Experience the highlights of the DIA on a free guided tour with American Sign Language interpretation. Tours meet in the Great Hall at 1 p.m. and last approximately 45–60 minutes.

Join us for a captivating evening with renowned fiber artist Elaine Reichek as she shares insights into her artistic journey, from painting to embroidery and textile work. In conversation with curators Ken Myers and Katie Pfohl, Reichek will explore the historical and contemporary significance of embroidery in art.

Event Schedule:

5:00 PM – 6:15 PM | Cocktail Party in Rivera Court ($65)

6:30 PM – 7:30 PM | Public Lecture in Danto Lecture Hall (Free) 

Guests are able to purchase a ticket for the cocktail party, and attend the free public lecture following. Don’t miss this engaging discussion on the evolving role of embroidery in the art world!

Caption:   Elaine Reichek, Sampler (H.R.) 1993

Hand embroidery on linen

The Jewish Museum (New York)
 

25th Annual Elizabeth Sites Kuhlman Lecture featuring Daniel Santamaria, floral artisan from Spain and Creative Director at the Escola Disseny Floral I Paisatgisme de Barcelona.

Optional luncheon immediately following the lecture.

Running the Gamut? Recent Acquisitions of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts for the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Dr. Jack Hinton will present the (sometimes dizzying!) range of acquisitions made by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in recent years in the areas of European sculpture and decorative arts. A focus on selected highlights will reveal curatorial strategies to deepen historical context and broaden representation across collections, and the impact these additions have on the museum’s installations and programs.

The DIA’s Visiting Committee for European Sculpture and Decorative Arts (VCESDA) auxiliary group sponsors programs and lectures that celebrate decorative arts and sculpture in all their variety. This free springtime lecture will offer insights into the ways that one of the DIA’s most prominent peer museums is expanding its collection and the stories it shares with visitors.

Hinton is Henry P. McIlhenny Curator of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA). He studied Histories of Art and Design at the Courtauld Institute of Art, the Royal College of Art, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. A distinguished specialist in Renaissance decorative arts, he has spent over 20 years researching and presenting the PMA’s world-class collection of more than 22,000 objects made in diverse media from the Middle Ages to the present day.

Looking at paintings through a prism

This lecture highlights the role scientific imaging of paintings, more precisely molecular and elemental imaging spectroscopy, has played in helping to address questions from conservators, curators, and art historians. Case studies will include understanding the original composition in Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s Young Girl Reading, c.1769 before it was reworked, visualizing the painting stages in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Ginevra de' Benci c. 1474/1478, determining the original appearance of Italian Renaissance masterpiece Feast of the Gods 1514/1529 as completed by Giovanni Bellini before it was reworked, and elucidating the working methods of Johannes Vermeer from studies of Woman Holding a Balance c. 1664 and Girl with the Red Hat c. 1669.

Biography

Dr. John K. Delaney is senior imaging scientist in the scientific research department of the National Gallery of Art, Washington where he oversees the Chemical Imaging Laboratory. His research involves the adaptation of remote sensing techniques for the study of paintings to help address questions in conservation and art history.

Building a National Collection in a Changing Nation

Kaywin Feldman (Director, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) leads an institution of intriguing paradox. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. was founded in 1941 by Andrew Mellon to bestow contemporary ideas upon and share world-class art with the American public. Mellon’s offering was a true gift that continues to benefit his nation to this day.

Yet as societies shift and change, what is the unique but ever-evolving role of a national art museum as it navigates the challenges and opportunities of a dynamic and expanding global audience? What does it mean to be and to become the nation’s art museum?

The Dr. Coleman Mopper Memorial Lecture was established in 1997 in memory of Dr. Coleman Mopper, a longstanding member and patron of the DIA and a founder of the Visiting Committee for European Sculpture and Decorative Arts auxiliary group. In Dr. Mopper’s memory, friends generously endowed an annual lecture on European art to be given by an internationally recognized specialist.

Appointed in 2019, Kaywin Feldman is the National Gallery’s fifth director and the first woman to lead the museum. Her vision for the National Gallery focuses on expanding the museum’s service to the nation. Dedicated to connecting people to art through the power of wonder, Feldman has initiated new programs and exhibitions, expanded the National Gallery’s audience, and increased the national collection through acquisitions that reflect a wide spectrum of art history.

Join DJ Problematic Black Hottie from 6:30PM-8:30PM for dancing in Rivera Court and a cash bar in Great Hall as part of our DJ series for Tiff Massey's exhibition 7 Mile + Livernois.

7 Mile + Livernois is Tiff Massey’s gallery installation, featuring sculptures commissioned by the DIA in conversation with works by other artists from the museum’s collection. Massey’s work reimagines art’s role in the community, offering a vibrant, inclusive view of Detroit. Her art invites us to celebrate collective identity, ancestral flyness, and beauty.

Problematic Black Hottie is a DJ, taste maker, personality and an advocate for centering femininity and blackness. Based in Detroit, Michigan and raised all over the African Diaspora, she combines eclectic global and local influences with a focus on feminine music too curate a contagious vibe and introduce her crowd to a platter of delectable sounds. For PBH, her outstanding selecting skills and ability to curate a feminine-centered vibe make her unique. With a consistent trademark sound, look, and style, Problematic Black Hottie has become a Detroit staple and household name.

DJ Problematic Black Hottie’s set will not be a seated performance.

See "The Rooster's Crow" Automaton Clock come to life in the DIA's European Medieval & Renaissance galleries during its once-monthly day of operation! 

Throughout the day, visitors can see this rare 16th-century clock's mechanical rooster flap its wings and open its beak every fifteen minutes, and witness the figures of seven princes parade around an enthroned emperor as the clock strikes each hour. 

Winding the clock for one day each month is vital to maintaining its fully functional condition. This important conservation work offers a unique opportunity to see a work of Renaissance art and technology in motion. 

Note: This event was originally scheduled for Friday, Feb. 7, but was rescheduled due to a museum conflict.

The Michigan Student Film Festival presents the best K-12 student films on the big screen. This juried festival has been the signature event of Digital Arts, Film & Television for 57 years and includes narrative films, animation, and documentaries. For families with children ages 10 and up. Free with museum admission.

Weekend Family Programs at the DIA are generously presented by the MSUFCU Desk Drawer Foundation.

The Italian Film Festival USA returns to the DFT with a selection of contemporary Italian films. Discover new filmmakers, and the variety of films they produce for Italian audiences. Films are in Italian with English subtitles. Screenings are free, visit italianfilmfests.org in March for a complete schedule.