Cherry Blossom Season Descends as Early Spring Arrives in Southwest

The Pink Tie Party officially kicked off the 2024 National Cherry Blossom festival. Courtesy of Fredo Vasquez By Southwester Staff The 2024 cherry blossom season got off to an early start, reaching peak bloom before the end of March. Even so, spring-themed celebrations honoring the blossoms continue throughout April. National Cherry […]

National Museum of Asian Art to Host Centennial Celebration May 1-13

By Southwester Staff During next month’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the National Museum of Asian Art will host a two-week festival to mark its centennial anniversary. Events will include headline musical performances by Korean pop (K-Pop) star Eric Nam and internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Raveena on May 13.  The performances […]

National Museum of Asian Art Connects Environmental Art Across Centuries

By Sheila Wickouski Two exhibits of Indian prints and photographs now on view at the Smithsonian Asian Art Museum go beneath the surface to consider the underlying themes of environment, politics and emotions. What the works from almost three centuries apart share in common is the importance of water as […]

Unity in Diversity Across New Exhibitions at National Museum of Asian Art

By Sheila Wickouski The Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art will celebrate its 100th anniversary in May 2023. James McNeill Whistler’s “harmony in blue and gold,” the Peacock Room, had been on display since the gallery opened and is now accessible to the public again after […]

Immersive Exhibit Transports Visitors to Southeast Asia

By Southwester Staff An archeological treasure set in a mountain cave above the Cambodian landscape can now be viewed up close and in person at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art’s latest exhibit, Revealing Krishna: Journey to Cambodia’s Sacred Mountain. The exhibition showcases a monumental sculpture of the Hindu […]

National Museum of Asian Art Reopens with Textile Exhibit

By Sheila Wickouski The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art reopened on December 18 with a special exhibition, Fashioning an Empire: Safavid Textiles from the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha.  While the artistic traditions of the Safavid empire extended through architecture, poetry, and philosophy, this exhibition focuses on how textiles […]