AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Events May 25-27: Laundry Day, Healing and Aloha, 100 Artworks at the American Art Museum

This weekend, air out your dirty laundry, live the life of “aloha” and check out the American Art Museum’s latest exhibit

K. Annabelle Smith

May 24, 2012

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.