Sept. 13, Oct. 4 & Nov. 1

10 – 11 a.m. 

Online via Zoom 

 

Calling all English language learners! Join National Portrait Gallery educators and friends from all over the world. Together, we’ll use portraiture to learn about U.S. art, history and culture. This program takes place every other week. Meet new friends, learn about different cultures and practice your English. For more information, email Beth Evans at evansb@si.edu. Free – No Registration Required. 

 

Portraiture and Memorialization: Kent State and Ruben Salazar
Tuesday, Sept. 17, Noon – 1 p.m.
Online via Zoom

This program will explore how art and portraiture are used to memorialize historical events. National Portrait Gallery historian Mindy Farmer and curatorial assistant Gabrielle Tillenburg will explore this topic through case studies of anti-Vietnam war protests. They will examine the Kent State massacre of 1970 and the activism of Ruben Salazar, who was killed by a police officer later that year. Free – Registration Required.