Sophia Smith’s sampler is part of a distinctive group of Wethersfield, Connecticut, samplers made at two different schools during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Earlier examples were probably worked at the Abigail Goodrich School, which operated from around 1804 to 1815. Sophia’s is one of a later group of samplers, most likely made...
This sampler, worked by Abigail Mears in 1772, is related to a group of embroideries known as the “fishing lady pictures.” The name originally referred to Boston needlework featuring the same fishing lady, but now encompasses a variety of related pastoral compositions, with or without the fishing lady. From the 1760s, the same types of...
French-speaking Catholics, fleeing the bloody revolutions in France and the Caribbean, settled in large numbers in the Baltimore area. In 1791, priests from the Parisian Society of Saint Suplice established a seminary in west Baltimore conducting religious services in French, and it soon became the center of a rapidly-growing French community. Among the émigrés, both...
This sampler, made by Laura Bowker (1805-1843), is part of a small group of pictorial samplers worked by girls from Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. Each of the charming works features a woman standing in a pastoral setting with trees, rolling hills, a pair of lambs, and an oversized basket of flowers. These bonneted ladies hold bouquets...
How can you draw customers inside your shop, when exposing wares in a window is not an option? This framed wooden butcher’s shop might be an answer. Although it is unclear to what uses this framed life-like model of a butcher’s shop might have been put, the fact that it is framed and behind glass,...
Seventeenth-century Dutch socialites Petronella de la Court and Petronella Oortman, the dauphin of France, Queen Victoria, and Queen Mary had them: dollhouses and miniature replicas of masterworks of furniture and decorative arts, through which they could recreate their larger-than-life existence. The popularity of these Lilliputian marvels extended well into the twentieth century, when doll-sized houses,...
The Education team was excited to take a field trip to Washington DC to be part of the Smithsonian Education Innovation Awards. Although, we often travel for individual programs, this was one of those rare chances where the whole team got to travel together. After a short flight and a nice celebratory lunch, we headed...
In the middle of a snowy New York winter, my colleagues and I were able to navigate between storms and travel to Washington, DC and New Orleans, two of four cities in which we’ve established relationships with school districts for Cooper-Hewitt’s Smithsonian Design Institute (SDI), an intensive, five-day innovative professional development program offered each summer...
Can you explain a little bit about the type of work you do? As the Youth Programs Manager, I run DesignPrep, the museum’s series of free teen programs. DesignPrep offers designer-led workshops, studio visits, and college tours that focus on various design disciplines from fashion and architecture, to graphic design and product design. I also...
This past week Cooper-Hewitt kicked off Design by Hand, a special program running from fall 2013 through spring 2017, sponsored by Van Cleef & Arpels. This exciting new series focuses on the craftsmanship, innovations, and merits of contemporary global designers. Workshops and talks connect university students, high school students, adults, and families with design. Each...
Welcome video produced for the 2013 National Design Awards Gala. This video explains who we are and what we do here at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Music by Do Kashiteru.
Can you explain a little bit about the type of work you do? I manage the National Design Awards program – organizing everything from the nomination, submission, and jury processes to the White House and Gala celebrations. What do you enjoy most about your work? Working with passionate people, both at the Museum and in...
Two years ago, the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum closed for renovations and the opportunity opened up to explore a school-based program: Design in the Classroom. This free 45-minute, single visit workshop introduces K-12 students to design thinking. In short, design thinking is a term describing the way designers critically assess the "things" all around us....
Cooper-Hewitt's Education team spent an amazing week in New Orleans with 26 educators from New York City, San Antonio, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. Although their day jobs include teaching subjects from across the curriculum, including math and science as well as social studies and history, they all became designers for the week and solved...
Can you explain a little bit about the type of work you do here at Cooper-Hewitt? I work in the Education Department as the Public Education Manager, which means that I develop and plan programs and activities that engage the public with the Museum, its collection, and with design in general. These include hands-on design...
