With so many museums in D.C., it's easy to overlook the wealth of fun and interesting events that are happening at them. Here's a round-up of some of the notable events and exhibits going on in July, including a look at baseball in D.C., a hip-hop happy hour and a chance to finally see what's living in your refrigerator. >> As we noted last week, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival is running through July 6; this......

The second Transformers movie, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is apparently filming in Washington right now, because people keep sending us celebrity gossip reports that actor Shia LaBeouf allegedly set off a smoke alarm inside a bathroom at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum over the weekend when he tried to sneak a cigarette inside the building. The story seems to have come entirely from the National Enquirer, however, so we should probably take......

For 25 years, the Dupont-Kalorama Museums Consortium has been holding its annual Museum Walk Weekend to celebrate the two neighborhoods' abundance of cultural centers. This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., they celebrate the event's 25th anniversary by providing free entrance to eight museums, as well as live music, food, demonstrations, walking tours, and other activities to encourage us all to indulge in our city's excellent......

We're continuing to bring you a monthly round-up of the most interesting events and exhibits at area museums, and this month, there's something to please photography fans, animation addicts, ocean lovers and more. At the Natural History Museum, check out Ocean Views, where a collection of photographers have captured their vision of the sea (June 11). Forget Q and Basil: Check out what the real life spies of the CIA have come up with in......

>> At Randall Scott, see the new photographic exhibit by Sarah Wilmer. The young Brooklyn artist was named as one of the 30 under 30 to watch by PDN Magazine last year; in the accompanying profile she describes her work as "dark and weird." Wilmer creates worlds -- often faiery, dream-like worlds, populated with pale, beautiful people doing mysterious tasks (pictured right). See them at the reception on Saturday, 7 to 9 p.m. >> Transformer......

Crafty Bastards participants may have a higher calling now. The Smithsonian American Art Museum has just announced the creation of a Curator of Craft position, after an $800,000 donation was made by Lloyd Herman, founder of the Renwick Gallery. Other patrons inspired by the gift have ponied up more funds to support the new role, amounting to $1.2 million so far. Herman encouraged, "Whatever their means, I hope that artists, collectors and all others......

>> Artomatic continues this week. Join them tonight for an art collecting discussion sponsored by Pink Line at 7 p.m., or on Friday for Meet the Artists Night, from 7 to 10 p.m., or perhaps feel more at home during Blogger's Night in the 12th floor lounge on Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. Read through the other hundred or so events going on this weekend on Artomatic's calendar. And don't forget to check out......

Graphic designers: Back away from the computer and head to the Ballyhoo! Posters as Portraiture exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. In the sixty displayed postered portraits, one can see an evolution of graphic design and advertising, with each era screaming its identity through fonts, colors and graphic techniques, as well as the obvious context of the featured face. Keeping true to the NPG’s mission, all 60 posters are about Americans or American films, however......

If you happen to be on the mailing list for Artomatic, precisely 3,000 emails have told you that the five-week, eight-floor exhibition opens on Friday. Keep an eye out tomorrow, as we'll be headed to the pre-opening walk-through and will have a preview of the whole shebang for you in the afternoon. The gates officially open at noon at Capital Plaza I, 1200 First St NE, near the New York Avenue Metro. All events and......

The National Portrait Gallery recently opened a pair of shows, Zaida Ben-Yusuf: New York Portrait Photographer and Edward Steichen: Portraits, which combine to weave a single portrait of American cultural life in the early decades of the twentieth century. Though Steichen is the much better known photographer, Ben-Yusuf’s work is equally compelling, and together the two exhibitions portray a range of politicians, actors, writers, musicians and other important figures, giving us a glimpse back into......

As spring and summer roll in, D.C.’s museums offer a great way to get out of the heat and boost your brain power. And, after spending most of your free time relaxing at outdoor happy hours, who couldn’t use a brain boost? DCist has gathered some of May’s best museum exhibits and events. While some of the exhibits are long term, now’s as good a time as any to check them out, as we'll have......

>> An art show to tempt our own hearts, Meat Market Gallery opens Don't Ready to Die Anymore, a sculptural reinterpretation of pop culture and media tainted storytelling of "real" events, from the mundane to the ones that have marked our history. Or, what would happen if "blogging were a sculptural practice." An online video project will accompany the show, starting tomorrow at dontreadytodieanymore.com. Visit the opening reception tomorrow from 6 to 8:30 p.m. >>......

Sometimes the introduction to an historical event is better done with a smaller issue within the broader, chronological overview most museum exhibitions use. They help us forge a connection between our own familiar experiences and the vast unknowns of events we may not have been around to experience. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s newest special exhibition, The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936, serves as an alternative and compelling introduction into Holocaust studies. By going in-depth into......

>> The artist studios at 52 O Street NW will host their annual open house this weekend. We'll have a preview for you tomorrow showing what you can find in the four floors of art spaces on Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. >> Pyramid Atlantic also has an all-weekend event, Collectors for a Cause, starting Friday with a "Singles Night." With a slew of talks by local art collectors -- Philippa......

>>Project 4 opens a new exhibit this Saturday with the abstract scenes of Christine Gray (pictured right). She twists around the inequities that result from the hyper-perfectionism of the Martha Stewart brave new world we're told everyday living should be. Her paintings are created by first building models ("modest micro-sculptures") with craft and other simple items, then translating those models with her paintbrush. See them at the reception, 6 to 8:30 p.m. >> Tonight take......

We hope you cleared your calendar and laundered all your black clothes, 'cause it's a busy weekend out there for art lovers. >> On your way to the opening day of the Newseum tomorrow, swing by the old convention center grounds (you know, the parking lot that was supposed to break ground for new construction in January 2008, now, supposedly, in January 2009) at 10th Street between New York Avenue and H Street NW to......

Just like its subject — the news — the Newseum, which opens tomorrow, includes far more information than the average museum-goer can handle. It would take days (there are 24 hours of documentary footage alone) to see everything on display in the 250,000-square-foot museum, and with a $20 admission charge, a visit to the Newseum should be a full-day’s outing. Opening day, however, is free of charge, so you might want to head down......

Good news, Colbert Nation. If you caught the April 1 episode of the Colbert Report, you saw Stephen take an "atonement" call from Brent Glass, Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History — who originally turned down the offer to display his portrait before the National Potrait Gallery agreed to hang it in the entrance to their bathrooms. The run ended on Tuesday, but before the painting was left homeless, Glass called to......

Yakama two-hide dress, ca. 1860 In the current exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian, visitors can see Identity by Design: Tradition, Change, and Celebration in Native Women's Dresses, a show indicative of the NMAI's effectiveness in using creative museum techniques. The exhibition, of course, is about cultural traditions. It features some 55 dresses and more than 200 accessories, all of which are meant to express the depth and development of Native......

Remember that Saturday is the very last day of the 2008 DCist Exposed Photography Show. Civilian Art Projects is open today through Saturday, 2 to 6 p.m. Many of the artists will be at the gallery between 4 and 6 p.m. Saturday to toast the last day, so please come by and say hello. Contact heather [at] dcist.com if you're interested in purcashing any of the images in the show. In more Smithsonian turnover......

It's just over 24 hours until the 2008 DCist Exposed Photography kicks off at Civilian Art Projects. Join us to celebrate and support our local talent before they all become wildly famous and we have to put their work in the "boy, I wish I could afford one of those" column (that would be the column you'll see below). The free reception is tomorrow from 7 to 9 p.m., no RSVP required. All the works......

The National Gallery of Art rapidly expanded its collection this week, in a boon of an agreement with one of the greatest private modern art collectors in the world, the Washington Post reports. Philanthropist Robert E. Meyerhoff houses 265 pieces of phenomenal postwar artwork at his estate just north of Baltimore, and established a relationship with the NGA years ago, where you'll already find works by Picasso and Andy Warhol the family has loaned or......

Bad news for D.C. art lovers: the folks behind artDC -- the large art fair that premiered last year in the hopes of really launching our town into the international art scene -- announced the cancellation of their 2008 exhibition yesterday, which had been scheduled for May. Eric Smith, Vice President of Summit Business Media, the company that runs artDC, explained that the state of the economy is to blame, stating "current indicators show......

With brightly-colored graffiti murals lining the gallery hallways, and riffs on 17th century Dutch painting, the National Portrait Gallery has brought a breath of fresh air to the often traditional Smithsonian Institution. Last Friday, just weeks after hanging the Stephen Colbert portrait, the NPG opened RECOGNIZE! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture, a show that’s bound to appeal to a wide-ranging audience. But RECOGNIZE! isn't only about trying to bring a younger audience to a museum......

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is showing pieces they’ve recently added to their collection with Recent Acquisitions, a show that underscores the direction the museum is moving in terms of collecting, and draws attention to the work of the Contemporary Acquisitions Council (CAC). The CAC helped bring Radiant, a stand-out work by New York-based artist Alyson Shotz, to the museum. Anne Ellegood, associate curator at the Hirshhorn, said that the museum launched the CAC......

With the cold weather here for awhile, most of us just want to stay indoors and avoid the chill. Starting tomorrow, Cultural Tourism DC will try to remedy that, with Warm Up to a Museum, a series of 25 gallery talks, film, tours and other activities designed to get people out to museums and to “warm body and soul.” Nineteen museums and other organizations are participating in the February-long series, and activities are wide-ranging, with......

One can hardly visit the East Building of the National Gallery of Art without noticing the large mobile by Alexander Calder soaring over the atrium. The mobile, Untitled, was designed specifically for this space, and Calder utilized new materials and methods to make the piece, which is visually both powerful and delicate. In the early 1970s, the Board of Trustees at the National Gallery commissioned the East Building, which would be dedicated to modern art.......

Many of you may have stopped by the Portrait Gallery to catch a glimpse of Stephen Colbert’s aptly positioned portrait, but did you have the time to take in the rest of the museum as well? Recently, DCist was given an insider’s tour of the National Portrait Gallery by Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Collections Management Claire Kelly. Unlike many other art museums which focus primarily on preserving and documenting art history, the work......

The Colbert Report has been blissfully, if not nearly at full speed without its striking writers, back for a little more than a week now on Comedy Central. For three nights straight they've been running a series showing Stephen traipsing all over Washington with a portrait of himself strapped to his back, trying to convince one of the Smithsonian museums to actually hang it up. Without dwelling on how we managed to miss out......

While many art-goers flock to the Smithsonians and other galleries to see the many compelling traveling exhibits that make their way through town, Washington’s art museums contain a treasure trove of works of historical and artistic importance in permanent collections that often go overlooked. This post is the first in a series exploring some of the paintings, sculptures and other works that are always on display in D.C. One such painting is Henri Matisse’s Studio,......