April Museum Round Up

Center Diamond, circa 1920-1940, maker unknown. Probably made in Lancaster County, PA. International Quilt Study Center & Museum, 2003.003.0071.

The area's museums offer up plenty of ways to celebrate the Easter holiday, Earth Day and National Jazz Month.

>> The National Museum of African Art opened Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and its Diasporas on Wednesday. The exhibition explores the visual cultures and histories of Mami Wata, examining the world of water deities and their seductive powers. On view now through July 26, 2009.

>> The National Museum of American History launched the eighth annual Jazz Appreciation Month Thursday with a special ceremony in the museum’s Carmichael Auditorium marking the 100th anniversary of Benny Goodman’s birth. The ceremony was the start of a month-long celebration of jazz that will feature performances, talks, tours and family-oriented events. A full schedule of events is available at the Smithsonian Jazz site.

>> The Daughters of the American Revolution Museum opens Seven Deadly Sins: Fables and Early American Temptations today. The exhibit explores early American life through the timeless temptations of envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth and wrath. The seven deadly sins are illustrated using Aesop’s fables and objects from the DAR Museum’s collection.

>> Amish quilts are among the most striking and famous of all American quilt types. Explore these colorful and geometric quilts in Constructed Color: Amish Quilts at the National Textile Museum. April 4.

>> On Sunday April 5, the Art Museum of the Americas hosts a gallery talk for Space, Unlimited. The exhibit includes the work of seven Venezuelan, Puerto Rican and Cuban-American contemporary artists who challenge the boundaries of physical, perceptual or psychological space. 3 p.m.

>> Architecture of Authority: Photographs by Richard Ross opens this month at the National Building Museum. See a juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated building types in Ross's photographs that challenge the viewer's assumptions about power and architecture.

>> At the National Gallery of Art see highlights from the Montreal International Festival of Films on Art with a plethora of art films. On April 4, see Ellsworth Kelly: Fragments, a study of the artist's life in Paris and is followed by Achieving the Unachievable, on M. C. Escher and number theorist Hendrik Lenstra; ; Andy Warhol: Denied, a look at the inner workings of the Warhol Art Authentication Board; and Looking for an Icon, on photographs that attain time-honored status. 2 p.m. The selections continue on April 11 with Eileen Gray—Invitation to a Voyage looks at the career of this innovative and influential 20th-century designer and Jimmy Rosenberg, the Father, the Son, and the Talent follows the life of the virtuoso guitarist known as "the new Django Reinhardt." 1 p.m.

>> Reflections/ Refractions: Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century opens at the National Portrait Gallery on April 10. This exhibit will feature self-portraits of notable artists including Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler and Louise Nevelson and will probe the complex issues of understanding identity in the past century.