“Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code,” a new exhibition about developments in genomic research, opened at the Natural History Museum today. All photos: Donald E. Hurlbert and James Di Loreto, Smithsonian

Today, the National Museum of Natural History opens a new multimedia exhibition that’s all about the stuff that makes you you.

“Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code” examines the instruction manual built into all living things: the genome, an organism’s hereditary material bundled up in the nuclei of every one of its cells.

The exhibition, which was created in collaboration with National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, covers 4,400 square feet with interactive games, 3D models, DNA sequencing equipment and videos of real-life stories. It aims to show the relevance of modern genomic research to everyday life as genetic sequencing becomes increasingly accessible.

Marking the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project as well as the 60th anniversary of Watson and Crick’s discovery of DNA’s double helix structure, the exhibition traces the major advances in human health, disease studies, ancestry and other natural sciences that have occurred since the genome project’s completion. It also looks ahead to how genomics will influence our lives as genetic sequencing becomes increasingly easy and inexpensive.

“Genomics is highly relevant, because it’s in the news every day, so people have a broad awareness of this topic, but almost no specific knowledge,” says Kirk Johnson, the Sant Director of the National Museum of Natural History. “You read the paper, and there it is, boom, but what does it mean when the police have my DNA? This exhibition helps to answer questions like this.”

The 4,400 square-foot exhibition includes interactive games, 3D models, DNA sequencing equipment and videos of real-life stories

In just the past few weeks, the Supreme Court ruled on two major decisions on genomic research: On June 3, the court ruled law enforcement could collect DNA from anyone who has been arrested. On Thursday, it then ruled naturally occurring human DNA could not be patented. Additionally, Angelina Jolie recently decided to get a preventative double mastectomy based on her predisposition to breast cancer as identified by genetic sequencing.

Genomics’ future raises major ethical questions surrounding human cloning, genetic engineering and prenatal genetic testing.

Visitors explore one of the exhibition’s many interactive displays

To address the array of complicated issues surrounding genomic research, the exhibition features four themed areas that cover what the genome is, how it relates to medicine and health, how it connects humans to all life and how it is part of each persona’s individual story. The displays are designed to be adaptable, with physical pieces and digital content that can be rearranged and replaced so that the displays can change as the field advances.

Johnson stresses the exhibition’s capacity to inspire the next generation of scientists who will have to come up with answers to genomics’ big questions. “Out of the millions of teenagers that will visit this exhibition,” he says, “some are going to walk in and go, you know, this is cool. We’re at the edge of this major biomedical revolution, and eighth graders, in 20 years, are going to be 32 -year-olds, and they’re going to be the ones prescribing our medicine. Science is often perceived as hard and boring in classrooms, so we want to break through that stereotype by making things fun and interesting.”

Eric Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, believes the exhibition also will help assuage fears of genomics’ future. “Much of what people fear about genomic research is what they don’t understand,” he says. “So this exhibition gives visitors a foundation to think critically and in a more sophisticated way.”

“Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code” will be open in the Natural History Museum through September 1, 2014, after which it will travel around North America for about five years. To learn more about genomics, visit the exhibition’s website and check out Smithsonian Magazine’s own special report on the topic.

Working with community groups and schools across the country, the One Million Bones Project has created hand-crafted bones as part of a curriculum on genocide. Courtesy of the One Million Bones Project

For the past few months, students, families, as well as church and synagogue groups around the D.C. area have been busy making human bones out of materials like plaster, glass, metal or wood. In fact, some 100,000 people from every state and 30 countries have made bones. Now, the hand-crafted bones–one million of them–will be placed on the National Mall in a symbolic act of artistic intervention, which they call a “visual petition” to act against the ongoing crimes of genocide around the world. Organized by the award-winning artist and activist Naomi Natale, the three-day event beginning this Saturday, June 8, will include a bone-laying ceremony, workshops and a visit to representatives on Capitol Hill.

Natale’s own experience in college reading the wrenching account of the Rwandan genocide in the book We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch made her realize how little was understood about the violent 1994 slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis. Together with Susan McAllister, she co-founded the Art of Revolution, a group working to inspire social change, which led to the One Million Bones project.

One Million Bones, says Natale, seeks to educate participants about the mass atrocities occurring in places like Syria, Somalia, Burma, Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo with the belief that once someone makes something with her hands, she forms a new connection to it that will transform her thinking and action. It’s a process she says she has witnessed and experienced. We asked her to tell us about the project.

How did the project start?

As an artist and a photographer, reading these horrific, yet beautifully written, descriptions of what happened in Rwanda made me want to bring the image I had made of [Gourevitch's] words here to the U.S. and think, could we create a symbolic mass grave here? And would people see that? And would it bring something that’s far away close to home?

I did work before on the Cradle Project and that was looking at the issue of orphaned children in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2002, I was in Kenya as a documentary photographer working with a nonprofit, photographing orphaned children. I worked on this project that was directly related to this personal experience I had in Kenya and it was a call to artists around the world to create a representation of an empty cradle and then they would all be displayed in one space. In the end we had 550 of them.

And from that evolved this idea of participatory art?

Right, exactly, that came out of the project. At that point, I really didn’t understand the kind of impact the project would have on the individual artists who participated. I was just looking overall at the impact of when people would view all those cradles or the impact–we were raising money as well because we asked the cradles to be sponsored and then auctioned off. After the project was done, [I was] able to understand that it actually did have some very significant impacts on these artists and it was a way to bring this issue far away really close to home. I knew I wanted to do this One Million project. I had this vision and I thought it will have an impact on people who make the bones.

And what has been the most impactful?

One that was pretty significant for me, specifically, was in Albuquerque, when we laid our first 50,000 bones down. We’ve had two preview installations–one in New Orleans and one in Albuquerque. A refugee from Congo and a survivor of the massacre in Burundi, about an hour into it, came up to me. And said he was going to go back to his room, his hotel. I offered to drive him and he said: “No, I’m going to walk.” So I offered to walk with him. And he said: “No, I just have to go back to my room and I have to cry for a little while, it’s just so hard.” It was a really important moment, because we had never laid the bones down; and we never knew how people were going to respond. Most importantly, [for] those who [the project] was meant to serve. So I apologized, and I said I would never want to make it harder. And I asked if there was anything that he thought was offensive about it, or wrong. And he said: “No, that’s not it, but you have to understand, we lost so many people and we never saw what happened to those people and in your mind you want to think something else happened.” And he said: “But I saw them today, and it’s so hard, but we have to face it.”

How do you think the process will go in the nation’s capital?

I know it’s going to be extraordinarily powerful. I consider the Mall to be sacred space and powerful. I think that people feel that when they’re there.

We have partnered with the Enough Project. They work on the policy level and on the ground around these issues particularly in South Sudan and Congo. It’s a three-day event, Saturday is the laying of the bones and Sunday we have educational workshops. and a candlelight vigil in the evening, and then Monday is an Act Against Atrocities day so you can bring a bone to Congress. The Enough Project is leading that, so we do hope to make this powerful statement visually and then go to our leaders and explain that these are issues that are really meaningful to us and ask for their leadership.

Is there anyone in Congress who is particularly responsive to the issue?

There’s a number of them. There’s Representative Jim McGovern form Massachusetts. He’s been fantastic. He even made a bone and made a video, as well as Frank Wolf [of Virginia]. There’s Karen Bass in California. There’s definitely a number, Senator Chris Coons in Delaware, who’s been a champion on these issues as well.

When we were speaking to McGovern, he was telling us a story that I thought was really interesting and opened my eyes to how just connecting with our representatives and explaining what’s important to us, can make a difference. He said that a group of students came, their teacher brought them down to D.C. to talk to him about what was going on in East Timor. And they asked him if he would help. From that one meeting, he ended up going to East Timor. And he said, “I pretty much had said I would do something to help, and asked what’s the one thing you want me to do? And they said that, so I said, I guess I have to go.” I think that’s a pretty incredible and extraordinary example of the power of persuasion. At the same time it opens your eyes to the fact that it’s certainly not going to happen if we don’t ask.

The Sant Ocean Hall at the Natural History Museum is just one of the many attractions to be enjoyed this holiday weekend. Photo by Chip Clark. Courtesy of the Smithsonian

If you think your house is going to be packed for Thanksgiving, imagine the crowds at a Smithsonian museum. According to the Washington Post, the museums had 418, 000 visitors over the holiday weekend in 2010. Though that number dipped in 2011, the institution is still gearing up for a full house.

To help visitors navigate their way through the 19 museums and National Zoo, Smithsonian will be fielding questions before and during the holiday on its Twitter page. Just follow @smithsonian and use the hashtag “#TgivingVisitTips” to stay up to date. Veteran visitors will also post their own tips with the hashtag, including, “1) eat at@SmithsonianNMAI 2) take a pic at @NMAAHC site for posterity 3) comfy shoes” by Erin Blasco.

Here are some of our own insider tips, from our Greatest Hits guide (now available on your smart phone!):

Smithsonian Institution Building, The Castle: Your first stop for all things Smithsonian, the Castle is home to the information center where you can scope out all the current exhibits around the Mall, including the Castle’s own exhibit, “Experience Civil War Photography: From the Home Front to the Battlefront.” You can also pay your respects to the founder, James Smithson, who lies at rest in the crypt in the building’s foyer.

National Portrait Gallery: With several new exhibits and a host of permanent favorites, there’s plenty to take in at the gallery (like Alexander Gardner’s famous cracked glass plate portrait of Abraham Lincoln), including the building itself. On the third floor in the Great Hall, is an architectural gem that shouldn’t be missed. The yellow, blue and red stained-glass windows in the octagonal dome, dating to 1885, cast lush hues on sunny days.

American Art Museum: Housed in the same building as NPG, is the American Art Museum, which just opened its splendid new exhibit “The Civil War and American Art,” which is sure to draw crowds. The museum even had its own role in the Civil War: On the third floor near the Woman Eating sculpture, the initials C.H.F. are scrawled on the wall. The work of some hipster tagger? No, the graffiti artist also put a date: “Aug. 8, 1864.” Likely it was left by a patient; the building was a Civil War infirmary.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Not quite on the Mall, the Udvar-Hazy Center (in Chantilly, Virginia—near Dulles Airport) is home to a world-famous collection of aircraft a space vehicles, including the Air France Concorde and the space shuttle Discovery. After seeing those beauties, tell the kids to check this out. Look for seven hidden oddities in the model of the mother ship made from the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. These were internal Hollywood jokes that weren’t part of the script. Hint: One is R2-D2 from the movie Star Wars.

Air and Space Museum: The world’s most-visited museum, Air and Space has everything from moon rocks to the Wright flyer. But how did they get it all in there? Look closely at the large window on the west side of the building. The glass slide away like giant garage doors.

American History Museum: Next up from the big three, American History, where even celebrities like Parks and Rec‘s Councilwoman Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) like to hang out. In addition to the brand new exhibit “FOOD: Transforming the American Table 1950-2000″ with Julia Child’s kitchen, you’ll also want to stop by the first floor for the Dolls’ House. Inside the house, inhabited by Peter Doll and his family, Christmas decorations are kept in the attic. Each holiday season, curators retrieve the tiny tree and wreaths and decorate the house.

Anacostia Community Museum: After an extensive research process, the museum recently opened its exhibit “Reclaiming the Edge: Urban Waterways and Civic Engagement” as part of its efforts to reach out to the community. Comparing waterways in L.A., Pittsburgh, Louisville, London, Shanghai and here in D.C., the exhibit is full of artworks and informative displays. Check out the playful piece Talking Trash, kinetic sculpture of fish made from plastic water bottles.

Natural History Museum: The grand dame of the big three museum, Natural History is famous partly for housing the “cursed” Hope Diamond. But it’s not all sparkle and shine. Heard of donating your body to science? Professor Grover Krantz volunteered to be put on display at the Smithsonian–with his dog. “I’ve been a teacher all my life, and I think I might as well be a teacher after I’m dead,” he said. Find the pair on the second floor.

American Indian Museum: What better time to visit the American Indian Museum than November, American Indian Heritage Month? In addition to its award-winning cafe and engaging exhibits, it has a treat for those who know where and when to look. Watch for the lovely play of light in the Potomac Atrium. Eight prisms on the south wall project refractions on the floor. See them at the peak of their brilliance between 11 and 2. On the summer and winter solstice, the light lines up precisely.

Freer Gallery: Amid the jades and bronzes from Asia, a fierce fight is playing out. The two birds depicted squawking in battle on the back wall of Whistler’s Peacock Room represent a real-life contretemps between the artist and his patron over a disputed fee for the artwork.

Sackler Gallery: With a new blockbuster exhibit, “Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the Sackler is as busy as ever. This year, the Sackler celebrates its 25th anniversary of the 1987 gift of some 1,000 works of Asian art from Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987), a New York City physician.

Hirshhorn Museum: Contemporary art lovers will be filling the circular gallery space to check out Barbara Kruger’s installation and the new exhibit, “Ai Weiwei: According to What?” But you’ll be headed outside. Ready for a little covert operation? Check out the sculpture Antipodes just outside the front door. The piece has two encoded texts, one related to C.I.A. operations and the other in Cyrillic related to the K.G.B.

Museum of African Art: The current exhibit, “African Cosmos: Stellar Arts” is out of this world, combining science and the arts over time. Our insider tips combines its own bit of science and art. Check out the sculpture of Toussaint Louverture. It is made of a mysterious substance that the artist also used to waterproof his house.

Renwick Gallery: Just a few steps from the White House, the Renwick is a must-see in its own right, listed as a National Historic Landmark. Up the stairs is one of the city’s premier galleries, the Grand Salon, modeled in the French Second Empire style.

National Postal Museum: A stamp collection that can’t be beat, including the first ever U.S. government-issued stamp from 1847, is just the start of the Postal Museum. This building was designed by Daniel Burnham, the protagonist of the best-seller Devil in the White City.

National Zoo: In addition to the cuddly cuties on display, the Zoo is also launching this year’s seasonal display, ZooLights, Friday, November 23. As you wander through the animals, listen for the morning songs of the white-cheeked gibbons. They can be heard up to one mile away.

Don’t forget to download our Visitors Guide and Tours app. We’ve packed it with specialty tours, must-see exhibitions, museum floor plans and custom postcards. Get it on Google Play and in the Apple Store for just 99 cents.

Mrs. Judo tells the story of the living legend, Keiko Fukuda. Courtesy of the Freer Gallery.

Friday, October 5 Mrs. Judo

At 99 years old, judo master Keiko Fukuda still keeps a busy schedule, teaching three times a week at her San Francisco dojo. Fukuda holds the highest ranking possible in judo and is the last living student of the sport’s founder, Kanō Jigorō. The new documentary Mrs. Judo: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful tells Fukuda’s unique story. The film explores the roots of judo while also chronicling the life of this living legend. The screening is preceded by Two Seconds after Laughter. Free. 7 p.m. Freer Gallery.

Saturday, October 6 “We Make ‘em and Fly ‘em – Three Decades of Telescopes for Observing the Sun at the Smithsonian”

No one ever told Peter Cheimets not to stare at the sun. Or if someone did, he definitely didn’t listen. The senior project engineer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory spends his days working at the cutting edge of solar observation. This year, after 30 years of development, special telescopes capable of observing the sun were finally perfected. Ushering in a new era of observation, Cheimets will discuss what made this moment possible and some of the early results from his research. Free, but tickets are required. Tickets available 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the IMAX Theater Box Offices. 5:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. Air and Space Museum. For more information, call 202-633-2398 or e-mail nasmpubliclectures@si.edu.

Sunday, October 7 Masterworks of Three Centuries 2012-2013 Concert Series

The Smithsonian Associates celebrates the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society’s 36th season. Though the event promises to be an eclectic mix of classics and lesser-known works, don’t be intimidated. The Chamber Music Society’s artistic director, Kenneth Slowik, will give a pre-concert talk that digs into the music on tap and explores the biographies behind the featured composers, including Beethoven, Faure and Chausson. It’s the perfect start to a new season. $28 general admission, $22 members. Purchase tickets here. 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. American History Museum, Hall of Musical Instruments.

Julia Child’s Kitchen on display at the NMAH is exactly as it was in Child’s home in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1961. Image courtesy of the National Museum of American History.

The kitchen is the heart of the home—especially when filled with the sounds of cooking: The knife on the cutting board, the clinking of pots and pans, the laughter of good friends and family around the table. Inside Julia Child’s kitchen, add to the mix the delightful sounds of her chuckle and that famous vibrato and you’ve got a recipe for happiness.

Phila Cousins, Child’s niece and trustee of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, can attest to this.

“When you came for dinner, you didn’t come into the living room or the dining room, you came into the kitchen,” she says. “I  had so many moments with Julia in this room. It’s somewhat surreal now to look at this place where I spent so many hours, in a museum. I can’t go in and sit down—Julia’s not there.”

Child would have been 100 years old today, and even though she can’t be present to celebrate, the National Museum of American History  will host a soirée pour son in her honor by unveiling the limited re-installation of Julia’s Cambridge, Massachusetts Kitchen through September 3. (The kitchen had been dismantled and taken off view last January as part of the museum’s on-going renovation.)

Nothing about the 20-by 14-foot room has changed—down to the jar of Skippy peanut butter to the right of the same six-burner “big Garland” stove she cooked on in her home on 103 Irving Street in Cambridge, Massachussets. The pots and pans hang on the blue peg board built by her husband Paul. There are the maple counter tops which were constructed a few inches higher than the standard to accommodate Julia’s 6’3.” And her vast collection of kitchen gadgets are still in the drawers.

These pans, two examples out of hundreds of objects in the collection, are hung on the blue peg board Child’s husband, Paul, built for her. He outlined each pot in black marker on the board. Image courtesy of the National Museum of American History.

Curator Rayna Green, who in 2001 worked with Child during the donation process, says that since the kitchen was first installed at the American History Museum 10 years ago, it has only grown in popularity with visitors and the curators.

“This exhibit is personal for us [the curators]. It’s not just keeping fingerprints off the walls and the usual museum maintenance that we do, this is something we really do take personally. Things in the kitchen conjure up stories that we’ve heard from Julia and that we’ve heard from other people. With every new visitor a new story appears.”

Julia’s knives are arranged on magnetic strips mounted between the windows and above the sink. Julia collected knives her whole life. Image courtesy of the National Museum of American History.

Today’s celebration includes screenings from three episodes from WGBH’s The French Chef and appearances from authors like Bob Spitz who will sign copies of his new book, Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child. Visitors will also enjoy Child-inspired meals.  Free. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a birthday surprise at 1 p.m. in the Flag Hall. Julia’s kitchen will soon be joined by at least 300 objects in the new exhibition: “FOOD: Transforming the American Table 1950-2000” which opens November 20.

Jeffrey Clancy’s misshapen spoons convey an uneasiness characterizing much of the work at the Renwick’s “40 Under 40″ exhibit opening Friday. Collection of Curious Spoons, 2010. Courtesy American Art Museum

Most art exhibits begin with a theme and then seek out works that fit under that unifying umbrella. At first glance, “40 Under 40,” the new Renwick Gallery exhibition, opening Friday, July 20, to commemorate the museum’s 40th anniversary, seems to defy that convention. Exhibit director Nicholas R. Bell says, “No themes were planned. Instead, themes emerged organically.”

Nick Dong, Enlightenment Room, 2008. Courtesy the American Art Museum

The exhibition seeks to demonstrate the ways in which craft has changed in the past 40 years, and how young artists have interpreted those changes. “We are trying to create a visceral feel in these works,” Bell continues, “So that you can walk into Nick Dong’s Enlightenment Room, and you can touch Christy Matson’s Sonic Structure [II].”

The featured artisans were all born between 1972, when the gallery was founded, and 1984. The works experiment with new and traditional media, and many re-purpose materials with an eye to conservation and sustainability.

Brooklyn-based artists William Hilgendorf and Jason Horvath recycled the wood from the Coney Island boardwalk into their piece “Uhuru,” “Cyclone Lounger,” a long, curvy chair that is both beautiful and practical. “We’re interested in the dying art of storytelling,” says Hilgendorf. “When objects have stories behind them, that makes them more valuable to you, because you want to tell those stories. You want to keep the objects for a long time, so they don’t just end up in a landfill.”

The artists are joined together by age, a unifier that means a great deal in the post-9/ll world of financial crises, environmental fears and global security woes. There is an air of caution and irony that tinges even the most delightful pieces (a teapot, for example, that is really a gun), just as there is an air of playfulness that reigns in the most caustic.

Artist Mia Pearlman walked into the Renwick’s gallery space last year and knew exactly what she would create for the exhibit. “Normally,” she says, “you walk into a square, white room. But here, there are tiled floors and arching windows.” Her piece features two entire walls in the museum. On one side, gray and white paper rains down from ceiling to floor. On the other, white, airy paper floats upwards from floor to ceiling. “In this age of uncertainty, we try to put order to chaos. We have wonderful things and we have tragic things and we are trying to have a conversation with both. We are caught in this larger thing that is both light and dark,” she says.

Jeffrey Clancy, Tea for One, 2002. Courtesy the American Art Museum

This dichotomy of light and dark, pretty yet painful, is consistent throughout the various media the exhibit highlights. Jeffrey Clancy’s Collection of Curious Spoons reminds us of the delicate, aristocratic silver spoon held by the most fortunate. But these silver spoons are large and unruly. They are clunky, and, in the words of the artist, “look like something was just dug up.” They are beautiful in their grotesqueness, and mock the dainty, traditional silver spoons that inspired them. One particularly jarring piece, Lauren Kalman’s Hard Wear, displays pearls on a thin gold wire, wrapped around each tooth of the photographed woman. The pearls are exquisite, yet the sight of wire in between a woman’s teeth is disturbing and unnatural.

Although a general sense of unease sneaks into many of the pieces featured in “40 Under 40,” many of the works also share the mere love of craft. Gabriel Craig, an artist based in Detroit, Michigan, sets up “The Pro-Bono Jeweler” in cities around the country, allowing passersby to make whatever their hearts desire out of colorful clays. “The important thing is the outreach,” he says. “I like to remind people that things can be made by hand.”

Join the curator for a discussion at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, followed by an open house in which you can speak with many of the artists, July 20 12:00-2:30 p.m.

By Jeanie Riess

This Saturday, the American Art Museum celebrates dance with screenings of Black Swan and Saturday Night Fever. Image courtesy of the American Art Museum

Friday, July 20 Living Earth Festival

Do roasted green chiles and live music sound appealing to you? What about hands-on workshops and engaging discussions about sustainability and farmers market fresh veggies? This weekend, look no further than the National Museum of the American Indian’s annual, three-day long Living Earth Festival. The event celebrates indigenous contributions to environment and encourages the diffusion of knowledge and activism.  The chiles, roasted by Cherokee, Siletz and other tribal farmers, growers and chefs, are just a small part of the festivities. Tribal-owned food cooperatives will discuss sustainability while local and Native chefs compete in an Iron Chef-style cook-off. Hands-on family activities will also be offered. The festival includes a live outdoor concert featuring the talents of Wes Studi, Stevie Salas, Jack Gladstone, Kinnie Starr, and Brule. Free. 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Sunday July 22. National Museum of the American Indian.
 
Saturday, July 21 Movie day

The heat has been unbearable this summer, so why not escape it with a good movie? As part of the Dance DC Festival, the American Art Museum is offering two viewing options depending on your mood.  If you’re looking for a thriller, Black Swan, starring tutu-costumed Natalie Portman, will show at 1:00 p.m. For those of you feeling a little nostalgic for bell bottoms, disco balls and a younger, (more fit) John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever will show at 4:00 p.m. Free. McEvoy Auditorium, American Art Museum.

Sunday, July 22 Book signings at Air and Space Museum

This Saturday, come check out some of the awesome aviation on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center—the Discovery space shuttle included. While you’re there, get books signed by a pair of legendary pilots. Dave “Bio” Baranek signs copies of TOPGUN Days: Dogfighting, Cheating Death, and Hollywood Glory as One of America’s Best Fighter Jocks from 12 to 4 p.m, and Col. Wolfgang Samuel will sign copies of his books Glory Days, Watson’s Whizzers, American Raiders, The War of Our Childhood, German Boy, I Always Wanted to Fly, and Coming to Colorado from 12 to 5 p.m. Free, $15 parking fee per vehicle. Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center.

For a complete listing of Smithsonian events and exhibitions visit the goSmithsonian Visitors Guide. Additional reporting by Michelle Strange.

The “Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon” exhibit maps out a web of relatedness between Bacon and well-known artists, celebrities and historical figures. Photo by Kat J. McAlpine.

According to the theory of the six degrees of separation, she is connected to Albert Einstein, Cézanne, Eleanor Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Frida Kahlo and President Ulysses S. Grant.

But who is Peggy Bacon?

Bacon (1895-1997) was a New York artist and talented caricaturist of celebrities and artists, however, her name is by no means well known. The Archives of American Art specialists, who created the “Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon” exhibit, do not expect people to know who Peggy Bacon is—in fact, that’s  the point.

While the original concept of the six degrees of separation dates back to Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, who developed a radio telegraph system, the term became commonplace in 1990 when playwright John Guare debuted his production, “Six Degrees of Separation.” The play was based on the idea that no more than six acquaintances separate any two people.

Playing off the popular celebrity trivia game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” in which players try to prove that any actor or actress can be linked to Kevin Bacon in fewer than six steps of film roles, the “Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon” exhibit creators hoped to show how a relatively unknown but well-connected artist was linked through archival documents to many of art and society’s most influential people.

“We wanted it to be surprising,” says Mary Savig, the exhibit’s curator and an archives specialist at Archives of American Art. “We chose Peggy Bacon because we knew nobody would know who she is.”

On display June 27, 2012, through November 4, 2012, in the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, demonstrates how artists inform and inspire each other. “They don’t just work alone in their studios,” Savig said.

The exhibit is also intended to demonstrate the “shrinking world theory.”

The advent of radio technology, telecommunications and most recently, social media, has vastly increased the connectedness among the world’s inhabitants. In fact, Savig says, a study conducted last year by Facebook and the University of Milan demonstrated that social media has reduced the average degree of relatedness between each person on Earth to a mere 4.74 degrees.

The woman at the heart of it all, Peggy Bacon, photographed circa 1920. Photo by Soichi Sunami, courtesy the Archives of American Art.

“These documents show exactly how people are personally connected,” Savig says, pointing to a layout of correspondence and photographs connecting Bacon to artists like Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Janice Lowry, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Archival letters and materials provide paper trails to document each of the connections in Bacon’s web of six degrees.

The incredible ability to present such detailed documentation stems from the concerns of former Director of the Detroit Institute of Art E.P. Richardson and art collector Lawrence A. Fleischman. Richardson and Fleischman founded the Archives in 1954 in Detroit as an effort to address the lack of archival material documenting American art and artists. The Archives of American Art became a part of the Smithsonian Institution in 1970, and today holds more than 16 million items in the world’s largest collection of primary resources relating to the history of American art.

The Archives’ fastidious documentation and research of their collection is what allowed for the success of “Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon.”

In fact, on the exhibit’s opening day, a member of the public was shocked to find her former babysitter incorporated into Bacon’s web of relatedness.

“The woman pointed to the picture of Mary Chapin Carpenter and said, ‘She used to babysit me,’” Savig explains. Carpenter, a folk and country music singer, is bubbled into Bacon’s web as a sixth-degree connection.

Carpenter is included on the web for her connection to Joseph Cornell, who was the inspiration for her 1996 song “Ideas Are Like Stars.” Cornell is connected to Ad Reinhardt for their shared Christmas Eve birthdays and the fact that both artists’ works were displayed in art dealer Peggy Guggenheim’s 1943 Collages exhibit. Reinhardt described in a memoir how in 1938 he listened to loud jazz music carrying through the walls of the neighboring studio to his, occupied by Stuart Davis.  Davis was represented by art dealer Edith Halpert who represented his work at The Downtown Gallery for close to four decades. Halpert opened her gallery in 1926 at which time she displayed the works of Japanese-born Yasuo Kuniyoshi. And Kuniyoshi developed a friendship with Peggy Bacon while the two attended classes together at the Art Students League.

The visitor’s relationship with Carpenter drives home the entire point of the exhibit, Savig says. “We all really can connect to Bacon.”

Search through the letters, photos and more from the exhibit here. Or, join the circle and become her friend on Facebook.

One of the last photographs taken of Amelia Earhart. “One Life: Amelia Earhart” coincides with the 75th anniversary of Earhart’s disappearance. Photo courtesy National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

Rare glimpses into the personal life of Amelia Earhart await those who visit the National Portrait Gallery’s “One Life: Amelia Earhart” exhibition, which opens today, Friday, June 29, 2012.

The exhibit, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of Earhart’s disappearance, arrives roughly one month after a group of hopefuls uncovered what they believe is Earhart’s anti-freckle cream jar. The jar was recovered with other artifacts from a tiny coral atoll in the Pacific, where female skeletal remains were reportedly discovered in 1940.

Earhart’s life is documented in a clockwise journey around the one-room exhibit through a thoughtful and deliberate selection of photographs, artwork and memorabilia.

In a 1903 portrait taken of Earhart at the age of 5 or 6, she is donned in a frilly, white frock with a large bow fastened in her hair. The young, wide-eyed girl looks a far cry from the jumpsuit-clad aviator captured in later photographs of Earhart leaning against a Lockheed Vega, the famous aircraft that made an appearance in the 2006 film Night at the Museum and is on view at the National Air and Space Museum.

Another photograph shows Earhart standing with Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon, the two men who piloted the flight that earned Earhart the distinction of being the first woman to cross the Atlantic by airplane. She became an overnight celebrity, a reputation she didn’t relish, since she had only been a backseat passenger for the flight. An embarrassed Earhart confessed that aside from navigation tasks, “I was just baggage, like a sack of potatoes.”

Earhart’s first solo transatlantic flight took place four years later in 1932, when she piloted the Lockheed Vega. The cabin was so tight she could only spare room to bring a few small accessories, including a leather flying cap and a bottle of smelling salts that she used to stay alert throughout the difficult flight.

The woman behind the leather flying cap springs to life in a selection of video and audio footage. Earhart is ceremoniously christening a plane for Transcontinental Air Transport. Earhart speaks into a microphone and addresses a crowd and radio audience, her voice sweet and friendly, her manner humble—almost reluctant to be at the center of attention. Earhart flashes her winning smile, then bashfully smashes a bottle of champagne on the propeller of a TAT plane.

“It’s great to give visitors the opportunity to hear her and see her,” said curator Frank Goodyear.

A more intimate look into Earhart’s personal life can be gleaned from a letter she penned to her fiancé the night before their nuptials. George Putnum, a publisher and explorer who helped select Earhart to be the woman on the 1928 transatlantic flight piloted by Stultz and Gordon, proposed to Earhart six times before she finally acquiesced to his requests in 1931.  The letter she wrote on the eve of their union depicts a young woman filled with trepidation even hours before the ceremony.

“You must know my reluctance to marry…” she wrote. “I must exact a cruel promise and that is you will let me go in a year if we find no happiness together.”

It appears they did have a successful union, Goodyear explained, although infidelities were rumored to be true of both parties. After her disappearance, Putnam personally funded months of additional searches, combing the Pacific long after the U.S. Navy abandoned recovery efforts.

One of the last photographs taken of Earhart during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe shows the pilot shortly before she vanished on July 2, 1937. Earhart’s cropped hair is wind-touseled, an easy smile plays upon her face.

“It’s a quiet picture,” Goodyear said.

Even though Earhart was rumored to be sick and exhausted toward the last legs of her journey, her expression in the photograph is of a woman in her own element; confident, happy, and hauntingly at peace.

“It’s apparent from this picture, flying was her absolute passion,” Goodyear said.

“One Life: Amelia Earhart” will run through May 27, 2013.

Celebrate Father's Day with a performance by Jack Gladstone, Montana’s Blackfeet troubadour, honoring Olympian Jim Thorpe. Image courtesy of the American Indian Museum.

Friday June 15: Book Signing: Phillip Thomas Tucker

Before the Tuskegee Airmen took to the skies during World War II, no African American military aviators had served in the United States armed forces. When faced with adversity and the restrictions of the Jim Crow Laws, this group of pilots flew with distinction. Between 1941 and 1946, 992 were trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. This Friday, Phillip Thomas Tucker, prolific writer and historian will sign copies of his book Father of the Tuskegee Airmen, John C. Robinson. Copies of the book are available at the signing. One of the planes used by the Tuskegee pilots at Moton Field, the PT-13D U.S. Army Air Corps Stearman, is slated to go on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in 2015. Free. 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. American History Museum.

Saturday June 16: Developing Connoisseurship in American Glass

Even glass has a history—especially when it comes to the decorative arts. This Saturday, trace this art form from the Colonial period to the present. In this fascinating, all-day seminar, Glass historian and educator Mary Cheek Mills will unravel the mystery of one of the most-used materials in the decorative arts. Learn important details assessing glass color, weight, form, function, technique, decoration and more. Purchase tickets here. 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. S. Dillon Ripley Center.

Sunday June 17: Native Music: “Jim Thorpe: American Sunlight and Shadow”

In case you missed the memo, this Sunday is Father’s Day. What better present to give him than to spend some quality time? Bring him and the whole family to join Jack Gladstone, Montana’s Blackfeet troubadour, for an original multimedia musical performance honoring the enduring spirit of Native American athletes, especially Sac and Fox Olympian Jim Thorpe, who swept the Pentathlon and Decathlon events exactly 100 years ago at the Stockholm Olympics. This program is presented in support of the museum’s exhibition, “Best in the World, Native Athletes in the Olympics,” now on view through September 3, 2012. Seats are available on a first come, first served basis. Free. 3:30 p.m. American Indian Museum.

Come to the National Zoo this Saturday for Grevy’s Zebra Day, an interactive, family event. Image courtesy of the National Zoo.

Friday June 1 Native Athletes in the Olympics

It isn’t news that the Summer Olympics start up this July in London. But I bet you haven’t heard much about the American Indian athletes who have provided some of the most dramatic moments in the history of the Games. Special attention should be given to the 1912 Games in Stockholm, Sweden, whose centenary the National Museum of the American Indian invites you to celebrate at the Best in the World: Native Athletes in the Olympics exhibit on display through September 3rd. It was at the 1912 Olympics that  Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox) won both the pentathlon and the decathlon (a feat never duplicated); Duke Kahanamoku (Native Hawaiian) won the 100-meter freestyle; Andrew Sockalexis (Penobscot) placed fourth in the marathon; and Lewis Tewanima (Hopi) won the silver medal and set an American record for the 10,000 meters that stood for more than 50 years, until another American Indian, Billy Mills (Oglala Lakota), won gold in Tokyo in 1964. Free. Ongoing.  National Museum of the American Indian.

Saturday, June 2 Zebra Day

If you’re familiar with the National Zoo, you’ve probably seen or at least heard of 13-year-old Mei Xiang, the Zoo’s Panda House favorite. Even Betty White made a trip earlier this month to visit the famed bear. But this Saturday, join the volunteer African Wildlife Ambassadors as they celebrate the zoo’s “other” black and white animal—the Grevy’s zebras. Bring the whole family for special animal demos, keeper talks and other interactive events. Free. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Cheetah Conservation Station, National Zoo.

Sunday, June 3 Ocean: Multimedia Dance, Film and Music

Standing on the beach can be a humbling experience—the seemingly endless stretch of water serves as a reminder that the world’s oceans are essential to all life. This Sunday at the Natural History Museum, experience Ocean: Multimedia Dance, Film and Music, a spectacular collaboration between artists, scientists and educators that offers insight into the state of the seas and their complexities. Presenters will expand perspectives, stimulate discussion and contribute original solutions to the challenges ahead.

SpectorDance, a non-profit dance company, will collaborate with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute for a live performance integrating interviews with leading ocean scientists, high definition underwater film, original music and dance. This strategic teaming brings together fact and feeling to inform and inspire. Ocean explores changes in ocean chemistry, storm patterns, extinction of species and the food web. Free. 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Baird Auditorium, Natural History Museum.

For a complete listing of Smithsonian events and exhibitions visit the goSmithsonian Visitors Guide. Additional reporting by Michelle Strange.

Portrait of Black Madonna, by Benny Andrews, is on display in the new exhibition, “African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era and Beyond.” Image courtesy of the American Art Museum.

Friday, May 25 Laundry day!

Lugging laundry from your hamper to the washing machine is a task most of us dread. And if you’ve got to go to the laundromat, finding the perfect number of quarters is another added obstacle. This Friday, attend Wash, Rinse, Wring, Repeat!: 19th-Century Laundry at Home and you’ll never complain again. At the event, see if you can take the heat as you clean your batch of laundry just like Americans did at home during the 19th century. After the program, visit Within These Walls to learn more about the laundry life of families in the 1880s. This event repeats at the same time Saturday, Sunday and Mondays this month. Free. 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. outside on the South side Mall terrace, American History Museum.

Saturday, May 26 Celebrate Hawai’i Festival

In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, this Saturday join the National Museum of the American Indian for the Celebrate Hawai’i Festival: Healing and Aloha. Hawaiian artists, performers and practitioners of traditional Hawaiian healing and culture. Visitors can learn about living a life of “aloha” by watching and learning about hula, taking in a cooking demonstration and viewing films and presentations. Free. 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Repeats Sunday. National Museum of the American Indian.

Sunday, May 27 Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era and Beyond

One hundred artworks—paintings, sculpture, prints, and photographs—by 43 black artists who explored the African American experience are on display at the American Art Museum.  The artists highlight the Harlem Renaissance through the Civil Rights era and beyond—decades that saw tremendous change in African American life. Included in the exhibit are paintings by Benny Andrews, Jacob Lawrence and Lois Mailou Jones, and photographs by Roy deCarava, Gordon Parks, Roland Freeman and Marilyn Nance.  More than half the artworks are on view at the museum for the first time, and 10 works are recent acquisitions. Exhibition through September 3. Free. American Art Museum.

For a complete listing of Smithsonian events and exhibitions visit the goSmithsonian Visitors Guide. Additional reporting by Michelle Strange.

Arist-in-Residence, Tom “Pohaku” Stone, a Native Hawaiian carver from O’ahu, Hawaii, will share his surfboard-carving skills this Sunday at the American Indian Museum. Image courtesy of the artist.

Friday, May 18 Portraits after 5: Identities in Motion

Celebrate Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month this Friday at the National Portrait Gallery after hours. See how music, dance, new media and visuals work together to explore Asian American identity and cultural influence. This event features a collaboration between Korean American artist CYJO, French composer Benoit Granier, American composer Anthony Paul De Ritis and Korean American dancer Dana Tai Soon Burgess. CYJO’s portrait of Burgess is on view in the related exhibition, Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter. Free. 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Kogod Courtyard, National Portrait Gallery.

Saturday, May 19 Metro Mambo

This Saturday get your Mambo on—Salsa-style at the National Museum of African Art. Join Jim Byers, radio personality from WPFW 89.3 FM’s Latin Flavor, and Leopoldo Tablante (PhD, Loyola University, Louisiana) in a discussion about the impact of popular mid-20th-century Latin dance music on urban fashion trends. Dance party follows with music by Bio Ritmo Band. For reservations call 202-633-4866. Free. 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. National Museum of African Art.

Sunday, May 20 Surfboard carving and Hawaiian sled

Surf’s up this Sunday for the whole family at the National Museum of the American Indian. Join Tom “Pohaku” Stone, a Native Hawaiian carver from O’ahu, Hawaii, as he shares his skills and talents in carving a traditional Hawaiian surfboard (Papahe’enalu) and lashing together a traditional Hawaiian sled (Papahōlua) in the museum’s Potomac Atrium. Tom is a legendary native Hawaiian surfer and waterman who has spent his life learning his culture and becoming a specialist in ancient Hawaiian sports. Daily through Friday, May 25. Free. 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. National Museum of the American Indian.

"Breaking Rank" by Drew Cameron (Army) and Drew Matott (Civilian) is made from the artists' shredded uniforms. Image courtesy of the Combat Paper Project – Collaboration with Green Door Studio, Burlington, VT.

Young veterans returning from the prolonged and grueling wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are finding new ways to cope with post-military life and they’re doing it through art. As a part of the Arts, Military + Healing: A Collaborative Initiative (AMH), veterans and civilians at the forefront of this movement are joining with national cultural institutions, art schools and the military community to create something new out of the destruction of war—catharsis through art therapy.

Starting Sunday, this week-long event offers five free workshops that will give military members of the AMH and their families a chance to work with art therapists, veteran and established artists. The program stretches across seven locations including the Library of Congress, National Air and Space Museum, and George Mason University.  Events include exhibitions, a film screening of Heather Courtney’s acclaimed documentary Where Soldiers Come From and a  performance by modern dance company, DancEthos, that demonstrates the healing benefits of the arts.

Shannon Maxwell, co-founder of the SEMPERMAX Support Fund, will make opening remarks to highlight the importance of arts as therapy. Her husband, Lt. Col. Tim Maxwell, USMC (retired), received a traumatic brain injury from a mortar attack in Iraq. The ceremony will be held at the Fly Marines! The Centennial of Marine Corps Aviation: 1912-2012 exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum, and will also include a presentation on the history of arts in the military.

A collection of veteran-made artwork will be on display at the Corcoran Gallery featuring works from the Combat Paper Project, a cathartic program that allows veterans to make paper-bound books of poetry and paintings from their shredded uniforms. Their motto “Make Paper not War,” rings true in the veteran-made artwork created from the destruction of their military garb.  Award-winning New York Times photographer, Joao Silva, will also share his experiences working in combat zones. He has experienced the danger first-hand having survived a land mine explosion covering the war in Afghanistan.

Arts, Military + Healing  will take place May 13-18. Free. For more information on the events, the mission, the participants and for a complete schedule visit www.artsandmilitary.org for specific times.

Celebrate Suma Qamaña, or living well, at the Bolivian Festival this Saturday. Image courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian.

Friday, May 11 Gardening for Healthy Living

April showers bring May flowers, as the saying goes. But what about vegetables and herbs? This Friday, join in the annual Garden Fest, inspired by the First Lady’s national initiative for healthy living “Let’s Move,” which seeks to educate children and parents about how gardens can play a role in healthy living. Activities include music, dancing, yoga, tai chi, mural painting, demonstrations and tons of information on vegetable gardening, healthy trees and lawns—even orchid growing. Visitors can also participate in Let’s Move! with Smithsonian Gardens, a scavenger hunt in the gardens. Free. 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday and 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Saturday. Enid A. Haupt Garden south of the Castle, Smithsonian Gardens.

Saturday, May 12 Bolivian Festival: Living Well

Bolivia is proud to celebrate its cultures, history and heritage with a weekend of exciting presentations and programs at the Bolivian Festival: Suma Qamaña, Living Well. The festivities include a Baroque music concert, contemporary and traditional dance groups, storytelling, folk music, demonstrating artists, food and fun for the whole family. Come and meet many proud Bolivians sharing their wisdom, knowledge and culture in living well. Free. 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. NMAI Potomac Atrium and other museum locations. National Museum of the American Indian.

Sunday, May 13 Steinway series with Mendelssohn Piano Trio

For Mother’s Day this Sunday, take the woman you love most to see a spectacular performance by the Mendelssohn Piano Trio. For the past fifteen years the group—violinist Peter Sirotin , pianist Ya-Ting Chang and cellist Fiona Thompson—has thrilled audiences in the U.S. and abroad, performing with a rare combination of powerful individual talent and tight-knit collaboration. Returning for their fourth annual Mother’s Day concert, they will perform piano trios by Haydn, Brahms, and Ravel. Free, tickets distributed beginning at 2:30 p.m. Concert at 3:00 p.m. McEvoy Auditorium, American Art Museum.