NMAI Artist Leadership Program Part 3: Smithsonian Museum Support Center

The first week of our trip to Washington, D.C. was spent in orientation, getting hands on with our first set of artifacts, artist training, and a lunchtime presentation at the Cultural Resources Center. We also made our first visit to the Library of Congress, but we'll save that experience for another post. For this one, here are photos from our experience in the MSC where we handled artifacts in the National Museum of Natural History Department of Anthropology.

Week One: Smithsonian Museum Support Center

Amazing...the things beyond those doors

NMAI Artist Leadership Program Part 2: Artist Training

It wasn’t a sightseeing trip. No vacation. We went to Washington, D.C. to work. Not saying there wasn’t plenty of fun along the way. But I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Week One: Artist Training

Left to Right: Sarah Elisabeth, Theresa Secord (trainer), Aymar, Bobby, and Maria hard at work preparing PowerPoints for three upcoming presentations

Choctaw Spirit in Book Fun Magazine

Since November 2012, we've had a column called Choctaw Spirit in Book Fun Magazine, a digital publication. Here are links to past articles, including one detailing a moving experience we had in Washington, D.C.. Enjoy!


Choctaw Spirit: The Sawyers and the Smithsonian March 2013 Issue

Choctaw Spirit: Robuck Love Story February 2013 Issue

Choctaw Spirit: Legacy January 2013 Issue

Choctaw Spirit: The Pow Wow Experience November 2012 Issue

 

National Museum of the American Indian Artist Leadership Program Part 1: Choctaws in Washington, D.C.

Lynda Kay and Sarah Elisabeth at the National Archives Research Entrance

There is no proper way to summarize our research trip to D.C. in a mere blog post. Two weeks’ worth of excursions at the National Museum of the American Indian, NMAI Cultural Resource Center, Smithsonian Museum Support Center (Anthropology and National Anthropological Archives), Library of Congress, National Archives, American Art Museum, Congressional Cemetery, numerous receptions at NMAI, three PowerPoint presentations and a panel discussion, two storytelling concerts, article interviews (where I was the one being interviewed this time), and a bit of tourism at Mount Vernon and the National Botanic Gardens.

NMAI Artist Leadership Program, and Life

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

There are not many ways to describe this season in life. One of the worst summers of my life, and it ended with my dad’s passing. Then I got a phone call.

June 2012

In May, 2012, I had applied for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian’s Artist Leadership Program. Amid the disasters of the summer, I still checked the mailbox every day in August, catching myself going out there on Sundays too. Waiting, waiting for a letter that would either accept me or a say a polite try again.