Spring time at the Smithsonian. Learn from the gardeners themselves. Photo by Eric Long

April showers bring May flowers. Or maybe, just mosquitoes. But the horticulture folks who bring you the Smithsonian gardens want you front and center tomorrow and Saturday (May 6 and 7). Bring your wellies and gloves to this year’s Garden Fest for tips and techniques to make your flowers and veggies grow like they were planted by an expert.

Established in 1972, the Smithsonian Gardens’ crew and staff like to think themselves as the “outdoor museum” of the Institution. The gorgeous landscaping and gardens are the equivalent of horticultural exhibitions, designed to compliment the museums that they border. For example, Natural History museum’s nearby butterfly garden tells the story of host plants and habitats like wetlands and meadows and woodland edges where the insects thrive. Garden Fest, started in 2006, is a two-day, free event that allows visitors to talk with Smithsonian horticulturists about the work they do and the places and spaces that they create.

“The Smithsonian Gardens themselves are an asset, not only to the visitors of the Smithsonian, but also to the residents of DC as a place of respite from the urban environment,” says Smithsonian horticulturist Shelley Gaskins. “Garden Fest seeks to educate the public about gardens, gardening and all things related.”

Visitors will learn about the benefits of adding certain insects into their gardens at Beneficial Insects in the Garden and how to increase biodiversity by growing heirloom vegetable plants at What is Old is New Again: Heirloom Tomato Pot-a-Plant.

Smithsonian Gardens chose “Celebrating the American Garden Experience” as the theme of this year’s Garden Fest.  Many of the activities at the festival have been developed from American gardening traditions and highlight uniquely American flowers and plants.

Some of the activities include creating sunflower seed packets, coloring garden gnome plant stakes, and learning about the roles that trees have played in American history.

This year’s Garden Fest also starts on National Public Gardens Day. “Garden Fest celebrates National Public Garden Day by inviting local public gardens to join in our celebration,” said Gaskins. The information and activities available at Garden Fest help support the goals of National Public Gardens Day such as conservation, education and environmental stewardship.

Garden Fest will take place on Friday, May 6 from 11 AM to 1 PM and Saturday, May 7 from 11 AM to 3 PM in the Enip A. Haupt Garden, which is located between the Smithsonian Castle and Independence Ave. In the event of rain, all activities will move to the S. Dillon Ripley Center.

As a service to you, we’re putting this post up today so that you’ll remember to call your mother on Sunday, or to get a card in the mail, ASAP. A simple collections search of artifacts at the Smithsonian can turn up moms on the order of magnitudes, or rather, moms as subjects or as artists themselves. Mother will want to know what you’ve been up to, so here is a list of moms that you can say you’ve discovered at the museums.

Take your mother to see The Caress by Mary Cassatt at the American Art Museum. Photo courtesy of the museum

1. The current First Lady, Michelle Obama, is one of the most influential moms in the country today. She’s taken the old adage, “eat your vegetables” to new heights. As a mother of two young daughters, the First Lady made a commitment for her children that during her husband’s presidential campaign, she would only travel two days and one night a week. Obama’s portrait by Mikaline Thomas (check out Thomas’ interesting interview at Mom Culture) is in the National Portrait Gallery’s “Americans Now” exhibit. Obama’s inaugural ball gown is on view at the American History Museum.
2. Artist Mary Cassatt is well-known for painting scenes from the lives of women and portraying the intimate bond between mother and child. Her painting The Caress is on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Though Cassatt did not have any of her own children, her paintings depict the emotional and tender love that mothers feel for their sons and daughters.
3. Poet Julia Ward Howe is most famous for writing “Battle Hymn of the Republic” after she and her husband visited Abraham Lincoln at the White House. But, she is also an influential figure in the creation of Mother’s Day as an official U.S. holiday. In 1870, Howe was the first person to announce the need for a holiday to celebrate motherhood in her Mother’s Day Proclamation.  Howe’s portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery in the “American Origins” exhibit.
4. “Close to Home: Photographers and Their Families” is a new exhibit that recently opened at American Art. Dedicated not just to families, it also celebrates mothers and motherhood and even, grandmothers. Be sure to check out photographer Virginia Beahan’s moving family portrait entitled, Christina and Gram on Thanksgiving, New Hampshire.
5. Cheetah moms!  Zazi, a female cheetah at the National Zoo, is arguably one of the best moms at the Smithsonian.  In 2005, after giving birth to a stillborn cub, Zazi took care of the little guy as if it were still alive.  She cleaned and moved it along with the five others, which is “being a good mother beyond what is reasonable,” according to biologist and curator Craig Saffoe.

In commemoration of the Civil War’s 150 anniversary, the National Museum of American History recently opened a special display exhibition entitled, “‘So Much Need of Service’—The Diary of a Civil War Nurse.” The diary belonged to Amanda Akin (1827-1911), a nurse who worked at the Armory Square Hospital, here on the National Mall. Her diary and related materials are on loan from the National Library of Medicine.

Amanda Akin, courtesy of the National Museum of American History

Eager to document her experiences in the hospital, Akin wrote dozens of letters to her family and kept diaries describing her experiences throughout the 15 months she worked at Armory Square Hospital, which was built where the National Air and Space museum stands today. After moving from her home in Quaker Hill, New York, in 1863, the unmarried, 35-year-old Akin was one of millions of men and women to leave their homes and communities to contribute to the war effort.

“Many woman served as nurses during the war even though nursing was not yet a profession. Akin has no particular experience or training—just a desire to participate—to give service,” said Diane Wendt, Associate Curator in the Division of Medicine and Science at the American History museum. “The war involved millions of ordinary citizens and many left their homes and families for the first time.  For women to participate in the military world and the medical world (both basically closed to women) was a tremendous change. The experience of women serving in hospitals during the (Civil War) helped pave the way for the emergence of professional nursing and nursing schools after the war.”

Nurses like Amanda Akin were responsible for administering medicines and distributing special diets to wounded and ill soldiers, as well as non-medical tasks such as entertaining and comforting patients.

As battles were fought nearby, large groups of injured soldiers were brought to Armory Square, where Akin’s eye-witness reports register the brutality of the war. On June 14, 1863, she describes the sight in a letter to her sisters.

“It seemed to me this evening, as I sat at my table adding to the list of medicines—writing down name, regiment, list of clothing, etc., of the new arrivals, calmly looking at the poor maimed sufferers carried by, some without limbs, on a ‘stretcher’—that I had forgotten how to feel, . . . it seemed as if I were entirely separated from the world I had left behind.”

“Most of us are lucky to have so little experience of war,” says Wendt, “reading Akin’s words makes me wonder how we would respond if faced with the immediacy and immensity of civil war.”

In one of her letters to her sisters, Akin describes how visiting the Smithsonian grounds next door to the hospital helped her and her coworkers escape from the turmoil of the patient ward and the suffering.

“The fact that she herself visited the Smithsonian heightens the feeling of immediacy as we read her words in a setting nearby,” said National Library of Medicine Director Donald A.B. Lindberg in a report.

In addition to visiting the Smithsonian’s grounds, Akin describes her experiences meeting important figures at the time including photographer Matthew Brady, the famed poet Walt Whitman and even President Abraham Lincoln. Akin describes one visit with the president made to the hospital.

“His homely face with such sad eyes and ungainly figure did not fill my youthful idea of a ‘President of the United States’; but it was a grand thing for him to come and cheer our soldier boys with his presence. No doubt the fearful responsibility of his office weighs heavily upon him.”

Little is known about her life after the war except that in 1879, she married Dr. Charles W. Stearns and in 1909 at the age of 81, she published her book about her Civil War nursing experiences, The Lady Nurse of Ward E.

“So Much Need of Service” –The Diary of a Civil War Nurse is on view until July 29th, 2011 in the Albert H. Small Documents Gallery on the second floor of the National Museum of American History.

"In the Garden (Celia Thaxter in her Garden)" by Childe Hassam

April is National Poetry Month, so to honor the words and songs of famous poets, the Wednesday List is all about poetry. Scattered across the Smithsonian museums, here are a few of the most influential and famous poets you already know, as well as a few newcomers whose work you may want to get familiar with. (Posted in chronological order by their birth, not by relative awesomeness)

1. Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882)

Most famous for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century, Emerson’s more notable works include Nature, Self-Reliance and The Poet. Emerson, who spent his career lecturing and writing, published 10 collections of poems and essays and corresponded with other famed poets such as Henry David Thoreau and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Daniel Chester French sculpture of Emerson is located in the American Origins exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery.

2. Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809-October 7, 1849)

Best known for his poem “The Raven,” Poe’s poems were often about death and mourning— dark subjects and imagery— compared with the optimism of the early culture in America at that time. Although “The Raven” became a popular sensation after it was published in The Evening Mirror in 1845, Poe died a poor man. But diehard Poe fans don’t have to wait another year to visit his grave on the anniversary of his death. Instead, see a portrait of the man in the American Origins exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery.

3. Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819-March 26, 1892)

Often called the “father of freeverse,” Whitman is most famous for his book Leaves of Grass.  Though many viewed his work as obscene and profane at the time, Whitman is regarded by many as “America’s poet” for his ability to write in a uniquely American character.  His portrait by John White Alexander is located in the American Origins exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery.

4. Celia Thaxter (June 29, 1835 – August 25, 1894)

Born in Portsmouth, New Hampsire in 1835, Thaxter became the hostess of her father’s hotel, the Appledore House, where she entertained and welcomed famed poets such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Sarah Orne Jewett. Her first poem called “Landlocked” was published during a 10-year period where she lived away from her beloved islands and on the New Hampshire mainland.  Her poems appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and she later became one of the country’s favorite authors. In the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a painting by Childe Hassam depicting Thaxter in her garden is found on the East wing of the second floor.

5. Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906)

Dunbar was a poet who gained national recognition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with his poem “Ode to Ethiopia.”  His parents escaped slavery in Kentucky and fled to Dayton, Ohio where Dunbar grew up the only African-American student at his high school. After publishing two books of his standard English and dialect poems, he combined them to form Lyrics of a Lowly Life and rose to international literary fame. The portrait of Dunbar by William McKnight Farrow is also located in the American Origins exhibit in the National Portrait Gallery.

6. E.E. Cummings (October 14, 1894-September 3, 1961)

E.E. Cummings became famous for his poetry during the first half of the 20th century after working as an essayist and portrait artist for Vanity Fair magazine. Though Cummings’ body of work includes about 2,900 poems and various forms of writing such as plays and novels, his drawings and paintings are seldom explored. Located in the Hirshhorn’s online collection, you can view many of these overlooked works.

7. Malangatana Ngwenya (1936-2011)

Malangatana Ngwenya is an artist best known for his brightly-colored murals and canvases. In his work, the Mozambiquen painter depicts powerful subjects like the trauma of armed conflict and revolution, as well as the small pleasures of daily life and the triumph of the human spirit. One such painting, Nude with flowers, 1962, on display at African Art, also reveals Ngwenya’s “hidden” talent as a poet. On the back of the painting, he has handwritten “Poema de Amor,” a love poem which is a little too racy to print in these parts.

8. Joane Cardinal-Schubert (1942-2009)

You may have to dig deep to find the poetry of multimedia Blackfoot (Blood) artist Joane Cardinal-Schubert, her poems encompassing but a part of her  artistic repertoire, which included writing, curating, directing videos, painting and drawing. You can see some of Shubert’s work, which focuses largely on Native history, social injustice and environmental concerns at the American Indian Museum exhibition “Vantage Point.”

9. Nora Naranjo-Morse (b.1953)

While you’re at the American Indian Museum, make sure to check out the clay pottery of Santa Clara Pueblo artist Nora Naranjo-Morse, on display in the landscape area along the Maryland Avenue side of the museum. Born into a family of mostly women potters and visual artists, Morse focuses her work on the connection between pueblo people, their land and the clay they use to build on that land. Morse is also a sculptor, writer, film producer and poet, whose collection Mud Woman: Poems from the Clay combines poetry with photographs of her clay figures.

BONUS! 10. Phillis Wheatley

Born in Gambia, Senegal, Wheatley was enslaved as a child and grew up in Boston, where she learned to read and began writing poetry. In 1773, Wheatley published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, becoming the first published black woman poet. The book also made Wheatley famous and her success led to her eventual emancipation. A bronze life-size bust of Phillis Wheatley, by celebrated artist Elizabeth Catlett, is part of the collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, though not currently on display. Created in 1973, the bust marked the 200th anniversary of the publication of Wheatley’s book and Catlett’s interest in the feminist movement of the 1970s.

–With additional reporting by Arcynta Ali Childs

"The Peacock Room Comes to America" unveils the Peacock Room, as it appeared in 1908. Photo courtesy of the Freer Gallery.

When a British shipping magnate Frederick R. Leyland asked the expatriate American artist James McNeill Whistler to redecorate his dining room in 1876 and 1877, a dispute arose between the artist and his patron. Whistler had promised “minor alterations” but lavishly painted the room with plumed peacocks and feather patterns on the ceiling and shutters. Leyland refused to the pay the artist his fee. Charles Lang Freer, founder of the Freer Gallery, later bought the room and shipped it to his mansion in Detroit, before donating it to the Smithsonian.

The Freer Gallery has now restored the famous Peacock Room to its 1908 glory. “The Peacock Room Comes to America,” the first special exhibition in the room since 1993, opened April 9. The Freer’s Curator of American Art Lee Glazer discusses the lavish room and the artist who created it.

Why peacocks?

Whistler was inspired by images of peacocks in Japanese art, and they also appealed to him as emblems of pure beauty.

Can you see evidence in the room of Whistler’s anger?

The mural over the sideboard, pointedly titled “Art and Money, or, the story of the room,” depicts Whistler’s quarrel with Leyland over the price of the room. Whistler is the poor peacock on the left, the silver crest feather a reference to the artist’s famous white forelock; the bird on the right, with coins around his feet and embellishing his breast, represents Leyland. If you know the references, it’s pretty nasty. But the evidence is all in the anecdote. The image itself fits harmoniously enough into the overall blue and gold decoration of rest of the room.

What did Freer see in this room? It must have cost him dearly to have it shipped from London?

Freer was actually ambivalent about the Peacock Room. He favored artistic subtlety, and the Peacock Room seemed embarrassingly gorgeous. But he bought it, as he said, “out of a sense of duty” to his friend Whistler. Once he reassembled the room in Detroit and filled it with his own collections of Asian pottery, however, he made his peace with it.

Why did you decide to take out the blue and white porcelain and reinstall it with Freer’s rough-textured, iridescent stoneware and pottery?

The Peacock Room has had this incredibly dynamic, cosmopolitan history, but visitors to the museum have experienced it as a static icon. By changing the pots, we’ve made it possible for people to tap into a lesser-known chapter in the room’s history and given it a very different look and feel that will encourage a new appreciation of the room’s infinite variety—of surface, color, pattern and light.

Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970 in cities and university campuses all over the United States. Founded by Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day began as a series of teach-ins at university campuses, as well as demonstrations to promote much-needed environmental reform. It was a time when the right set of conservation winds were blowing. Air pollution was being linked to disease. Fish kills occurred in the Great Lakes. A river in Ohio, oozing with oil and contaminants, suddenly burst into flames. An oil platform off the coast of Santa Barbara exploded and 100,000 barrels of crude oil seeped into the California channel killing thousands of sea birds and marine mammals.

More than 20 million people participated in the first Earth Day celebration, and it is now recognized in more than 175 countries and by 500 million people. The day also commemorates all those conservation-minded forerunners and founders of environmental activism.

There are dozens of these early environmental stewards within the collections of the National Portrait Gallery. With the museum staff’s help, we’ve compiled a list of just a few of the early supporters found there.

But this week, there’s a twist to our Wednesday List. It’s a quiz. (Answers will appear tomorrow). Test your Earth Day knowledge and tonight, head to the National Portrait Gallery for “Pop Quiz: Earth Day Challenge.” More details can be found after the questions.

As a naturalist and preservationist, I fell in love with Yosemite after visiting and later used my influence as an author to introduce the bill that created Yosemite National Park. Who am I? Portrait by Orlando Rouland/NPG

1. When I was in the U.S. Senate, I sponsored bills such as the 1965 Water Quality Act, supported the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and spoke at the first Earth Day celebration. Who am I?
2. As the second woman ever to be hired by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries (now the Fish and Wildlife Service) my book about environmental problems caused by pesticides inspired the title of a current Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibition called “A Fable for Tomorrow.” Who am I?
3. I was an author in the mid-20th century and won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1972.  I helped launch the modern environmental movement through my writings for a campaign to prevent dams, which would have changed forever the landscape of  Dinosaur National Monument. Who am I?
4. My ideas about simple living as described in my most famous book about my cabin on the bank of a pond have inspired activists and laid the groundwork for what we consider environmental ethics today. Who am I?
5. I was an advocate for sustainable agriculture in the early 20^th century.  I am most known for my research into the growth and use of peanuts as an alternative to cotton crops.  Who am I?

To further test your knowledge, this evening visit the National Portrait Gallery and take the quiz at 6:30 p.m. in the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard.  It can be played individually or in groups of up to 6 people and the rule is you have to employ “Brain Power” —not Google—to answer the questions. Prizes will be awarded to the person or team with the most correct answers.  (ATM is not offering any prizes, by the way.)

ANSWERS, after the jump:
1. Edmund Muskie

2. Rachel Carson

3. Henry David Thoreau

4. Wallace Stegner

5. George Washington Carver

Photo- John Muir

The wanted poster for the Lincoln assassination conspirators

On April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died from a gunshot wound he’d suffered the night at before at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. The assassin John Wilkes Booth fled the scene.The events following the assassination have been studied endlessly by historians and is the subject of today’s wide release of Robert Redford’s The Conspirator.And though we know more now about the circumstances of that night than ever before, there still remains a sense of intrigue about the conspiracy to kill the president.

“It is the sort of tragedy that is embedded in American history,” says Harry Rubenstein, curator of political history at the American History Museum. Because Lincoln was so close to celebrating victory, his death, says Rubenstein, was all the more poignant and terrible.

At the National Museum of American History, in the exhibit Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life, visitors will encounter a number of artifacts from the night and the days directly following the assassination.

A simple gold embossed coffee cup is on view. It was left on windowsill at the White House by the President just before he left to attend the theater.

A bloodstained cuff is one of the more gruesome objects, it was worn by lead actress Laura Keene who rushed to the president’s side at the theater that night to give him water. The actress saved the dress and preserved it throughout her life and eventually her family donated it to the Smithsonian.

Also on view are the surgical instruments used by a still unknown physician in the autopsy that was conducted at the White House. The instruments were given to a young doctor that assisted in the procedure, Alfred D. Wilson, preserved by his family and then later donated to the Medical Society of the County of Kings in Brooklyn, New York.

Another chilling reminder are the prison hoods and shackles worn by the imprisoned conspirators. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ordered the prisoners to wear the hoods at all times. In 1903, the War Department transferred the hoods, shackles and prison key to the Smithsonian.

The book accompanying the exhibit, Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life by Harry Rubenstein, can be purchased here. The exhibition is on view through May 30.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park’s newly-named giant anteater pup Pablo holds on tight as mom Maripi makes her decision. Photo courtesy of Mehgan Murphy, National Zoo

It’s official: giant anteater Mirapi has chosen a name for her male cub.  Everyone give a big Smithsonian welcome to Pablo!

At a naming ceremony yesterday at the National Zoo, three decorated flowerpots contained “enrichment objects,” or rather, delicious foods that anteaters love to eat—a grapefruit, a mango, and a hard-boiled egg. Each pot was set next to a stake bearing one of three names—Demetrio, Pablo and Fausto. At 10:30 a.m. after a small audience of children and families had gathered, Pablo’s mother Maripi emerged from the indoor enclosure with her then unnamed baby anteater riding on her back.

Though Pablo is only five months old, when he lies sprawled across Maripi’s back, his snout is almost as long as his mother’s. As the children coached Maripi to head toward their favorite names, it was clear that mother anteater wasn’t going to make her decision too hastily.

Despite the audience, she took a long walk around the entire perimeter of her yard, sniffing along the way. Curiously, she inspected the three flowerpots. Each was decorated with tiny drawings of ants. Maripe seemed to enjoy the suspense as she walked away from the pots as if deliberating.  Finally, she returned to the pot labeled “Pablo.”

And that’s how the baby got its name.

Born on December 7, 2010, the little guy has been waiting for weeks to be named. The process started with five names chosen by staff members in early March.  After weeks of viewer voting on the National Zoo’s web site, three final names were chosen: Demetrio, Pablo and Fausto.

Each of the names hail from Central and South America, where giant anteaters range across grassland savannas and wetlands.  The animals use their keen sense of smell to find anthills and termite mounds. They use their strong claws to tear them open and they use their saliva-covered, two-feet-long tongues to gather prey.  The giant anteaters at the National Zoo feed mostly on a prepared insectivore chow and receive fruit and hard-boiled eggs as treats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cg7nvfW5Kk

It’s all about timing at the Insect Zoo at the National Museum of Natural History.  When I heard that visitors could witness tarantula feedings there, I wanted to get it on video. (I am a journalism student studying this semester at the George Washington University Semester in Washington program, where I am learning video, photo and web production and I am interning here at Smithsonian.com).

When I went to meet with the Insect Zoo’s manager, Nate Erwin, I thought that he would feed a tarantula or two and we would get it on camera, simple as that. Not so. Tarantulas, it turns out, can be temperamental. They can be picky. And they don’t simply eat because we are pointing a camera at them.

The first day that we filmed in the “rearing room” of the Insect Zoo, none of the tarantulas wanted to be the star of our video.  Nate Erwin would introduce a cricket into the tarantula’s cage and coax the cricket towards the spiders’ mouths.  The crickets hardly seemed phased by their own peril.  I saw the creatures terrifying set of fangs, which were almost as big as the crickets’ bodies.  They sat there cricket and spider, each oblivious to the other.  Lucky for the crickets, the first two spiders weren’t hungry.  (You can lead a spider to a cricket, but you can’t make him eat.)

I was beginning to give up after filming a Goliath birdeater, which is the largest species of tarantula. It ignored a huge cockroach lunch (This species not used is in live feeding demonstrations in the museum.)

Finally, a gorgeous Mexican Red Knee tarantula nicknamed “Ramona” stepped up to become the star of our video when she dutifully ate lunch. My video project was now done.

Check out the star of our show, Ramona, who feeds in her cage at the museum on Sunday at 11:30 A.M. Live tarantula feedings take place year-round on Tuesday to Friday at 10:30, 11:30 and 1:30,  and at 11:30, 12:30 and 1:30 on Saturday and Sunday.

Margarete Bagshaw is part of a multi-generational female painting dynasty. Photo courtesy of National Museum of the American Indian

We all know the saying “like mother, like daughter” but for third-generation Pueblo artist Margarete Bagshaw the phrase may as well be “like mother, like daughter, like grand daughter.” Following in the footsteps of her mother, Helen Hardin (1943-1984), and grandmother, Pablita Velarde (1918-2006), Bagshaw is part of a multi-generational female painting dynasty. Born in New Mexico, Bagshaw grew up surrounded by her mother and grandmother’s artwork, though she didn’t start producing her own works until the 1990s.  Her family’s legacy of artwork can be viewed exclusively at Golden Dawn Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This Saturday, March 12, Bagshaw will be speaking about her work and participation in the National Museum of the American Indian’s exhibition, Vantage Point: The Contemporary Art Collection. This past week in an email exchange, I weighed in with the artist about family, legacy and and growing up under the influence of strong, independent women.

What is it about working across generations that brings new beauty and life to your artwork?

I have a very deep and sincere respect for my mother and grandmother’s lives and the work they did. When I paint my own compositions, I can connect with their independence, strength and creativity. If I choose to reference something from their paintings in something of mine, as in my “Mother Line” series, it is like hearing their message, but interpreting it my own way.

Tell us a story about you and your mother and your grandmother?

When I was very little, until I was about 8 years old, the three of us were inseparable. If I wasn’t with one, I was with the other one. We lived close to Grandma so I could walk home to her house from school, so that’s what I did every day. One day my Mom showed up to get me and a friend asked me who that lady was… I told her it was my sister! Looking back, I really felt that grandma was our mother; we all answered to her and as long as she was around we were safe and secure. My mom was young and much better looking than anyone else’s mom… So they believed me!

When women come together to celebrate their history and legacy this month, what is your take home message?

Remember the women before you who broke boundaries, lost there lives, fought for justice, went against the grain, challenged authority! Remember it was women who gave birth and raised men who became noble leaders. Look in the mirror and know that women are thinkers, intellectuals, healers and progressive people. As my grandmother, Pablita Velarde, used to say, “I’m not going to let some man tell me what I can and can’t do. Half the time they don’t know what they’re talking about! Besides… I make more money and work harder then most of them do!”

Margarete Bagshaw’s lecture and discussion is on Saturday, March 12 at 2 PM at the National Museum of the American Indian on the fourth floor in room 4018. Vantage Point: The Contemporary Art Collection is on view on the third floor in the Richard West Jr. Contemporary Arts Gallery.

Kim Vandenbroucke will be at American History March 5 from 4-5 PM. Photo courtesy of Vanderbroucke

Kim Vandenbroucke is one brainy chick. And she’s made quite a career out of it, creating and developing innovative gaming ideas for some of the biggest names in the business, including: Mattel, Hasbro, Cranium and Pressman Toy. Vandenbroucke, who will share her story this Saturday, March 5 at the American History Museum, in an interactive presentation as part of the Lemelson Center’s Innovative Lives series, spoke with ATM’s own Madeline Andre.

So you develop toys and games, are you just a big kid?

Ha ha!  Actually I’m not.  In fact, more often I’ve been accused of acting “more grown up” than I really am—not so much now that I’m in my early 30s, but in my 20s I got that all the time.  I am, however, a very competitive but fun-loving person, which definitely helps.  I think to be a good inventor and developer of toys and games you need to be able to see the humor in a wide variety of things but you also need to have a realistic filter to make sure your ideas are creative but strategic concepts.

What does it take to think of something entirely new and different?

An open mind.  Too often people shoot down ideas before they even have a chance.  I like using “bad ideas” as a jumping off point to think other ideas.  Sometimes it may take you to uncomfortable places or areas that are even more absurd, but in reality it’s never your first idea that’s your best.  Your brain needs time to explore before it’s going to find an idea with merit.

I’ve read that you have a mind that is always “on the go.” What makes you tick?

Coffee.  I’m kidding.  I really don’t know what makes me tick.  I think I’ve trained part of my brain to always be looking for things that provide a spark—or an initial seed of an idea.  Back when I started in the invention business a co-worker of mine suggested I always carry around a little notebook in case an idea popped into my head.  It’s one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever been given because you never know when or where inspiration is going to strike.  Just remember to bring a pen.

You got any tips for future inventors and innovators?

Don’t give up.  You need really thick skin to be an inventor because there will always be people who are quick to shoot down your ideas and it hurts because they are YOUR ideas.  Don’t let the negative criticism get to you; ask for constructive feedback to improve your idea.  Sometimes they might be right and it is a dud. So let it go and move on to your next great idea.  Trust me, if you have one great idea in you then you definitely have two great ideas, so keep going.

Innovative Lives: Kim Vandenbroucke takes place Saturday, March 5  from 4-5 PM. Free, but first come, first serve. Spark!Lab, 1st floor, National Museum of American History.

As a bonus to the new exhibition, “Set In Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels,“ the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum yesterday released an iPad app. Can’t get to New York City to see the show? Download the free app and take an armchair tour and get an intimate view of 65 of the exhibition’s 350 exquisite pieces.  The app, which includes interviews with curators, a timeline of the firm’s history and design innovations, a comments section and a zoom tool, is available for free from the iTunes Store.

“Set In Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels” is on view in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum until June 5, 2011.

The zooming feature allows you to see the smallest details of VCA's jewelry.

See all four of Katharine Hepburn Oscars at the National Portrait Gallery. Photo courtesy of the museum

1. Katherine Hepburn
Hepburn, known for playing very independent-minded characters, was nominated 12 times and with four wins, she still holds the record for the most Best Actress Oscars. She took home the gold for her performances in Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968) and On Golden Pond (1981). You can get an up-close look at her statuettes on display on the museum’s third floor, along with a 1982 portrait by artist Everett Raymond Kinstler.

2. Grace Kelly
For all those fashionistas out there, you absolutely must familiarize yourself with the indomitable aesthetic of Grace Kelly.  The 1983 bronze sculpture illuminates her timeless beauty and effortless style. Kelly is perhaps best known for her roles in films like The Country Girl (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955) and Mogambo (1953), for which she received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.  Hollywood royalty became real-life royalty when she married Prince Ranier III of Monaco and was given the title of Her Serene Highness, Princess Grace of Monaco, or more familiarly, “Princess Grace.”

3. Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor is regarded as one of America’s greatest actresses. Starting out as a child star in films such as Lassie Come Home (1943) and National Velvet (1944), she was able to make the often-difficult transition to grown-up roles where her talent and rare beauty were allowed to shine. Taylor won two Best Actress Oscars for her roles in Butterfield 8 (1960) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966). You can find her in the “20th Century Americans” exhibition on the third floor by way of a 1955 photograph by Sid Avery.

4. Tom Hanks
There is no contemporary actor more widely recognized and respected than Tom Hanks.  Though he received early recognition for his ability to play average people in extraordinary situations, it wasn’t until his portrayal as a lawyer with AIDS in Philadelphia (1993) and his astounding role as the title character in Forrest Gump (1994) that he received his back-to-back Best Actor Oscars.  Located in the National Portrait Gallery’s “Americans Now” exhibit on the first floor, this portrait, a digital print by Dan Winters, speaks to Hanks’ ability to portray the average Joe.

5. George Clooney
George Clooney personifies style and masculinity to the point that women want him and men want to be him. Clooney has been acting in film and television for more than 30 years with a successful turn in the 90s series E.R., which he followed up with the Ocean’s Eleven films and an Oscar-winning performance in Syriana (2005), for which he won the Best Supporting Actor statuettte.  In a state-of-the-art video installment of multiple American figures in the “Americans Now” exhibit, artist Lincoln Schatz plies his craft to create an unconventional video portrait of the actor.

In a bouquet brooch of rubies and diamonds, the gems are held in place by concealed prongs, a specialty design of Van Cleef & Arpels.Photo by Patrick Gries / Van Cleef & Arpels

Some significant bling went on view today at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City. It’s not just glitter either, there’s some fabulous celebrity glam to behold, as well. There’s a diamond encrusted platinum tiara worn by Grace Kelly, an amethyst, coral and diamond bracelet of Elizabeth Taylor’s, Eva Peron’s bracelet and necklace, and another bracelet once owned by Marlene Dietrich.

The exhibit, “Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels,” represents the first time that the jewels, timepieces, object d’art and other fashion accessories will be examined from the perspective of design. The show features some 300 stunning pieces accompanied by design drawings, commission books, fabrication cards and other imagery collected from the Van Cleef & Arpels’ archive.

Sarah Coffin, the museum’s curator of art and  head of the product design and decorative arts department, says that Van Cleef & Arpels has long been known for innovations and imaginative designs in the art of jewelry making. The pieces in this exhibit, Coffin says, “give us an opportunity to look at how they relate as part of a broad history and through the whole process of jewelry making.”

The much vaunted firm has been the face of handcrafted jewelry design and innovation since its opening on the Place Vendôme in Paris in 1906. During World War II, the design house moved to New York and embraced a new era of American style and taste, attracting the wealthy and elite trendsetters of the 20th century. Known for its pieces that transform from one design to another and a patented unique “Mystery Setting,” in which concealed prongs hold the gemstones, the company has long set a premium on highly skilled craftsmen and specialty settings.

Some of the more unique pieces in the exhibition are pieces of jewelry that transform from one piece to another. A necklace zips up to become a bracelet. A brooch of a bird that holds a  95-carat yellow diamond in its beak can be disassembled so that its wings turn out to be earrings. The exhibition is on view until June 5.

Visit our photo gallery of some of the pieces from the exhibition.

Millions of Muslims from all over the world gather for four days during the sacred pilgrimage called the "Hajj." Still courtesy of Macgillivray Freeman Films

Tomorrow, a new IMAX film, “Arabia 3D,” debuts at the National Museum of Natural History’s Johnson IMAX Theater. The immersive, 3D-experience delivers breathtaking aerial views of the Kingdom Tower of Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia and the Grand Mosque in the Holy city of Makkah (Mecca), where every year some three million Muslims make their sacred pilgrimage. Narrated by the Academy Award-winning actress, Helen Miren, the 40-minute adventure offers some spectacular cinematography of desert camel caravans, Red Sea shipwrecks and the ancient ruins of a lost city. The film’s producers are among the first to be granted access to more than 20 locations across Saudi Arabia.

Last week at a sneak preview of the film, 24-year-old Hamzah Jamjoom, a Saudi citizen whose story is told in the film, discussed how Arabia’s past golden ages have inspired the Saudi people of today. Jamjoom, who came to the United States at age 17 to study film, spoke about Arabia’s history from the Nabataean frankincense traders and early founders of the scientific method to the modern cities and economy of Saudi Arabia.

Twice-nominated for an Academy Award, Greg Macgillivray, the film’s producer and director, has said that he wanted tell the stories that most Americans will have never heard. “Great care was taken to find the right point of view,” he has said, “we went though more than 50 drafts of the script and everything has been vetted with religious and historical experts.”

Purchase tickets online. The film is offered four times daily, seven days a week.