Amor by Robert Indiana,Sculpture Garden, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Four-Sided Pyramid by Sol LeWitt, Sculpture Garden, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Objectivity by Sol LeWitt, East Wing, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

National Museum of the American Indian, Washington DC: Three Boats

Douglas Cardinal, Architect: National Museum of the American Indian, Washington DC

The architect for this striking museum building is Canadian Douglas Cardinal,  http://www.djcarchitect.com/work/. He has built dozens of public buildings all across Canada. The building familiar to us is the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, across the Ottawa River from Ottawa.

This panorama from ceiling to floor gives only an idea of the great size of the main room. The huge drum and dance circle is at street level and can be seen and heard from every floor.

[from the web page http://nmai.si.edu/about/:]

About the Museum

A diverse and multifaceted cultural and educational enterprise, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is an active and visible component of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex. The NMAI cares for one of the world's most expansive collections of Native artifacts, including objects, photographs, archives, and media covering the entire Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego.

 The National Museum of the American Indian operates three facilities. The museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., offers exhibition galleries and spaces for performances, lectures and symposia, research, and education. The George Gustav Heye Center (GGHC) in New York City houses exhibitions, research, educational activities, and performing arts programs. The Cultural Resources Center (CRC) in Suitland, Maryland, houses the museum's collections as well as the conservation, repatriation, and digital imaging programs, and research facilities. The NMAI's off-site outreach efforts, often referred to as the "fourth museum," include websites, traveling exhibitions, and community programs.

Since the passage of its enabling legislation in 1989 (amended in 1996), the NMAI has been steadfastly committed to bringing Native voices to what the museum writes and presents, whether on-site at one of the three NMAI venues, through the museum's publications, or via the Internet. The NMAI is also dedicated to acting as a resource for the hemisphere's Native communities and to serving the greater public as an honest and thoughtful conduit to Native cultures—present and past—in all their richness, depth, and diversity.

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors at the Hirschhorn Museum

This little scene takes place within an octagonal box about 5 feet across. That's me just across and another woman at right angles to me.

This retrospective Kusama show of disorienting experiments with lights and mirrors as well as paintings and sculptures has filled a floor of the Hirshhorn to the brim. The wait times for tickets and then waiting to view the large room-sized installations at the rate of 2-3 people at a time for 20 to 30 seconds is worth it until it isn't! You can get tickets in the early morning of the day you choose.

Looking into a Tree, Washington DC

Linn Meyers: Our View from Here, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

Rodin: Monument to Balzac at Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, Washington DC

Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, Washington DC

Washington Street, A Rainy Day

Washington DC: Trompe l'Oeil Architecture

Washington DC: National Museum of African American History and Culture

The National Museum of African American History and Culture is nearing completing and will open this Fall 2016. The photo is taken from the top of the nearby Washington Monument.

Washington DC: Grand Alexander Calder Mobile at National Gallery of Art, East Building

[about the mobile]

Washington DC: Petite Alexander Calder Mobile at Phillips Collection

Washington DC: Seeing Nature: Landscape Masterworks at Phillips Collection

Washington DC: Thomas Jefferson's Library in the Library of Congress

Washington DC: Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is a jewel box of tile work, not to mention the collections. Let me just amaze readers with numbers, taken from Wikipedia:

23,892,068 catalogued books in the Library of Congress Classification system; 

5,711 incunabula (books printed before 1500); 

14,067,260 monographs and serials, music, bound newspapers, pamphlets, technical reports, and other printed material;

and 122,810,430 items in the nonclassified (special) collections:

160,775,469 total Items

I had thought that I would find it but was still quite moved to learn that a copy of my grandmother Dorothy Leonard's small self-published book of poetry, Buttressed from Moonlight, is here and entered in the digital catalog. 

Washington DC: Smithsonian National Zoological Park

I visited the zoo on a cold, rainy day, and the baby panda was not to be seen. 

Still the zoo offers a lovely Olmsted stroll.

Washington DC: Capital Grill

The Capital Grill is another successful repurposing of an historic facade. It is across from the Newseum at the corner of 6th St. and Pennsylvania Ave.