Typewriter Poetry
East Building Concourse, Atrium, and Upper Level, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Meet a typewriter poet! They will transform your discoveries about a work of art into a personalized keepsake haiku, typed up the old-fashioned way.
Discover poets throughout the museum with interactive activities for all ages during our art and poetry celebration! Write poems inspired by art works, create your own illustrated book, and meet a typewriter poet to get a special poem personalized for you. Plus, check out a poetry exhibition in our library.
Ongoing activities highlights:
- Meet a typewriter poet who will transform discoveries you make about a work of art into a custom keepsake haiku poem, typed on a typewriter, and ready for you to take home.
- Stop by an art cart in the galleries and discover how art works can inspire poetry of all colors, shapes, and sizes.
- Create a handmade book, using poetry and collage as inspiration, with local teaching artist and poet Sushmita Mazumdar.
- View an exhibition of poetry books in the museum library.
- Join short, fun poetry-writing sessions in the galleries led by DC-area teaching poets Dwayne Lawson Brown and Kenny Carroll III. Sessions run for approximately 20 minutes, beginning at 1:30 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 2:30 p.m.
Join us for the rest of the day’s activities!
Made possible by a grant from the Alice L. Walton Foundation.
“Poetry is a country” is inspired by a Virtual Reading: DEAR MEMORY by Victoria Chang.
Art Carts
East Building, Multiple Locations, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Stop by an art cart and discover the poetry of colors, shapes, and sizes.
- Poetry of Play
- Shape Poetry
- Floor-Tile Poetry
- Color Poetry
- Diamante Poem
The Everything of Bookmaking: Feel, Express, Reflect
National Gallery of Art Library, 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Create a handmade book with artist Sushmita Mazumdar using poetry and collage as your inspiration.
Poetry Writing Mini-Workshop
Fun with Short Forms
East Building, Upper Level, Gallery 407B
1:30, 2:00, and 2:30 p.m.
DC-area poets lead fun and punchy poetry-writing exercises. These mini-workshops run for approximately 20 minutes.
Join Dwayne Lawson-Brown—DC-based poet and curator for Spit Dat, a spoken-word performance series—for a mini-workshop filled with words and wit! We will practice brevity and problem-solving while exploring two types of short-form poetry: the haiku and “The Twist.”
Poetry Writing Mini-Workshop
"i am running into the new year"
East Building, Tower Level, Tower 1, Gallery 615A
1:30, 2:00, and 2:30 p.m.
DC-area poets lead fun and punchy poetry-writing exercises. These mini-workshops run for approximately 20 minutes.
In this mini-workshop, we take our pens and rush into a new year of living. Kenny Carroll, former DC Youth Poet Laureate, invites us to reflect and imagine through writing exercises.
“i am running into the new year” comes from the poem of the same name by Lucille Clifton, published in Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969–1980 (BOA Editions, 1987).