Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

"Here, Look at Mine!" - John N. Robinson and Larry Francis Lebby Art Show

John Robinson, a painter, and Larry Francis Lebby, a stone lithographer, come from different generations and geographies. Yet, vital themes of family, neighbors, and the natural environment link the artists.

November 14, 1982 – February 28, 1983

Anacostia Community Museum

Artuaré and Conversations in the Contemporary

See installations created by artist Steven Cumming and multimedia production studio CreativeJunkfood that are influenced by cultural expression found in schools, churches, community organizations, and other venues in the public sphere.

December 12, 2011 – April 29, 2012

Anacostia Community Museum

A Creative Profile: Artists of the East Bank

See 41 works in a variety of media by a diverse community of professional artists who live and work east of the river in the District of Columbia.

May 13, 2007 – August 12, 2007

Anacostia Community Museum

A Right to the City

A Right to the City explores the history of neighborhood change in the nation’s capital.

April 21, 2018 – October 1, 2020

Anacostia Community Museum

Affirmations: Assemblages by Schroeder Cherry

See an exhibition of 16 mixed-media works by artist and museum educator Schroeder Cherry

January 19, 1992 – February 29, 1992

Anacostia Community Museum

Africa: Three Out of Many: Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria

See art objects and other artifacts relating to religion and everyday life in these countries.

September 15, 1973 – December 22, 1973

Anacostia Community Museum

African American Fiber Artists

View an exhibition that features textile, fiber, and wearable art.

June 6, 1998 – October 11, 1998

Anacostia Community Museum

Afro-Caribe: The Art of Dennis Mario Rivera

See an exhibit of Puerto Rican artist Dennis Mario Rivera's works that focus on his homeland, the Caribbean, black heritage, and the magical realism that permeates Latin American art.

September 18, 1994 – November 13, 1994

Anacostia Community Museum

After Totems: Love, Distress and Moss

See a site-specific installation by Washington artist Yvonne Pickering Carter that uses fragments of paper and wood to explore notions of challenge, healing, and growth.

October 21, 2002 – August 31, 2003

Anacostia Community Museum

All the Stories Are True: African American Writers Speak

Notable African American writers tell stories, including Valerie Boyd, Octavia E. Butler, Kenny Carroll, Edwidge Danticat, Samuel R. Delany, Eloise Greenfield, Charles Johnson, Delores Kendrick, and Walter Dean Myers.

June 7, 2004 – December 31, 2004

Anacostia Community Museum

Alma W. Thomas: A Retrospective

Alma W. Thomas taught art at Shaw Junior High School in Washington, D.C. Retirement launched her meteoric artistic career.

July 16, 1999 – September 12, 1999

Anacostia Community Museum

Always There: The African American Presence in American Quilts

Explore the history of African American quiltmaking from the late eighteenth century to the present. Organized by the Kentucky Quilt Project, Inc. of Louisville, KY, with additional materials supplied by the Anacostia Museum.

July 18, 1993 – October 17, 1993

Anacostia Community Museum

An Eye on the Past: Photographs of Washington's Historical Landmarks

See 25 large format images photographed by architectural photographer Carol M. Highsmith that capture the rich beauty and diversity of the District's architecture.

November 1, 1992 – December 13, 1992

Anacostia Community Museum

Anacostia Museum Collects: The Art of James A. Porter

Paintings by celebrated artist James Porter, head of the Howard University art department and its gallery, who came to be considered the Father of African American art history .

September 29, 2003 – April 25, 2004

Anacostia Community Museum

Anacostia Today: The Evolution of a Community, Part 2: Continued

Originally shown in 1972 as part of Museum’s fifth anniversary, this exhibit continues its focus on five major topics of deep concern to the residents of Anacostia, a neighborhood in southeast Washington, DC.

March 1, 1973 – July 31, 1973

Anacostia Community Museum

Anacostia: Not the Same Old Story

Through an ongoing partnership between Lucy Ellen Moten Elementary School and the Anacostia Museum, students collect and prepare objects for display at the museum.

June 17, 1995 – August 27, 1995

Anacostia Community Museum

Anna J. Cooper: A Voice from the South

Dr. Anna J. Cooper (1858-1964) was a pathbreaking educator, scholar, writer, community organizer, and civil rights activist in Washington, DC. Photographs, artifacts, and recreated home and classroom settings document her life and achievements.

February 1, 1981 – September 30, 1982

Anacostia Community Museum

Art Changes Things: The Art and Activism of Georgette Seabrooke Powell

Georgette Seabrooke Powell is an artist, activist, art therapist, educator, and nonprofit executive in Washington, DC. On view is a retrospective spanning her sixty-year career.

March 4, 1995 – May 28, 1995

Anacostia Community Museum

Art Display

View works by young people, ages 9-12, including linoleum block printing, silk screening, and collage construction, created during the Creative Arts Workshop July 6-31.

July 31, 1987 – July 31, 1987

Anacostia Community Museum

Bahamian Visions: The Art of Amos Ferguson

See paintings by the noted Bahamian folk artist Amos Ferguson.

July 1, 1994 – July 10, 1994

Anacostia Community Museum

Banding Together: School Bands as Instruments of Opportunity

March along with school bands to explore the legacy of instrumental music education in Washington, DC public schools from 1880 to 2006.

September 10, 2006 – May 14, 2007

Anacostia Community Museum

Barnett-Aden Collection: 100 Years of Multi-Ethnic Art

See about 100 paintings and sculptures on loan from this important collection.

January 20, 1974 – May 6, 1974

Anacostia Community Museum

Before Freedom Came: African American Life in the Antebellum South

View an exhibit that examines the lives of African Americans, free and enslaved, during the Antebellum South.

December 12, 1993 – March 1, 1994

Anacostia Community Museum

Black Mosaic: Community, Race and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D.C.

See an exhibit about people of African descent who migrated to the Washington, DC area from Central and South America and the Caribbean. Vea una exposición de afrodescendientes que inmigraron hacia Washington, DC.

August 21, 1994 – September 4, 1995

Anacostia Community Museum

Black Wings: The American Black in Aviation

See an expanded version of the exhibition circulated by SITES, including among its additional artifacts photo murals and audio-visual programs, and the flight suit worn by black astronaut Guion Bluford during preparations for his 1983 space shuttle flight.

April 1, 1984 – August 5, 1984

Anacostia Community Museum