I was in Washington DC earlier in the week for the opening of the Museum’s exhibition David Macaulay: Building Books, the exhibition that has been touring the nation since its opening in Stockbridge five years ago. It is on view at the jewel of a gallery at the Bing Stanford Center on Connecticut Avenue in NW Washington, DC, right across the street from the Woodland Park Red Line Metro station. I enjoyed time with David and Helen Bing, the exhibition’s sponsor and patron of the Bing Stanford Center – Stanford University’s Washington Internship program. 

Behind the Camera, the Museum’s new exhibition curated and inspired by author Ron Schick’s new book of the same name, (and recently featured in Vanity Fair,) presents never-before-seen archival photographs from the Museum’s collections. It opens in Stockbridge, Saturday, Nov. 7th, with a reception and curator’s remarks at 5:30. I am so excited about this exhibition because it is the first program to grow out of the Museum’s 5-year investment in ProjectNORMAN, the Museum’s online art and archive digitization project. Project NORMAN will go live in November 2009, and will allow visitors and scholars to peruse the Museum’s collections from anywhere in the world. Visitors to the Museum can experience a prototype in the galleries with the exhibition.

Next weekend, American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell, the national traveling exhibition of the Museum’s Norman Rockwell collection, opens at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art. I’ll be giving a lecture there on Sunday, November 15th, and the Museum is hosting a gathering for our friends in Southeastern Florida. If your travels find you in Florida, or you have already headed south for the winter (It snowed in Stockbridge last night!) be sure to visit this landmark exhibition.

Join us at all these exhibitions as we share the Museum’s wonderful art of illustration – check out our web site for opening times. www.nrm.org.