Smithsonian Institution

"A lot of my work is about making a statement and being an individual.” Multi-disciplinary artist and nail tech Ameya Okamoto finds belonging in works such as Nam June Paik’s “Electronic Superhighway” and expresses her identity in the art she creates. Stay tuned to see Ameya's Smithsonian-inspired nail set design. 💅 Citations💅 Nam June Paik, “Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii,” 1995, fifty-one channel video installation (including one closed-circuit television feed), custom electronics, neon lighting, steel and wood; color, sound, Smithsonian American Art Museum Carlos Villa, “During,” 1982, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum #NailInspo #NailsByAmeya #SmithsonianInspo #NailArtDesign #NailArt --- Video Description: Ameya Okamoto discusses identity within her experience as an artist in a sit-down interview. Interspersed are clips of Ameya with Nam June Paik’s “Eletronic Superhighway” in our American Art Museum, exploring our Asian Pacific American Center’s “Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond” exhibit, discovering object behind the scenes at our American History Museum, as well as in her artist studio. Smithsonian National Museum of American History Smithsonian American Art Museum

Get ready to mark Black History Month with the Smithsonian. Start planning which events to attend and resources to explore here: https://s.si.edu/40yPnIN #SmithsonianBHM

Is cold plunging just a health fad? For Vostok the tiger, it's a favorite activity. https://bit.ly/4h9WzSB

Multi-disciplinary artist and nail tech Ameya Okamoto defies stereotypes by embracing her own sense of style. In this three-part series, join Ameya as she embarks on a journey through the Smithsonian National Museum of American History , Smithsonian American Art Museum and our Asian Pacific American Center’s “Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond” exhibit to create a nail set inspired by her visit. 💅 Citations 💅 Roger Shimomura, “Diary: December 12, 1941,” 1980, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum Firelei Báez, “Untitled (Premiere Carte Pour L'Introduction A L'Histoire De Monde),” 2022, oil and acrylic on archival printed canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum #NailInspo #NailsByAmeya #SmithsonianInspo #NailArtDesign #NailArt --- Video Description: Introduction to the Smithsonian by Ameya Okamoto followed by clips of her in the National Museum of American History. Ameya has orange hair and is wearing a black shirt with camouflage pants. Two clips feature close ups of detailed nail art designs. Ameya speaks about Asian American history while standing in front of objects in the museum. She continues to speak about Asian American history in a sit-down interview. Other clips include moments in our American Art Museum and in Ameya’s artist studio.

✨As Tinker Bell tells us: "All you need is faith, trust, and a little bit of asteroid dust" ✨ That's definitely how that goes, right? Back in 2023, NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft delivered to Earth the first U.S. asteroid sample collected in space. And our Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has been studying it ever since! Scientists hoped that the sample—hailing from the asteroid Bennu—would provide insights into how water and organic molecules first reached Earth. Today, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History researchers announced what they found in the microscopic features on the asteroid fragments. And it’s kind of a big deal! They discovered traces of water-bearing sodium carbonate compounds—compounds have never been directly observed in any other asteroid or meteorite. https://s.si.edu/3EhC9sz Our scientists are sharing more about this groundbreaking discovery. 👇

This electric hot pot was among a few belongings Paul (Rong) Liou brought with him when he emigrated from Taiwan to the United States in the early 1980s. A communal experience, hot pot cooking is often at the center of traditional Chinese holidays, such as #LunarNewYear. Guests at the table add raw ingredients —meat, seafood, vegetables, and more—into a simmering broth until each item is cooked to flavorful perfection. During special occasions, including Chinese New Year, the Liou family gathered around this hot pot, now in the collections of our Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum, with family and friends at their home in Sterling, Virginia. Looking for ways to usher in the Year of the Wood Snake? On Saturday, February 1, our Smithsonian American Art Museum and Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, in partnership with the Korean Cultural Center, Washington, DC, are hosting dance and musical performances, crafts, traditional Chinese and Korean art demonstrations, and family-friendly activities. Learn more about this year’s Lunar New Year Family Celebration. https://s.si.edu/3PTT8U9 #SILunarNewYear

We what, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution? https://s.si.edu/4j6kAvA

Like some Holocaust survivors, Camilla Gottlieb, an accomplished seamstress and pianist, did not readily discuss her traumatic experiences with younger generations in her family. It wasn’t until Gottlieb’s grandson opened this purse, tucked in the back of a closet, that the family found more than 100 documents that painted a fuller picture of their late grandmother's life in Vienna, imprisonment in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, and fight to reunify with her daughter in New York. This Holocaust Remembrance Day, explore the personal story of one Jewish woman’s perseverance, loss, and survival during World War II from our Smithsonian National Museum of American History. https://s.si.edu/4hyEfTe

Civil rights attorney Fred Gray visited his newly acquired portrait at our National Portrait Gallery yesterday. He was joined by the artist, Michael Shane Neal. Born in 1930 in Montgomery, Alabama, Gray was a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1955, fresh out of law school, he represented Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin after they refused to give up their bus seats to white passengers in Montgomery. He also provided counsel to Martin Luther King Jr. during the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56). In 1975, Gray secured financial compensation for those affected by the 40-year Tuskegee Syphilis Study, an experiment that charted the effects of syphilis on 600 Black men without their knowledge or consent. Described by Martin Luther King Jr. as the “chief counsel” of the Civil Rights Movement, Gray received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. This painting portrays him in the light of his office window. Neal, who completed the painting in 2023, shared that the light symbolizes the attorney’s crucial role in bending the arc of the law toward justice. 🖼️: “Fred Gray” by Michael Shane Neal, 2023. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Gift of the Friends of Fred Gray. © Michael Shane Neal 📸: © Matailong Du (Image 1)

What is the Smithsonian to our Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III? It's "is a place for all Americans that has a global impact, that really allows us to do something crucial, to find understanding, to find clarity, and maybe to find a little bit of hope." More in his interview with Smithsonian Magazine. https://bit.ly/4geoqjt