Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine in the 2013 ‘Star Trek Into Darkness.’

On the eve of the release of the latest feature-film from the “Star Trek” mega-brand, scholar and curator Margaret Weitekamp argues that the fictional series of space exploration helped define and inspire real world parallels. From advancing diversity in NASA to anticipating new technologies, “Star Trek” left its mark on American culture. Weitekamp, the Air and Space Museum’s curator of space science fiction materials, including a 14-foot model of the Enterprise, says, it will continue to do so.

Since the original series aired in the 1960s, “Star Trek” has grown to include five different series, 12 movies and a vibrant fan culture that supports a multi-billion dollar industry.

Many of the people working in the spaceflight industry, says Weitekamp, are also huge fans of the franchise. That includes Mike Gold, chief counsel at Bigelow Aerospace, who is currently working on the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), an inflatable module for the International Space Station. Gold and Weitekamp will be joined by two more Trek fans for a panel Thursday May 16, “Star Trek’s Continuing Relevance,” at the Air and Space Museum.

We spoke with Weitekamp over the phone about her career, why “Star Trek” matters and her own spaceflight ambitions.

How did you turn “Star Trek” into a scholarly pursuit?

I have a Ph.D. in history from Cornell and while there, Cornell has a rather innovative program of writing in the discipline, where for their freshman composition classes, you can create a course about anything you want because the content is not what is graded, it’s the teaching of writing in sociology, or history, or philosophy.

So I created a space history and science fiction class that I taught a few times while at Cornell.

How does “Star Trek” inspire industry?

The original ‘Star Trek’ series, from 1966 to 1969, had a very diverse cast as the command crew of the Starship Enterprise. When NASA was recruiting astronauts in the 1970s, they weren’t getting the diversity of female and minority applicants that they had hoped that they would. So they actually hired Nichelle Nichols, who is the actress who played Lieutenant Uhura, an African American actress who was part of that command crew, to do a public relations campaign in the 1970s with the theme that “there’s space for everyone.” They saw the number of women and people of color applying go up after her  campaign in 1977 and 1978. So there have been some instances of a very direct relationship. And then also just the broader sense of being interested in what’s possible in terms of space flight and thinking about the ways in which who we are gets translated when you go into space.

How close are we to the future “Star Trek” envisions?

Not as close as people would like. The lack of a transporter and the lack of a warp drive has kept humanity a lot closer to home than I think people had hoped we would be being this far into the 21st century.

On the other hand, there are a lot of ways in which, in terms of global communication, people are much farther in ways ‘Star Trek’ didn’t necessarily anticipate.

People had hoped that some day they would be able to walk around with a thin tablet or with a communicator on their belts and, in fact, we now have moved passed flip phones to having a kind of mini-computer in your hands when you’re on your smart phone.

There are some ways in which I think we’re living the dream but the physical transportation of people out between star systems is still hundreds if not thousands of years out.

Would you consider going into space?

If there’s some need to send a historian mother of three into space, I think that would be tremendously exciting.

What do you like about “Star Trek?”

I personally, as a scholar, am really intrigued by the ways that it can be both a driver for social change but also a commentary on the political and social situation at the time. The original ‘Star Trek’ series, for example, had a lot of discussion about racial integration and gender roles and was very self-consciously a social commentator. As someone who is interested in American culture and society as a historian, it’s a really rich source for looking at the ways in which people have engaged with those issues.

And as a fan, what do you like about it?

I am more of a Next Generation fan and was also a kind of closet Trek fan and a ‘Star Wars’ fan. I am always interested in gender roles and ‘Star Trek’ has had some very innovative plot lines where they talked about women’s roles in society. Despite the mini-skirts of the original series, they have done some very innovative gender stuff.

Which is better, “Star Trek” or “Star Wars?”

Actually, I’m very ecumenical on this. I really like both. I grew up more as a ‘Star Wars’ fan but I have really come to like how rich ‘Star Trek’ is in terms of the scholarly analysis and that’s something that’s a lot of fun for me personally and professionally. I’m going to have to come down solidly on the fence of saying I like both.

‘Star Trek’ has more self-consciously, commented on its social and political context…Although the ‘Star War’ universe has all of those six movies kind of working to tell one continual arc of a story, the ‘Star Trek’ universe has really worked to knit together many disparate pieces: TV shows, movies, fan culture, novels, merchandise, into one, what has been called by scholars, megatext.

“Star Trek Into Darkness” will be showing at the Udvar-Hazy Center’s IMAX theater.

Carey Mulligan as Daisy. Photo by Courtesy of Warner Bros. Picture – © 2013 Bazmark Film III Pty Limited

The drinks were freer, the music brassier and the times, well, Gatsby-er. At least, that’s the picture F. Scott Fitzgerald creates with his tales of high society run wild in his 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby. Now set for yet another screen adaptation, this time thanks to the energetic hands of Baz Luhrmann, the novel continues to resonate today.

Its appeal is a dark but undeniable one, enough to let you weep alongside Daisy as she marvels inside Gatsby’s closet at his exquisite shirts. The clothes, the alcohol, the music–we get it, it’s a heady and seductive mix. So go ahead and throw your Gatsby-themed party (skipping the murder and suicide–oops, spoiler alert) and let the experts at Folkways supply the playlist.

Thanks to David Horgan and Corey Blake of Smithsonian Folkways for the inspired lineup that includes three tracks referenced in the novel itself, including “Three O’clock in the Morning,” which narrator Nick Carraway calls a “neat, sad little waltz.” The novel also mentions “The Sheik of Araby” and “A Love Nest,” which, in some versions, includes the poignant lyric:

Ever comes the question old,
“Shall we build for pride? Or,
Shall brick and mortar hold
worth and love inside?”

Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

In 1947, when Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke major league baseball’s color barrier, the world was still 16 years away from the March on Washington and the Civil Rights Movement as just getting organized. The Montgomery bus boycott was eight years away and housing discrimination based on race would remain legal until 1968. In his first season with the MLB, Robinson would win the league’s Rookie of the Year award. He was a perpetual All-Star. And in 1955, he helped his team secure the championship. Robinson’s success was, by no means, inevitable and in fact he earned it in a society that sought to make it altogether impossible.

Unsurprisingly, his story seemed bound for Hollywood and in 1950, still in the midst of his career, he starred as himself in “The Jackie Robinson Story.” Now Robinson’s story returns to the screen in the new film “42,” this time played by Howard University graduate, Chadwick Boseman, who was at the American History Museum Monday evening for a special screening for members of the Congressional Black Caucus. We caught up with him there.

Are you happy to be back in D.C.?

I’m excited, you know, this room got me a little hyped. It’s fun coming here after having been here a few weeks ago after meeting the First Lady and the President for the screening at the White House. I went to college here and you always think, oh, I’m never going to get to go in that building, I’m never going to get to do this or that so coming here and doing it, it’s like wow, it’s a whole new world.

You said you can’t remember ever not knowing who Jackie Robinson was, but that it was important not to play him as just a hero. How did you get all those details? Did speaking with his wife, Rachel Robinson, play a big part?

The first thing that I did was, I went to meet her at her office on Varick Street. She sat me down on a couch, just like this, she just talked to me very frankly and told me the reasons why she was attracted to him, what she thought of him before she met him, what attracted her once they actually started conversing, how they dated, how shy he was, everything you could possibly imagine. She just went through who they were.

I think she sort of just started me on the research process as well because at the foundation, they have all the books that have been written about him. It was just a matter of hearing that firsthand information.

Then I met her again with children and grandchildren and in that case, they were sort of examining me physically, prodding and poking and measuring and asking me questions: Are you married, why aren’t you married? You know, anything that you could imagine. Actually, before they ever spoke to me, they were prodding and poking and measuring me and I was like, who are these people? And they said, you’re playing my granddad, we gotta check you out. It was as much them investigating me as it was me investigating him.

So they gave you a seal of approval?

They did not give me a seal of approval, but they didn’t not give it. They were willing to gamble, I guess.

Boseman met with Robinson’s family members in preparation for the role. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

He describes the relationship Robinson had with his wife (played by Nicole Beharie) as a safe haven. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

What were they looking for, what did they want to make sure you got right?

She was adamant about the fact that she didn’t want him to be portrayed as angry. That’s a stereotype that is often used, just untrue and one-dimensional with black characters and it was something that he had been accused of, of having a temper. In some senses, he did have a temper but it wasn’t in a negative sense.

I, on the other hand, after reading the script knew that it was necessary to not show him as being passive or a victim, which is another stereotype that’s often used in movies. I didn’t want him to be inactive, because if he’s passive, he’s inactive and you run the risk of doing another story that’s supposed to be about a black character, but there’s the white guy, there, who is the savior. There’s a point where you have to be active and you have to have this fire and passion. I view it more as competitive passion as Tom Brokaw and Ken Burns said to me today, that he had a competitive passion, competitive temper that any great athlete, whether it be Larry Bird or Babe Ruth or Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, they all have that passion. That’s what he brought to the table. . . .My grandmother probably would call it holy anger.

Was that dynamic something you were able to talk about with Harrison Ford, who plays the team executive Branch Rickey, and the writer?

First of all yes. But they already had really advanced and progressive points of view about it anyway and were very aware. Harrison was also very clear, even in our first conversations about it, that he was playing a character and I was playing the lead and that there are differences in the two.

There were instances where I might voice, this is what we need to do, and everybody listened to it and that’s definitely not always the case, definitely not always what you experience on the set. But I think everybody wanted to get it right. I can’t really think of a moment, I know that they came up where it was like, well I’m black so I understand this in a different way, but they do happen and everybody was very receptive to it.

Was there any story that Mrs. Robinson told you about him that stuck in the back of your head during the process?

She just talked about how he adapted after very difficult scenes where he was being abused verbally or threatened. She said he would go hit golf balls because he would never bring that into the house. The question that I asked that brought her to that was:  Did he ever have moments where he secluded himself at home, or where he was depressed, or you saw it weighing on him? And she said: ‘No, when he came into our space, he did whatever he needed to do to get rid of it, so that our space could be a safe haven, and he could refuel, and could get back out into the world and be the man he had to be.’

And she’s going through it just as much as he is. She’s literally in the crowd. People are yelling right over, calling him names right over her or calling her names because they know who she is. That’s something people don’t really think about, that she was actually in the crowd. She has to hold that so she doesn’t bring that home to him and give him more to worry about and that’s a phenomenal thing to hold and to be strong. I love finding what those unspoken things were that are underneath what’s actually being said.

What do you hope people will take away from the film?

I hope they get a sense of who he really is. I think what’s interesting about it is that he played himself in that original 1949-1950 version. . .What I found is that him having to use the Hollywood script of that time does not allow him to tell his own story because he couldn’t really be Jackie Robinson in that version.

It wasn’t his exact story, if you look at the version it says all he ever wanted to do was play baseball and he didn’t. Baseball was his worst sport, he was a better football player, better basketball player, better at track and field. He had a tennis championship, he played golf, horse back riding, baseball was the worst thing he did. I’m not saying that he wasn’t good at it, I’m saying that it’s not the truth. He was a second lieutenant in the army, he was All-American, he led his conference in scoring in basketball and he could have been playing in the NFL, but he had to go to Hawaii and play instead.

So what is that? Why did he end up playing baseball? Because baseball was where he could actualize his greatness, it wasn’t the only thing that he was great at and so just that little untruth in the script skips all of the struggle that he had getting to the point of being in the minor leagues. He’s doing this because it’s one more thing that he’s trying to do in that United States at that time that maybe will allow him to be the man that he wants to be. He could have done any of those other things, it just wasn’t an avenue for him to actualize his full humanity, his full manhood and so that version doesn’t allow him to be Jackie Robinson.

When I look at this version, we live in a different time where you can tell the story more honestly. Ultimately I think that’s what you should take away from the film, I get to see who he is now because we’re more ready to see it.

A golden ticket from the 2005 film, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” is part of the donation of 30 objects from Warner Bros. All images courtesy of the American History Museum

What do Batman’s batarang, Charlie’s golden ticket and a gremlin have in common? They’re all from famous Warner Bros. films and they’re all part of the American History Museum’s entertainment collection, as of March 8 when the studio’s chairman, Barry Meyer signed over the deed for 30 items from 13 different films. Highlights from the donation, which represents films spanning 63 years, include: stop-action puppets from Tim Burton’s 2005 film, The Corpse Bride, Halle Berry’s Catwoman suit from her 2004 movie, and prop candy bars and a golden ticket from the 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp.

The mask worn by George Clooney in the 1997 film, “Batman & Robin.”

The Maudeline Everglot puppet from the 2005 “Corpse Bride” film.

“All of these artifacts,” says curator Dwight Blocker Bowers, “will allow us to tell stories about Hollywood film, . . .one of America’s great industries.”

Joining objects like the Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz and Kermit the Frog, the items represent everything from Hollywood classics like Bette Davis’ 1942 film, Now, Voyager to the wizardry of sci-fi flicks like Gremlins 2: The New Batch from 1990.

Model from the 1990 film, “Gremlins 2: The New Batch.”

“I think all of the items have a unique kind of perspective and a unique kind of position in this,” says Meyer, “but in a way the most beautiful and the most intricate items up there are those models from the Corpse Bride.” Calling the puppets, individual pieces of art that resonant as much off the screen as on, he adds, “but I love them all, including the gremlin!”

His studio marks its 90th anniversary this April and he says, in many ways, its “own story mirrors that of the entertainment industry with a number of firsts in the areas of film and television and home entertainment.” From early ventures merging sound and moving picture to pioneering days in the television industry, and even its patents in the development of DVD and other digital technologies, Warner Bros. has seen phenomenal changes to the film industry.

Through it all, Meyer says, “as these experiences move further into the digital realm. . .it’s really important to remember that every movie, every television show at its heart, at its core, tells a story.” And critical to bringing that story to life, he adds, are “the sets and the props that dress the sets, the costumes worn by the actors and the models used in pre-production and many other non-digital, very tangible items that help us tell the story that is the core of the movie.”

Talking about the ongoing relationship with the American History Museum, Meyer says, “Our partnership is a great way of reminding people that movies and televisions shows are an important part of our shared culture.”

Chocolate bar from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

Nell Van Dort puppet from the “Corpse Bride.”

And who could forget Scraps, the cutest resident in the Land of the Dead from the “Corpse Bride?”

What would the holidays be without Eartha Kitt, seen here performing in the Broadway show Timbuktu. Photo by C.M. Nell, Courtesy Smithsonian Archives

Guest blogger, Joann Stevens is the program manager of Jazz Appreciation Month at the American History Museum. Courtesy of the author

It’s that time of year again when the airwaves jingle with a potpourri of holiday music, performances and mashups, featuring songs and artists with jazz, pop culture, film, classical and sacred music roots. Some of the chestnut classics are playing 24/7 on radio stations (for those of you who still listen to radio) across the land.

Speaking of chestnut classics, during his 29-year career, jazz vocalist and pianist Nat King Cole recorded four versions of his chestnuts roasting by open fire “The Christmas Song” before arriving at the 1961 version that became the perennial favorite. Surprisingly, the tune was composed on a hot summer day in 1944 by Mel Tormé and Robert Wells. Whitney Houston released her stellar version in 2003. Two years later, the music licensing organization ASCAP noted that the song was number one among the ten most performed holiday tunes during the first five years of the 21st century.  Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, were two and three, respectively.

I always keep my ear out for Eartha Kitt.  The original Cat Woman purrs for holiday furs, cars and jewels in Santa Baby, a satirical tune co-written in 1953 by Philip Springer and Joan Javits, niece of U.S. Senator Jacob Javits.

Whether your tastes veer towards the traditional or something a little funkier, here’s an eclectic mix of jazz and other music by seasoned and emerging artists to explore this season, along with some interesting bedtime stories you probably didn’t know. So curl up with your hot cocoa and click through some of my holiday favorites.

For all he did, including giving us one of the most popular Christmas songs of all time, Nat King Cole got his own stamp in 1994. Courtesy of the National Postal Museum

Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s Nutcracker Suite.  Tchaikovysky swings in the hands of these classically trained jazz masters. In 1960 the duo reinvented the ballet classic, mixing rhythms and musical styles. These two selections bring sass to the Nutcracker Overture  and make the Sugar Plum Fairies sound like they’re hung over from too much partying at the Sugar Rum Cherry Dance.

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.  At four foot nine, country music-rock star Brenda Lee was known as Little Miss Dynamite.  She was 13 when she recorded this classic in 1958.  Her version became a chart buster in 1960 and reigns as the all time favorite, played by radio formats from Top 40 to Country Music to Adult Contemporary and Adult Standards.  Nielsen Sound Scan rated digital track sales at 679,000 downloads.  Miley Cyrus also had fun with the song .

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Composed by Hugh Martin Jr., who also wrote “The Trolley Song” and “The Boy Next Door” for the film Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland.  This song from the film might have become the most depressing holiday song ever written.  Luckily studio executives and Garland intervened, requesting  rewrites to give the public a more hopeful classic.  Compare the original lyrics to the holiday friendly versions sung by Frank Sinatra and Luther Vandross. 

The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late). What more can I say?  Gotta love Alvin and the Chipmunks in this song composed by Rostom Sipan “Ross” Bagdasarian, who had a knack with novelty music.  The son of Armenian immigrants, Bagdasarian was a bit stage and film actor whose first musical success, ”Come-on-a-My House,” was a dialect song that became a hit for Rosemary Clooney, the aunt of actor George Clooney.  The song was co-written with Bagdasarian’s cousin, the famous writer William Saroyan. Go ahead, do your best impersonation. ALLLLLVIN!

Oh Chanukah.   This traditional song commemorating the Jewish Festival of Lights was standard fare in the New York City school programs when music appreciation and performances were used to explore cultural diversity and heritage. Enjoy the traditional song by this young choir and an offering of  Klezmer holiday music by a high school sax quartet.  Klezmer Jazz  a fusion of  the rhythms and traditional music of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe with American jazz, evolved in the U.S. in the 1880s.

Carol of the Bells.   One rarely hears jazz played on the Hawaiian ukelele or such performances compared with Miles Davis, unless you’re Jake Shimabukuro — a largely self-taught virtuoso who was introduced to the instrument by his mother. Listen to his take of the classic Carol of the Bells, a song based on a traditional Ukranian folk chant, followed by a rocking jazz performance .

Yagibushi. Okay it’s not a holiday carol but if  music by jazz performer Chichiro Yamanaka, a standout at the 2012 Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, doesn’t rouse you for the holidays, nothing will.

Kwanzaa.  Kwanzaa is observed from December 26 to January 1 in Canada and the U.S. to honor African and African American cultural traditions that teach valuable life principles.

And Now for Something Completely Different. Jazz pianist/composer and NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston has made African and world culture the core of his creative process. Blue Moses is a composition influenced by time Weston spent in Morocco learning the traditions and musical culture of the Gnawa  people—West Africans taken to North Africa as slaves and soldiers around the 16th century.  In an interview with Jo Reed, Weston said that within the Gnawa music ”I heard the blues, I heard Black jazz, I heard the music of the Caribbean, I heard the foundation which proved to me that the rhythms of Africa, they remained alive, but disguised in different forms, whether in Honduras, or Haiti, or Jamaica, or Trinidad, or Brazil, or Mississippi. ”

Happy Musical Holidays!

Joann Stevens is program manager of Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM), an initiative to advance appreciation and recognition of jazz as America’s original music, a global cultural treasure.  JAM is celebrated in every state in the U.S. and the District of Columbia and some 40 countries every April. Recent posts include Danilo Pérez: Creator of Musical Guardians of Peace and Jason Moran: Making Jazz Personal. 

Read more articles about the holidays with our Smithsonian Holiday Guide here

Enjoy an acoustic performance by John Davis of the DC-based group Title Tracks. Photo courtesy of the American Art Museum

Friday, December 16 Happy Feet Two

See the sequel to the wildly popular 2006 hit Happy Feet in full IMAX 3D. In Happy Feet Two, the emperor penguin Mumble must confront a new challenge as his son runs away and joins a rival group. The film is voiced by a star-studded cast including Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. Tickets are $15, and are available online. Showings at 5:40 p.m. daily, from Dec. 16 through Jan. 10. Natural History Museum, Samuel C. Johnson IMAX Theater.

Saturday, December 17 All About Me in D.C.

Come meet children’s author and illustrator Corkey Hay DeSimone, author of All About Me in D.C. The book is a unique kid-friendly guide to the nation’s capital, featuring trivia, fun facts, maps, polls, full color graphics and spots to jot down your own thoughts and draw what you see during your visit. Take this chance to have your copy of the book, available for sale in the museum store, autographed by the author. Free. 12 to 3 p.m. Natural History Museum, outside museum store.

Sunday, December 18 Title Tracks Unplugged

As part of the Luce Foundation Center‘s “Unplugged” series of intimate acoustic concerts with emerging artists, enjoy a performance by John Davis, frontman of the local D.C. group Title Tracks. Davis’ work draws influence from power pop, rock, and indie music. Get there early because a staff-led art talk through the museum kicks off the event. Free. Art talk meets in F St. lobby at 1:30 p.m., followed by concert in Luce Foundation Center, 3rd floor, at 2 p.m. American Art Museum.

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

Historian Amy Henderson at work, wearing her boa. Photo by Lauren Johnson

This post is part of our on-going series in which ATM invites the occasional post from a number of Smithsonian Institution guest bloggers: the historians, researchers and scientists who curate the collections and archives at the museums and research facilities. Today, Amy Henderson from the National Portrait Gallery weighs in on cinema as art. She last wrote for us about David McCullough visiting the Smithsonian.

What is it about the “moving image” that stops us in our tracks? If someone posts a video on your Facebook wall, aren’t you more likely to click through than you are to other links?  Why do we watch movies on our cell phones? Why is there a pedestrian mall in Times Square, where zillions of people sit in beach chairs and gaze at images beamed back in surround sound? In museums, visitors always crowd the moving image galleries. Why does video so stimulate the mind?

In the early 20th century, when film was silent and actors anonymous, people streamed into theaters to watch projections flicker across the silver screen. After the advent of “talkies,” Hollywood studios created a parallel universe of “larger-than-life” stars. Women bleached their hair platinum blonde in homage to Jean Harlow in Red Dust, and men drank martinis as if they were William Powell in The Thin Man. We wanted to wear what stars wore on screen: in the midst of the Depression, the sewing company Butterick sold 500,000 patterns of the puffed-sleeve dress Joan Crawford wore in the 1932 Letty Lynton, even suggesting less expensive materials for home sewers to substitute for the film star’s silk. The rapture seems limitless.

I’m fascinated by how movies define culture. Pre-movie America is chronicled in various media, but nothing moves—all that we have to examine from that era is static, like delicate butterflies pinned in a display case. And in fact, we have a hard time imagining those freeze-framed individuals moving, breathing, talking, walking, singing, even just going about their daily routines. When I take visitors through the Portrait Gallery’s exhibition “America’s Presidents,” I remind them that we don’t really know what our Founding Fathers even looked like, except as depicted by different artists; and we can only guess at what they sounded like.

Detective novelist Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon was adapted to film in 1931. Image courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery (c) 1937 Edward Biberman

I thought about film’s power to reveal recently as I prepared to introduce a screening of The Maltese Falcon at the Portrait Gallery.  This 1941 movie marked John Huston’s debut as a director and Humphrey Bogart’s transition from typecast gangster to star. It is unmistakably Depression-era in its noirish shadows; like Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel of the same name, the movie’s narrative clips along like a newsreel; private eye Sam Spade (Bogart), the Fat Man (Sydney Greenstreet), and Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) are drawn boldly and speak in rapid-fire dialogue that reinforces the film’s staccato beat. The story’s captured moment leaves little time for nuance or subtlety; the narrative ruthlessly and relentlessly moves.

This staccato beat is a theme I emphasize when I take people through the Portrait Gallery’s exhibition of the 1920s through the 1940s—years that saw the rise of modern America. Between 1890 and the 1920s, 23 million immigrants had arrived on America’s shores; most were from Southern or Eastern Europe. Few spoke English. In that period, the face of the country changed. At the same time, the pastoral landscape of Emerson and Thoreau morphed into cityscapes:  the 1920 Census showed that, for the first time, America was more urban than rural. New York emerged as a vast center of consumer culture, a billboard-and-neon furnace stoking—in one of my favorite phrases—“a staggering machine of desire.” It was a city that gave its pulse to Gershwin’s rhythms, Martha Graham’s choreography, and Dashiell Hammett’s hard-boiled fiction.

“Moving pictures” were a perfect metaphor for America’s rapidly changing staccato culture. Emerging in the dynamism of New York street life, movies won instant success as pop-up entertainment when entrepreneurs like Adolph Zukor, Louis B. Mayer and William Fox set up storefront theaters in the immigrant tenements of the Lower East Side. Language was no obstacle, so silent movies had a ready-made audience.

The ability of movies to transport us has remained one of this medium’s chief attractions. The irony is that while film is a remarkable cultural document that freezes time, it also removes us from the mundane.

Allison Jessing, a program coordinator who organizes film series here at the Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, told me that “film can be just as subversive, powerful and emotionally resonant as painting, sculpture, or any other traditional art form.” She believes that Smithsonian theaters should be considered galleries in their own right, “showcasing masterpieces the same way that we exhibit artworks that sit on a pedestal or hang on a wall.” One of the ways Jessing is doing this is by borrowing the “pop-up entertainment” technique from movies’ early entrepreneurs.  To that end, the museums have purchased an inflatable 16-foot pop-up wide screen for projecting films in the Kogod Courtyard, and Allison will use the big screen for a larger-than-life series she’s calling “Courtyard Cinema Classics.”

A 16-foot pop-up screen will shortly show movies in the Kogod Courtyard. Photo by Allison Jessing

On November 15, the first in the series will be presented—the 1949 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, a time-travel musical starring Bing Crosby and Rhonda Fleming. I am delighted to be introducing this film, which is based (very roughly) on Mark Twain’s 1889 novel of the same name; I may wear my boa.

Showcasing movies in museums proves once again that Sam Spade was right: they’re the stuff that dreams are made of.

A cultural historian at the National Portrait Gallery, Amy Henderson specializes in “the lively arts”—particularly media-generated celebrity culture. Her books and exhibitions run the gamut from the pioneers in early broadcasting to Elvis Presley to Katharine Hepburn and Katharine Graham. She is currently at work on a new dance exhibition entitled “One! Singular Sensations in American Dance,” scheduled to open in September 2013.

Still from "67 Bows" (2006) by Nira Pereg. Courtesy of the artist.

If flamingos were able to watch the new Hirshhorn “Black Box: Nira Pereg” presentation of the looped video 67 Bows (2006), no doubt they’d warn each other about Israeli digital artist Nira Pereg. In her video, she explores herd response theory when she appears to disrupt the serenity of a German zoo’s flamingo community with the repeated cocking and firing of a gun.

But all is not what it seems.

67 Bows was filmed during a snowstorm over Christmas in a nearly empty Karlsruhe Zoo. Though Pereg had initially desired to shoot a portrait of a flamingo, her project expanded into a study of group behavior utilizing the indoor colony of social birds.

“While visiting and studying the flamingo exhibit, [she] realized when visitors put their hands up, if one bird ducked, they all started to,” explained Hirshhorn curator Kelly Gordon. “This behavior inspired how this work was filmed and “scored.”” After shooting video of the flamingos being flamingos, making flamingo sounds, and then nodding and ducking in unison, the “score” was added.

The “score” in this case, being the repeated threatening sounds of a gun being cocked and then fired that break the silence and appear to shock the pink feathered video stars. Pereg synched her “score” with the pre-existing ducking “choreography” of the flamingos, making it appear as if they were reacting to the gunshots.

The timing of the gun soundtrack provides the illusion that the flamingos are actually responding to the sounds–and doing so in a Pavlovian manner. Initially, they only appear to duck when a shot is fired; however, eventually they cower at the sound of the cocking of the weapon and don’t even wait for the sound of the blast. The sight of flamingos bobbing their heads in unison almost in rhythm with the gun blasts is almost hypnotic. View a clip of the piece here.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1969, Pereg was raised in an environment where the threat of  terrorism loomed daily. So was this piece designed to see if a potential threat affects individuals in a community the same way? “I was trying to make them [the flamingos] do a certain move in order to see the ones who don’t move,” Pereg said in a July 2010 Artis Video Series interview. “So 67 Bows is a lot about the ones who don’t bow.”

What are the National Zoo's gorillas plotting? Photo courtesy of Mehgan Muprhy/National Zoo

With the impending release this Friday of the documentary summer blockbuster Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I thought we should all be prepared in case we ever face chemically enhanced apes that attempt to take over our world. In the past on our site we’ve investigated zombies and kept a running record on robot technology, but the threat of ape rebellion had yet to be cataloged. The National Zoo’s Amanda Bania, a keeper who works with the great apes, told me that gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans and the other ape species can best us in many ways, even without being injected with mysterious serums by James Franco. This week’s list deals with 5 ways that apes outdo humans:

1) Apes are 7 to 10 times stronger than humans of a comparable weight, or as Bania puts it: “Apes are insanely strong. In a one-on-one they have us beat hands-down.”

2) They have four hands. While not technically true, apes’ feet are basically like hands, according to Bania. Their lower appendages are adapted to help them climb trees with ease. Additionally, their hands have “a have a reduced thumb and their fingers are longer, which helps them grip when moving through the trees,” says Bania. “You couple that with strength and it’s not a fair fight in the trees.” While orangutans are the only arboreal ape, giving them the best climbing skills, they are also the most solitary, so good luck getting them into any sort of infantry regiment.

3) Their army will be led by a chimpanzee. Chimps are exceptionally smart, which makes sense when you consider that they (and the more mild-mannered bonobos) are the primates most closely related to us (a 98.76 percent match by DNA). Chimps have to navigate complicated social structures in their groups. One might think that the 800-pound gorilla would boss his way around a group, but they operate in a single-male monarchy, says Bania. He would have no experience leading an army of other male apes (unless he had a WAC-equivalent composed of of bonobos—their social groups are female-led).

4) Chimpanzees are battle-tested. Not only would the chimpanzees be leading the revolution, but they are known to go on “border patrols” and even kill opponents. “There is group-on-group warfare in chimp society where if they find other males in their territory, they will hunt them down and kill them, more often than not,” says Bania.

5) Even their stupidest members are still smart. The intelligence scale of primates is rather clear. With humans at the top, it then moves from chimps and bonobos to other great apes to lesser apes on down to monkeys and then prosimians such as lemurs, which are at the National Zoo and “aren’t the brightest.” But, Bania is quick to point out, “Duke University has a lot of cognitive research with lemurs that shows they can work on a computer and do sequencing.”

In the end, “If anyone was going to take over and give us a run for our money, it would be chimps,” says Bania. Fortunately, the National Zoo doesn’t have any so we here in D.C. are safe. For now.

The Air and Space Museum’s Ask and Expert Lecture series is at it again this Wednesday with a look into the life of Russian cosmonaut Gherman Titov. Photo courtesy of Eric Long, Air and Space Museum

Monday August 1 Artistic Monday

Don’t let the Monday blues creep in today. Join the Freer and the Sackler Galleries for ExplorAsia instead. Come to galleries 6 and 7 of the Freer at 1:30 to delve into the arts of Japan in Seasons: Arts of Japan. Explore paintings of cranes and owls. Marvel at the beauty of cherry blossoms or the paintings of the Japanese samurai as you discover the sights, sounds and activities of the seasons in Japan. Listen to beautiful poetry or create your own whimsical verse. Children are invited to act out what they see in the paintings and are encouraged to explore how a Japanese screen is made and used. This two-hour event is free and family-friendly so come for an hour or two.

Tuesday August 2 Make a Doll

Head down to the Anacostia Community Museum for a fun activity. Come to the program room of the museum at 10:30 where artist Camilla Younger is facilitating a workshop that invites visitors to create doll pins from a variety of crafts materials. After the dolls are complete, explore the exhibitions Anacostia has to offer. This event is free and visitors are invited to swing by the program room anytime between 10:30 and 12. For reservations call 202-633-4844.

Wednesday August 3 Russian Cosmonauts

This Wednesday at noon head to the Air and Space Museum for a special event. Meet at the museum seal in Milestones of Flight, Gallery 100 on the 1st floor of the museum take part in Ask an Expert Lecture Series. This Wednesday, join presenter Cathleen Lewis from the museum’s Space History Division as she explains the history, collections and the personality of Gherman Titov. Born in Verkhneye Zhilino, Titov was chosen as Russia’s second cosmonaut. He flew the Vostok 2 mission that launched in August of 1961, completing his mission in less than 26 hours after orbiting the earth 17 times. The 25-year-old cosmonaut was the youngest person to ever fly in space. After learning about Gherman Titov, explore the rest of Fifty Years of Human Flight.

Thursday August 4 Explore Ancient Central America

During the late 19th-century, travelers, scientists, politicians and archaeologists returned from Central America with never-before-seen artifacts. Numerous pieces ended up in museums or private collections, but regardless of their final resting places, the collections have helped define a unique history of Central America. This Thursday, join the Smithsonian Latino Center for the symposium, “Collecting Ancient Central America: Museums, Explorers, and Archaeologists in the Pursuit of the Past.” Come to the Rasmuson Theater on the first level of the American Indian Museum at 7 to take part. Keynote speaker Dr. John Hoopes of the University of Kansas will explain how individuals and institutions, as well as social and political factors have impacted the collecting of objects from Belize, Guatemala and Panama. This event is free, ending at 8:30.

Friday August 5 Dinner and a Movie

Friday is date night, so come to the American Indian Museum for dinner and a movie. Grab some dinner at the Zagat-rated Mitsitam Cafe  between 5 and 6:30 then head into the Rasmuson Theater at 7 for the world premiere of “Always Becoming,”  a new film by Santa Clara Pueblo artist Nora Naranjo-Morse. The film explores issues of Native identity, place and memory through the creation of modern sculpture. After the screening stick around for a question and answer session with director Nora Naranjo-Morse. Dinner is à la carte from the cafe, but the screening is a free event, seats are limited so be sure to register.

For a complete listing of Smithsonian Institution events and exhibitions visit the goSmithsonian Visitors Guide.

The Natural History Museum’s IMAX film Tornado Alley chronicles the life of a scientist initiative and a film crew on a journey to see the birth of a tornado. Photo courtesy of Sean Casey.

Any other day I would have been thrilled to take time off to go see a movie for work, but the Natural History Museum’s IMAX film Tornado Alley had me a little hesitant. I live in the area of northern Georgia that was hit hard by tornadoes in April. Seeing the destruction so close to my hometown was devastating. Driving through the ruins of Ringgold, GA, the town that once held my pre-school, nearly brought me to tears and I did not know how seeing more devastation would affect me.

Luckily for the other viewers in the theater I felt little anxiety, but Tornado Alley did give me goosebumps from start to finish.

Narrated by Bill Paxton, star of the 1996 film Twister, the new IMAX film Tornado Alley chronicles the lives of those who chase storms for either scientific data or cinematic gold. The destination for these storm chasers is Tornado Alley, a group of Midwestern states that stretches from South Dakota down to Texas, where 80 percent of the world’s most violent tornadoes are born.

The first of the storm chasers, Sean Casey, has had a mission for the past eight years: to get inside a tornado and film the perfect shot. This crazy idea banded together with an even crazier vehicle—the TIV-2—couples with the more studious antics of the scientific program called VORTEX 2, the mission for these scientific storm chasers is to make visible the unseen architecture of a tornado. Their goal: to determine which storms produce tornadoes and which do not, so that an earlier and more accurate warning can be provided to those in harm’s way.

I spoke with Casey shortly after watching the film and achieved a better understanding of his motivations for filming Tornado Alley. Casey says he discovered his interest in storm chasing oddly enough, while filming the mating season of migrating red crabs on Christmas Island. He told me in an attempt to avoid island fever, he checked out a book on storm chasing from the local public library and found his passion.

“The first chase I went on I fell instantly head over heels in love with the whole environment, the whole activity of chasing these storms and being very active and always trying to stay with these things, waiting for that magical moment when they would produce these tornadoes,” said Casey. “Every year I got more comfortable with chasing tornadoes and every year I had the desire to get closer so I came up with the idea of building a vehicle that we could actually drive into a tornado. With the TIV we could film action up close in the relative safety of an armored car.”

As the name TIV-2 implies there was once a TIV-1. Made on the frame of an Ford F-450 pickup truck, TIV-1 weighed 15,000 pounds, had a 60-gallon gas tank, bullet proof windows and a top speed of 80 miles-per-hour. But 80 mph was just not fast enough to outrun a tornado. TIV-2 first made its appearance in 2008 weighing in a tiny bit less at 14,000 pounds, with a 92-gallon gas tank, a roof mounted, bullet-proof-glass turret and this vehicle topped out at more than 100 miles-per-hour.  The only thing missing were cup holders and Casey says it was a deliberate act. As the storm chaser explains on the official Tornado Alley Website, less comforts mean that the team is more willing to brave the dangers of driving into a supercell storm to get the perfect shot of a tornado’s beauty and its destructive power.

With the addition of TIV-2 to the team, Casey and crew were ready to set out in search of the one-in-a-million shot of tornado genesis.

“This has been my life for the last eight years. I don’t want to spend time in the field and bring back an ordinary image,” said Casey during the film.

VORTEX 2, on the other hand, is not a one vehicle team. It is the largest tornado research project in history. Deploying more than 40 cars and trucks, V2 sends out mobile weather detecting vehicles, Dopplers on Wheels, storm pods, ariel crafts and more, into the path of oncoming tornadoes hoping to surround the supercell storms in order to document the formation of a tornado.

As a fully nomadic program, V2 has no home base but instead travels from state to state within Tornado Alley following severe weather outbreaks. With a staff of more than 100 researchers and scientists, V2 almost doubled the size of some small towns along their journey. During the filming period V2 witnessed 25 tornadoes and obtained 30 terabytes—or one trillion bytes—of data which is now being processed.

In the film, Don Burgess, chief scientist on one of V2’s mobile radars, is seen climbing into a weather detecting vehicle. “I relish the excitement,” he says with a boyish grin, “and the chance to do this one more time.”

The film has plenty of footage of people waiting. Casey and team wait for the perfect storm to emerge. V2 waits for a blown-out tire to be changed. When the drama finally unfolds as a tornado takes shape, both teams hit the ground sprinting as they venture into the heart of the supercell. The tornado touches down sending 55-gallon oil barrels flying like leaves on a windy day, only to be gone the next minute. The V2 researchers surround the massive supercell hoping to collect the severe weather data that will make this mission a success. Casey and TIV-2 drive into the tornado staring in awe as the massive supercell engulfs the TIV and viewers stare in wonderment into the heart of a tornado. It is amazing, breathtaking and horrific.

“It’s really scary; it’s terrifying you really never know whats going to happen,” Casey told me. “It’s those moments when you lose control and you have a tornado catching you, those are the most terrifying moments. When you decide that you can’t out run it anymore, and you stop and you see trees snapping behind you—those are really the only times in my life when I’ve felt that sensation of death perched on [my] back. That dark pressure just at the base of [my] spine.”

The screen goes dark as the audience is left wondering what happened? The film skips to the aftermath. Homes were ripped apart, trees down all around, families looking devastated at the wreckages that were once their neighborhoods. Children darting through a maze of tree branches. A heart-breaking sight.

“These families were saved because they had enough time to get to safety,” Paxton narrates.

I was shocked. The excitement of the hunt was so quickly destroyed by the severity of the aftermath. Then it all made sense and the entire film was put into perspective. I thought the storm-chasers were crazy, that no sane person would risk his life for the glory of capturing a tornado on film or to collect data instrumental to understanding the power of tornadoes. But these storm-chasers spend years trying to collect data that will take even more time to analyze. V2’s work is pushing meteorological boundaries in hopes of saving lives and Casey is bringing attention to one of the world’s deadliest natural disasters.

“It is a life changing experience,” said Casey. “It’s life in Tornado Alley and its got me.”

Tornado Alley plays at 2:20, 4:15 and 6:10 PM. Admission prices for Members is $6.00, $9.00 for Adults, $8.00 for Seniors and $7.50 for Children.

The Air and Space Museum will be broadcasting live the last launch of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program on Friday. Photo courtesy of Eric Long/ NASM

Friday July 8 Houston We Have Liftoff

Amp up your Friday with a free, live broadcast of the last space shuttle launch. Come to Moving Beyond Earth, Gallery 113, on the first floor of the Air and Space Museum at 11 to witness Atlantis (STS-135) take off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Atlantis will carry upwards of 8,000 pounds of supplies to the space station. Upon homecoming, Atlantis and the space shuttle program will be shut down and America will have no launch vehicle for the first time in 30 years. Be sure not miss this historic moment, Atlantis takes off at 11:26  but come early to get a good seat.

Saturday July 9 Let’s Go Nats!

Take me out to the ball game! This Saturday join the American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery in offering you the fifth annual Nationals Baseball Family Day with the Washington Nationals Baseball Club. Come to the Kogod Courtyard of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, between 11:30 and 2. Take your picture with the ball players from 12 to 1. Then enjoy hands-on activities, make your own pennants or fan fingers at the arts and crafts table, or enjoy the musical performances. Afterwards, join a docent at 3:15 for a tour of Runs, Hits and Errors: the Boys of Summer at the National Portrait Gallery. This event is free and is family-friendly so come to the Reynolds Center and meet the Nationals!

Sunday July 10 Bodyguards and Assassins

Escape the July heat this Sunday and catch a free movie. Sunday swing by the Meyer Auditorium of the Freer Gallery to enjoy a film from the Sixteenth Annual Made in Hong Kong Film Festival. This Sunday the Freer and Sackler Galleries have chosen to present Bodyguards and Assassins for your viewing pleasure. Watch Donnie Yen — most known for his part in Blade II — in this thrilling martial-arts film set in early 20th-century Hong Kong. The Qing dynasty is holding firm to its power as the revolutionary movement spreads throughout China. As Sun Yat-Sen prepares for a meeting that will shape the future of China,  a crew of bodyguards is assigned to protect him from a set of deadly assassins. The 139-minute Cantonese film features English subtitles and an hour-long battle sequence unlike anything ever attempted.

For a complete listing of Smithsonian events and exhibitions visit the goSmithsonian Visitors Guide.

Film still from Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956). Courtesy of Hirshhorn Museum, SI

You want camp? You got it! But don’t delay, kids. The final film of the Hirshhorn’s “Summer Camp: Sauceriferous” film series, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, the 1956 “classic,” will be showing tomorrow night at the Ring Auditorium at 7:00. Plus they’ll be giving out the last of the glow-in-the-dark Sauceriferous Frisbees!!! And yes, I did just use three exclamation points!

So what’s this movie about? Aliens, baby. And misunderstanding. Kind of like an episode of Three’s Company, minus Jack Tripper, but with laser beams. Basically, there’s an initial alien saucer visitation that goes awry–a “meet-cute” of sorts that ends up in death rays and destruction. Then the aliens come back with a bunch of their friends and invade, attacking five of the world’s largest cities. And it’s up to Hugh Marlowe’s character to stop them.

And how did the world feel about the Earth vs. the Flying Saucers back when it was released? It seems as though the film might have been exhibiting camp tendencies back in 1956, too. “If I have to see many more of these idiotic items,” panned the Chicago Tribune movie critic upon the film’s release, “I’m going to be in the market for a handy portable disintegrator myself.” Ahhhh…Camp at first sight.

The Greensboro lunch counter. Photo courtesy of National Museum of American History

Friday June 17 Oh My Stars

Launch your Friday with a look into the outer limits. Thanks to the Public Observatory Project, you can view the skies at the Air and Space Museum‘s observatory between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m for your own galactic journey. After you are done exploring the wonders of the universe, participate in hands-on activities while learning about astronomy. This free event is family friendly and does not require a reservation but is weather permitting. Check with the museum’s welcome center first, but if the sky is bright come over to the Observatory, located outside the Southeast terrace near Independence Avenue and 4th Street, for an out of this world experience.

Saturday June 18 Splash Into Your Saturday

Why spend your Saturday doing the same old things when you can come to the National Portrait Gallery for a double feature that will really whet your appetite. This Saturday, Reel Portraits presents American Graffiti and Splash!.  Start your summer with a bang with American Graffiti , the film made by George Lucas before Star Wars, at 1 PM. This 1973 classic follows four young high school grads in 1962 California as they spend one last hurrah together before starting college. The film includes great cars, love stories, an amazing soundtrack and an all-star cast. Be sure not to miss Ron Howard, Harrison Ford, and Richard Dreyfuss in their Academy Award nominated performance Next up at 3 PM is the 1984 hit Splash! directed by Ron Howard. See Tom Hanks in his big screen debut as a wholesale fruit and vegetable dealer in New York. After being saved from drowning twice by a mysterious mermaid, Allen (Hanks) is called to the police station. There in the holding cell is a mysterious woman Madison, played by Darryl Hannah. Having sprouted legs for just six days Madison, Allen’s mermaid savior, is in a race against time. The film centers around the unlikely couple falling in love and the depths they go to stay together. This event is free but is on a first come, first served basis. The auditorium doors will open 30 minutes before the shows start so be sure to come early and grab your seat before it slips away.

Sunday June 19 A Greensboro Lunch

Take a few steps back in time this Sunday and join the American History Museum as they present to you the student sit-ins at the Greensboro Lunch Counter. Meet at the lunch counter on the 2nd floor of the museum’s East Wing at 1:30 Sunday afternoon to learn about a key moment in our nation’s history. Desegregation in the United States was won through many small battles, one of the most noted is the Greensboro Lunch Sit-Ins, and this Sunday you can participate in the landmark piece of history. On February 1, 1960, four male African American students from the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina sat down at the lunch counter of  Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Greensboro Four ordered coffee and doughnuts but were refused service at the whites only counter and were asked to leave. But the protestors – Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr. and David Richmond – stayed until the store closed. The next day they were joined by more students at the counter and the following day resulted in an even bigger turn out. By the next week the group had started a string of sit-ins at stores all over the southern states. These sit-ins resulted in desegregation of Woolworth stores throughout the South and now it is your turn. After you take part in a training session based on an actual 1960s manual, you can prepare yourself for your fist sit-in and find out if you have the courage and strength to fight for justice in the Civil Rights movement. This free 15-to-20 minute performance reveals the people featured in the exhibits on display and allows you to experience the emotion in their stories. The performances are held Sundays and Mondays at 11:30 AM, 1:30, 3 and 4 PM.

For a complete listing of Smithsonian events and exhibitions visit the GoSmithsonian Visitors Guide.

Cosmic Collisions, a planetarium show, is the story of a speeding comet that collides with Earth’s atmosphere. Zipping along at 40 million years per second, the film takes visitors on a journey through time and space that includes colossal impacts and exciting explosions. Scientific visualizations, images from NASA and advanced simulation and imaging technology enhance the experience. Seven shows daily, beginning at 11:00 AM. Tickets are $6.50 members, $9.00 adult (13-and up), $8.00 senior, $7.50 youth (2-12 years old). Albert Einstein Planetarium at the National Air & Space Museum

Saturday, May 14 “Metropolis” with live musical accompaniment

Silent Orchestra returns to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery to premiere an original score for the classic film Metropolis. This 1927 silent German film is set in a society divided into two classes: one of planners and managers who live in luxury, and one of workers who live and work underground. Check out the interview of these film score producers at the Eye Level. 3:00 PM. Free, but tickets required; available in the G Street lobby thirty minutes prior to the screening. American Art Museum

Stripmall Ballads

Sunday, May 15 Stripmall Ballads

The Smithsonian American Art Museum says that Edward Mitchell Bannister lived his entire life by the sea and probably made this painting, Untitled (moon over a harbor, wharf scene with full moon and masts of boats), while he was living in Boston in the late 1860s. Although he never traveled abroad, Bannister was influenced by late 19th-century French landscape painting, which shows in his thick brushstrokes, subdued colors and simple compositions. In the painting misty colors and bleak landscape create a mysterious scene, as if Bannister had painted it in the middle of the night. View Bannister’s work of the moonlit harbor and hear more about its creator at 1:30 PM, followed by  Stripmall Ballads, contemporary folk music at 2:00 PM. Free. American Art Museum