<p>Explore portraits from "Kinship" at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in this Learning Lab collection.</p> <p>"Kinship" features the work of eight contemporary artists who illuminate the complexities of our closest interpersonal relationships through portraiture. Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Ruth Leonela Buentello, Jess T. Dugan, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Jessica Todd Harper, Thomas Holton, Sedrick Huckaby, and Anna Tsouhlarakis poignantly visualize the nuances of this theme within and outside of family units. Through painting, photography, sculpture, and performance, the artists reveal how kinship, by its very nature, embraces contradictions. They also highlight the crucial role that storytelling and memories have in connecting different generations, encompassing both the living and the dead.</p> <p>When we started working on this project in 2018, there was no way we could have predicted that its core concepts were about to be tested on a global scale. The separation and overwhelming loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the renewed calls for social and environmental justice, and recent armed conflicts have deepened the resonance of the exhibition’s themes. Vulnerability, intimacy, privacy, community, familiarity, and recognition have all been questioned and realigned, underscoring how portraiture provides a shared space for empathy and understanding.</p> <p>Kinship <em>is the latest in the museum’s </em>Portraiture Now<em> series, which was established in 2006 to highlight contemporary artists whose work focuses on portraiture or figurative art.</em></p> <p><em>...<br></em></p> <p><em>Parentescos presenta a ocho artistas contemporáneos que abordan a través del retrato las complejidades de nuestras relaciones interpersonales más estrechas. Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Ruth Leonela Buentello, Jess T. Dugan, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Jessica Todd Harper, Thomas Holton, Sedrick Huckaby y Anna Tsouhlarakis visualizan con emotividad los matices de este tema dentro y fuera de las unidades familiares. En pintura, fotografía, escultura o performance, los artistas revelan que el sentido de parentesco —sea por afecto, afinidad o sangre— acoge contradicciones por su propia naturaleza. Asimismo destacan el rol crucial de los relatos y recuerdos en cuanto conectan a las generaciones, a los vivos y los muertos.<br><br>Al iniciar este proyecto en 2018, no anticipamos que sus conceptos medulares pronto serían puestos a prueba a escala global. La separación y la abrumadora pérdida causadas por la pandemia de COVID-19, el renovado reclamo de justicia social y ambiental y los recientes conflictos armados han exaltado la resonancia de los temas de esta exposición. Las nociones de vulnerabilidad, intimidad, privacidad, comunidad, familiaridad y reconocimiento han sido todas cuestionadas y reajustadas, poniendo de relieve el retrato como espacio compartido de empatía y comprensión.<br></em></p> <p><em><br></em></p>

<p>Why is Reconstruction relevant today? This collection engages learners with inquiry and object-based learning strategies to support conversations about our racial past and consider the relevance of Reconstruction's legacies. With a focus on drawing connections between past and present, this collection seeks to empower educators and students by introducing them to new ideas for integrating art into conversations about Reconstruction. </p> <p>This Smithsonian Education Summit workshop was facilitated by Elizabeth Dale-Deines (Smithsonian American Art Museum), Candra Flanagan (National Museum of African American History and Culture), and Briana Zavadil White (National Portrait Gallery).<br></p> <ul></ul> <p>#NationalEducationSummit #NPGteach<br></p>

<p>Follow the clues to uncover the mysteries of the Lansdowne portrait at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. Each correct answer will help you learn something about George Washington and the portrait!</p> <p>#NPGteach</p>

<p>Aprender sobre cómo la primera dama Michelle Obama ayudó a su comunidad (grupo de personas que viven juntas o comparten algo en común). Y luego diseñar un autorretrato en el que muestres cómo tú ayudas a tu comunidad<br></p> <p>#NPGteach </p> <p>La traducción de este recurso fue posible gracias al generoso patrocinio de Bank of America.</p>

<p>Learn how First Lady Michelle Obama helped her community. Then design a self-portrait that shows how you help your community.</p> <p></p> <p>#NPGteach #NPGype #MichelleObama</p>

<p>What makes a successful poster? How can posters be used as a call to action? Inspired by Educating for Democracy's <a href="https://www.educatingforamericandemocracy.org/the-roadmap/5designchallenges/#motivatingagency-sustainingtherepublic1608806809328">Design Challenge: Motivating Agency/Sustaining the Republic</a>,  this collection gathers resources and pedagogical approaches to support the 2022 <em>Smithsonian Summer Sessions</em> workshop, “Motivating Agency with Posters,” exploring techniques to invite close looking, brainstorming, and poster making.</p> <p>Workshop facilitated by Kirsten McNally (Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum) and Briana Zavadil White (National Portrait Gallery).</p> <p><strong>Learning Objectives</strong></p> <p>Students will:</p> <ul><li>Learn how to read a poster</li><li>Understand what makes a successful poster</li><li>Explore how posters are used as a call to action</li><li>Create posters that motivate agency</li></ul> <ul></ul> <p>#SummerSessions #NPGteach</p>

<p>This Learning Lab complements  "People, Places, Art and Battlefields in the Classroom: Leadership in the Civil War Era" a teacher workshop cohosted by the  National Portrait Gallery, the <a href="https://www.battlefields.org/" target="_blank">American Battlefield Trust</a> , and veteran educators. </p> <p>This collection highlights the intersections between art and battlefields, during the Civil War and encourages connections and discussions between people and places.<br></p> <p>After completing this lesson students will be able to:</p> <ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Identify what leadership during the Civil War looked like;</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Connect the battle of Antietam and individuals who played a significant role in the diverse stories of the battlefield;</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Identify resources from both the American Battlefield Trust and the National Portrait Gallery.</p></li></ul> <p>Keywords: people, places, battlegrounds, battlefields, Antietam, Civil War, Union, Confederacy, monuments, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, William Seward, George B. McClellan, Clara Barton, William McKinley, Robert Gould Shaw<br><br></p> <p>#NPGteach<br></p> <p><br></p> <p><br></p>

<p>This collection<em> </em>features portraits of <em>The Atlantic'</em>s celebrated authors. Each portrait is accompanied with perspectives by contemporary <em>Atlantic </em>writers who reflect on the lives and legacies of earlier ones. </p> <hr> <p><em>It was the spring of 1857. America was divided, and war would soon come. In Boston, some of the country's most esteemed writers gathered to launch a magazine, one that would argue against slavery and for the union. They had much in common: a profound hatred of human bondage; an equally profound love for America’s deepest values; and patrician, tripartite names (James Russell Lowell, Ralph Waldo Emerson). It was men only that day, though the founders had as an ally the most important writer in America, Harriet Beecher Stowe, who endorsed their aims but stayed away because alcohol was being served.</em></p> <p>The Atlantic,<em> a founding statement declared, would be "fearless and outspoken" and "of no party or clique," and would cover politics, literature, science, and the arts. Its special focus on abolition widened to include racial justice and civil rights on a broad front—the themes of this exhibition. Sometimes with prescience, sometimes with false steps, the editors and contributors sought to advance an ever-evolving concept they called “the American idea.”</em></p> <p>The Atlantic<em> today has a global readership and the range of contributors is wide. Its commitment to the idea that America is forever capable of becoming a more perfect union remains undiminished.</em></p> <p><em>Here, contemporary </em>Atlantic<em> writers reflect on earlier ones.</em></p> <p>-Jeffery Goldberg</p> <p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/author/jeffrey-goldberg/">Jeffrey Goldberg </a>is the editor in chief of <em>The Atlantic</em> and a recipient of the National Magazine Award for Reporting. </p> <hr> <p>#NPGteach</p> <p><br></p>

<p>How do we define community today? Through social media our connections with family, friends and acquaintances are increasingly widespread. And yet we are still drawn to the idea of small communities and the face-to-face interactions they promote. The artists represented in this learning lab module explore this concept through a series of related portraits of families, friends, neighbors, and various identity groups.</p> <p>After completing this learning lab module, students will be better able to:</p> <ul><li>Identify and analyze key components of a portrait</li> <li>Explore the definition of “community” and its relevance in their own lives.</li></ul><p>#NPGteach</p> <p></p>

<p>In this lesson, students will explore editorial cartoons as portraits and how the satirical art of cartoonists is reflective of their perspectives and time in American history. By comparing two National Portrait Gallery collection portraits, (<a href="https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.72.2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Richard Nixon</em></a> by Norman Rockwell, <a href="https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.78.TC178?destination=edan-search/default_search%3Fedan_local%3D1%26edan_q%3Dwatergate%252Bbreaks%252Bwide%252Bopen" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Watergate Breaks Wide Open</em></a> by Jack Davis) students will discover similarities and differences in how political figures are portrayed. Students will also have the opportunity to listen to the perspectives of art historians and contemporary editorial cartoonists and explore the applications of satirical art past and present. </p> <p>This lesson plan was written by NPG Teacher Advisory Board Member Christoper Evans ALM, M.ED, who works as a Social Studies Teacher at Basha High School in Chandler, AZ.<br></p> <p></p>

<p>In this lesson, students will analyze historical contexts through the exploration of portraiture, discuss the artistic choices that portrait artists make and consider how such decisions can reveal the artists’ viewpoints and influence the viewers’ understanding of the sitters’ identity. </p> <p>This lesson was written by Asia Stanislaus, a member of the National Portrait Gallery's Teacher Advisory Board, who teaches at MS 447 in Brooklyn, New York.</p>

<p>In this collection, students will analyze the importance of representation, reflect on the role of discrimination in the mid-20th century and reflect on the role of protest in American citizenship. </p> <p>This lesson plan was written by NPG Teen Programs Specialist, Sahtiya H. Hammell.</p>