National Portrait Gallery Presents Women’s History Month Programming and Live Virtual Festival

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is celebrating Women’s History Month this March with a series of online programs and exhibitions, culminating in a live online festival via Zoom on March 27. The Women’s History Month Virtual Festival will pay homage to some of the remarkable women in the museum’s collection and will spotlight the Portrait Gallery’s new online exhibition, “Where There Is a Woman, There Is Magic.” Participants will be invited to discussions with guest panelists, art activities, workshops, and other festivities. Online visitors will also have the opportunity to learn more about the women who are represented in the museum’s collection, including Julie Packard, Sheryl Swoopes and Maria Tallchief. A suite of digital exhibitions dedicated to influential women across disciplines and weekly education programs for all ages will round out the month-long celebration.

 “The National Portrait Gallery is excited to offer a robust schedule of events and programs throughout March to recognize the women who were drivers of culture, change and discovery in their time. The upcoming virtual festival is just one of the more than 150 online programs we have been able to offer audiences since the museum’s physical closure due to COVID-19,” said Rebecca Kasemeyer, the Portrait Gallery’s director of audience engagement. “We’re especially proud to present ‘Where There Is a Woman, There is Magic,’ a new digital exhibition weaving select biographies through the wider struggles and achievements of women over the last 150 years.”

 

Women’s History Month Virtual Festival

 

Where There Is a Woman, There Is Magic: Women’s History Month Virtual Festival

Saturday, March 27, 11 a.m.

Zoom, registration required

Join the Portrait Gallery in a virtual celebration of women making history! We will explore the online exhibition “Where There Is a Woman, There Is Magic,” which highlights leaders in sports, arts, science and activism. It is part of a day-long lineup featuring events and activities for participants of all ages, including workshops, speakers, art activities and more. More information available soon.

Educational Programs

 

Introducing…

Wednesdays, 11 a.m.

YouTube @smithsoniannpg

 

March 10: Marian Anderson

March 17: Abigail Adams

March 24: Lady Bird Johnson

March 31: Maya Lin

 

Introducing… a new kind of story time. Each week in March, a Portrait Gallery educator will shine a light on some of this country’s lesser-known history makers and their portraits. Children will learn more about art, hear the stories behind the portraits and even learn some new vocabulary. For children ages 3 and up and their families.

 

Young Portrait Explorers

March 10, 11–11:30 a.m. & 3–3:30 p.m.

Online via Zoom

Margaret Wise Brown

Join our virtual workshop for children ages 3–6 and their adult companions as we learn about author Margaret Wise Brown. Portrait Gallery educators will lead a thirty-minute activity that incorporates a close look at portraiture, history and artmaking. The program is offered twice in the same day to accommodate as many schedules as possible. Adults must remain with children throughout the program.

 

In Dialogue: Smithsonian Objects and Social Justice 

Thursday, March 11, 5 p.m.  

Online via Zoom

Heighten your civic awareness through conversations about art, history and material culture. Each month, educators from the National Portrait Gallery will partner with colleagues from the Smithsonian and other institutions to discuss how historical objects from their respective collections speak to today’s social justice issues.

What are the qualities of great leadership? Together with educators from the National Air and Space Museum and the National Women’s History Museum, we will celebrate Women's History Month by exploring this key question in relationship to portraits of activists Sojourner Truth and Sylvia Rivera, and pilot Bessie Coleman.

Free— Registration required

 

Online Exhibitions

 

Where There Is a Woman, There Is Magic

This selection of portraits seeks to inspire learning and inquiry through the celebration of women, whose stories are often unsung or missing from the written record. The wide-ranging social and political activities of these notable figures speak to the wider struggles and achievements of women over the last 150 years.

Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States

“Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States” is the first major exhibition to explore the historical significance of this prominent position through the mode of portraiture. The exhibition spans nearly 250 years, from Martha Washington to Melania Trump, and features more than 60 portraits of the First Ladies, alongside related ephemera and iconic dresses. Explorers can learn more about the First Ladies at the Portrait Gallery’s new dedicated website firstladies.si.edu.

A Deep Dive into the Portrait of Julie Packard

Hope Gangloff’s vividly colored portrait of Monterey Bay Aquarium executive director Julie Packard is one of only a few ocean conservationists in the National Portrait Gallery’s ever-expanding collection, and Packard is the second woman figure in the field to be included. Inspired by Packard’s commitment to ocean conservation, the portrait was commissioned by the Portrait Gallery and conceived during Gangloff’s visits to the aquarium in California.

Henrietta Lacks: Immortalized in Medicine and on Canvas

Kadir Nelson’s 2017 portrait of Henrietta Lacks was jointly acquired by the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. During cervical cancer treatment, doctors took cells from Lacks’ body without her consent and discovered they lived long lives and reproduced indefinitely in test tubes. These “immortal” HeLa cells have since contributed to over 10,000 medical patents, aiding research and benefiting patients with polio, AIDS, Parkinson’s disease and other conditions while prompting questions about ethics, privacy and race.

One Life: Dolores Huerta

Dolores Huerta (born 1930), along with César Chávez (1927–1993), brought the working conditions of field laborers to the public’s attention. Throughout the twentieth century, farm workers were some of the most underpaid workers in the nation.

Votes for Women

“Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence,” examines the history of women’s suffrage in the United States. Spanning 1832 to 1965, the exhibition explores the American suffrage movement and the political challenges women have faced.