2025 Smithsonian American Art Museum Fellows Lectures – Day 1

On May 7–9, 2025, the cohort of 2024–2025 Smithsonian American Art Museum Fellows presented a thought-provoking series of talks that spanned a range of topics, time periods, media, and messages. This multi-afternoon program offered a unique opportunity to hear from a new generation of scholars delving into the Smithsonian’s collections and archives to uncover fresh perspectives on American art. The lectures were held in person, in McEvoy Auditorium, and online. For more information on SAAM’s fellowship program, visit https://americanart.si.edu/research/fellowships Session I: 1–2:45 p.m. ET • Joseph Mizhakiiyaasige Zordan, Terra Foundation for American Art Predoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, “Thresholds of Forgetting: The Deerfield Door, Memory, and Materiality in Colonial Massachusetts” • Elizabeth Keto, Joe and Wanda Corn Predoctoral Fellow, Yale University, “Written in Clay: Grave Markers in Reconstruction-Era Edgefield” • Michelle Donnelly, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Predoctoral Fellow, Yale University, “Grounds of Removal: Matsusaburo ‘George’ Hibi's Incarceration Camp Prints” Q&A moderated by Karen Lemmey, Lucy S. Rhame Curator of Sculpture, SAAM Session II: 3:15–5 p.m. ET • Brandon O. Scott, Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “‘And a Long Sand Road’: Longleaf Pine and the Landscape of Abundance” • Marcelo Gabriel Yáñez, Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellow (at the Archives of American Art), Stanford University, “The Disappearance of Landscape: Artists on Fire Island, 1937–1983”  • Olivia Armandroff, George Gurney Predoctoral Fellow and Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellow, University of Southern California, “‘After Devastation, Something Positive Will Come’: Toshiko Takaezu's ‘Lava Forest’ and Cyclical Processes of Regeneration” Q&A moderated by Eleanor Jones Harvey, senior curator, SAAM The opinions expressed in these lectures are those of the speakers and not necessarily of the staff and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.