Open Studio: Happy Birthday, Hirshhorn!
Drop in for an art-making adventure inspired by our 50th birthday. Join Hirshhorn educators for interactive, hands-on activities inspired by a monumental artwork upon this monumental milestone.
We’re highlighting artist Mark Bradford and his masterpiece Pickett’s Charge. Open Studio activities will explore Bradford’s creative process, his materials, and what inspires him to make art.
Program Schedule: Ongoing art-making, Lower Level
- Collaborative art-making: Help us create a large-scale painting with paper inspired by Mark Bradford’s artistic process as an extra-special 50th-birthday present to the Hirshhorn!
- Paint with paper: Make your own miniature artwork incorporating photos, paper, rope, and more to take home.
- Open Play activities for kids: Build structures with blocks, make art with lines and layers, read, and play.
Fifty is too big a birthday for one day, or one cake. So, inspired by our “concrete doughnut,” building, we’re partnering with four fine bakeries: Rose Avenue Bakery, Founding Farmers Co. Catering & Events, Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken, and Just Fine Donuts. Between Thursday, Oct. 3, and Sunday, Oct. 6, one bakery will provide 50 doughnuts to be distributed to visitors, one per person, at 10 AM, until all have been shared.
Thursday, Oct. 3: Rose Avenue Bakery
Friday, Oct. 4: Founding Farmers Co. Catering & Events
Saturday, Oct. 5: Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken
Sunday, Oct. 6: Just Fine Donuts
Do this at home! Reveal the layers within a story that matters to you in an activity inspired by Mark Bradford. Instructions here.
No reservations or tickets required. Stroller parking is available in the Hirshhorn Lobby and on the Lower Level.
If there are access services or accommodations that can make your experience more inclusive (e.g., ASL interpretation, live captioning, etc.), please contact hmsgeducation@si.edu; 1–2 weeks’ advance notice is recommended but not required. For a group of 10 or more, please contact mcgettigant@si.edu to reserve a program in advance.
Art Cart: Layer Away
Join us for an Art Cart of building up and taking away! Together, we will explore lines and layers in art, stories and history. Young artists will take a close look at artist Mark Bradford’s work, Pickett’s Charge, and layer lines to make their own collage story inspired by Bradford and his practice!
Find the Art Cart on the Third Level and pick up your layering materials.
Do this at home! Reveal the layers within a story that matters to you with Mark Bradford. Instructions here.
ABOUT THE ART CART
Want to make art inspired by your favorite Hirshhorn works on view? The Art Cart offers young artists a hands-on maker experience during their visit to the Hirshhorn. Each week’s Art Cart offers a fresh and fun theme featuring an artwork on view, an artmaking activity to do at the Museum, and kids projects to extend the fun at home!
The Art Cart is free; no registration required. Drop in any Saturday between 10 am and 1 pm.
