National Museum of Women in the Arts

08/30/2026

Happy National Beach Day! We’re celebrating with Susan Alix’s artist’s book, “The Beach: A Short Story,” which creates a mood of open-air drama and seaside activity. 🏖️

Susan Allix (b. 1943) studied at the Royal College of Art in the 1960s where she focused on printmaking and papermaking. She created her first artist’s book in 1973 and has made over 40 books since. An important part of Allix's process is creating each element of the book from start to finish, from the illustrations to the actual binding. When describing her process, Allix says, “I am concerned with visual things, so I see books as full of color and form in a pictorial sense as well as through the images created in my mind by the words, and through the sculptural qualities a book possesses.”

Artwork credit: Susan Allix, “The Beach: A Short Story,” 1989; © Susan Allix

[Image descriptions: Two views of an artist’s book with abstract depictions of beach scenes.]

08/28/2026

Today we are celebrating the birthday of artist Dianne Smith! 🥳

Dianne Smith (b. 1965) was raised in the South Bronx by parents who immigrated from Belize to the US in the 1960s. Although she originally pursued a career in fashion, Smith’s focus started to shift to fine art in the mid-1990s. She began taking photographs in the mid-1990s after relocating to Harlem.

Moved to document the extraordinary, everyday beauty of this historically Black community, Smith gradually amassed an archive of images that she would later employ in her ongoing series “Between Harlem and Me” (2021 to present). Smith’s work captures the everyday life in Harlem’s Black community and collapses time, suggesting a cultural continuity that transcends decades.

Artwork credits: Dianne Smith, “There No More” and “Another Sunday Outing,” from the series “Between Harlem and Me,” 2021; © Dianne Smith

08/27/2026

Yayoi Kusama (1929 to 2026) ❣️

Yayoi Kusma was one of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, making significant contributions to the Minimalist and Pop Art movements. Since the 1950s, Kusama created a multitude of hypnotic works that emphasize the negative spaces formed by dots or holes, earning her recognition as the “polka dot queen.” She utilized these repeating patterns across many forms, including painting, drawing, sculpture, film, performance, and immersive installation.

The artist lived openly about her struggles with mental health but continued to find purpose through her work: “I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieves my illness is to keep creating art.”

Artwork credit: Yayoi Kusama, Puzzle (with case), 2009 (based on Yayoi Kusama, “Self-Portrait,” 2008); Published by RxArt; Photo courtesy of RxArt

[Image description: A finished puzzle based on a self-portrait of Yayoi Kusama.]

08/25/2026

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08/25/2026

Visionary artist Marlo Pascual (1972 to 2020) created works that amuse, confuse, and provoke by dramatically recontextualizing anonymous vintage photographs and found objects. The artist transformed her thrift-store source material through enlargement, fragmentation, obfuscation, and the addition of external elements: These strategies upend viewers’ initial reactions of nostalgia or familiarity.

"Marlo Pascual: Making Something Out of Something," on view through February 28, 2027, presents 17 of Pascual’s works from between 2009 and 2014, demonstrating her remarkable legacy.

Read more:

A new exhibition spotlights the artist's surprising, amusing, and, provocative works, bringing together familiar images and vintage objects in unexpected ways.

08/24/2026

Lavinia Fontana was born on this day in 1552! Let’s take a closer look into the life of the painter who is regarded as the first professional woman artist. 🎨 
 
You can see “Marriage Portrait of a Bolognese Noblewoman (Livia de’ Medici Bandini?)” in “Remix: The Collection” on the third floor at NMWA!
 
[Video description: Green-screen style video of a NMWA staff member talking over paintings by Lavinia Fontana.]

08/20/2026

We took a stroll with our summer interns to visit the newest museum in the neighborhood, ! 🌎 
 
[Video description: Several short clips of NMWA staff members taking a tour of the National Geographic Museum of Exploration. Objects in the museum include photographs, digital and interactive installations, explorer artifacts, artworks, etc.]

08/18/2026

Anna Ancher was born on this day in 1859! 🎨

A well-known and much-loved figure in Denmark, Ancher (1859 to 1935) is admired for her paintings of interiors filled with light and color, influenced by Impressionism. She was the only member of the Skagen Painters, an artists’ colony on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark, to be born in the town of Skagen. Ancher was part of the “Modern Breakthrough,” a Scandinavian movement in art and literature that rejected idealization and instead sought to capture the “real.” She painted primarily small-scale interior scenes and sought to capture the fleeting effects of light on her canvases. In 2013, NMWA presented the largest exhibition of her work in the US, “A World Apart: Anna Ancher and the Skagen Art Colony.”

Artwork credit: Anna Ancher, “Fisher Woman in Profile,” 1892

[Image description: Painting of an older woman in profile wearing a headscarf.]

08/14/2026

Baltimore-based artist recently made a visit to NMWA! Take a closer look at her piece “The Founder,” on view now in “Remix: The Collection” on the third floor of the museum. 🖼️
 
[Video description: Artist LaToya M. Hobbs standing in front of and speaking about her artwork on view at NMWA.]

08/13/2026

Margaret Tafoya (Gia-Khun-Povi/Corn Blossom) was born on this day in 1904! 🏺

Born in the Santa Clara Pueblo (Kha’P’o) near Santa Fe, New Mexico, Tafoya (1904 to 2001) learned the ancient techniques of handbuilding pottery from her mother Sara Fina Tafoya, who was also a significant potter. In the 1950s, Tafoya became internationally known for her skill in handbuilding uncommonly large clay vessels. She rejected modern techniques like the potter’s wheel and the addition of nontraditional gems and stones. Her ability to experiment with scale and form while maintaining strong ties to the Santa Clara tradition set her apart from other talented potters.

Get a closer look at five of her artworks now on view “Burnished: Pueblo Pottery at NMWA” on the first floor!

Artwork credit: Margaret Tafoya, Jar with bear-paw imprints, ca.1960s; © Margaret Tafoya

[Image description: A dark, polished ceramic vase.]